Paul Gilbert has premiered the title track from his new album, I Can Destroy, and you can hear it below.
I Can Destroy—Gilbert's 17th solo release—will be out May 27 via The Orchard.
“My guitar playing was born from playing in my teenage heavy rock bands,” Gilbert says. “After playing for 40 years, I’ve been able to evolve the way I see the fretboard and how I hear the guitar in my head. This opens up my soloing and also my writing. I couldn’t have written this music when I was a kid. I couldn’t have written these lyrics either. I needed time to live…to experience joy, and anger, and love, and frustration at people who don’t use their turn signals.”I Can Destroy cuts a wide swath of styles and textures, from the full-frontal assault of “Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal” to the jazz-blues lament of “One Woman Too Many,” which features Gilbert’s patented four-pick Makita drill-bit riffery.
The album was produced by Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Rush, Joe Bonamassa).
"One thing I knew about working with Kevin as a solo artist is that there weren’t going to be that many overdubs on the record—not that many takes, and not many fixes,” Gilbert says. “As a musician, that puts the fear into you. It’s a good fear, and it made me want to prepare in a pretty healthy way.
“On drums, we’ve got Thomas Lang, who’s somewhat of a drumming legend, and on bass is Kevin Chown. He was the only guy I’d never worked with before, and he was great. He played all the right stuff. He’s played with everybody from Chuck Berry and Little Richard to Sebastian Bach.”
The album is available now for preorder; fans who pre-order the album will receive an automatic download of “I Can Destroy.”
If you're into guitar solos, jump directly to 2:10 and 5:06.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
