MR. BIG guitarist Paul Gilbert is featured in a new interview with Robert Gray as part of a series at Ultimate-Guitar.com entitled Hit The Lights. An excerpt appears below:

Ultimate-Guitar.com: How did you come to work with Freddie Nelson (for the album 'United States'), and why did you feel a collaboration with Freddie would work?

Gilbert: "Freddie grew up in the same town where I'm from, which is situated in Pennsylvania. Actually, I never met him in the old days, though all my friends knew him - my friends always told me "You gotta hear this Freddie Nelson. He's great". Back when I was a teenager, I just heard rumours about Freddie's guitar playing, and didn't know he was a singer. He didn't either, I think, and just mainly concentrated on guitar. Years went by, and I moved to California, losing touch with Pennsylvania somewhat. Recently though, I thought about cutting a vocal record. A friend of mine sent me a demo which features Freddie's vocals, and I was blown away. His voice was great, I thought. I was surprised, since I thought he was a guitarist. Here Freddie was though, this amazing vocalist."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Did you have any apprehensions about reuniting as part of Mr. Big?

Gilbert: "Over the years I have, though for some reason, enough time had passed. We all felt really good about reuniting as part of Mr. Big. Additionally, it's nice to have the demand. Everywhere I travelled, whether it be Australia or Europe, there was a demand for Mr. Big. When we booked Japanese shows, we sold out Tokyo's Budokan. These Japanese shows are huge shows, so it feels really nice to be wanted like that. Most of all though, our first priority is to enjoy what we're doing, and not pursue Mr. Big as a business move, or do what we used to do. We really wanted to be friends again."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Will any of these shows be recorded for a live DVD, or live album, from Mr. Big?

Gilbert: "We're going to record our show at the Budokan."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Will those shows be recorded for a live DVD, and a live album, from Mr. Big?

Gilbert: "Yeah, for both."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Can we expect a new album from Mr. Big?

Gilbert: "I would like to. Thus far, everything's been really smooth, and we're having a good time. There's a pretty good chance, I think."

Read the whole interview at this location.