Eric Martin has confirmed that Mr. Big will “definitely” reunite later this year.
The Los Angeles Veterans band formed in 1988 and originally consisted of Martin (vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass) and Pat Torpey (drums). In 2002, the band broke up, and then reunited in 2008. Torpey died in 2018, causing the band to break up again.
During a recent interview with The Metal Voice, Martin revealed that Mr. Big’s return is scheduled for 2023 with a new drummer.
“Well, listen, Mr. Big is bound to happen. There’s no doubt about it,” he explained (via Blabbermouth).
“This will happen in the middle of 2023. And it will be several dates. We are working on the USA and possibly a tour… Paul is involved — obviously Paul Gilbert, the original guitarist. [Bassist] Billy Sheehan… the spirit of Pat Torpey.”
Martin continued: “He’s going to be a phenomenal drummer. It won’t be [former drummer Mr. Big] Matt Starr. Matt is minding his own business; I think he’s playing with Ace Fraley right now.”
Offering additional information about the new member, the singer added: “I’ll tell you that he sent the audition video. And I watched it. It was “Lucky This Time”, which we almost never performed — mostly me, because it was very hard to sing it.
“It’s on the album [1991] “Lean Into It”. And what he did was that he thought he was going to win the audition, so he played drums and sang solos and harmonies throughout. And it was phenomenal.”
Martin further teased that “everyone knows [the new drummer],” saying, “One really, really cool thing is that he was a big fan of Pat Torpey. And I totally noticed how when he was making videos, when he was playing the drums and how he was tuning the drums, he was pissing Pat off.
“When he played Pat’s snare drum hit, snare drum crack, it was definitely Pat Torpey. I think Pat would approve of this new mystery man.
You can watch the interview in full in the video above.
Mr. Big has released nine studio albums during his career, the latest of which was 2017’s “Defying Gravity”. The last live performance of the band took place in August 2018, according to Setlist.FM .
