Gilby Clarke started his musical career during the first half of the Eighties, replacing Candy's original guitarist, Geoff Siegel, who later played with the Nymphs. Gilby eventually replaced the band's lead vocalist and penned several unreleased fan favorites including, "Dance America". He left them to form Kill for Thrills, a metal band which released the EP Commercial Suicide and the LP Dynamite from Nightmareland before eventually disbanding.
Kill for Thrills was a supergroup of sorts with Jason Nesmith (son of former Monkees Mike Nesmith) on Guitar, and Todd Muscat formerly of seminal L.A. Punk band Decry, on Bass and then later with Junkyard after Kill for Thrills. Muscat is also the brother of Brent Muscat (Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, Sin City Sinners). All members have deep roots in the Los Angeles rock scene.
Following rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin's decision to abruptly quit the band,[1] during Use Your Illusion Tour in 1991, citing a combination of Axl Rose's personal behavior (he would consistently delay the start of shows by hours at a time) and his mismanagement of the band[1] and difficulties being around Slash, Sorum, and McKagan due to his new-found sobriety and their continuing alcohol and substance addictions,[2] Clarke was chosen as his replacement, playing out the rest of gigs of the tour which lasted until 1993. His first show with the band was December 5, 1991 in Worcester, MA, USA.
During many shows throughout the tour, Rose introduced Clarke and had him play "Wild Horses", a Rolling Stones cover with Slash.
On November 23, 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of punk and glam rock covers entitled "The Spaghetti Incident?" where many of the tracks were recorded with original Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin during the Use Your Illusion I and II sessions and then were later re-recorded by Clarke.[3]
Clarke's contract was not renewed and he was gone from the band by 1995.[4] Slash stated in his book that Rose fired Clarke without consulting anyone, claiming he was only a "hired hand".[5] Clarke was not involved in the recording of "Sympathy for the Devil", stating "I knew that that was the ending [of Clarke's involvement in Guns N' Roses] because nobody told me about it. Officially I was in the band at that time, and they did that song without me".[6] Clarke also mentioned that before the final show of the Use Your Illusion Tour, Rose came up to him and told him "Hey, enjoy your last show".[6] Clarke later sued the band over the use of his likeness in Guns N' Roses Pinball.[7]
In 1994, he released his debut solo album Pawnshop Guitars on Virgin Records which featured contributions from several of his close friends. Ryan Roxie (Alice Cooper) on guitar, Will Effertz on Bass and Marc Danzeisen (Riverdogs, Little Caesar) Drums and backing vocals, also including all the then members of Guns N' Roses. It went gold in Argentina.
Following the end of the Use Your Illusion Tour in 1993, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash began recording demos of material that he had written during the tour, at his home studio with bandmate Matt Sorum. Clarke and Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez soon started to come around to jam with them. They eventually recorded twelve demo songs.[8]Eric Dover, live guitarist for Jellyfish, successfully auditioned to become the group's singer. Slash and Dover wrote the lyrics for all the tracks, except "Monkey Chow" which was contributed by Clarke and "Jizz da Pit" which is an instrumental written by both Slash and Inez. The album was released by Geffen Records in February 1995[9] charting at No. 70 on the Billboard 200.[10] For the tour in support of the album, James LoMenzo and Brian Tichy, both members of Zakk Wylde's solo band, joined the band to replace Inez and Sorum who could not tour with the group due to other commitments.[8] With Guns N' Roses regrouping to record a new album, Snakepit disbanded with Clarke resuming his solo career.
1997-2006: Solo career and new projects
Since then he has released another three solo albums, The Hangover, Rubber and 2002's Swag as well as the live album 99 Live.
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, and L.A. Guns' 2001 album Man in the Moon.
In 2002, Clarke worked with Nancy Sinatra on her album California Girl and a year later joined Heart on their national tour.
Clarke (far right) along with the reformed MC5 in 2005.
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 Rock Star to find a new lead singer. Lukas Rossi was chosen as their lead singer. However, there was already a band from California called Supernova. On June 26, 2006, the California band filed a federal lawsuit and on September 12, 2006, U.S. District Judge John A. Houston in San Diego ruled in favor of the original Supernova, granting their request for a preliminary injunction. The injunction stopped the band from Rock Star: Supernova 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." The band renamed itself 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 rerecording of the song "Black", featuring vocals by Dilana.
In July 2008 Clarke played at the G-TARanaki Guitar Festival in New Zealand. His solo band included bassist Muddy Stardust and drummer Dennis Morehouse. He then toured North America as part of the Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp.
In 2021 Clarke released his most successful album to date, The Gospel Truth on Golden Robot Records. It featured a host of well known musicians including Nikki Sixx.
Discography
Albums and EPs
With Candy
Whatever Happened To Fun (1985)
Teenage Neon Jungle (2003)
With Kill for Thrills
Commercial Suicide (1989)
Dynamite From Nightmareland (1990)
With The Loveless
guest lead guitar on "Wish I Could Fly" (1994) track on album "A Tale of Gin and Salvation".
^Slash; Anthony Bozza (October 30, 2007). Slash. HarperCollins. p. 576. ISBN978-0-06-135142-6.
^ abGiles, Jeff (October 11, 2014). "Gilby Clarke Opens Up About His Final Guns N' Roses Gig". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved April 25, 2015. My official end was actually at the last show of the last tour," he continued. "Axl was jokingly saying 'bye' to everybody, but he was really saying 'bye' to everybody. He even came up to me and said, 'Hey, enjoy your last show.'
^L.A. Weekly staff (May 11, 2015). "Book Excerpt: Duff McKagan Recalls the Bitter Dispute Over the Guns N' Roses Pinball Machine". LAweekly.com. Beth Sestanovich; Voice Media Group. Retrieved May 16, 2015. ... it was a foregone conclusion that Gilby would be in the band ... his picture was included on the big mural on the game ... suddenly (he) wasn't in the band anymore. Gilby sued us for using his likeness on the machine
