Werewolves of Portland is guitarist extraordinaire Paul Gilbert’s sixteenth solo album and one where “solo” couldn’t be truer. Because the world went into lockdown early 2020, it wasn’t possible to get a band to record in the studio. The result was that Paul plays all of the instruments on the record: drums, keyboards, bass, and of course guitar. As with Gilbert’s previous album Behold Electric Guitar, the inspiration for the songs did not come from the guitar, but from writing lyrics and singing melodies. Paul explains: “The process of writing lyrics, then melody, then guitar, then backing it all up with the other instruments is a wonderful discovery that really started coming together for me on ‘Behold Electric Guitar’.”

Gilbert notes that the album title’s inspiration partly comes from the Warren Zevon song: “Werewolves Of London”: “I live in Portland and thought it would be funny to substitute the name of my much lesser-known city. My original idea for the ‘Werewolves’ was just the guys in my band and me. When we play music, it is our version of ‘howling at the moon’. Unfortunately, Portland has become more ‘known’ in the last year for events that are pretty sad to watch. And ‘Werewolves’ could take on other meanings that I certainly hadn’t anticipated. But the title, to me, still has a musical meaning.”