Mr. Big wants to be with you on Halloween

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fans of American rock band Mr. Big have an extra exciting Halloween to look forward to as the group composed of Eric Martin (lead vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass), and Pat Torpey (drums) is back in the country to play a one-night show in Manila on October 31. This time, the band will be bringing its greatest hits to the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena stage.

But prior to playing their Friday show, Mr. Big frontman Eric Martin, through a one-on-one interview with INQUIRER.net, expressed the band’s wish to be with its Filipino fans on Halloween.

“I know you gotta be there to pass out candy to the kids that come to the door, but yeah, there’ll be next year. We’re you’re now. We wanna party with you!” he said.

Here’s more of what the band (through Eric Martin and Paul Gilbert) shared during the interview:

Q: What keeps Mr. Big going?

Paul: What keeps the band going for this long? Music, friendship, and the amazing success that we’ve had from our fans around the world including the Philippines.

Eric: I was gonna answer humor.

Paul: Carrot Juice, and the really good French Toast that we had this morning at the hotel.

Q: How do you find the trend in the music industry today, particularly in the rock genre?

Paul: I don’t know anything about the music industry. I’m a guitar player and I just get deep inside my instrument and I let the manager take care of the industry. Thank goodness he’s there doing that job because it will drive me out of my mind. I like being a musician, I like notes, and the rhythm, and the music, and the sound, and playing for the audience. The business part of it… then pretends to be dozing off.

Eric: You know, music industry itself, I don’t know too much about it. But I know I like a lot of new bands, rock and roll bands.

Q: Can you name some?

Eric: There’s a band called the Rival Sons… They’re great. And I listen to other music as well, some pop music as well. And my wife is a huge fan of The Script. That kid’s got great lyrics, really great messages and he’s fun on stage, awesome melodies.

Q: How about Paul?

Paul: There’s a guitar player I really like, he’s name is Kid Andersen. He’s a blues guitar player. I think he’s not super young, he’s probably 30s or 35, but he’s great… I think he’s from Norway but lives in the States. I love his guitar playing, Kid Andersen.

Q: How does your music from then and now differ?

Paul: Music is kinda like a language. [Today] I know a couple more words but it’s still me, it’s still us talking, it’s still the same language, maybe just has a few new messages, [but] it’s still us.

Eric: Most of our music has those few ingredients; you know the certain blues side to it, rootsy, quasi, fiery guitars. But we stay kinda true to that sort of classic rock sound for years.

Q: Is there any genre that Mr. Big would like to do but still hasn’t tried?

Eric: For Mr. Big, our band, we don’t wanna do any new genre. I don’t think we do. I’m not speaking for the rest of the gang but I like it, what we’re doing. And I even liked it for 25 years. The fans like it too. If we changed, they might gotta go.

Q: Speaking of fans, do you have any unique encounter with your Filipino fans that you can’t forget?

Paul: The best encounter is the show. Just walking on stage and people will be happy and sing along with us. That’s sort of how it should be. You don’t really wanna come to your hotel room and have somebody hiding in the shower. I had a funny encounter with a fan. This is a different tour I was on, and a fan actually fell through the ceiling. He has somehow crawled like into the walls and he was up on the ceiling and all of a sudden it came apart. So the ceiling is falling down and he fell like right in the middle of the table and we were like “arghh!”, the food is going everywhere and he just runs away, he had been drinking a lot.

Q: Do you have any advice for young aspiring musicians who dream to be like Mr. Big?

Paul: Lots of advice. Join my online guitar school and I’ll show you how to play! [But] I would say for young musicians, it’s a really different musical culture right now than when I was growing up… When I was growing up there was no internet and so the only way to play music was to find other people. There was no computer where you can do multi-track or make your own demo, you had to play with other people… I know that’s difficult these days… But even if you get just one other person from your family or person in your school who can play any instrument… Get together and jam. Play things, not just exercise, play songs – things that have a rhythm.

Eric: My motto is when you least expect it, good things will happen for you. If you spend your whole life worrying about “Oh god I’m 25 years old I haven’t made it yet”, oh man, you’re kinda missing out… But god I think everybody should be an aspiring musician because music changes your whole, it’s so emotional, it’s passionate, it’s romantic. It’s everything. I mean for me it is. I can’t see a world without it.

Paul: I’m still an aspiring musician. Sometimes perspiring.

And when asked how the band is coping with its current tour setup where drummer Matt Starr is filling for Pat Torpey who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease earlier this year, Paul said “Fortunately when we’re rehearsing, Pat Torpey is there every day. He’s guiding Matt and showing him his parts, and really sort of producing him. And Matt’s great too. He’s really an excellent musician but you know, he has a lot of the help and the flavor of Pat Torpey because Pat is at rehearsal, Pat is here on tour, and of course for some of the songs, Pat plays as well.”

Tickets to the Mr. Big Live in Manila show are available at all SM Tickets outlets nationwide and at smtickets.com, meanwhile special packages are offered by PULP Royalty.

This ultimate Halloween treat for Mr. Big fans is powered PULP Live World and 28BLACK.