Eric Martin has confirmed that a Mr. Big will reunite later this year.
The veteran LA outfit formed in 1988, and was initially comprised of Martin (vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass) and Pat Torpey (drums). In 2002, the band split before reuniting in 2008. Torpey died in 2018, leading to the group disbanding once again.
During a recent interview with The Metal Voice, Martin revealed that a Mr. Big comeback is on the cards in 2023 with a new drummer in tow.
“Well, look, Mr. Big is definitely gonna happen. There’s no question about it,” he explained (via Blabbermouth).
“It’s gonna happen in the middle of 2023. And it’s gonna be multiple dates. We’re working on the US and a possible tour… Paul is involved – obviously, Paul Gilbert, the original guitar player. [Bassist] Billy Sheehan… the spirit of Pat Torpey.”
Martin continued: “There will be a phenomenal drummer. It won’t be [former Mr. Big drummer] Matt Starr on this thing. Matt’s doing his own thing; I think he’s playing with Ace Frehley now.”
Offering further clues on the new member, the singer added: “I will tell you that he sent an audition video. And I watched it. It was ‘Lucky This Time’, which is a song that we hardly ever did – mainly me, because it was really hard to sing it.
“It’s on the [1991] ‘Lean Into It’ album. And what he did was he thought he’d one-up the audition, so he played drums on it and he sang the lead and the harmonies on everything. And it was phenomenal.”
Martin went on to tease that “everybody 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 did the video, when he did the drums and the way he tuned the drums, he’s got Pat down.
“When he was playing Pat’s snare hit, the crack of the snare, it was definitely Pat Torpey. I think Pat would approve of this new mystery man.”
You can watch the interview in full via the video above.
Mr. Big released nine studio albums over the course of their career, the most recent being 2017’s ‘Defying Gravity’. The band’s final live show took place in August 2018, according to Setlist.FM.