Jeb Wright from Classic Rock Revisited gives us a nice long interview with Paul Gilbert discussing various aspects from Fuzz Universe to Mr Big, Racer X, Freddie Nelson and so on. One of the best interviews I’ve read recently, here’s an excerpt:

Jeb: I love the names of the [Fuzz Universe] tunes.  Usually people name instrumentals after people, places or things that mean something to them or they name them after what the music reminds them of.  How do you do it?

Paul: Since I do my demos in ProTools, I have to think of a new title every time I make a new session. I just go with whatever pops into my head, and that title will stick about 50% of the time. “Fuzz Universe” was that way. It just came into my head immediately. “Batter Up”, “Olympic,” “Propeller,” and “Mantra the Lawn” were all titles that came to me quickly. It took me much longer to think of “Plastic Dracula.” I had been playing with the name “Juan Chutrifo” for a while. It’s an approximation of how it sounds if you count, “1-2-3-4,” so I put “Count” at the beginning of the title. It makes it sound like the name of some ancient Spanish aristocrat but it’s actually just what you say when you want to start a rock and roll song.

Head over to Classic Rock Revisited for the whole interview

I’ve not posted about an interview for a while but this one was posted around by various people so I thought I’d add to the mix. Be aware that it’s a link to a digital magazine so it can be challenging to read. Here’s a excerpt:

“Will My Screen Door Stop Neptune” begins with a badass line that sounds a little like what Ralph Macchio’s character played in the duel at the end of Crossroads. And then you rip out some jaw-dropping muted licks that sound like they might be hybrid picked. Are you using your picking-hand fingers there at all, or is it all pick?

I’m not so familiar with that movie, but I’ve heard great things about it. My inspiration for this one is kind of unusual. I wanted to write a song with my favorite tempo. What is my favorite tempo? “Neon Knights” by Black Sabbath, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, of course! So I listened to that song and tapped away at my drum machine to get a number for the tempo. Then I played some drums at that tempo, recorded it, and switched to guitar. I jammed along and came up with that riff. Then I listened to it and realized that my riff would sound better if the drums were played in half time. So, in the end, I discarded my tempo – or at least cut it in half – but I got a good riff out of it. And hopefully the spirit of Ronnie James Dio resides in the music just a little bit. [...]

For the rest of the interview, head over to Premier Guitar