BILLY SHEEHAN On MR. BIG Reunion -

BILLY SHEEHAN On MR. BIG Reunion - "Nobody Dangled Cash In Front Of Us"



www.BigMusicGeek.com recently caught up with bassist Billy Sheehan (MR. BIG, DEVIL'S SLINGSHOT) to discuss his new solo album, Holy Cow. and the recent Mr. Big reunion. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

BMG: What were the main motivations behind Mr. Big reuniting? I had always assumed, based solely on the rumors and half-truths that circulated in the press, that a full-fledged reunion simply would not be realistic…

Billy: “One of the beginnings of that was when Paul (Gilbert) played on Holy Cow on the song 'Dynamic Exhilarator'. It was the first time we had worked in a studio together since we had been in Mr. Big together. We jammed a zillion times and we hang out together a lot because we’re both here in L.A., but we never actually thought about working together. When he came in to do the solo on 'Dynamic Exhilarator', we had a blast. It was awesome. He did a great, great solo. The first one is amazing and the second one somehow tops it (laughs). So after that, we had a little more organized jam here in L.A. when he played with his band. Ritchie Kotzen was there and Pat Torpey was there and we played a couple of Mr. Big songs. The crowd went out of their minds and we were like ‘The only thing that could top this is if (vocalist) Eric (Martin) was here.’ So a couple of E-Mails started floating back and forth and the next thing you know, we said ‘Well, let’s get together and have dinner just to hang’ and right at that point, we just said ‘Yeah, let’s just do it’. The good thing about it is that nobody dangled cash in front of us. It didn’t come from outside of us. It wasn’t where someone had an idea and said ‘Yeah, let’s put your band back together. Let’s put you on a bus somewhere for six months before you break up again’. So it actually came from us, from our desire to really want to play together again and how much we loved the band. It was self-generated and organic in that respect, so now it’s going to happen again.”

BMG: Once the reunion commenced, how difficult was it to avoid the animosities and difficulties of the past?

Billy: “I didn’t notice a thing. We were together in Japan for a whole week in close quarters doing press for the upcoming tour, the upcoming releases and things like that and they had a hard time getting us from one room into the interview room because we were so busy telling stories about adventures we’ve had since the band and during the band. We had people around us the whole time. I remember asking the translator…I forget what her name was 'You’ve been around us the whole time, translating everything. You can tell people this is the real thing, right?' And she says ‘Tell them? I’m going to write a book about it.’ So we actually did have a great time. Most of the animosities of the past, the difficulties are like when you meet an old friend that you grew up with all through your youth, but for some reason, in the fifth grade, you had a fight and never talked to each other again. Well, when you get back together again, it’s like it never happened. It was very much like that.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.