Rock group Mr. Big revives the spirit of outdated music

By Devi M. Asmarani

JAKARTA (JP): Before Eddy Vedder and the late Kurt Cobain stole the spotlight of the trendy music scene with their grunge, reshaping our concept of what rock and roll stars should look like and how they should behave (not to mention how their music should or should not sound), the industry was populated by a bunch of dudes with frizzy, big hair.

With the exception of the artsy and urbane categories, the rock scene at the time was undergoing a transition -- before the new conscience called "the nineties" developed -- from the glamour version of hard rock to its toned-down and more popish sound.

This period yielded a lot of crappy, sentimental music, but it never had any intention other than to have pure fun. Rock music was not cerebral, as it became in the period that would succeed it.

This was the heyday of the likes of Poison, Skid Row and the California-based Mr. Big. The latter recently revisited Indonesia on a seven-city tour to promote their new album Get Over It.

Mr. Big was formed ten years ago with a lineup of vocalist Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Pat Torpey.

With its reliance on adrenaline-driven numbers combined with adolescent lyrics like If you're a red-hot firecracker/I will light your fuse, it is easy to misjudge the band. Its personnel, however, are distinguished and skillful musicians with substantial portfolios.

Sheehan was an acclaimed bassist with Buffalo-based hard-rock band Talas and David Lee Roth before forming Mr. Big. Gilbert came from speed-metal band Racer X; Pat Torpey drummed with Impellitteri, Ted Nugent and Robert Plant; and Eric Martin had recorded three teen-pop solo albums and led the Eric Martin Band in the early eighties.

But Mr. Big gains its popularity more from its hummable, sappy ballads like To Be With You, which make up less than 15 percent of the band's repertoire.

In 1997, the band took what they called a "personal exploration" leave to work on individual projects. After two years they decided to reunite, with the exception of guitarist Gilbert, who was replaced by renown guitarist Richie Kotzen. In 1999, the band recorded Get Over It.

Mr. Big was to play in Jakarta, Makassar (South Sulawesi), Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Surabaya (East Java), Semarang (Central Java), Yogyakarta and Bandung during its one-week tour. But the band had to cancel the last three concerts because Martin had to return home due to his father's illness.

In Jakarta, the band took over the spacious dance floor of Bengkel Night Park last Saturday. Performing a set of about 18 songs, including two encores, it played for some 1,500 people, most of whom seemed to have come only to hear its sweeter stuff.

This does not mean, of course, that there were no real Mr. Big fans at the show, because there were (in about the first 10 rows) some people who really got into the music, headbanging and giving that once ubiquitous heavy metal hand signal throughout the show.

These fans weren't just overacting. The live performance exuded a perfect dynamism and sounded, as expected, much better than the records. Mr. Big also comes from the tradition where musicians don't just play their music for the audience. In addition to good musicianship, performers must be able to work the stage to captivate the audience.

About half of the songs performed were taken from the bluesy Get Over It, including Dancing With My Devils, which reverberated with Jimmy Hendrix's soulful guitar. In another bluesy number, Price You Gotta Pay, Sheehan and Kotzen paired up in a scaleful session.

They also performed their early faster numbers like Addicted to that Rush and Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy -- songs which give enough of a rush when played live.

Instrumental covers of rock standards like Deep Purple's Burn, or a couple of lines of Hendrix's Voodoo Child in Kotzen's solo, gave each player a chance to show their skills.

Torpey proved to be an excellent drummer. He went into a lengthy impressive solo, while Sheehan played classical guitar tunes and, at one time, created an ethereal harp sound with his bass.

Of course the band would never pass up the chance for a little dose of mass adulation by playing the much-awaited To Be Without You and their version of Cat Steven's Wild World.

As cheesy as these outdated rock sounds may be, it is also the kind of music that gives the same kind of musical freedom as jazz to each of the performers on stage. And only through live performances can bands like Mr. Big convince the skeptics that they are more than corny lyrics.