Record shopping. Is there a better way to spend an afternoon? I will admit that drinking beer with Jeff J. and going to the furniture store is pretty good too, but that is more of a Tuesday sort of activity. (That example is entirely based in reality.) As far as weekend afternoons go, record shopping is number one.
I currently have a fabulous routine worked out for Sunday afternoons that involves record shopping and food. Mmmm...records and biscuits from Popeye's. They pre-butter them for you! Or at the very least they coat them in a thick layer of something that is yellow and buttery tasting. LCG and I get a dozen and then go shopping and snacking.
I usually just buy whatever strikes my fancy, and this past Sunday I think I finally lost my mind. I was browsing the new LPs, and ended up saying to myself, "Ooh! A Gilby Clarke record." That wasn't actually my first thought. My first thought was, "Uh. Huh-huh. Gilby Clarke made another solo record." Then I remembered that I worked in a record store when Pawnshop Guitars came out, and I kind of liked it. So I couldn't control my urge, and ended up pulling The Hangover out of the bin to take a closer look. The sticker on the front of the album reads, "A rock n' roll record from former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke." Oh, what if that's true? That might be good.
The sticker reeled me right in, so I looked at the back cover. The first thing I checked was the release date. 1997. It's six years old, but I can still get it new on vinyl! That's because, as a general rule, distributors do not take returns on new LPs. Once a store has a copy of The Hangover by Gilby Clarke, it is going to sit and rot someone like me wanders in and is seized with the urge to own more bad solo records.
The next thing I saw is the fact that he covered Happiness Is A Warm Gun. That's pretty cool. Well, it has the potential to be pretty cool, we'll just have to see what he did with it. And the next track is Hang On To Yourself. Bowie alert! I was being drawn into Gilby's greasy haired web. So I started browsing the personnel listings. Clem Burke is the drummer on the first track! Clem Burke from Blondie! That seemed promising. Next track, guitar by Waddy Wachtel. I know him from his session work with Warren Zevon, but Jeff J. knows him from something else. I can't remember what.
Following that is a track that has Mike Fasano on drums. He just got kicked out of Warrant. That's all I know about him, although I have also heard a rumor that he is a great guy. And then I saw the fourth song. On guitar...Ryan Roxie! Do you hear me? Ryan Roxie! Ryan Roxie from the Electric Angels! He plays on five of the songs, and when I saw that, the record was as good as sold.
Hey! Eric Singer is on the album too! I never even noticed, because once I saw the large quantities of Ryan Roxie, I didn't even bother looking at the rest of the personnel. I just tucked it under my arm and went on the hunt for more Gilby Clarke albums. I decided that as long as I was buying The Hangover, I should also pick up his earlier work.
I ran up to LCG waving the album and chirped, "Gilby Clarke! Now I gotta get some Kill For Thrills!" Kill For Thrills was the band he was in before Guns N' Roses. "Uh-huh," said LCG, and I couldn't tell if he was immune to my enthusiasm, or if he just didn't know who Kill For Thrills was. "Jason Nesmith was in the band too!" "Uh-huh."
Imagine my surprise when there was not a copy of the Kill For Thrills album to be had. So I started looking for Candy, which is the band he was in before Kill For Thrills. Strike two! No copies of Candy either. My plan to have an all-Gilby Clarke day was foiled! That's okay, because I got his bad solo album, which I will always prefer over a bad album by a band. Bad solo albums are my special weakness. I haven't actually played it yet, but I won't be surprised at all if it becomes a favorite.