MR. BIG recently completed the European leg of its farewell tour, dubbed “The BIG Finish”, which sees the veteran band — singer Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert and bassist Billy Sheehan, along with drummer Nick D’Virgilio, who has taken over for deceased original member Pat Torpey — performing MR. BIG‘s 1991 album, “Lean Into It”, in full, along with other cuts from the group’s history.
Regarding how the farewell tour has been going so far, Martin told Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program “Wired In The Empire”: “It’s been a bro love fest… Everybody loves each other. We’re going out on top.
“I don’t wanna tour like we’re touring now,” he explained. “I’m okay with it ’cause I’ve had a couple of weeks break to just chill out, rest the larynx, have a couple of beers and just hang out with my family. And I’m raring to go. We’re going to South America, doing the West Coast USA, and I’m looking forward to it. But, man, this is a long-ass tour. It started last year in Asia. Then I did some solo things where I went to Japan, and then I came home and sang the 10 songs or 11 songs that are on the new studio album. But I don’t wanna tour like this.”
“He added: “We’re touring all the way up to August 23rd, I think. And then right after that, I got other projects, but no more MR. BIG. No more MR. BIG touring-wise.”
Regarding the possibility of MR. BIG still making new music after the completion of the farewell tour, Eric said: “Everybody was saying, ‘Hey, we could still continue to make records.’ I’m, like, ‘Yeah, that would be fun.’ Well, the record was hard to put together because of everybody’s scheduling, but it came together pretty quickly. The thing that took the longest was the album cover. Nobody could agree on it. It was ridiculous. I mean, our creative juices were poured out long time ago for any kind of artwork. And Paul Gilbert is kind of a cartoon artist, and I asked him, I go, ‘Just draw pictures of us in cartoon form and we’ll give it a name.’ We couldn’t even think of a name. Anyway, that took the longest. So hopefully we’ll do another record, but I don’t know. The album cover thing was painful.”
When MR. BIG announced “The BIG Finish” tour last year, the bandmembers 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.
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 drummer, vocalist, and assistant bandleader.
In May 2020, Sheehan gave an interview to the “Music Mania” podcast in which he claimed that a “mastering problem” with MR. BIG‘s latest album, “Defying Gravity”, which came out seven years ago, made the LP “unlistenable.” He went on to say that “the label ruined the record” by insisting on having the album and “putting it out when it’s not ready.” He explained: “If we had another day to get it to proper mastering and get it done right, it would have been fine. ‘Cause I was there for the final mixes — I went in there every day and listened to mixes. Pat was there with us too. We went through the mixes, and they were sounding great. And, unfortunately, we got screwed.
“I’ve seen it before in many other situations with many other bands,” he added. “We’ve got the marketing department and they’re ready to go and they’ve gotta have the record now. And then I’ve also seen other bands just say, ‘No. The record is not done. You’re out of luck.’ And I wish we would have just said that, because I just don’t think the record had the kind of life it had when I heard the final mixes.”
A short time later, Frontiers Music Srl released a statement clarifying that it wasn’t the label responsible for “ruining” “Defying Gravity”, which marked Torpey‘s final recorded appearance with MR. BIG.
“Defying Gravity” was released via Wowow Entertainment, Inc. in Japan and Frontiers Music Srl in most of the rest of the world.
After announcing his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2014, Torpey continued to write, record and perform with MR. BIG.
