Geeking out BIG time

As a rock fan, you tend to geek out over your favorite bands. This happens at all stages of fandom from the pre-adolescent who first "gets it" to the lifer who still checks out the new stuff well into middle age and beyond. Somewhere in the middle some of your old favorites long thought gone begin reforming. Sometimes it's a quick cash-in, sometimes it's genuine. Sometimes the music is good, sometimes not so much. Either way, the initial announcement sends the fan into a geeked-out state of excitement that he feels he must share with everyone, and then defend when everybody else wonders why the hell he cares and why would he want those guys to come back in the first place. That's where I am, so here we go.

The original line-up of MR. BIG has reunited.

Okay, everyone who snickered and sang an off key satirical version of To Be With You can cram it up their cram-hole. As with many other bands of their era, Mr. Big was unfairly labeled as a "band for chicks" and lumped in with hair bands because of that song. The reality is that that song only represents one side of the band, and it was never intended as a single. Some DJ in Nebraska started playing it and one thing led to another, next thing you know it's a number one.

Anyone who was paying attention knew what Mr. Big was really about...well crafted, diverse songs performed by first rate musicians. Each album contained many different styles from what
I refer to as riff-o-rama rock songs (Addicted To That Rush, Colorado Bulldog, Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy), bluesy/groove based songs (Alive And Kickin', Price You Gotta Pay, Jane Doe), interesting covers (30 Days In The Hole, Mr. Big), unique pop rockers (Green tinted Sixties Mind, Take Cover), and, yeah okay, their fair share of ballads. When compared to most bands who only do one, maybe two styles of songs that's a treasure trove of material. It wasn't all great, but it was always interesting and fun to listen to.

As for the musicianship, all ya really gotta do is listen past the surface. Paul Gilbert is widely considered a guitar virtuoso, although an under rated one. Beyond being technically proficient he plays with a lot of melody and feel, far more than your average shredder. Pat Torpey is a solid time keeper, able to pound out a steady 4/4 as well as a nice groove. Anyone who toured with both Robert Plant and Belinda Carslile has to be versatile and knowledgeable don'tcha think? Eric Martin's vocals were always set apart from most lead singers, as he has a raspy, blues/soul based voice that is highly effective when applied to hard rock music and quite affecting on the ballads. Sure, he kinda looked like a girl at one stage but with the subsequent hair cut that's been fixed. Mostly. And last but about as far removed from least as you can get is Billy Sheehan on the bass. Ask just about anybody and they'll tell you about his technical abilities. I think he does get a little carried away sometimes in his instrumental recordings, but put him the context of a real honest to goodness rock band filled with people of the same caliber and the man's gold. Apart from playing bass solos in songs (ones that are actually listenable and make sense at that), Billy put lots of cool little licks into the back round of songs to reward the discriminating listener. Put that all together and they could rival any band of the time, and a lot of today's bands too.

From 1989-1997 that was the case and then Gilbert left the band due to personal and creative conflicts. The guys soldiered on for two releases with Ritchie Kotzen on guitar. His style seemed to fit pretty well, but the overall guitar tone was lacking the bite of Paul Gilbert, and the material didn't have the same fire. There were some good moments to be sure, but as is usually the case in these situations, it just wasn't the same.

Over the years, the individual members worked on and off with each other, including billy and Paul's involvement in the Who tribute "The Amazing Journey" also featuring Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy and Extreme's Gary Cherone. After different members playing together on and off for a while, someone involved with the Rocklahoma Festival tried to scam the band members into reuniting at their event. Didn't happen, but it did get everyone thinking, and now the band is back.

Time will tell if they can keep this all together, or if it will all go up in smoke. So far, only a tour of Asia has been confirmed, with almost all dates selling out-The Budokan tickets were gone in fifteen minutes!-and a live DVD is to be recorded from the Budokan show. A tour of Europe and the U.S. is said to be in the works. New material is possible, but the guys are taking things one step at a time.

So that's my current geek out moment, complete with my reasons for liking the band and a brief history lesson to catch everyone up. Of course I don't expect everyone else to be as excited as I am about this news as Mr. Big's popularity in this country was short lived due to the whole grunge thing and the fact that the band was so misunderstood. But for those of us who did follow the band and have kept a soft spot for them, this is great news and we're all pretty excited about things right about now. I'm going to dig out some of my live imports (told you I was a fan), and listen to them loudly in my car for the next few days. If you've got some old Mr. Big stuff lying around, or you have a reliable download service, I'd encourage taking a listen. It might just hold up, or at least be refreshing to hear again.