Mr. Big frontman Eric Martin recently guested on the Friday NI Rocks Show this week; check it out here.

Some of the highlights: 

On the future of Mr. Big

Martin: "I’m the one getting everyone together for conference calls and e-mails and what we want to do. I really want to do it and I want to spend more than six days on it like we did with the Defying Gravity album. I want to be a little more prepared. I want to do a new record and I also want to have a couple of different drummers on it – one’s that Pat really liked; maybe Mike Portnoy, Gregg Bissonette, Ray Luzier from Korn, I really like his playing. Just get some great drummers to do something to honour Pat Torpey. We don’t know if we’re going to do an album or an EP; it kinda depends on the songs. If we only have six songs then there’s your EP, but if we have more we’ll cut an album. We only have a little bit of a window of opportunity because Paul is on the road pretty much the rest of the year and then we might have an opportunity in February to cut something. But we are going to do a tour in June and July and then come home for a couple of weeks and then try to do it as much as we can for about three or four months. But yeah, that’s the last hurrah, that’s it. It just feels a little uncomfortable to keep going without Pat Torpey.

Billy was just talking about this the other day; how he wants to have three different setlists going on. The next tour that we do we’re going to concentrate more on the first album, because that’ll be like the thirty years anniversary and we’ll concentrate on that, but he wants to break it up into twos or threes so we have a different set. "
 
A future solo project

Martin: "Ah man, I’ve been threatening to do that for years! I don’t know! I have been working with a friend of mine, Joel Hoekstra, the guitarist for Whitesnake. I’ve written a couple and he has written a bunch of tracks and I’ve written a couple of things with him. I was gonna do this rock record, but I don’t know! I’m having fun doing the acoustic thing – the Americana, British blues invasion kinda of acoustic vibe and I don’t know. I love writing rock n roll songs, but I can do that with Mr Big. I haven’t done a solo album in thirteen plus years I’m sure but I gotta do something because after Mr Big...what do I do then!

I’d like Richie Kotzen and I to get together. I miss playing with that guy. When he was in the band for a couple of years we definitely had a cool chemistry and I’d like to write some songs with him and have him come and sing with me. And why not get Billy Sheenan and Paul Gilbert – I’d love to have them come in and play, but let me call the shots (laughs). Now that we’re talking about it – anybody that wants to come and write songs with me and thinks that they can do it – Professionals Wanted!"

Mr. Big's Live From Milan was released in July on 2CD+Blu-Ray Combo Pack, 3xLP, and MP3 (audio only). Order here.

Following the release of their 2017 album Defying Gravity, Mr. Big set out on a trek that took them all over the world to promote the new release in a live setting. Anyone who has ever had the distinct pleasure of seeing the band live knows that the virtuoso musicianship and incredible vocals are on full display in this setting. By this time, drummer Pat Torpey's battle with Parkinson's Disease had been made public, but Pat toured with the band regardless and sat behind the drum kit for select songs, while also providing background vocals and percussion on other tracks when Matt Starr was taking his turn on the kit. Captured at a stop in Milan, IT, Live From Milan has a tracklisting that will surely satisfy long-time and newer fans of the band, and of course contains bass and guitar solos from the always entertaining and awe inspiring Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert, respectively. Sadly, this would be one of Pat Torpey's last performances with the band as he passed away from complications due to Parkinson's in early 2018.

The set captures a special moment in time for the band and also serves as a "greatest hits" of sorts as they hit on all their classic songs from the early albums as well as revered material from newer releases.

"The gig was packed, really no room to breathe and it was steaming hot in there but the energy and vibe that I was feeling from the guys in the band was that we were going to lean into it...ha I know that sounds cliché coming from me but it was true , there was no holding back . I've seen the video of this concert dozens of times now and it's us... hard and heavy and still kicking out the jams," says frontman Eric Martin.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:
"Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy"
"American Beauty"
"Undertow"
"Alive And Kickin'"
"Temperamental"
"Just Take My Heart"
"Take Cover"
"Green-Tinted Sixties Mind"
"Everybody Needs A Little Trouble"
"Price You Gotta Pay"
Paul's Solo
"Open Your Eyes"
"Wild World"
"Damn I'm In Love Again"

Disc 2:
"Rock And Roll Over"
"Around The World"
Billy's Solo
"Addicted To That Rush"
"To Be With You"
"1992"
"Colorado Bulldog"
"Defying Gravity"

Blu-Ray:
"Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy"
"American Beauty"
"Undertow"
"Alive And Kickin'"
"Temperamental"
"Just Take My Heart"
"Take Cover"
"Green-Tinted Sixties Mind"
"Everybody Needs A Little Trouble"
"Price You Gotta Pay"
Paul's Solo
"Open Your Eyes"
"Wild World"
"Damn I'm In Love Again"
"Rock And Roll Over"
"Around The World"
Billy's Solo
"Addicted To That Rush"
"To Be With You"
"1992"
"Colorado Bulldog"
"Defying Gravity"

"Colorado Bulldog" video:

"Alive And Kickin'" video: