Gilby Clarke

Gilby Clarke is a guitarist and record producer, born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 17, 1962. He spent his childhood playing with musical instruments and neglecting school. He is also married to one of the deans of Rock of Love: Charm School Daniella Clarke.

He is best known for a 3-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N’ Roses. He joined Guns N’ Roses in November 1991, replacing Izzy Stradlin, who quit the band in the middle of a 28-month world tour.

He has also played with Rock Star Supernova, Heart, Nancy Sinatra, Slash’s Snakepit, Kathy Valentine (of the Go-Go’s) and the reformed MC5 on their 2005 European tour.

Clarke has produced for various types of artists, including L.A. Guns, Bullets and Octane, The Bronx, Girlsplayboys , Vains of Jenna and Ladyjack amongst others.
Pre-Guns N’ Roses Era (1985-1991):

Gilby Clarke started his musical career during the first half of the Eighties, replacing Candy’s original guitarist, Geoff «Rexx» Siegel. He left them to form Kill For Thrills, a mainstream metal band which released the EP Commercial Suicide and the LP Dynamite from Nightmareland and then disbanded.
Guns N’ Roses (1991-1994):

In November 1991 Clarke joined Guns N’ Roses, following the departure of their original rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. Ironically, Clarke had been friends with Stradlin when he first moved to L.A. In another ironic twist, for years Rose had confused Clarke with another person he had met. When Stradlin brought up forming a band with Clarke, Rose, thinking of the wrong person, said that he was cool enough, but wasn’t keen on the idea of forming a band with him. When Stradlin departed after the end of Guns’ European tour, Rose finally met Clarke for real. Rose wasn’t entirely sure about bringing him into the band, until he heard him jamming on «Coma», which made up his mind.

He toured extensively with the band on their huge Use Your Illusion Tour between 1991 and 1993 and appeared on the Guns N’ Roses covers album «The Spaghetti Incident?», Live Era: ‘87-‘93 & Greatest Hits.

Gilby’s first video with Guns N’ Roses was November Rain. He also appeared in Live in Tokyo 1 & 2, Welcome to the Videos, as well as the Making of November Rain and Making of Estranged.

Gilby received MTV’s Video Vanguard award as a member of Guns N’ Roses.

Shortly before the band recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones’ «Sympathy for the Devil» for the film Interview with the Vampire, Clarke was replaced by lead singer Axl Rose’s long-time friend Paul Tobias.

In a bizarre twist,[vague] Clarke collaborated with guitarist Tracii Guns on the album The Roots of Guns N’ Roses. Issued in 2004, the album featured demo recordings of future Guns N’ Roses songs such as «Reckless Life» and «Anything Goes» recorded by Axl’s pre-GNR band, Hollywood Rose, in the mid-eighties.
Solo career (1994-2006):

In 1994, he released his debut solo album Pawnshop Guitars which featured contributions from several of his friends including all the then members of Guns N’ Roses. It went gold in Argentina.

Since then he has released another three solo albums, The Hangover, Rubber and 2002’s Swag as well as the live album 99 Live. Gilby also featured on Slash’s Snakepit’s It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere, contributing rhythm guitar parts, the song «Monkey Chow» and appearing in Slash’s touring band.

He formed the band Col. Parker with ex-Stray Cat Slim Jim Phantom and former touring additional GN’R keybordist Teddy «Zig Zag» Andreadis, releasing the album Rock N Roll Music in 2001.

In addition, he made a guest appearance on the L.A. Guns album Shrinking Violet, which he also produced. Clarke also produced The Bronx’s self-titled album released in 2003 and Girlsplayboys debut album From Ritual to Romance in 2006.

In 2002 Clarke worked with Nancy Sinatra on her album California Girl and a year later joined Heart on their national tour.

In 2006, Clarke embarked on a solo tour across America and Europe before joining former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist Lukas Rossi in the band Rock Star Supernova.

In 2007 he released a best of album featuring tracks from all of his solo albums as well as two songs from the Col. Parker project and a re-recording of the song «Black», featuring vocals by Rock Star: Supernova runner-up Dilana.
Rockstar: Supernova (2006-Present):

In 2006, Mötley Crüe drummer, Tommy Lee, formed Supernova with Clarke on guitars and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. The band used the TV show Rockstar to find a new lead singer. Lukas Rossi was chosen as their lead singer (although several fans have believed Toby Rand was his favorite.)

The name Supernova however was already taken; another band from California was touring with the name before the Clarke incarnation. On June 26, 2006, the latter band filed a federal lawsuit.

On Tuesday, September 12, 2006, San Diego Judge John Houston ruled in favor of the original Supernova, granting their request for a preliminary injunction. The injunction keeps the producers of «Rock Star: Supernova» — which concluded September 13 as a television show, but will continue as a recording, touring, and merchandise entity for some time to follow — from «performing rock and roll music, or recording, or selling rock and roll music recordings under the same name, pending a trial of this action on its merits, or until otherwise ordered by the court.» As such, the band has renamed itself as Rock Star Supernova, for the moment at least.

He produced a cover of Johnny Cash’s «Ring of Fire» on Rockstar: Supernova runner-up Dilana Robichaux’s 2007 album, also released as a single on digital download websites.

In July 2008 Gilby Clarke played at the G-TARanaki Guitar Festival in New Zealand. His solo band included bassist Muddy Stardust and drummer Muddy Stardust. He then toured North America as part of the Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp.