1985–1991: Early career Gilby Clarke started his musical career during the first half of the Eighties, replacing
Candy's original guitarist,
Geoff Siegel, who later played with
the Nymphs. Gilby eventually replaced the band's lead vocalist and penned several unreleased fan favorites including, "Dance America". He left them to form
Kill for Thrills, a metal band which released the EP
Commercial Suicide and the LP
Dynamite from Nightmareland before eventually disbanding. Kill for Thrills was a supergroup of sorts with Jason Nesmith (son of former
Monkees Mike Nesmith) on Guitar, and Todd Muscat formerly of seminal L.A. Punk band Decry, on Bass and then later with Junkyard after Kill for Thrills. Muscat is also the brother of
Brent Muscat (
Faster Pussycat,
L.A. Guns,
Sin City Sinners). All members have deep roots in the Los Angeles rock scene.
1991–1994: Guns N' Roses Following rhythm guitarist
Izzy Stradlin's decision to abruptly quit the band, during
Use Your Illusion Tour in 1991, citing a combination of
Axl Rose's personal behavior (he would consistently delay the start of shows by hours at a time) and his mismanagement of the band Clarke was chosen as his replacement, playing out the rest of gigs of the tour which lasted until 1993. His first show with the band was December 5, 1991 in Worcester, MA, USA. During many shows throughout the tour, Rose introduced Clarke and had him play "
Wild Horses", a
Rolling Stones cover with Slash. On November 23, 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of
punk and
glam rock covers entitled
"The Spaghetti Incident?" where many of the tracks were recorded with original Guns N' Roses guitarist
Izzy Stradlin during the
Use Your Illusion I and
II sessions and then were later re-recorded by Clarke. Clarke's contract was not renewed and he was gone from the band by 1995. Slash stated in
his book that Rose fired Clarke without consulting anyone, claiming he was only a "hired hand". Clarke was not involved in the recording of "Sympathy for the Devil", stating "I knew that that was the ending [of Clarke's involvement in Guns N' Roses] because nobody told me about it. Officially I was in the band at that time, and they did that song without me". Clarke later sued the band over the use of his likeness in
Guns N' Roses Pinball. Clarke's only other appearances on a Guns N' Roses release would be on the
live and
compilation albums ''
Live Era '87–'93 and Greatest Hits''. Clarke is featured on Guns N' Roses video releases
Use Your Illusion I,
Use Your Illusion II and
Welcome to the Videos.
1994–1996: Pawnshop Guitars & Slash's Snakepit In 1994, he released his debut solo album
Pawnshop Guitars on Virgin Records which featured contributions from several of his close friends.
Ryan Roxie (
Alice Cooper,
Electric Angels) on guitar, Will Effertz on Bass and Marc Danzeisen (
Riverdogs,
Little Caesar) Drums and backing vocals, also including all the then members of Guns N' Roses. It went gold in Argentina. Following the end of the
Use Your Illusion Tour in 1993,
Guns N' Roses guitarist
Slash began recording demos of material that he had written during the tour, at his home studio with bandmate
Matt Sorum. Clarke and
Alice in Chains bassist
Mike Inez soon started to come around to jam with them. They eventually recorded twelve demo songs.
Eric Dover, live guitarist for
Jellyfish, successfully auditioned to become the group's singer. Slash and Dover wrote the lyrics for all the tracks, except "Monkey Chow" which was contributed by Clarke and "Jizz da Pit" which is an instrumental written by both Slash and Inez. The album was released by
Geffen Records in February 1995 charting at No. 70 on the
Billboard 200. For the tour in support of the album,
James LoMenzo and
Brian Tichy, both members of
Zakk Wylde's solo band, joined the band to replace Inez and Sorum who could not tour with the group due to other commitments. In 2007 he released a
best of album featuring tracks from all of his solo albums as well as two songs from the Col. Parker project and a rerecording of the song "Black", featuring vocals by Dilana. In July 2008 Clarke played at the
G-TARanaki Guitar Festival in New Zealand. His solo band included bassist Muddy Stardust and drummer Dennis Morehouse. He then toured North America as part of the Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp. Clarke reunited with Guns N' Roses members
Slash,
Steven Adler,
Matt Sorum and
Duff McKagan, during the live performance, at the band's
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on April 14, 2012. Clarke himself was not inducted as part of the band.
2021-present: "The Gospel Truth" and touring In 2021 Clarke released his most successful album to date,
The Gospel Truth on
Golden Robot Records. It featured a host of well-known musicians including
Nikki Sixx. == Discography ==