During a conversation with Ultimate Guitar's Justin Beckner, guitar legend Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) talked about Van Halen, grunge killing hair metal, and more. Following is an excerpt from the chat.

Gilbert: "When Nirvana first came out, it was threatening. The band I was in (Mr. Big) was a big hair band and suddenly nobody in America liked us anymore, so we had to go hide away in Japan. There was probably a little bit of jealousy or fear there. It was like, 'What happened? We had a career there for a minute!' But it was hard, having big hair. That's not an easy thing to do. You should try it sometime If you haven't already. It took years to have big hair. So to have it not be cool anymore was like, 'Man, I worked really hard to do this.' But after a year or so went by, and we didn't have to have it anymore, it was kind of a relief. I didn't have to maintain my perm anymore, so that was a nice thing to not have to worry about. So I appreciated Nirvana and all those bands for making it so you don't have to go cape shopping anymore. That was nice.

I'm into music, I still dress silly every once in a while or try to get glasses that look good, but overall, at the core of it, I was into the music. There was a band that I produced called The Zooters and I think they were kind of into Nirvana so I kind of got it second-hand through them. Later on, I went and listened to their songs and listened to Nirvana and found out that they got a lot of that stuff from them. So I kind of got it indirectly. In terms of guitar playing, when you're learning to play and you have your technical heroes, that's a pretty short window. After that, I don't really care about technique or tricks or anything like that, I just want it to be good music and they certainly were that."

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After his recent move to Portland, Oregon, Paul set out to connect with the best and grooviest musicians in the area, and record an album in his brand-new hometown. Brian Foxworth (drums) and Asher Fulero (keyboards) were both obvious choices to play Paul's mix of rock, blues, jazz, and pop flavors. When Paul's regular Portland bassist Kelly Lemieux was unavailable (due to his touring with Buckcherry), Paul reached out to New Orleans bass legend, Roland Guerin. Roland came to Portland weeks before the recording dates for intense rehearsing and arranging sessions.

With the band complete, Paul enlisted legendary producer and engineer John Cuniberti. John is well known for his work with Joe Satriani, but Paul was primarily interested in John's expertise with "one mic" recording. Paul explains, "It's so easy to make albums with overdubbing and editing these days, but I really prefer playing live and just getting the music to sound right because the musicians, the songs, and the performances are good." After hearing Paul's band, John recommended a few more mics, but still agreed that the music worked best as live performances with no overdubs. "There is not one overdub on the record. Everything you hear is four guys jamming, listening to each other, and making room for each other. The music almost mixes itself that way! And it's just a great mindset to have. When you know that you won't be fixing or adding parts later... It keeps your mind very active to get things right!"

Tracklisting:

“Havin' It”
“I Own A Building”
“Everywhere That Mary Went”
“Love Is The Saddest Thing”
“Sir, You Need To Calm Down”
“Let That Battery Die”
“Blues For Rabbit”
“Every Snare Drum”
“A Snake Just Bit My Toe”
“I Love My Lawnmower”
“A Herd Of Turtles”
“Things Can Walk To You"

"Things Can Walk To You" video:

"Havin' It" video: