HOLLYWOOD (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Mr. Big is back with their new studio album entitled "What If…" out now on Frontiers Records. This is the first album the band has released since "Hey Man," sixteen years ago.
What If… is Mr. Big’s first all original album since the reunion of the four original members, Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey back in early 2009.
Guitarist Paul Gilbert said: “This is the first Mr. Big album I have been a part of, since fourteen years and it was done in a snap. It was fun and we had really a good time in making this one."
Continued Billy Sheehan, “It’s so great to be back with Paul, Eric and Pat too. We wrote this record like we did in the old days for the first 2 records. Jamming together in the same room to write songs."
Pat Torpey added, “Some of the recording process is different now from what we were used to in the old times. But I think this record really managed to capture the performances of the band, not of the individual musicians."
What If… was produced by Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Rush, Iron Maiden) and the release will be followed by a World Tour which will kick off in South America in March and will hit Europe in early summer.
Eric Martin concluded, “I like to compare this to the first album, when we just got to know each other in a rehearsal studio and cut it in 8 or 9 days. This is like chapter 2. We had so many years, so many records and so many things behind us. Now this feels like a beautiful brand new chapter starting for all of us."
Formed in 1988, Mr. Big forged its place in hard rock by combining trademark "shredding" musicianship with vocal harmonies. The original line-up – vocalist Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Pat Torpey. Mr. Big produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres – be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock.
Their hits included "Wild World," "Green-Tinted sixties Mind," "Just Take My Heart," and "To Be With You," which held as Billboard's Hot 100 number one single in 15 countries for multiple weeks, in 1991.
— Crystal Lynn Huntoon
