Dizzy Reed:"I’m very proud of ChineseDemocracy"

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features … Democracy#

JODY MACGREGOR asks long-serving Axl Rose comrade Dizzy Reed the big questions about Gun N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy and golf.

I’ll admit it, I’m one of the people who likes Chinese Democracy. We should have a support group, meeting weekly in a room next door to the people who still liked Black Sabbath after Ozzy left. What makes Chinese Democracy interesting is that it veers between genres and sounds – industrial, nu metal, Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, ’70s metal tribute – like Guns N Roses having mood swings. It’s as if they’d recorded 10 albums in the time it took to make that one and then thrown together a smattering of songs from each. But obviously the best songs. Chinese Democracy may be a mess, but it’s a glorious one, a trashed hotel room in the finest rockstar style.

The band’s keyboardist, Dizzy Reed, features prominently on Chinese Democracy. He gets co-writing credits on three songs and is partly responsible for the string sections that suddenly rise up behind guitar solos all over the place, in case they didn’t sound bombastic enough already.

Reed joined the band in 1990, in time to be part of Use Your Illusion, and apart from Axl Rose is the longest-serving member of the current line-up. I asked him about the accusation that the band in its current form isn’t the real deal, as well as their infamous Calder Park Speedway gig in Melbourne – but first I asked him about golf.

I’ve heard that you play golf. Have you ever played with Alice Cooper? Is there a rock star golf club?

No, I haven’t. But many years ago, Guns were playing a show in Phoenix where Alice Cooper resides. He came to the show and I looked over to the side of the stage and there’s my mom and dad, who’d come down from Denver to see our show, hanging out with Alice Cooper – which I thought was kind of ironic because I got grounded when I was in the eighth grade for sneaking out and going to see Alice Cooper. I kind of wanted my week back. But they were talking [about] golfing, since they both golf as well. I was just a little sore they were on a first-name basis after grounding me, many years before.

That doesn’t seem fair.

It wasn’t fair at all.

Guns N’ Roses are heading out to Australia this year, but back in 1993 there was an infamous concert here at the Calder Park Speedway – do you know about that? Do you remember that?

I remember that quite vividly actually. I remember the night before the show I was having all these crazy dreams about tornadoes and stuff and then we had to take a chopper out there, a helicopter, and there were some stormy skies. When we landed I remember some of the crew telling us there had been tornadoes, which was kind of weird. If I’d known they even had tornadoes down there I probably wouldn’t have got on the helicopter. That’s what I remember about the show, but what do you remember about the show?

I wasn’t actually there but the show is famous for the heatwave, torrential downpour, water shortage and public transport failures.

You know, I guess I missed all of that. I never really heard any of that stuff. I remember it being really hot and that there was a lot of people needing water. But that sucks, it sucks when things aren’t planned out that way with regard to the crowd, because I know when we’re on stage it’s Axl’s and it’s our number one priority for everyone to be have a good time and be safe. If anyone throws anything, if there’s anyone being obnoxious or causing any sort of harm or uncomfortable situation with anyone in the crowd that we can see we’ll stop playing until that gets taken care of.

You first joined Guns N’ Roses in 1990 but you’d met them five years before that, right?

Yes, that is true. I was in a band out here in LA, we were called The Wild and we shared a rehearsal space. They lived next door to us and it was just the most insane amount of energy of any place that I’ve ever experienced. We became friends, Axl and the guys. Axl right away, he heard me play the piano and he said, “We’re gonna add a keyboard player some day and it’s gonna be you.” You hear stuff like that all the time, but they went on to be gigantic and he stuck to his word.

When he actually got in touch with you and said, “OK, you’re in the band now”, did you think twice about saying yes?

I always joke about that because a friend of mine, James, who still works for Guns N’ Roses, he’s the one who called me. I’d already recorded with the band, I think we’d recorded ‘Civil War’ and we talked about taking it on tour and stuff, they started to make me an actual member of the band – James called me and said, “Congratulations, you’re in Guns N’ Roses. How do you want your name to read in the official press release?” And I said, “Hang on, let me think about that … OK, yeah, I’ll do it.” It took me about half a second. So obviously it had been in the works for a while, it was something we would always talk about, so there was always a chance it might actually happen, and when it did I didn’t have to think twice. I mean, they were the biggest band in the world at that time.

The guys who’ve joined the band since then, when they come on board do you have any advice for them?

Most of the guys that have come on board have been through the mill in other bands. They’re all professional, they’ve all worked with so many other bands or they’ve come from situations similar to mine. I’ve been doing this my whole life and so they come to me sometimes with some questions but a lot of it you just gotta figure out on your own. My main thing is I always say, “Hey, don’t get mad at me if I’m late.” That’s my advice.

Do you think that they know what they’re letting themselves in for?

I think it’s impossible to really know that because every day is still – to me, there’s always surprises around every corner. Nothing’s average, nothing’s like it should be. A lot of that can be frustrating sometimes but it keeps things exciting. There’s just a certain lure about the name and the band and the songs and the chance to play those songs.

I wanted to ask about a couple of the songs on Chinese Democracy you’ve got co-writing credits on: ‘Street of Dreams’ and ‘There Was a Time’. They’re two of my favourites, and they’re very big and theatrical.

Thank you. I’m very proud of those songs and, yes, I did have some co-writing on that. You know, I think ‘Street of Dreams’ especially was definitely a group effort: everyone contributed to that song along the way. I had a blast putting together the string arrangements for that. I think that, and with ‘There Was a Time’ as well, I think that probably might be what lends itself to the theatrical feeling that you’re talking about. It was just a great opportunity to take ideas and songs and just make them as big and as strong as they could possible be. It was a blast doing it, I’m very proud of those songs. I love them, and I love the record.

When we mention Guns N’ Roses on our our Facebook, there’s always someone who complains that this Guns N’ Roses isn’t the “real” Guns N’ Roses. How do you feel about that?

You know, I think that no matter what you do you can’t please everybody. Those people obviously haven’t seen the band and I think people who do feel that way, when they come see the band they definitely change their tune. This is Guns N’ Roses, therefore it is the real Guns N’ Roses. There’s not two Guns N’ Roses out there playing anymore. People can choose to live in the past as much as they want, it’s not going to change anything. This band is the best band I’ve ever been in, and we go out and we kick ass every night, give a thousand per cent. That’s what I would say to them.