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#231 Re: Dust N' Bones & Cyborg Slunks » LA Weekly Izzy article » 498 weeks ago
That's a really interesting article, as the writer nicely illustrates how Izzy has quietly ascended into an almost Bill Murray-ish level of unbothered stardom. I like how he characterizes is as "The Man in Black" of his own generation.
On May 13, 1986, at Raji’s, a rock club in Hollywood, Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris saw both firsthand: “My friend’s girlfriend was drunk at the front of the stage, heckling Axl. So he clocked her over with a mic stand. Which is when my friends decided to jump the stage and tear into members of the band.” Morris remembers Izzy ducking out of the room, just as Axl was kicking someone. “Izzy saw the train coming and quietly left.”
You're Crazy was premiered at that show, apparently.
And think about it - Axl hits an audience member with a mic stand, punters climb up and he ends up kicking people. What happened in St. Louis five years later was tame in comparison, only the aftermath was bigger.
The article also goes to say Izzy had a bigger part to play in the early days than what is generally acknowledged, even among the hardcores.
When it came to songwriting, the early dynamic was as follows: Izzy would write the basic structure of the song. Axl would add lyrics and vocal melodies (he'd also write on the piano). Duff and Adler added the backbone. Slash, the best musician out of the five, would add the finger-licking guitar parts. Not always in that order, but that’s how they did it prior to the fractured recording process of Use Your Illusion.
According ex-Hollywood Rose bassist Steve Darrow, Izzy was even the band’s stylist: “He had us meet up at his place, then fix up everybody’s hair and makeup before anyone left the room. Axl, too.” His entrepreneurial bent was the backbone of GNR. Then Axl turned the small business into a multinational corporation.
“Izzy was the mastermind. In the beginning, it was all him,” says Chris Weber. “Axl assumed that role later on.”
“It just got to the point that Axl, he was going to run the show," Izzy told the Lafayette Journal & Courier in 1993. "He was going to run Guns N’ Roses. I just decided I wasn’t going to be a part of it.”
To those who know him — or knew him, since they haven't seen him in years — Izzy's rejection of the GNR reunion is a very public way for him to reclaim his legacy, while at the same time, maintaining an unscheduled life. Izzy was once the band's Godfather, and he wants fans to remember him that way, not as the hired hand he became in later years.
Add in the fact that Axl and Izzy were Bill and Jeffrey, high school chums in Lafayette. They even attended the same arts class. Their erstwhile teacher remembers a particular day when the boys had trouble keeping with the programme.
“They were combing opposing elements into a beautiful whole,” she tells me over the phone. “The whole, it’s funny now that I think about it, was a skull-like figure with guns and roses.”
Following their art class collaboration, the two boys began silkscreening their design onto plain white T-shirts, a logo for some future punk band.
Roots run deep in Lafayette.
#232 Re: Guns N' Roses » Guns live » 498 weeks ago
Have that fuckin tshirt as well..
Ever wear it when you go shopping?
#233 Re: Guns N' Roses » Guns live » 498 weeks ago
Hahaha lulz.... some of us remembered that horrific logo.
The horrors kept on coming.
#234 Re: Guns N' Roses » Guns live » 498 weeks ago
You mean this old thing?
#235 Guns N' Roses » Axl/DC stories w/ Dave Grohl » 503 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 2
Merged a few Alt Nation articles, since they really expanded one story about the Washington show into two.
Greice Santo and John Elledge have shared an exclusive story with AlternativeNation.net about Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Guns N’ Roses & AC/DC frontman Axl Rose. When Grohl recently attended AC/DC’s show in Washington DC, he spoke to the band’s frontman Axl Rose backstage...
Axl was commenting on how he had been working on the back line to smile a little more. Grohl said it was kind of an AC/DC trademark for the guys in the back to stand there playing emotionless and only step forward when they had to sing, and then step right back again. Axl said that Angus had told them that went back to the club days when they played biker bars, the rhythm and bass guitarists had to stand back with the drummer so they wouldn’t get hit with bottles that the bikers threw.
Angus said that’s what got him running around so much onstage, too: dodging bottles. Then one night Angus got hit with a bottle and cut his hand and needed medical attention. One of the patrons of the bar offered him a ride to the hospital and Angus agreed to go with him. On the way they were chatting, and the guy driving told Angus that he was the one who started all the bottle throwing. Angus asked why he would do such a thing, and the guy told him, “Because you guys look so awesome when you’re pissed off.”
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Axl Rose, with the help of Santo, invited an 18-year old waitress named Sadie Elledge to the concert after discovering that she was bullied. Elledge was recently left a note on a customer’s receipt that said ‘We only tip citizens’ at Jess’ Quick Lunch in Harrisonburg. Elledge was born in America, and is of Honduran and Mexican descent. The story caught media attention, and ‘Jane The Virgin’ star Greice Santo decided to reach out to the young woman due to her own experiences being bullied. Santo treated Elledge to a makeover through her ‘Glam with Greice’ program, and also connected Elledge with Axl Rose, who gave her and her family free AC/DC tickets. Rose was a complete class act at the concert, according to Santo and the Elledge family.
Rose was very nice to Elledge, Santo, and their entire party. He was kind enough to even have his own photographer take photos of him with everybody backstage.
AlternativeNation.net has received an exclusive e-mail from Sadie’s grandfather John Elledge about the dream experience of meeting the legendary Guns N’ Roses and AC/DC singer.
“I have been an AC/DC fan for nearly 40 years, and Axl Rose’s invitation to my granddaughter and her family (which luckily included me) to last night’s concert in Washington DC was a true thrill. Not only was it a fantastic show, but being there with Sadie and her mom and dad was an unmatched experience for three generations of Elledges.
Axl’s generosity and good humor made this an absolute highlight in our family’s lives. Talking to him backstage, hearing his humor and feeling his kindness to us only magnified my respect for the man. And his performance was out of this world. He really did get the job done. It’s incredible how, in picking Axl to front the band, AC/DC picked up where they left off, without missing a beat. He was both true to himself and true to AC/DC. I’m blown away.”
AlternativeNation.net was also told that Axl Rose’s manager Beta Lebeis, and her son Fernando, were class acts. Beta checked with Greice to make sure she and her party were okay because the concert was so loud, and had earplugs delivered to them.
Axl Rose’s reign as the king of rock in 2016 continues.
#236 Re: Guns N' Roses » Welcome to My Jungle by Craig Duswalt » 503 weeks ago
I've read it.
Frankly, it was a bit underwhelming. Some amusing touring anecdotes, like losing Axl's favorite bandanna to thieves in the dryer, getting a new one and making sure it had all the wear it needed. This meant stomping on it and hoping Axl would be fooled.
He was.
#237 Re: Guns N' Roses » Izzy tweet about Axl and Duff interview » 503 weeks ago
The only real bargaining chip he has is if GNR decide to do a real AFD reunion for a small tour or residency. Adler would do it without hesitation and probably for peanuts but no Izzy= no AFD reunion. You could have 4/5 and have Fortus, Gilby, or a new guy in his slot but you couldn't market it as a legit reunion.
Yup, that's about the size of it. Had they insisted on the AFD5 reuniting, getting Izzy around would've been crucial. Fans would've been sold short had we gotten the Big Three with Adler instead of Frank. However, this is the Big Three humming along a continuation of the UYI tour. Nothing wrong with that, they're solid on a nightly basis.
Am I sorry for Izzy's absence? Yes. It would've been a hoot to have him on board.
Does Izzy's absence make any difference? Between him and the other members, yes. Many fans will long for him, but most will attend the shows anyway.
While this tour is a cash-grab, in that it's big business and Guns want their payday, Slash and Axl seem to genuinely enjoy sharing the stage again. Financials can (and likely, do) play a big part in their decision-making process, but there may also be an actual friendship rekindled.
Ironic. During the lean years, Izzy was the one who hung out with everyone else (even Axl). Now that the rest of them have regrouped, Izzy's the odd one out.
#238 Re: Guns N' Roses » Chris Pitman suing Axl Rose for unpaid 2011 wages » 504 weeks ago
I'm totally being speculative here, but he is suing AXL and not Guns N' Roses, right?
For work done for engineering and not for touring in 2011.
That's exactly right - had overlooked it. The text itself fails to address Pitman as a keyboard player / Guns member. Note that these guys have read the court documents and likely know diddly-squat about nuGuns.
Let's keep up with that. In October '11, Pitman completes engineering work on CD2. Axl says, 'Sorry, man. Guns is short on cash. My money's mine.' This corroborates with a story I remember online about Ron and Del James. Ron had confined to Del about his car accident. Del's reply, "We need the money."
Meanwhile, Axl lives it out loud in New York. He has a place in Brooklyn on rent, yet he stays in a swanky hotel. Vocal tracks done? 5-10 years ago. Pitman sends over the new mix of The General. Listen after a hangover and call him back. Bummed about having to tour North America to pay off Azoff and to keep bankrolling CD2.
Perhaps arranging/producing for a new album that never came out?
Stay of Execution, perhaps?
Agree about past associates finding their way quickly onto the 'enemies list'. Youth, who met Axl maybe 5 times, gets a credit on Madagascar. Roy Thomas Baker is around for a year and his company is credited for 'additional preproduction'. Talk about a slight.
Also, from MyGNR I learned the Cali legislation gives Pitman a 4-year-window to file a suit, so it all points out to him having exhausted all other options. All's clear, but man.
Axl screwed up this one.
#239 Re: Guns N' Roses » Chris Pitman suing Axl Rose for unpaid 2011 wages » 504 weeks ago
Well, yes. Pitman should be paid if they have a contract in place and if he has done his chores.
What's surprising to me is that it has come to this. I mean, poor ol' Axl was renting a flat in NYC without setting a foot into it in 2011-13. He was still blowing money away.
People like Buckethead and Roy Thomas Baker were kept on the payroll after they left. Brain and others have gotten that retainer. Pitman gets nothing, despite the undoubted cashflow from the recent tour. Axl's pissed at him, it seems.
They risk the bad publicity which coincides with the Izzy conundrum, and for what? Axl holding a grudge on Pitman for something that went down after all these years?
#240 Re: Guns N' Roses » Chris Pitman suing Axl Rose for unpaid 2011 wages » 504 weeks ago
Well, he had over three years to collect through other means. Then he split acrimoniously. Then he remembers, damn. Should've made a severance deal.
