GILBY CLARKE: 'I've Always Thought My Strength Was Being Able To Juggle All Factors'

November 7, 2009

North County Times recently conducted an interview with former GUNS N' ROSES/ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA guitarist Gilby Clarke. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the TV show "Rock Star: Supernova" in which he played in a band with ex-METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted and MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee:

"TV is really changing things. If I would have been asked to do the 'Supernova' thing five years before we did it, I would've said absolutely 'no.' But the lines between rock and TV are extremely blurry now. The rules for what and what is not acceptable in rock is changing. Producers of the show said if you took everyone who bought a GN'R record, a MÖTLEY CRÜE album, and a METALLICA record that decided to watch the show, that'd be only 10 percent of their audience. I never thought about it like that before. There just aren't other opportunities to get that kind of attention for your band that exist out there."

On sharing the stage with other bands:

"I've always thought my strength was being able to juggle all factors. When I'm in my own band, I'm the singer and the guitar player, but I also have to keep the show going. And I've always fed off of the audience in that way. If everyone's going wild, well that's a good show and things are easy. But sometimes, especially when you're part of a festival, people might not be there to see you specifically. When that's the case, you really need to know how to work it. You've got to sell the crowd and I've always had an easy time with that. It comes naturally to me."

On having one eye open to the many different opportunities available to expand his experience as a guitar player:

"I'm a professional musician. It's what I do. To me, it doesn't matter what the profession is, if you don't love it and keep up with it, it isn't something that you can be great at. No matter what it is, you can always get better. And when you get a chance to play with great people, you really need to be smart enough to take it."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).