2000.09.DD - DrDrew.com - Interview with Gilby

Gilby Clarke

By Michael Moses

Just when we expected his picture to show up on the back of a milk carton, Axl Rose recently reared his red head at a gig featuring the Starfuckers, the new band starring former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. As expected, the Axl sighting had media tongues wagging, and after the infamous vocalist joined his ex-bandmate onstage for covers of the Stones’ “Wild Horses” and “Dead Flowers,” rumors of a Guns reunion began to run rampant. While Gilby won’t rule out the possibility of participating in a future Guns tour—if and when Axl ever releases an album—he’s certainly not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. In addition to recently producing the Time Bomb debut of baby band Ball, Gilby maintains a healthy solo career: over the course of the past several years, the Cleveland native has released such critically-acclaimed albums as Pawnshop Guitars, The Hangover, Rubber and 99 Live. These days he’s busy playing “punk rock blues” with The Starfuckers, a band which also features former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns. The L.A.-based group recently signed a deal with Atlantic Records, a development Clarke claims is a pleasant surprise. “It started out as a jam band,” he laughs. “It was an excuse to show up once a week and play your guitar through an amp as loud as you can. It’s something we’ve been doing for fun—getting signed is icing on the cake.” drDrew.com recently spent Five Minutes with the six-stringer to talk about losing hair and pumping gas.

drDrew.com: What’s your favorite thing to do when no one else is around?

Gilby Clarke: Watching The Spice Channel. I watch that every night.

drDrew.com: Name a guilty pleasure.

GC: Watching kids movies like Toy Story. I have a six-year-old daughter, and before she goes to bed, we’ll put a movie on for her. She falls asleep fifteen minutes into it, but I stay up and watch it till the end.

drDrew.com: What’s your favorite bodypart?

GC: My hair.

drDrew.com: What's your greatest fear?

GC:Hair loss—although I really don’t have to worry about that since I’m Italian [laughs].

drDrew.com: What was your worst day job?

GC: My best and worst was working as a gas station attendant in Redondo Beach. It was a dirty job, but you meet some strange people and I never picked up more chicks in my entire life.

drDrew.com: What's something you're good at that's totally useless?

GC: Bowling.

drDrew.com: What's your favorite album for a night of steamy monkey love?

GC: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. If you ask my wife, she’d probably say Prince.

drDrew.com: What accessories would a Gilby Clarke action figure come with?

GC: A Les Paul, lots of hair, sunglasses and a nice pair of bellbottoms.

drDrew.com: What was your most memorable celebrity encounter?

GC: When I was a young man, one of my favorite bands was the Pretenders. I loved them. I thought Chrissie Hynde was the greatest thing in the world—her band was great and she looked like Keith Richards! I ran into her one night at the Troubadour in L.A. in 1981—their first record had just come out and they were still pretty much unknown. I walked up to introduce myself and she told me to fuck off and get lost. It was so weird! Nobody was talking to her or even knew who she was, and yet she shot me down hard. I just wanted to tell her that I admired her music. Years later, I told Slash that story—and he knows her pretty well—so every time she’s around, he makes it a point to introduce her to me just to annoy me [laughs].

drDrew.com: Which Hollywood star would play you in a movie based on your life?

GC: I would hope Johnny Depp. I’ve jammed with him a few times at The Viper Room.

drDrew.com: When you were a kid growing up, who did you imitate when you stood in front of the mirror?

GC: Keith Richards or Ron Wood.

drDrew.com: Name a book you've read recently and liked.

GC: I’m not a book guy, so I’ll have to pick the latest issue of Maxim.

drDrew.com: Name a film you've seen recently and liked.

GC: Being John Malkovich.

drDrew.com: Name an album you've heard recently and liked.

GC: The new Lucinda Williams album, Water To Drink.

drDrew.com: What’s the most embarrassing album in your collection?

GC: Some New Edition record.

drDrew.com: What’s the first album you ever bought?

GC: Either Kiss Alive or Elton John’s Greatest Hits.

drDrew.com: What’s the one album you wish you had written?

GC: Let It Bleed by the Stones.

drDrew.com: What song reminds you of your first love?

GC: Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock.”

drDrew.com: Was there an album that inspired you to start playing?

GC: The whole reason I play guitar is because I saw a poster of Jimi Hendrix as a kid and I said, “I want to be that guy.” Strangely enough, I’m not really influenced by Jimi as a guitarist, I just loved his whole persona.

drDrew.com: What’s the best album by which to vent?

GC: Pantera’s A Vulgar Display of Power.

drDrew.com: What’s the best album to drive to?

GC: Any ZZ Top album.

drDrew.com: What will you remember most about the '90's?

GC: Going from playing stadiums one year to playing empty clubs the next.

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Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020727082007fw_/http:/qfg.info/misc/gilbydrewint.txt