Eric Martin

Darrin: Eric Martin, how are you?

Eric: Hey there.  Not too bad.  It is a cloudy, rainy day, and the wife and kids are gone for awhile, so we can talk.

Darrin: I sent off an email interview to Paul Gilbert just recently….

Eric: Paul Gilbert….Paul Gilbert….I know that name from somewhere…..

Darrin: Hmmm…did you ever jam with him? I thought he used to be in that Mr Big band…

Eric **laughs** Let me tell you about Paul Gilbert…hell, I’ll tell you about Mr Big!....so Billy Sheehan calls me…and, hey I don’t know if this is part of the interview or not. 

Darrin: It is now!! 

Eric: Ok,  so Billy contacts me in like ’88 and says “Hey man, we gotta get a band going. I have a couple players in mind.” There was this Paul Gilbert kid. I guess Billy judged some guitar contest, and Paul was the winner. He also had Steve Stevens in mind, there were tons of people that could have been part of this project. So, we got Paul, and we were auditioning Pat Torpey, our drummer, like in one day, he was in and we were all learning the songs. Like an hour after he played.

So I walk in, and I see Paul Gilbert, and he is like “Hey, how are ya doin’?” I mean, I do not know the exact number,  maybe like 6’2” but like..man for like 13 years, I was the little guy in the middle. **laughs** and I’m 5’10”!! So there is Paul Gilbert, and he is REALLY skinny, and he is wearing like, really tight, ummm…those Lip Service jeans, kinda sparkly a little bit, and this ripped up white T-shirt, you know how everyone cut their sleeves off, in the 80’s and 90’s. He had this big hair, and this huge stack of amps. Like it was a Van Halen concert, I think it was orange, and pink and green, like neon and dayglo. But it was like…what the hell am I getting in to? That was Paul Gilbert.  He has definitely changed.

Darrin: That is what I like about Paul. He is quirky, funny and original.

Eric: Paul is able to reinvent himself all the time. I mean from his clothes even.  From wearing dollar bill suits, and he had this suit, with like…chicks on it. It was a really bad 80’s cartoon chick on it.

Darrin: Then he came out with leather fringe on his guitar necks…

Eric: Yeah, fringe on the guitar, the old drills, with the picks on the end.

Darrin: I just watched the video for Wind Me Up before I called you.  Man, I forgot what pretty hair you all had.

Eric: Oh dude..that was….the times!

Darrin: Pat had it the worst man…he had the same hair do as my girlfriend. I sat here and laughed so hard for 5 minutes. It was…sculpted.

Eric: No it was totally Emilio Estevez!! **laughs** Oh man.  We had so much makeup. Every time I see that video, or a poster…a picture of that…I say..wow..those chicks are cute. What are ya going to do? Everything is so pretentious, you got your fist bangin on your knee, and yer mugging up for the camera…

Darrin: Since we are going to be talking about Mr. Big, I will state now, that Green Tinted 60’s mind was the best song you guys ever did.

Eric: Oh man, and that was a fantastic video too!

Darrin: I was just talking to a few people on IM earlier, and I sent them the link to the video on You-tube, and simply wrote: Best vocal melody and hook in a rock song.  Ever.  After a few minutes of silence, a few wrote back in agreement.

Eric: Man, when Paul brought that song in… It is kind of ironic, that when Lean Into It was starting to shape up, as far as people bringing songs in, I remember, I went to Paul’s house, he had a little apartment. On a funky street named Yucca. You know where that is?

Darrin: No.  I am in Vancouver, so I do not get around LA a lot. **laughs**

Eric: Oh yeah!! **laughs** Yucca should be called like, Crack Street. It was in Hollywood, it was like Crack Town!! And I remember Paul showing me the lick from My Kind Of Woman, which was on the album, and there was so much work to do, because there were so many songs. Paul always had so many, and I had written a few too.

You see, at first it was going to be a rock foundation. Rock, rock, rock. All rock. And that is the way it is. I went ahhh, I am going to throw a monkey wrench in, and said, “What do you think of this song Paul, To Be With You,” which was a little folk Beatles type of thing. He said “I dig it man, I have this song I have been working on” seeing I was being funky and eclectic, he pulls out a demo of Green Tinted Sixties Mind. I think with this guy, Kelly Keeling, possibly singing.. I think the singer from a band named Baton Rouge. It was something like that.  Paul would know. It was a basic kind of demo, with this guy singing it. Paul had that whole thing down to a T. He loved the Beatles, and Cheap Trick, and all that kind of stuff. And he poured his heart into that song, and I am so glad that we did it.

It kind of changed the face of Mr. Big you know. It was….

Darrin: It wasn’t just rock, rock, rock.  It was cool songwriting and great songs. When you mentioned Paul and the Beatles, it reminded me of a story I heard, that Jason Becker wrote.  He talked about a time where he was driving somewhere with Paul, and I believe Paul asked him casually if he listened to or was into the Beatles.  Jason answered, no, not really, but was more into Bob Dylan and other things.  And Paul just…said nothing for the rest of the drive. **laughs** 

Eric: I had a similar conversation with Paul. I have to clap myself on the back for this, but I think I turned Paul on to bands like Enough’s Enough, and maybe that got him kick-started on other songs. I used to bring up guitar players all the time.  **Laughs** “What do you think of Eric Clapton?” Paul would be like…”I.don’t”…Maybe he has changed his tune since. You know, he was the Racer X guy, the Scarified, the Motor Man.

Darrin: He did come up with the acoustic stuff in his career too.  Stuff like We All Dream of Love, and he brought something to To Be With You.

Eric: Man, To Be With You. That song still make me lift my head. To me, and I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but that is a great vocal. I love that vocal.  It is so gravelly and soulful, and smoky and the whole bit.  I know everyone goes, “Oh yeah, To Be With You…it’s been like 13, 14 years, who gives a shit…!” **laughs**

Darrin: I saw you guys play in Vancouver.  Great show, at Club Soda I think. And you guys beat the shit outta me.  You went to high five me in like, Addicted To That Rush, you missed and smacked me in the head, and as I am reeling around Billy catches me in the face with his headstock.  Man, that was AWESOME!!!

Eric: You know what, ironically, I used to get the shit beaten out of me all the time on stage. They would take it for granted, and like, forget that there were other people on stage. Especially their singer, standing right up front. I used to just miss those headstocks all the time. I remember this one time, we were playing in Chicago, we were playing this show and there was this really long hallway to the stage, and back to the backstage. So we play our last song, at we were like “See you later…goodnight!!!” and Paul is in back of me, and we are running to the backstage, and they start yelling that they want us to do another one. I turn around, and Paul sticks his Ibanez head stock right into the middle of my chest and skewers me.  It could have been like a great ACDC follow up.

Darrin: OK Eric, I am going to pull us away from Mr. Big for just a little bit, and talk about the present for a few. I won’t keep the whole conversation focused on Mr Big, although it IS really interesting stuff…

Eric: Man, I do not mind, I love what we are talking about right now. Where it was good memories, you know? It is all the other bad shit.  You know, EVERY band has all that stupid bad shit happen. It was like a really good marriage, that ended up as a bad marriage. It is like, having a bunch of wives, ya know? **laughs**

Darrin: We WILL come back to this, but, right now, you are involved in a project named Scrap Metal. I know you guys recently had a gig, but you rehearsed apart.  Some of the guys are in Tennessee?

Eric: Let me see, the Nelsons and Kelly Keagy live in Nashville, Mark Slaughter lives in Vegas and I live just outside of San Francisco.

Darrin: Who is playing bass?

Eric: Matthew is. (Nelson) He is rockin out man. He is a pretty well 4 on the floor straight ahead bass player. The other day he says, “Look, I am no Billy Sheehan” and I told him “Don’t worry about that, NOBODY is a Billy Sheehan.” **laughs**

Darrin: How was it playing with these guys?  How did the gig go? Were you pretty comfortable with them?

Eric: Oh hell yeah. It was like being on stage with all these guys you watched on MTV. Mark Slaughter, I always thought he was like this quiet kind of guy, and he is a powerhouse singer. I mean, right before I came out to sing my part, those guys, are the core band.  Right now, I am kind of special guesting. We do about 4 songs of mine, and as we go, they are adding more songs. I have been asked to participate in another show in Nashville. Eventually, we want to take this to like, the USO level, tours for the soldiers and stuff like that.

Darrin: Some overseas stuff, like…Japan?

Eric: Oh yeah, we would definitely have to take it to Japan. All of the rockers there…man. And then go to Europe. Canada.  Do not want to forget our Canadian brothers. But do like maybe, 25 shows a year. It is supposed to be set up as a painless, fun factor on 11 sort of outfit.  I am not too sure what the full plan is.  It is kind of Gunnar’s (Nelson) baby. But Mark Slaughter, who I thought was so quiet, is incredibly funny!!! He is like the Rat Pack all rolled into one. He has like 100 voices that he does. He has been doing them for years he says. He was asked by Disney to do some voices. He is totally into it. He is also an amazing guitar player. He even said “Hey, I am no Paul Gilbert..” **laughs** We played Alive and Kickin and Daddy Brother, and he nailed it.

Darrin: That is no easy task

Eric: Well, there could have been some train wrecks, but there weren’t! It was fine.

Darrin: How was it playing some Mr Big hits without Billy, Pat, Paul and Richie up there with you?

Eric: It felt great! It felt like, a tribute type of thing. Here is Kelly Keagy, who is just a phenomenal drummer. I just wrote a blog, and I said, Kelly Keagy: Drummer and soulful singer from the planet Holy Shit! The guy has such a great voice. And you are on stage, and there is no dirty looks, no baggage, everybody top of their form, they look great. And no bullshit. The only thing I am looking for, is I am watching the brothers, you know, they are twins, and if anything is going to happen it is going to be the brotherly thing. Nothing!! I dig being in a band with these guys.

Darrin: Would you consider recording some new material with these guys?

Eric: I don’t know. Gunnar, I think wrote a song, but I was talking to Kelly, and he was like “Hey, look, best thing for us is, we do not all have to get together, if everyone loves the song, but one person doesn’t, there is no hard feelings.  The person can use it for a solo record.

Darrin: Plus, you guys can all pass the files around, and record separately. You could throw your vocals on it from home in your Protools setup.

Eric: Exactly.  We all have Protools setups at home.

Darrin: Things have changed.  I wonder how many bands would still be together now, if they had the ability to record like this, and not be stuffed in a rubber room for 3-6 months with the band to get a recording done.

Eric: I am telling ya…you know, just maybe throw in a psychiatrist, and maybe Mr Big would still be running!!!

Darrin: Hey, what influenced you in music as a kid. What made you want to get into the business in the really early years?

Eric: My father was in the military. But prior to that he lived in Cincinnati Ohio, and he was a drummer, a union drummer, he would play with acts that came into town. Like Les Brown, and Doris Day.  People that read this interview, are going to be wondering who the hell Doris Day is.

Darrin: REALLY early Classic music

Eric: He played with her, then he played a stint with the 4 Aces, who were 4 singers, and he played drums at a handful of shows, and I think they did a record, because I kind of remember vinyl of it. They had a hit, called 3 Coins in a Fountain. But anyway, he was a great drummer, he is passed away now, it kills me, I think about him all the time. He passed away about 5 years ago, and he was a great drummer, and a singer, and the kind of guy that had a lamp shade on his head.

Darrin: What I call an “entertainer”

Eric: Oh, a big entertainer man. And he was Dean Martin too. Had a drink in his hand..all that. If I said “Hey Dad, this is my partner..” he would be like “Well, hey Tiger!!!...” **laughs**  And my band, Mr. Big, they loved him. Billy, he loved my dad more than me. But that’s ok. He really respected my dad. He ran my website, he actually started the website. He started all the chat line stuff, forums, for rock and roll musicians. I am not saying he invented, it, but he sure did introduce it around here anyway. And he made T-shirts for the old Eric Martin band, like in 1983.

He taught me how to play drums, and sing, he kind of groomed me.

Darrin: That is really cool.  You can’t get much better support than that.

Eric: Nope. Not at all. And I was a drummer for awhile, and then I realized that I had too much energy, and the singers we had in a few of the first bands, was….just ok, and I kind of tool to the center stage.

Darrin: Have you been working on any solo tunes lately?

Eric: A lot. I have got about 15. I am still working on lyrics.  My partner, his name is Andre we wrote a lot of songs for Mr Big, like Just Take My Heart, and with Paul, like Daddy Brother, and there are just so many. But he is a little ill right now.  That nasty flu going around. Like everyone in California right now has some sort of bronchial thing. So I am just waiting for him to recover so we can get on these songs.

Man, for the past 16 or 17 years, I have put out at least an album a year.

Darrin: I know, all one has to do is have a quick look at your discography.  That is crazy.

Eric: You know, I have twin 2 year old sons, my 2 American releases…**pauses** see, you did not pick up on it…

Darin: I just did *laughs**

Eric: Juggling fatherhood, and what is left of my career, which is kinda, you know, when you least expect it…I will worry about it, just like a kid that is starting out. I gotta make it. It never happens. But when you least expect it, it seems that things trickle in.  I do not have an agenda anymore, I don’t need to have the I Need To Make It attitude now. I have to get back up to #1, and all that. Like, who the hell gets to #1 right now?

Darrin: Umm…R Kelly?

Eric: Yeah, but even the guys doing the thing I was involved in.  The Journeys, and all that kind of stuff…

Darrin: Yeah, they are not getting back up to #1…

Eric: Yeah, I know..but..R Kelly.  You HAD to bring up R Kelly. R Kelly and Michael Jackson, they can stay together. So, I do not have this agenda, and this longing to break ground. I get so discouraged sometimes, when I go to record stores, and there is this cornucopia of artists. There are so many. And record companies are just buying them up. But I am not totally discouraged, where I throw in the towel. I still play, and I am going to Norway in a month to do some shows. And I do have this Scrap Metal thing.

When I first heard about this Scrap Metal thing I was like Hmm..is it like some old junkyard that they put all the old rock stars in? But Scrap Metal, it is totally tongue in cheek.

Darrin: I love what it is.

Eric: Yeah, me too. I did something like this when I was in Mr. Big. It was called the Road Vultures. In the early 90’s, I would come home from touring with Mr Big, and start itching to play again. I put together a band of like, local superstars, and we were called the Road Vultures. And this is kind of similar to this idea of Scrap Metal. Better late than never.

All of these guys still have careers.  The Nelsons, they still tour like 200 dates a year. Mark Slaughter, I am not too sure what he is doing with Slaughter now, I don’t think they broke up, but just on a hiatus. Kelly Keagy and Night Ranger, they are on a little hiatus. And I am the only one bandless. I do have my solo group. I just feels comfortable to shake my tail feather with these guys.

Darrin: I followed Mr. Big through the career of the band.  I know there were a myriad of bad feelings, strangeness, and other things that surrounded the breakup of the band.

Eric: Oh shit.  Then it goes from everywhere like Japanese magazines, to Blabbermouth.net.

Darrin: Is that chapter really closed?  Is there the chance of new material, a tour, or anything at all?  It just seems like the band had more songs in it.  There was never a time that the material got weak, and the band fizzled.

Eric: It was weird man.  Like in ’96 or around there, after Bump Ahead was out, I loved the song Wild World, and Atlantic Records wanted the big follow up to To Be With You. I think that was a total kiss of death. I think we should have stayed true, and kept doing what we did. And do it our way.

Darrin: The all mighty record label had a lot more power over bands back then.

Eric: Oh, of course. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  The only reason I got into this thing in the first place, was to support my family, and keep the records coming. And have a job. Then Seattle happened, and the scene changed, and instead of playing in some crappy bars, we continued to go overseas, and played everywhere.

Darrin: I saw a lot of DVD’s of you guys playing over there.  Especially Japan.  I actually just ordered your show from San Francisco off of Ebay.

Eric: That was a good one.  That was like the last show we played on that tour in the US, then we went off to Japan.  Live at the Warfield I believe. I think it was the Lean Into It tour. It was funny, because you will see, that is where Paul did the old picks on the drill routine, like for a novelty, and then the Makita Drill company, they sponsored our tour. They threw us like a million dollar bone to do it. Do you remember the Tubes?

Darrin: Yeah 

Eric: Well a couple of them are artists. Michael and Prairie. They painted up this sort of backdrop for us, but we had to put Makita Drills into it. It was kind of cheesy.

Darrin: Well, a million bucks is a million bucks.

Eric: It is a good DVD though, it is my hometown, and I tell them that in it. There is some great musicianship on it.

Darrin: Your last show with Mr Big was in Japan, was it not?

Eric: Well, most people think of that as the last show, bit actually, it was a couple of days after that, in Hong Kong…

Darrin: Well, I stand corrected.  What I wanted to ask, that last show, knowing you were on the last song of the night, on probably the last show with these guys, what were you feeling?  What ran through your mind?

Eric: You saw the concert from the last show in Japan right?

Darrin: Yeah, it was the one where you wore that, orange windbreaker type thing…**laughs**

Eric **laughs** yeah, hey, ya had to go there huh? I loved that thing man.  I was so trying to be LL Cool J in that video. But anyway. I was…I was trying to emulate the whole Momma Said Knock You Out thing.

Darrin: I was actually only trying to prove that I do my homework, and do know what shows is what **laugh** I was not dissin your, …windbreaker.

Eric: But, in that video, I think Billy and I had, like, a little moment. There was this little hug.  God, could you hear the crowd? The crowd was going nuts.

Darrin: I was more watching to see when Billy played harmonica, if he would shrug you off when you reached around him to play his bass parts.

Eric: That happened all the time.  That was a Harlem Globetrotters schtick. We did that so many times.

Darrin: But on that DVD, you both had smiles, and looked like you were having fun.

Eric: Yeah, he was happy because it was just about over. I was unhappy. I was totally unhappy. There were interviews that went a long with that, and I had like, no sleep, for about 3-4 days, I was totally messed.  I could not sleep, and I did not really dig the fact that I did not have a job after that.  I made a couple of solo albums after that, and that kind of kept me going for a minute, but it wasn’t the same thing you know.

God, when I was doing the interview, I looked like I was jet lagged. You have that look like your face is all scrunched up, and I was trying to keep my composure, in the interview.  I was trying to be funny and all that, but it was fucked up.

Then we went to Hong Kong, and everyone was like, getting along. Getting along like it was our first show. We were laughing, because, during solos, Pat would be down the stairs behind the stage, and some guy brought a bunch of watches, and Pat is on the ground, checking out these Rolex’s.  I was like “Ok Pat, you may want to hurry up and pick one of those out, Billy’s solo is just about over…” It was so funny. And the crew was up.  We had already had the semi melancholy vibe a couple of nights before. And it was a really cool show. 

But. Then we went to the hard Rock Café after, to do some meet and greet or something like that. We went there to eat, but there was a mix-up, and the kitchen was closed, and why did I remember that?  Because that is when it started to get real, funky again. Attitudes surfaced. And then we had a couple beers and a few drinks,  and then, it was like out of some weird 1940’s movie, 4 cabs pulled up in front of the Hard Rock. It was like 12-1am, and each of us got into a different cab and went our separate ways.  It was so weird. And then I never saw them again.

Darrin: Wow.  Do you talk to any of the boys anymore?

Eric: I have talked to Richie a couple of times, I have emailed Paul a few times to see if he wanted to play on some records, he seems to be too busy though. Too bad too, we do not have to sit in the same room together, and we wrote some great songs together. I guess he is not into it. Billy, my wife threw me a surprise party in October, and she had a couple of glasses of wine, she was kinda feeling all brave and stuff.

My wife Denise came in near the end of Mr Big, During Get Over It and Actual Size. She liked the guys, and did not really know too much of the history.  She was like Oh GOD!! You guys are quitting?  It is such a great band. So, she emailed Billy, and probably Paul and Pat, to see if maybe they would consider coming to my party. And they answered back and said they were busy, but to tell Eric to have a Happy Birthday. Kind of like a couple of nice gestures, and Denise actually said something like, “I know you guys have some baggage, but those days are over, I am sure the maturity level has moved up a bar. But no, I really have not talked to Billy at all.

Darrin: Does Pat play for the Knack now?

Eric: Pat does sometimes play for the Knack, and he also has a group, you may want to look online, I think it is called the Exiles Social Club. It is kind of a Scrap Metal vibe. He is still a great drummer.  I have emailed him a couple of times, and we kinda talked about how our little franchise could have flourished.

Darrin: I think if any band could regroup, and sell records and shows, it would be Mr Big.

Eric: Yeah, I think so too.  We broke up in 2002, if they do not hurry up…..Dude, you are asking the wrong guy **laughs** but if you asked me.  Yeah, yeah I would do it. I would do a Mr Big reunion tour in a heartbeat. Paul Gilbert, he would never do it.  Hands down I know he would not do it. When we played at the International Forum, he lived in Japan. And I called him. I was backstage, and I called and asked if he wanted to come down.  And he said “I don’t want to play!” I told him I knew he did not want to play, but you should at least come and say goodbye, or at least wave goodbye to the audience. And then I said, “God, I would love to play Green Tinted Sixties Mind with you again..”

It would have been a great way to close the night out. Truthfully, I did not want to be there either.  I wish I would have had the balls…no, actually it would have sucked to let all of those fans down, spiritually, I wanted to be with Paul at that moment, and say I didn’t want to do it.  I just heard it in his voice that he did not want to do it.

I heard recently that there is a new G3 coming and that Paul and Billy are involved in it.  Don’t quote me on that.

Darrin: I do know that Paul is on the bill for the next G3, with Satch and Petrucci.

Eric: There you go. I remember hearin something a long time ago, before we got Richie in the band, I thought I heard something like Billy and Pat played on Richie’s album, and I heard that they were going to start Mr. Big without me. That would have killed me.

Darrin: But in that case, I remember back when all this was going on, that no one thought Billy could be kicked out of the band, because, he was the icon, the guy that played for David Lee Roth, the big name of the band.  It would be suicide to throw the voice of the band out as well.  In my opinion.

Eric: Yeah, man if that happened, it would have been like…Rush. It would have been Mr Rush dude. Addicted to that Mr Rush. Opening for Rush, one whole side would be guys looking at Billy, and the other side all looking at Paul, and the ticket girl, looking at me.

Darrin: Hey, you brought chicks to Rush shows.  The biggest hit Rush had for the ladies was To Be With You.  **laughs**

Eric: I did.  I did help bring the girls out to Rush shows. Geddy and Alex used to thank me.  They would thank me for finally bringing some chicks in.

Darrin: Ok, I am going left field on you here, now that we are speaking of Canadian rock bands.  Triumph, is my all time favorite band.

Eric: Your favorite band is Triumph?

Darrin: Oh yeah.  And I recently did some reading up, and noticed that you and Neal Schon wrote Just One Night off of the Sport Of Kings album.  How did that happen?

Eric: I was writing. I had that song on one of my solo albums.

Darrin: I was not aware that you had recorded it.  I will definitely be looking that up.

Eric: Hell I will email you an mp3 of it.

Darrin: Awesome.  I can not wait to have a listen

Eric: It is a great song. The demo was me and Neal and Steve Smith.  My version on the record was Steve Lukather, and Randy Jackson on bass. I think it was Stan Lynch on drums. Randy is a great bass player.  He played n the whole album. He should be shot when he says the Totally, and the Yeah Dawg stuff…He has been doing that for like, 25 or 30 years now. Yeah, we wrote a couple of songs on that record.

So, I ran into Ron Nemison I think, and Ron was going to do that record I think, bit then it got switched to Mike Klink, and Mike is a friend of mine, and we got along really great, and Mike said “I hear you have this song, Just One Night,…”and there you go.

But Rik didn’t sing it, Gil did. It was such an honor. After listening to **singing** “Lay It, On The Line…** and then hearing Triumph doing that.  Wow.

Darrin: You heard they are going into the Hall of Fame?

Eric: I did not.  That is so cool.

Darrin: The first time in many years, that the 3 of them will share the stage, even though they are not playing. Dean guitars also just reissues\d the white Flying V, like the one Rik used back in the early 80’s. They showed it down at NAMM this year.

Eric: I was at the Us Festival man. He wore like a white shirt, with a red stripe, and white pants.  Yeah, I was there. David Bowie, Clash, Triumph, Van Halen.  I was in the orchestra pit for Van Halen. And David Lee Roth is coming straight at me, and he turns, and the fucker has no pants on.  Like chaps. **laughs** His ass is sticking out.

Darrin: Motley Crue sounded like shit.

Eric: Oh, they sucked.

Darrin: We are running outta tape, and I still have a few questions….

Eric: Want to ask some more about Canadian musicians?

Darrin: Oh man, we could go on for HOURS. My original site dealt only with Canadian content.

Eric: Bryan Adams, Tom Cochrane, this other guy, I want to say, Colin…

Darrin: James.

Eric: Yeah Colin James. John Miles, there are tons…

Darrin: See you need to get up here and play with some of these guys.

Eric: Well here is what I have been doing.  I am going to Norway, and what these guys did over there, was learn a bunch of my tunes, and they asked if I came over, if they could back me. They have a band called Hayseed.  They are a bluesy kind of band, and fans of my music.  They learned 18 songs and sent me demos. They had backed up guys like Joe Lynn turner over in Norway. And that is what I am going to do. Like 3-4 shows. And I am going to do the same thing in Australia. And it is painless. Not great for my own band, but really, it is cheaper.

Darrin: Eric, it just sounds like you have a lot of rock left in you.

Eric: Yeah, I’m not dead. Even though, hey, did you do that interview with that Dario kid?

Darrin: Yeah, that was me.  How did you hear about that?

Eric: I went on your site, and he said one of his favorite bands is Mr Big.

Darrin: Yeah, and we talked a bit about Paul, and our favorite guitar tunes and stuff like that.  With you I talked about Canadian music, with Dario it was Paul Gilbert.

Eric: I saw a You-tube thing with him and Jani Lane. I thought I was the shit at 17, and I was not the skin off of that kids back. He is great. The reason I know of him, this singer of a band called XYZ, Terry Illouis.  There was going to be this thing called Voices of Rock tour. He had a bunch of people lines up, and had asked me to do it. And they were going to learn pretty well what Scrap Metal was going to do. And he told me about this kid Dario. He said “You are not going to believe it until you see it.”

So I went to this site of his, and I watched a couple of videos, and was blown away.

Darrin: He is the real deal.  A true rock guitar player. He does not even really listen to a lot of current stuff.  He loves his George Lynch, Mr Big, and all that stuff. He is super polite, and well grounded. He has that good Bah-ston accent

Eric: **laughs** Does he write music?

Darrin: Yeah, there are some tracks like Riff Raff on his Myspace.  There are no vocals, but it is his music.

Eric: Put this in the interview.  I want to get together with this guy. He reminds me of a younger Paul Gilbert. He looks great.  He is such a rocker man. But you know, some singers like me do not like standing next to those really thin guitar players.  They make us look…heavier. We ain’t all that skinny anymore. **laughs** It’s fatherhood.

Darrin: Your wife feeds you good!!! Hey, you have to thank Denise for doing such a great job getting this all set up. She communicates great!!

Eric: My wife is a legend. She is just so good about doing that stuff.

Darrin: I do not think I have ever waited longer than half an hour for her to return an email.  Do you let her get away from the computer at all?

Eric: She is always on the computer, and I will ask her what she is doing and she will just say” Doing work for you!!!”  Denise is on top of it. I had this manger named Sandy for 25 years, that was a co-manager for Mr Big, and it was a friend and manager, and after Mr Big broke up, we kinda fell away from each other, as there wasn’t a lot of work etc. But he could get the big gigs. Denise can’t get the really big gigs, but everybody loves her.

Darrin: Tell her to get you a gig in Vancouver.  We’ll paint the town red. Do the Commodore.

Eric: What ever happened to that club up there…

Darrin: Club Soda?

Eric: Yeah!!! Club Soda,  Old Soda Pop. We almost had a big knock down drag out there. There was all these chairs stacked up, I remember just arguing and arguing with Billy about nothing. And Paul lost his mind, and was going to start throwing chairs….just a mess

Darrin: Well at least Vancouver had some of the most popular strip joints back in the day, with No 5 Orange and the Marble Arch.

Eric: Oh man.  The strip clubs in Canada were a different creature.  A sight to behold.  We went to one once in Edmonton, near the big Hockey arena there.  We were playing the night after Aerosmith, with Rush, so we went to the show.  Then we were at this strip club, in this private room, and Billy is sitting there, eating like a ham sandwich, talking up these girls, like “So, what are you doin later, wanna go get something to eat?”

Darrin: A ham sandwich?? I am going to die **laughs**

Eric: Yeah man, like 2 days or so of of the week, Billy was the funniest, nicest guy in the world.  The other days, he pretended to not know you.  Then he would screw me over, and go to the DJ booth and page me like. Eric Martin, the clinic is on the phone for you… 

Darrin: The bastard!!! **laughing** Eric, this has been the best non interview I have ever done. I think I asked about 25% of my questions, but I think people got a great read ahead of them here.  Let’s get together and ask some more soon.

Eric: Hey, it was great.  I liked talking to you about the good times.  It was a fun talk.  We will do this again.