
Mr. Big's tenth studio album Ten features eleven new original tracks and pays tribute to late drummer Pat Torpey.
In a tribute to their late drummer Pat Torpey, Martin, Gilbert, and bassist Billy Sheehan have enlisted the exceptional talents of Nick D'Virgilio on drums for Ten, which was produced by Jay Ruston and MR. BIG.
In the midst of their final tour - The BIG Finish - Mr. Big, inspired by the legions of fans that shared in their goodbye over the past year, wanted to say a final farewell with the undertaking of a brand-new studio album. Culminating over three decades of musical partnership, Martin, Gilbert, and Sheehan, with the help of D’Virgilio, ignite their spark once more and take a new form with the forthcoming 'Ten'. The first single and accompanying video fromTen, "Good Luck Trying", is a loud, raw, ‘70s blues rocker that pulls influence from Mr. Big’s earliest musical inspirations.
Eric Martin comments on Ten:
“This new album doesn't copy anything from the 9 previous studio records its all new stuff from scratch.. this is raw, unadulterated riff rock and blues with all the Mr. Big trimmings.”
Paul Gilbert explains the meaning behind the lyrics:
“Overall, it’s about being overwhelmed with life, and realizing that you won’t win many of the battles, but still fighting to the end. And keeping a sense of humor about it by saying to anyone nearby, 'Wish me good luck trying!'"
As a session musician and touring artist, Nick has worked with many different kinds of artists and bands, from Tears for Fears, Sheryl Crow, and Kevin Gilbert to Peter Gabriel and Eric Burdon and the ANIMALS. In 1996, Nick took Phil Collins's place in GENESIS and played on their 'Calling All Stations' album. He has also carved out a major presence in the progressive rock world with his bands, Spock's Beard and Big Big Train. Before joining the Sweetwater team, Nick spent almost five years touring with Cirque Du Soleil's "Totem" as a drummer, vocalist, and assistant bandleader.
The entirety of the album, recorded both live in the studio and on the tour bus, showcases the band's unique ability to compose homegrown hard rock ‘n’ roll and their consistent success in climbing new musical heights.
MR. BIG recently completed the South American leg of its farewell tour, dubbed The BIG Finish, which sees the veteran band performing MR. BIG's 1991 album, 'Lean Into It', in full and other cuts from the group's history.
When MR. BIG announced The BIG Finish tour last year, the band members said that it was "time to mark the end of this chapter of their legacy" after Torpey lost his battle with Parkinson's disease in 2018. The first leg kicked off in Japan and Southeast Asia in July and August 2023, where the band performed for hundreds of thousands of loyal fans at 11 sold-out shows including Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
The band continues its tour in the US throughout the month of May before wrapping up in Buffalo on June 6. Additional European dates kick off on July 13 in Bulgaria.
For more information, please visit mrbigsite.com.
Mr. Big "Good Luck Trying" - Official Lyric Video
Crafted for comfort and ready to rumble, the potent and flexible Ultra II Meteora shatters the Fender offset mold.
Built for players boldly seeking the best, American Ultra II is our most advanced series of instruments. American Ultra II guitars and basses feature premium materials, precision craftsmanship and cutting-edge design for instruments that both advance the state-of-the-art and stand the test of time.
The Fender American Ultra II Meteora features a select alder body with sculpted body contours. For effortless playability, the quartersawn maple neck features our Modern D profile and smooth Ultra Satin finish. Ebony or quartersawn maple 10”-14” compound radius fingerboards feature Ultra rolled edges, medium-jumbo frets, Luminlay side dots and Graph Tech TUSQ nuts. The tapered neck heel and sculpted body contours allow unparalleled access to the higher register.
Under the hood, a pair of Haymaker humbuckers deliver everything from sweet cleans to modern crunch and searing leads, all without a hint of hum. Our patented S-1 switch cleverly splits the Haymakers for even more tonal variety, and you can further sculpt your tone with both conventional master tone control plus a carefully voiced bass cut knob. Additional road-ready features include 6-saddle string-through-body hardtail with polished stainless steel block saddles, deluxe locking tuners, knurled aluminum knobs and 1-ply anodized aluminum pickguard.
The American Ultra II Meteora infuses iconic style with advanced appointments to take your playing to stratospheric new heights. For players who demand flawless tone, infinite versatility and limitless performance, American Ultra II delivers.
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Fender American Ultra II Meteora Electric Guitar - Texas Tea, Ebony Fingerboard
Am Ultra II Meteora, Texas TeaTwo horns? It must be a Bison!
Our columnist links a few memories together to lead us to another obscure guitar model—one he remembers from his childhood and came to acquire as an adult.
Do you have any “click and stick” movies that you love? Like when you are channel surfing and see a movie that you’ve watched a lot, and then just watch it again? Lately, for me, it’s been the 2015 movie The Revenant. It’s a truly brutal tale of survival set in 1820s frontier America. My gosh, that movie just draws me in every time. There’s one scene where the main character goes flying off a cliff while riding a horse! He just sort of falls/rolls through a pine tree and lands in the snow … and he still survives! It’s crazy!
It makes me think about an old childhood friend who lived up the street from me. Jerry and his parents lived in an old house on their grandparents’ large plot of land. On one part of the land there was an old orchard filled with all types of fruit trees and pines, and I remember how we would climb to the top of the pines and just roll ourselves down the side, Revenant style! If you fell the right way, the branches would kind of gently let you down to the next, but if you hit it wrong and got in between the branches, you’d be wrecked. It’s like we enjoyed getting hurt, and, of course, when you’re young, you can snap right back. Ah, the days when pain really didn’t hurt. Now I wake up with injuries, for real.
“The action was way high and the fret ends were sharp. It was basically a painful affair.”
So why am I talking about my click-and-stick movie and stupid childhood escapades? Well, let’s get back to memories of my old friend Jerry. First, the house he lived in was so old that it had real wooden siding, but it hadn’t been painted in forever so the exterior took on a worn, faded, haunted house vibe. Second, his carpet was so tattered that it was being held together with duct tape. Lastly, I remember his dad had a cool, old electric guitar in the living room. His dad would let me play it sometimes, and I remember that it actually hurt to play! The action was way high and the fret ends were sharp. It was basically a painful affair. Not falling-out-of-a-tree painful, but as bad as it comes with guitars. It had the label “Conrad,” and young Frank didn’t realize that he’d be looking for that guitar again one day. I mean, it did have four pickups and lots of knobs and switches!
Made at the old Japanese Matsumoko factory in the ’60s, this Conrad Bison 1233 has four pickups and a 27" scale.
Years later, I would discover that his was a Conrad Bison guitar. The model came in a few different configurations, but the four-pickup design was designated as the 1233. Primarily featuring a lovely sunburst, these Bisons were made at the amazing old Matsumoku factory in Japan and were imported by the David Wexler Company that was based in Chicago. Matsumoku always had a good supply of aged wood, and many of the guitars made there are resonant and built well. The Bisons first appeared around 1966 and had a rather good run into the early ’70s.
Simple volume/tone knobs are paired with preset solo/rhythm switches that power alnico magnets. There’s an on/off switch for each pickup, and the sound really covers all the bases. Thumpy lows and crisp highs are all there. And, the pickups handle fuzz and distortion with ease. The Bisons also came in one- and two-pickup configurations with a normal scale, but the four-pickup ones have a longer, 27" scale, which is common for Matsumoku-made electrics.
So there it is: pain, survival, American frontier, Bison, haunted houses. It all sticks together like a duct-taped carpet. Click and stick, baby!
A 1000-watt speaker cabinet crafted for musicians who demand power and precision. Sunn Amps intends to reinvent the standard 4x12 configuration with the introduction of this new cabinet.
The Sunn Amps DoomBox is built to accommodate both guitar and bass, offering an impressive 1000-watt handling capacity—making it the first commercially available 4x12 cabinet with such high power handling. With four specially designed 12” drivers rated at 250 watts each, this cabinet provides clean, unrestrained sound levels that can maintain power integrity across all frequencies, ideal for high-volume performances.
Inspired and developed using feedback from artists and bands who rely on the depth of lower tunings and high volume genres, the DoomBox was engineered to meet the unique demands of professional musicians looking for a robust, high-efficiency cab that can translate the raw power of their sound without compromise.
Premium Craftsmanship and Materials
The Doom Box cabinet is crafted from solid finger-jointed Baltic Birch plywood, ensuring both durability and tonal clarity. Each cabinet is constructed by hand in the U.S.A. using original 1930s machinery, the DoomBox reflects Sunn’s historic commitment to quality, contrasting with some of the mass-produced, MDF-based cabinets on the market today. The cabinet’s aluminum basket, ferrite magnet, and custom Sunn weave Tolex with a custom grill design complete its professional-grade build.
Technical Specifications:
• Power Handling: 1000W
• Inputs: 1 x ¼”
• Impedance: 8 Ohm
• Drivers: 4 x Sunn 12S250
• Construction: Marine Grade Baltic Birch
• Dimensions: 29.25” X 30” X 14”
• Weight: 107 lbs
• Price: $2399.00
With clear low-end punch, even sound response, and ample air movement, the Doom Box ensures that every note reaches the audience with clarity and power. This cabinet is a game-changer for musicians who need high-performance, road-ready equipment that enhances their unique sound.
Does the guitar’s design encourage sonic exploration more than sight reading?
A popular song between 1910 and 1920 would usually sell millions of copies of sheet music annually. The world population was roughly 25 percent of what it is today, so imagine those sales would be four or five times larger in an alternate-reality 2024. My father is 88, but even with his generation, friends and family would routinely gather around a piano and play and sing their way through a stack of songbooks. (This still happens at my dad’s house every time I’m there.)
Back in their day, recordings of music were a way to promote sheet music. Labels released recordings only after sheet-music sales slowed down on a particular song. That means that until recently, a large section of society not only knew how to read music well, but they did it often—not as often as we stare at our phones, but it was a primary part of home entertainment. By today’s standards, written music feels like a dead language. Music is probably the most common language on Earth, yet I bet it has the highest illiteracy rate.