Paul Gilbert returns with his new album WROC, out 27 February 2026 via Music Theories Recording. Here, he channels George Washington’s Rules of Civility on what will be seen as the guitar superstar’s most outlandish offering to date. The album has turned out really well, and it is intriguing to hear about how he used an etiquette guide dating back to the late 1500s as his main source of inspiration.
The idea for WROC came to Paul Gilbert on a flight home from Mr. Big’s final shows after a long farewell tour. “I was on the aeroplane after the last show,” Paul Gilbert told MetalTalk, “and I thought, okay, well that’s done. Now I’ve got time to do whatever I want, and what should I do?
“When you’re on a plane for ten hours, that’s a long time to think. I thought about what I should write the songs about. Typically, you write songs about what you’re thinking about and what’s going on in your own life.
“I thought I’m not that interested in my own life, and it’s not making me want to write songs. Then suddenly, ’cause I had read the Rules Of Civility decades ago, just when I was interested in reading. I had a Thomas Jefferson book, a Ben Franklin book, and a George Washington book, and I had read these inside the Washington book. I hadn’t thought about it since then. It was an old experience for me, but somehow it came bubbling up into my mind and I started to play around with it.
“I actually had AI on my phone, so I said, can you make a Washington Rule of Civility into a blues lyric? And it did it. I thought it was pretty cool, so I started using my own songwriting instincts, the chorus needed to repeat more and the bridge needed to be different. By the time I got home, I had the lyrics, I picked up a guitar and started singing. I thought it was wonderful, and I really enjoyed the process and the result.”
“I thought that I should check to make sure that I’m not just out of my mind because it’s an unusual concept. So I invited Tim Blakely [Bass] and Doug Rappaport [guitar] over to work on a couple of songs. I showed them and watched them very closely to see if they were frowning, not making eye contact, or smiling and digging the material.
“They were, in fact, smiling and seemed to enjoy the music and what I was singing about. So every week we would get together, and I made that sort of my deadline. Write two songs a week.
“I knew I wanted Nick [D’Virgilio] to play drums, but he doesn’t live in Portland, so I played drums on the demos. Which I love doing, by the way, drumming is my favourite thing in the world. The first thing I do after making breakfast is play on the kit for 20 minutes. I sent the demos to Nick so he could learn them and get ideas of the songs.”
“It was a fast process for me, two songs a week,” Paul says. “Not all of them are complex, but some of them are. Celestial Fire is kind of three songs in one. It’s got prog rock and odd time sections. This sort of angry blues part and a driving pop song part are in it. That’s an example of one of the tracks that has a lot going on in it.
“But to me, the songwriting process was actually really smooth. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun, and it’s probably because I had a good collaborator [George Washington].
“Normally, I’d have to write from a blank page and come up with the lyrics myself. With this, I would come down and be like, okay, what does the book have for me today? I would flip through until I found something I might be able to sing, so I would get the guitar and try it out.
“After a try or two, I would have something to chew on. Other musicians have done this forever, like Elton John collaborating with [lyricist] Bernie Taupin. Within the band Rush, Neil Peart was the lyricist, and the other guys would form the melody around that. I think this kind of collaboration can work really well.”
Paul Gilbert – Lead Vocalist
For the majority of his career, it was always someone else handling lead vocals. What was it like for Paul Gilbert to step into that role for this particular album?
“I’ve sung before, but it has been a while,” he says. “As a guitar player, I’ve got a lot of confidence, but sometimes, as a singer, I feel my limitations a little more. On the last Mr. Big tour, which was a long tour, I sang a lot of harmonies. During the soundchecks, a lot of times, I would be the lead singer of the soundcheck, or at least half of the soundcheck, until Eric came out.
“Understandably, Eric wanted to save his voice for the show. So just from doing that, I gained some of my confidence back. And also, since I’m writing the songs, I can write things that fit my voice.
“So those things together and the fact that I don’t think I could convince anyone else to sing rules from a hundred years old or an ancient etiquette manual. So there’s my three excuses.”
Paul Gilbert says his choice of musicians for the album was based on people who were great, but also local. “I knew that I wanted to have that one rehearsal a week,” he says, “and to fly somebody in for that didn’t make any sense. Both Tim and Doug are local, and fortunately, Nick was able to prepare enough through the demos that he could come in and record everything. He learned the stuff so well.
“It was also nice to have people who sang. After we recorded all the music, we went in, and everybody sang the harmonies, and that was an intense experience. We had rehearsed the music, but we hadn’t rehearsed the harmonies at all. I had them all worked out, so I would just give everybody their part, and then we’d just run it. They learned the stuff so well, but also it was nice to have people who sang.
“It ended up being the first take of singing harmonies that went on the record. I also went back later and doubled up on their parts with my own voice. But Nick has such a great voice, and actually Doug and Tim sing really well too.”
Paul Gilbert releases WROC on 27 February via Music Theories Recordings. Pre-orders are available from lnk.to/PaulGilbert. Check back on MetalTalk, as we will have Part Two of this interview and a detailed breakdown of the album soon.
