Okay, this guy Gilby Clarke was in Guns N’ Roses. He also played guitar for the MC5 , Nancy Sinatra, Heart and now Rockstar: Supernova.

He twiddled production knobs for internationally lauded, tumbledown punks The Bronx, LA Guns & Alice Cooper. More importantly, he’s made a bunch of records that rock ’n’ roll purists the world over treasure and occasionally argue about.

If that ain’t a cache of cred, than what is?

But forget all that. What you should know is this: Gilby Clarke understands rock ’n’ roll; hell, his heart pumps the shit.
As a singer, guitarist and songwriter he’s an old-school mash-up of Keef, Johnny Thunders, and B.B. King.

See, the tousled guitar hero was but a 17 -year-old Cleveland punk when he split for the sparkly glit of Hollywood. A fresh-off-the-bus cliché? Nah, Clarke made it all his own.

He dived into the Tinseltown music scene headfirst and came up swinging in Candy. (whose lone 1984 Polygram album, Whatever Happened to Fun?, is referenced in the hippest of rock crit corners; copies fetch hefty coin on Ebay). When the criminally ignored Candy soured, Clarke fronted Kill for Thrills, a wonderfully strident, big riff quartet (for whom Clarke penned the lion’s share of tunes).

From there, Clarke won Izzy’s spot in the Guns N’ Roses circus; private jets, football stadiums and diplomatic immunity followed. He spent three years on the massive Use Your Illusion world tour that began in the fall of ’91. Clarke appeared on the GN’R albums’ The Spaghetti Incident, Live Era ’88 – ’91 and Greatest Hits. While a member of the band he was a recipient of the MTV Video Vanguard Award. Oh yeah, let’s not forget… he has his picture on the GNR pinball machine too.

When the Guns machine imploded at the behest of W. Axl Rose, Clarke hit out on his own armed with a les paul and a handful of songs.

Hence his solo show, which kicked off in ’94 with the critically gushed over Pawnshop Guitars (included the four-on-the-floor rock radio hits “Cure Me…Or Kill Me,” and “Tijuana Jail”), followed by ’97’s The Hangover (two cuts can be heard in the Bruce Willis vehicle The Story of Us), ’98’s Rubber, ’99’s 99 Live, and 2002’s Swag.

In the meantime, the guitarist began sharpening his studio skills in his own Redrum recording facility. He’s produced many, including LA Guns, Beat Angels and the aforementioned Rolling Stone Best New Artist pick The Bronx.

For kicks, Clarke launched a couple of jam nights in LA. His all-star Muddy Waters-inspired Blues Mafia gigs weekly at the world famous jazz club the Baked Potato. Another, The Starfuckers, rip the Sunset Boulevard porn-and-TV-star-studded den the Cat Club. Both nights continue to be standing-room-only.

Oh, yeah, Clarke and Stray Cat Slim Jim Phantom, formed a killer band called Col. Parker, whose rootsy, garage rock debut on V2, Rock N’ Roll Music, came out in ’02. That record made a few year-end key top-ten lists.

In ’03 Gilby joined Heart for their national tour and TV appearances. He oversaw much of Nancy Sinatra’s California Girl record, and played guitar in her touring band.

When Clarke’s not off on some tour or tweaking rock ’n’ roll racket in his studio you might find him nosing around motorcycle and classic car shows. Then it’s not surprising that Clarke gets mad respect from the biker contingent. And well he should, the man knows his Harleys. He’s been spotted on them everywhere, from the grimy backstreets of Hollywood to the cover of Hot Bike Magazine. In fact, Clarke mounted his Fat Boy and rode 3,000 miles to the ’04 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally where he gigged with Heart at the Buffalo Chip Campgrounds.

In 2006 Gilby starred on CBS’s Rockstar:Supernova. Gilby, Tommy Lee and Jason Newstead started a new band and used the television show to pick a singer. They released a record for Epic and launched a world tour the following year. Gilby also played guitar for the VH1 Rock Honors tribute to Kiss with his new bandmate Tommy.

To this day Gilby continues to write gut-bucket rock ’n’ roll songs with fat choruses. He continues to produce worthy bands. You can find him slinging guitar and doing his Lennonesque vocal thing in the Blues Mafia, The Starfuckers and on occasional solo dates around the globe.

He’s also one of the sweetest gents you could ever hope to meet. He’s a guitar hero, certainly, but also a gentlemanly student of rock ’n’ roll.

-by Brian Smith – music journalist

HESSLER, under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions, must through vicious determination execute their mission by any means necessary so as to set them apart and above other units in the same war.

HESSLER is an American heavy metal band based in Chicago, IL. Known for their energetic live performances, the band has made a mark in the metal and rock scenes through consistent promotion and touring. HESSLER have toured the U.S. & Canada, released five music videos, performed with an array of national and international acts, and are the subject of a documentary which has premiered in numerous festivals around the globe.

Formed in 2008 by founder and guitarist Igz Kincaid, HESSLER built a following in the Chicago music scene through various performances and relentless promotion. The “Bad Blood” E.P. was released in 2011 and the band played through the next year racking up regional and national performances, including SXSW & Rocklahoma, which shaped the band for their first full-length album “Comes With the Territory”. After the album release on November 27, 2012, the band embarked on a U.S. tour in support. A return to SXSW 2013 kicked off a new month long U.S. Tour followed by a return performance at Rocklahoma w/ Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains, Korn, and many more. HESSLER provided music for the first documentary on legendary wrestler “The Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington. During the summer after successful festival performances, the band was voted the “Best Metal Band” by Chicago Reader and released a new music video was released through Revolver Magazine.

HESSLER completed a 25 show coast-to-coast U.S. to close out the year and started 2014 off with the release of a new single/music video which was followed by an east coast tour. On June 10, HESSLER released a new E.P. titled ‘Ghost Dance’. The E.P. captures an evolving band sharpened by touring. The summer of 2014 was comprised of a 36 date tour, which included their first performances in the Pacific Northwest as well as six dates in Canada. A video for the second single off of the Ghost Dance E.P. titled “Stuck On You” was released on October 9, 2014. Currently the band is working on new material to be released in 2015.

HESSLER have performed at SXSW and Rocklahoma in 2012 and 2013, Summerfest in 2012, and shared the stage with Slash, Buckcherry, All That Remains, Steel Panther, W.A.S.P., Sebastian Bach, RATT, Mushroomhead, U.F.O., Michael Schenker, Cinderella, Loudness, Doro Pesch, U.D.O., Skid Row, L.A. Guns, D-A-D., Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden), Sister Sin, Crashdiet, Otep, Butcher Babies, Wednesday 13, The Last Vegas, and many more.