"When we play 'To Be With You' - there are thousands of people, smiling, singing, some of them crying with joy.

A supergroup of super musicians who reunited this year!

The incredible MR. BIGВ will headline theВ special radio Tangra Mega Rock night at the ARENA MUZIKA 2009 festival on 1 October.В 

Six days before the show we hook up with bassplayer Billy Sheehan on the telephone.В 

and interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

HEY BILL WHERE ARE YOU AT THE MOMENT?
I am in Munich, Germany.

IS THIS THE TIME OF THE OKTOBERFEST?
Well, I think there are a lot of people drinking beer, so it must be, yeah!

LAST YEAR, IN OCTOBER ACTUALLY, WE HAD YOUR GUITARIST MR. PAUL GILBERT PLAYING LIVE IN BULGARIA, SO IN THE INTERVIEW WE DID WE ASKED HIMВ  ABOUT A POSSIBLE MR.BIG REUNION.

WELL, HE SAID HE WAS PRETTY MUCH BUSY WITH HIS ONE STUFF AND THAT IF THIS REUNION HAPPENS IT WILL BE SOOMEWHERE IN THE FUTURE…WHEN EXACTLY DID YOU GUYS HOOK UP TOGETHER AGAIN AND TOOK THE DECISION TO REUNITE?
Well. It was about almost a year ago. Paul played on my solo record – ‘Holy Cow’. We started to talk about the old days and then we jammed together at a gig a few days later and had a wonderful time.

Then we started to send emails back and forth and all decided just to have a dinner together, just the band members. And we thought it would be great fun to play again. And just for no reason other than we really had a great time in the old days and would be fun to do that again and will do a lot of people happy!

THE NEXT BIG QUESTION FOR THE FANS IS – WILL THERE EVER BE A NEW MR.BIG STUDIO RECORD, OR IT’S TOO EARLY TO SAY?
Well, it’s a little early but I ‘m sure that if we get the opportunity to, we will. We don’t have any plans now, maybe because there sare so many places we must play. First, we are coming to Sofia – we are very excited about that.

But we also have Australia and South America and we still haven’t even done one show in America yet. So we have a lot of shows to do still. And we’ll be very busy for a while doing these shows.  

AS FAR AS I REMEMBER, YOU PERSONALLY BILL, PLAYED A SHOW IN SOFIA THREE YEARS AGO WITH STEVE VAI, BUT IT WAS SO POORELY PROMOTED, THAT THERE WERE NO MANY PEOPLE KNOWING ABOUT IT. SO WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE FROM SOFIA?
Oh, I actually have good memories. I remember playing there and had a wonderful time. We had a great night and one of my best memories of Bulgaria was - on a highway, we had to stop at a hotel. I don’t even know what city it was but the people at the hotel …it was my first time through Bulgaria… the people were so nice and so sweet and took such good care of us!

We always said – man! We were joking that we wanted to move to Bulgaria. Because the people are just so nice. It was an incredible day for us. We had to stay at the hotel where our bus driver had to sleep…and what a wonderful experience it was! That’s really cool!

YOU SAID THAT PROBABLY, IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY, AFTER FINISHING THE TOUR YOU MAY RECORD THE NEXT STUDIO RECORD OF MR.BIG AND THAT’S GREAT, BUT I’M SURE YOU MUST HAVE A MUCH CLEARER IDEA ABOUT YOUR OWN SOLO STUFF.

SO CAN WE EXPECT SOME SOLO RECORDINGS FROM BILLY SHEEHAN IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
Well, again it’s a time factor. But all of us are always writing songs and we are always working, so I’m sure I’ll be when I get home…  I have maybe two months free in the holidays in November and December.
So I probably will be working on a lot of music for myself, for potential MR.BIG, for NIACIN – a band I have with Dennis Chambers on drums and many many things. So it’s always a busy time and I ‘m always working on something. 

I SHOULD MANDATORILY ASK YOU ABOUT THIS GREAT BAND YOU HAD IN THE EARLY DAYS OF DAVID LEE ROTH’S SOLO CAREER…
Heh

I MEAN YOU ARE A GREAT MUSICIAN YOURSELF, BUT WHO OF THE GUITARIST YOU HAVE PLAYED WITH IS CLOSER TO YOUR VISION OF THE PERFECT MUSICIAN – STEVE VAI OR PAUL GILBERT? AND WHERE DO YOU PLACE EDDIE VAN HALEN AS A GUITARIST? WAS HE AN INSPIRATION FOR YOU?
Of course he was! Very much! My old band – Talas, we toured with Van Halen in 1980. We did about 30 shows with them and we got to know them very well. That was a wonderfull experience. But it’s hard to pick a favourite guitarist. I really have great respect for Steve. Paul is so much fun to play with! Ed Van Halen is the master of his craft! Would be hard for me to pick one because I do really love them all.

Right now with Mr. BIG though, Paul and I are really having a great time playing together! We’d listen to each other and we play and improvise and mixing a really exciting night and makes every night unique. Every show is different from every other! So it’s very very nice!

YOU ARE A BASS PLAYER, SO WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS YOUNG FELLOW _ WOLFGANG VAN HALEN? HE STARTED TO PLAY IN HIS DAD’S BAND  WHEN HE WAS ONLY 15…
He is a pretty good bass player! But I certainly would prefer the original line up. When a band reunites, because I’m a fan, I wanna see the original guys. So that’s why in Mr. Big could do the original line up! I love Van Halen, but I was sad to see Michael was not there!

WHATВ SONG WITHIN THE WHOLE MR.BIG SETLIST IS THE ONEВ THAT YOU GUYS HAVE THE MOST FUN PLAYING?
As musicians, 'Colorado Bulldog' is a lot of fun. But as bandmembers, when we play 'To Be With You' we look out in the audience and there are thousands of people, smiling, singing, some of them crying with joy. It's a beautiful thing to see!

As musicians of course we love to play the wild stuff but we also really love, like I said before... we made a lot of people happy. You should see what it looks like from the stage when we look out and see the lights and people's faces. Everyone is smiling! Everyone is enjoying it and it's a beautiful thing!

WHICH PROBABLY MEANS THAT THOSE WHO SAY LOVE WILL SAVE THE WORLD ARE RIGHT?
Well, eventually it will...it looks a long way off, but I think it will someday!

The entire text of the interview will be published here soon. In the meantime, check out the audio file below!

rights Tangra Mega Rock