Paul Gilbert has released Werewolves of Portland, the title track from his upcoming 16th studio album.
The song's accompanying music video sees Gilbert serve up a platter of impressive guitar licks – which span silky alternate picking lines, tasty slides and soaring bends – cut between footage of him and his six-year-old son Marlon howling at the moon. Watch it below:
“Werewolves of Portland is actually two songs, put together,” Gilbert says. “The first song is based on a short lyric, ‘I've got to look out for the werewolves... I'll take a deep breath... ah-whoo!’ which allows me to play some dramatic slide guitar.
“The second song was originally titled Dad Metal. It's full of fast guitar riffs, percussive picking, and modulating dominant sus4 arpeggios. This section is very busy musically, so I was happy to join it with the sustaining ‘ah-whoo’ howling part for contrast. I played a melodic blues guitar solo, with some jazz chord changes in the middle, to let the song breathe even more.”
Gilbert also recalls drafting his son in to bring some extra energy to the Werewolves of Portland music video.
“I brought the idea of ‘Dad Metal’ to life by having my 6-year-old son, Marlon, play guitar [and] drums, and dance together with me. Marlon brought great energy (and mischief, in general) to the video, and I tried my best to keep up with him. I'll admit that my legs were sore for about two weeks after the shoot. Dancing is hard!”
He continues: “I decided to play my Ibanez double neck guitar for the silhouette sections of the video, and Ibanez built a matching double neck – in two days – for my son to use. He could barely lift it, but he tried his best! It's an awesome guitar, that I plan on using myself, at least until he's old enough to play it.”
Werewolves of Portland is the third single from Gilbert's upcoming album of the same name, following the scorching Argument About Pie and the equally blistering A Thunderous Ovation Shook the Columns.
The album is set to feature a wealth of six-strings from Gilbert's personal collection, too.
“I've been collecting vintage Ibanez guitars lately, too,” he says. “I brought some models from the '70s, '80s, and '90s like the Ibanez Artist, Roadstar II and Ghostrider. I also brought and modified a '60s Epiphone Olympic. I used to play those in the early days of Racer X, so it was fun to have a guitar that reminded me of my early shredder style.”
Check out Werewolves of Portland's full tracklisting below:
- Hello North Dakota!
- My Goodness
- Werewolves of Portland
- Professorship At The Leningrad Conservatory
- Argument About Pie
- Meaningful
- I Wanna Cry (Even Though I Ain't Sad)
- A Thunderous Ovation Shook The Columns
- Problem-Solving People
- (You Would Not be Able To Handle) What I Handle Everyday
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