Gilby Clarke is an American guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and record producer born on August 17, 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and embedded himself in the city's rock club circuit at a time when the Sunset Strip was the center of the hard rock universe. His first notable band was Candy, a power pop outfit whose video for "Whatever Happened to Fun" received some MTV airplay and gave him his first taste of industry attention. When Candy dissolved, Clarke formed Kill for Thrills, a harder-edged act that released two albums before dissolving in the early 1990s. Through all of this, Clarke was building friendships and a reputation in the same circles where Guns N' Roses were making their own violent ascent to the top of rock.
In late 1991, founding GN'R rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin abruptly quit the band mid-tour during the massive Use Your Illusion world tour — one of the biggest rock tours in history. Slash called Clarke personally about an audition. Clarke barely had time to learn the songs before walking into the audition room, but his raw, road-tested playing and his existing relationships within the band carried the day. He got the gig. For the next three years, Clarke played rhythm guitar alongside Slash in one of the most scrutinized and volatile bands on the planet, performing before crowds of up to 80,000 people a night — a scale he described as Beatlemania, where leaving the hotel was a logistical operation. He appeared on the band's only studio recording during his tenure, the all-covers album The Spaghetti Incident? (1993), which featured the entire "Use Your Illusion" era lineup. His departure came in 1994 as Axl Rose began steering the band toward more experimental territory, concluding that Clarke's straightforward hard rock approach didn't fit the new direction.
Clarke wasted no time. His solo debut, Pawnshop Guitars (1994), was a lean, confident hard rock record that featured guest appearances from virtually the entire Guns N' Roses roster — including Axl Rose — and produced the moderate rock radio hit "Cure Me... or Kill Me." That same year he became a core member of Slash's Snakepit, contributing to their debut It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (1995). He followed with The Hangover (1997), Rubber (1998), 99 Live (2000), and Swag (2002) as a solo artist, while also serving as a touring guitarist for Heart and Nancy Sinatra and forming the band Col. Parker with Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom. In 2006 he co-founded Rock Star Supernova with Tommy Lee and Jason Newsted, the band assembled through the VH1 reality competition Rock Star: Supernova.
Clarke has also maintained close ties to his former GN'R bandmates across the years. He joined Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, and Steven Adler on stage at the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony — performing alongside inductees he had toured with, even though his own tenure was too brief for individual induction consideration — and has appeared alongside various former members at benefit shows and one-off events since. He has built a reputation as a producer and continues to record and tour as a solo artist, valued in the rock community as a genuine article — a guitarist's guitarist who happened to occupy one of the most high-profile seats in rock history for three years and made the most of every night.
Wayne Dennon photographed Gilby Clarke as part of an archive that spans rock's most storied figures. Clarke's story is one of a working musician who earned his place in rock history the old-fashioned way — years on the Sunset Strip circuit before getting the call that put him onstage in front of the world — and Wayne's images reflect that authenticity.
