Gilby Clarke In T.O. Tonight

With the cancellation of the last 15 dates of Guns N' Roses' North American tour, Axl got some much needed time to work on the new Gunner's album. Meanwhile Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt Sorum have reunited and are working together on new material. Everyone and their brother have been named as a possible lead singer, including ex-Age Of Electric and current Static In Stereo frontman Todd Kerns. This leads to the question, what's Gilby Clarke up to?

Well longtime Gunners fans may have the opportunity to ask the group's onetime guitarist when Clarke comes to Toronto tonight (Thursday, January 9). He'll be in town to perform a show at Healey's with the club's namesake, Jeff Healey.

Clarke began his musical career in 1985 with the band Candy (who spent some time opening for Rick Springfield and Canadian icon Corey Hart) before moving on and forming the band Kill For Thrills. When Izzy Stradlin departed G N' R in the midst of their Use Your Illusion world tour, Clarke auditioned and was invited to join the group. He played with them for the duration of the massive two year arena and stadium tour. After coming off the road, Clarke joined Axl and the boys in the studio to record G N' R's album of punk covers, The Spaghetti Incident. Featuring songs from the likes of The Stooges, New York Dolls and The Misfits, the album was panned by critics. Some minor controversy was created when it was revealed that the "secret" song at the end of the album was a cover of murder cult leader Charles Manson's "Look At Your Game Girl" from his 1970 album, LIE: The Love & Terror Cult.

When Axl started cleaning house in 1994, Clarke was one of the first to go as his sound did not fit in with the direction Axl wanted to take the band. Clarke released a solo album, Pawnshop Guitars, before hooking up with former bandmate Slash and his new group Slash's Snake Pit. Clarke played guitar on their debut album and accompanied them on tour before getting back to work on his solo career. Since then he has put out several more releases, including 1997's Hangover, 1998's Rubber, 1999's live album fittingly titled '99 Live and 2002's Swag on Spitfire Records. The busy musician has also produced several records for the likes of LA Guns and the Beat Angels and in 2001 released an album on V2 Records with the group Col. Parker, who's membership includes former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom. As for Guns N' Roses output, Clarke's playing can be heard on the group's live album, Live Era: '87-'93, which was released by Geffen in 1999.

With his excellent guitar playing ability and rock and blues heritage, a bill with Clarke and Healey should make for a great evening of live music.

January 9 Toronto, ON @ Healey's (w/ Jeff Healey)