Mr. BIG Talks About Their Origins Up Through The Present

In the early 90’s Mr. Big was born. In 1988, Billy Sheehan had just left the David Lee Roth band. With the help of legendary shred producer, Mike Varney, he began piecing together what would become Mr. BIG. Singer, Eric Martin, admits he was skeptical of shred master, Paul Gilbert, being a good fit. Paul’s history was one of high octane guitar shredding in RacerX. Outwardly, there was nothing to suggest that Paul Gilbert would be good at integrating into a pop/song oriented band. Martin recalls in the interview below that when he first met Paul, he could hear someone knockin’ out some Rolling Stones… and doing so convincingly. Martin rethought his original hesitance. Pat Torpey came in on drums and a legendary band was formed.

While, Mr. BIG is probably best known for their pop hit, “To Be With You”, they have some stunning guitar and bass work. It was guitar/bass laden scorchers like, “Addicted To That Rush”, that won over the metal heads garnering Mr. Big broad support among fans.

The interview covers topics that range from the beginning of the band’s days to the current album, “Defying Gravity”. Billy Sheehan talks about the band’s origins. A poignant moment arrives as they talk about Pat Torpey’s tragic diagnoses and why they have two drummers on tour. Paul talks about what it was like for him coming from a shred background and feeling the need to sit back and learn from the more seasoned members of the band. All in all, a great interview.

This hour long interview by Guitar World & BackStory covers alot of ground. So, fire it up and enjoy this conversation with Billy Sheehan, Eric Martin, Pat Torpey and Paul Gilbert.