2006.11.18 - Los Angeles Daily News - Rock Right At Home (Gilby)

ROCK RIGHT AT HOME

GOTHIC TOUCHES SET THE MOOD FOR FORMER GUNS N' ROSES GUITARIST GILBY CLARKE

By Sandra Barrera
Staff Writer

Not many people have a pinball machine made in their honor.

Gilby Clarke does.

His personally monogrammed 1994 limited edition Guns N' Roses machine -- a souvenir from his three years with the band as the replacement for Izzy Stradlin -- sits next to the billiards table in the hilltop Sherman Oaks home he shares with his family. Their French bulldog greets visitors at the door with a plush red heart between its jaws.

"That's Chopper,'' says Gilby's wife, Daniella, the owner and founder of low-rise, trend setting Frankie B. jeans (named after the couple's daughter).

Daniella not only found the house but is responsible for its Spanish-Morrocan-inspired interior. It's a rustic mix of big, bulky furniture -- all crushed velvet, engraved leather, iron and studded wood -- coupled with rock 'n' roll memorabilia like the pinball machine in what they call the Boom-Boom Room.
It's here where Gilby and his buddies drink, shoot pool and play the pinball machine designed with input from Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash.

Gilby notes it features an unreleased Guns track, "Dime Store Rock,'' and goes into a special mode when hit just right, sending a tiny motorcyclist swerving along a three-lane highway.

"If you hit people, you score points, if you hit a car, you die,'' says the Harley-Davidson enthusiast and onetime rhythm guitarist for Guns N' Roses. He now divides his time between several music projects, including Rock Star Supernova, whose self-titled debut drops Nov. 21. It's followed by a tour that kicks off in January.

At home and away

Gilby's ready to go.

"That's what we're all waiting for,'' he says of the band that also features Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and Lukas Rossi, the winner of the CBS talent search for a lead singer.

While Gilby focuses on the music, for Daniella, the heart of the home is the kitchen, where she pours all of her nervous energy into cooking and entertaining. It was one of the selling points when she first saw the house while it was under construction.

"I walked in through the front door, and when I came into the kitchen none of the appliances were in,'' she says about the house, which they bought five years ago. "There was no oven, or refrigerator, or dishwasher, or any of that. The cupboards weren't even installed. It was a wreck.''

But she saw it had potential.

And when Gilby got back from touring South America and saw the house, he agreed they should buy it.
Granted, he wasn't thrilled about moving into a house with no swimming pool after having just had one installed in their last place.

"This was all dirt,'' Gilby says, as he stands in the manicured patio next to the blue-tiled pool they had built on the sloping bedrock.

The backyard barbecue he built himself.

"Yeah, he's very handy,'' Daniella chuckles.

Hollywood love story

Gilby and Daniella have been together since July 1985. They met on Hollywood Boulevard while his band Candy was shooting its first video for MTV.

"I sent someone over to her,'' he says. "I said, 'I want to meet that girl.' You know how bad we were back then?''

Daniella was in Los Angeles visiting her American father from South Africa, where the Israeli native lived with her mother and two siblings. She didn't tell Gilby that she was only 16.

"Yeah, she was supposed to get on an airplane a couple weeks later to go back to her mother, and she didn't get on the airplane,'' Gilby says.

But family is important to the Clarkes -- it's clear from the number of portraits that decorate the walls of their home.

There's the watercolor family portrait -- a birthday present from Gilby -- and the flower tile made by their daughter, Frankie, who's 12.

"Her prints are all over this place,'' says the doting mother who points to the surreal Mark Ryden painting, "Just the Girls,'' on the dining room wall.

It features a pair of dewey vixens, one of whom is a guitar-wielding folkie with tattooed arms and a butterfly in her hair.

"This is my favorite painting,'' Daniella says. "Gilby bought it for me because, well, we love this artist's work and because the girl in the painting just reminded us so much of our daughter.''

The painting hangs behind the solid oak dining table. It's one of several pieces specially made for the house, along with a velvet sectional sofa and the couple's iron bed.

Customized comfort

"Usually I'll find a furniture store, and I'll like what they have, but it's not exactly right,'' Daniella says. "So, I want a different shape or a different size because this house has high ceilings and is more of an open space. I still wanted it to feel homey and so I got some big, chunky pieces to fill up the space but also kept it minimalistic.''

Daniella admits moving into a newly built house wasn't easy.

"One of the things you don't think of when you take on a brand new house is that it has nothing,'' she says. "But I didn't want to hire someone to take care of it because I wanted it to feel like us.''

That included creating her gourmet kitchen and a recording studio for Gilby.

The soundproof studio walls are wine-colored and covered with posters. There are closets full of guitars in the tracking room.

Gilby pulls out his most prized possession. It's one of four boutique Zemaitis instruments made by the late British guitar maker. This particular one is valued at well over $100,000.

"I can't even play it live anymore,'' he says. "Imagine giving it to my tech. 'Oops!'''

But he did play his acoustic Zemaitis during an episode of "Rock Star Supernova'' to accompany contestant Toby Rand on a Peter Gabriel song.

"It was great,'' he recalls. "All my friends e-mailed me the next day. They were so excited that I played it because usually it never leaves the bedroom.''