By Aaron Small

Currently in the midst of a cross-Canada tour with openers CRASH KELLY, former GUNS N’ ROSES and HEART guitarist GILBY CLARKE took some time to chat exclusively with BW&BK; at Rock & Roll Heaven.

For starters, Toronto’s Crash Kelly just released their new album, One More Heart Attack. The disc is divided into sides A and B, with Gilby producing, recording and mixing the first five songs. It actually marks the second time Gilby has worked with Crash Kelly as he helmed their 2006 album, Electric Satisfaction. “Both times were positive experiences. It’s a good working relationship,” says Clarke. “I feel that I make the stuff better. When Sean (CK vocalist/guitarist) brings it in, it’s raw and we move it up a step. My job as a producer is to give him the ideas he doesn’t think of himself. So this time, a lot of the stuff we couldn’t do the first time around, because of different musicians and stuff like that, we fixed. I’m not saying better musicians, just different. Also, because we’re on budgets, we’ve got to go a little faster. I always tell Sean, I ain’t going to give it to you ‘til it’s done. But you know musicians; it takes a while. This time was great. We got everything exactly… I wouldn’t have done anything different on this one. On the first one, there are a lot of things we would have done differently. This time I’m extremely happy with the way it came out.”

Crash Kelly isn’t the only band Gilby has twiddled the knobs for recently. “I just finished Silent Rage, which I produced, recorded and mixed. I did a band called Motochrist, same thing from scratch. And I just mixed The Alarm record, which sounds like a 1977 Clash record. Since last summer I’ve been really busy in the studio doing all these records. I don’t think there’s anything going on for a while ‘cause I’m doing a lot of performing this summer. I haven’t had an opportunity to do anything for myself – which is what I hope to do next.”

Summer 2008 sees Gilby involved in Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp . “I went and visited the camp while it was in L.A. and a bunch of my friends do it. So I checked it out and it was a real interesting experience. Putting the bands together is really wild. I haven’t done it yet, so I just hope I have the patience to do it. I’m patient in the studio, but I’m not a good teacher. It’s going to be different. I’ve never done anything like that before. It’s a good way of giving back basically. A lot of people don’t have an opportunity like that – to play live music in front of an audience, so I’ll see how it goes.”

Gilby’s former GN’R bandmates Slash, Duff and Matt Sorum – who are currently searching for a new singer to front their band Velvet Revolver – were approached by television producer Mark Burnett (Survivor) to be the focus of Rock Star 3 and they said no. “Of course. I agree with them. We (Clarke, along with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and Metallica bassist Jason Newsted – the focus of Rock Star 2) didn’t have the same opportunities Velvet Revolver has; they’re already a successful band. We were something new and we were trying something new. My thoughts on the whole thing were, I hadn’t seen a new singer that I liked. We didn’t have Scott Weiland (from Stone Temple Pilots) drop in our lap. I’ve been out to a gazillion clubs and I never saw someone I wanted to be in a band with. So for me, it was an opportunity to audition 20,000 singers. In hindsight, if I were Velvet Revolver, I wouldn’t do it either. TV and rock ‘n’ roll have a real hard time going together. As a fan of rock ‘n’ roll, you always question the integrity. But being involved in the show, I don’t question my integrity, ‘cause I know I did it for all the right reasons. But I can see how a rock ‘n’ roll fan sees Tommy, Jason and myself and thinks we’re only doing this to be on TV. I understand where they’re coming from; but they don’t know me. So it’s a hard one. That’s the one thing I didn’t foresee about doing the show, was the fact that just by doing it, the rock fans already wrote it off. They didn’t give it a chance.”

Rock Star: Supernova recently reunited for a one-off show (with Johnny Colt replacing Jason Newsted on bass) at the Battleground Earth Benefit Concert in LA. “That was fun actually. It was as simple as Tommy called me and said we’re going to do this show, just a couple of tunes. I had a really good time. I haven’t seen the guys in a long time, so it was nice to see everybody. No matter what, Tommy and I are still friends.”

As far as the next Gilby Clarke solo album goes… “It’s not in the pipeline, but I will do one. I always say that I never really plan to do my solo records. As a musician, I’m always writing. So when I write 10 to 15 songs, then I make a record. My goal on doing this whole tour (with Crash Kelly) was really for one main reason – I needed to kick my ass into writing. I haven’t been doing a lot of writing. Everything that I was working on, I gave to Supernova. This was my opportunity, at soundchecks, to be working out new songs. There’s nothing like writing with a band. That’s always the hard thing about being a solo artist – you don’t have a band. When you’re younger, everybody gets together in the garage three or four times a week and you jam. I still like to keep things organic like that. I still like playing with people. I’m not good at putting a click track or a drum track down. I’d rather play off of people. I use Pro Tools, but I use it like a tape machine.”

The current lineup of Muddy on bass and Dennis on drums – is this going to stick? “I hope so. Muddy’s been in and out of my band over the last five years. Dennis is new. They came as a package. They just finished the Marc Ford tour together. I’m really digging the way it sounds. I really like how they play off of each other. Muddy and (former drummer) Chad had that too, but I really like the feel of it right now. It’s going to be interesting to see how we evolve. This is very new.”

Clarke has recorded several cover songs in the past including ‘Diamond Dogs’ by David Bowie, ‘Mercedes Benz’ by Janis Joplin and ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ by The Beatles. What will the next one be? “I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that we still haven’t recorded, one of then is ‘It’s Only Rock And Roll’ (by The Rolling Stones). I think there’s a possibility of doing that one. I’m trying to evolve it a little bit where I’m doing the first verse and chorus Stones-y and then the second verse and chorus is more rock. We’re still working that out a little bit.”

In the past, there’s been talk of Gilby releasing a live DVD, yet it’s never materialized. “It’s not dead in the water. I have three shows done now and they’re still not of a quality that I’m happy with yet. I’m still waiting to have one great show so we can put this all together. What I have right now is pieces of good stuff – and it’s not from our end, it’s from the technical end. We did Malibu, London and L.A. We played three really good shows, but on the technical side, it’s not what I want to represent us. I always say that I put out a record I would want to buy. It’s just not there yet. I like to be proud of what I do.”

With the interview wrapping up, Clarke’s closing comments are rather revealing. “People always ask, why are you doing these tours (meaning in small clubs)? I’m a musician. This is what I do. I play guitar, whether it’s at The Dungeon or at an arena. If I sat around and waited for the arena tour that happens every five years, I would die. I have to play.”

Click the following links to view photos from Gilby’s recent Oshawa and Toronto shows. Remaining tour dates can be found here.