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#261 Re: Guns N' Roses » Tim Palmer's two days on CD » 509 weeks ago
When you consider even DJ did a better remix....it would actually be kinda nuts to assemble a band like this and not do anything.
We are working on new stuff, but like I said a long time ago, I don't know if soon is the word.
I've got a lot of stuff together and I've played some stuff for Slash and Duff.
They like it, and they might be on it, we don't know (as of yet)...
I do want to put out more music with Guns N' Roses. I don't know if that has to do with Slash or not underneath the Guns N' Roses thing, but if he and I write something, or he wants to play on something that we have, that'd be great.
Axl has about 22 songs from the CD sessions (mostly written in '98-'01). Many of these songs are likely to feature vocals from that era. There should be some strong singing there.
Slash and Duff can adapt to CD material and improve upon it.
The downside is that everything aside the vocal tracks might need to be scrapped and re-done, to have it sound organic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Z2ACGNO7A
I didn't have to tell Slash anything about working on the Chinese Democracy songs or how to play them. He just embraced them and worked really hard on them.
#262 Re: Guns N' Roses » Tim Palmer's two days on CD » 509 weeks ago
If he didn't wanna do it why go down there in the first place...basically a waste of a day for all concerned
[Had Axl been pressured to see this producer in the first place?
The record company thought, 'OK, you can go in, work with Axl, do the vocals, mix it.'
Yup, Palmer was set on a mission.
[As I said I think the major problem since the 1990s was that Axl hides behind team brazil instead of dealing with people directly,
We weren't allowed to call, there was no phone calls, so everyone was given a BlackBerry. So I texted him.
I found it hilarious that they were all IM'ing Axl on BlackBerries. 
this really seems like this guy quit because his personal circumstances (wife etc) couldn't handle working nights.
Up until the reality hit him, he seemed to have rapport with Axl. Maybe Ax had gotten his hopes up already, that Palmer seemed like a nice guy, his photograph checked out with Yoda, he's going to do with Guns what he'd just done with U2...
After Ezrin, Axl was waiting for the hail-mary that would "fix" the album. He told Zutaut that he'd been in a rut for six months because of that. Here, I think, coalesced another problem. Axl and the record company people, if talking, were speaking different languages. People like Palmer came in with different notions than the likes of Sean Beavan, who was asked by a fellow NIN associate, Robin. The label people were a more mercenary in comparison, their job was to get the album out.
If only they'd gotten Palmer before Ezrin...
#263 Re: Guns N' Roses » Tim Palmer's two days on CD » 509 weeks ago
Wow. Another peak behind the Chinese curtain. Recording syllables in 2000? Between that and Fortus saying 90% of the vocals were done in a week in 2001, I don't think it was even feasible for any release in 99-00.
Axl did a lot of vocals with Sean Beavan in autumn '99, in the space of a week or so. I think around 11-12 songs. They were the A-listed songs of the era and formed the bulk of the Beavan album (many of those songs were released, on CD mk 3, and while most instrumentals were re-done, the vocals stayed).
A year later, Axl was getting anxious to mix the album. Ezrin told him off. Axl was on a bind, and started looking for new songs. TIL, Shackler and Sorry came into the frame for this era, CD mk 2. Axl was apparently having a writers block right about then, and small wonder. He was being asked a hit.
#264 Guns N' Roses » Tim Palmer's two days on CD » 509 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 60
Tim Palmer briefly reminisced the time he spent on CD. The band had already relocated into The Village Studios, so this would've been late 2000, after Bob Ezrin's 'three good songs' comment, and prior to Tom Zutaut.
I did two days on that record [CD], actually... I was I was the producer who worked the shortest amount of time... Yeah, [Buckethead] was there, all that was going on.
It was right after I'd worked with U2 [mixing All That You Can't Leave Behind, rel. 2000] So, the record company thought, 'OK, you can go in, work with Axl, do the vocals, mix it.' Which, of course, y'know, is not that simple.
So, we went down there and I got on with Axl, and I said, 'Let's start tomorrow.' And he said, 'Can we start at midnight?' And, I thought, 'Oh, here we go.'
So we get down there at midnight. 2 o'clock comes, and some assistant's saying, 'Oh, Axl's just getting out of the shower, he'll be getting there down there soon...' I'm tired, and I'm thinking, 'Wow.'
So, Axl arrives and they all start rushing around, making sure everything's right... We tried to a record a song. He didn't have any ideas for that aside of a few syllables, he said. So we stayed up all night recording a few syllables...
I thought, 'You know what?' At the time, my wife was pregnant, and he was working in The Village in Santa Monica and I lived in Studio City, and I thought, I'm driving back along the 405, 6-7 in the morning. I was thinking, do I really wanna do this, is this going to make me a happy person? I know it's Guns N' Roses, but am I gonna be happy doing this?
And I thought, 'Oh no, I'm not, and I'm gonna cut this off right now.' We weren't allowed to call, there was no phone calls, so everyone was given a BlackBerry. So I texted him and I said, 'Dear Axl, I'm so sorry, but I really feel that I'm not the right guy for this job. I wish you every success and the tracks sound great and, y'know, I'm sorry to do this.'
He just wrote back and said, 'Fuck you! Lose my pager number!'
#265 Re: Guns N' Roses » Axl and the Haunted Piano at Houston » 509 weeks ago
otto, I agree with you that Axl/DC makes for a much more secure frontman. Slash is now a guitar hero, and the star of the show. Axl counterbalances by upping his Rock Star ante. That, and the throne, were typical left-field incidents that often come his way. But I bet they also gave him a slice of humble pie.
However, had Axl been anything less than top of his game within the AC/DC machine, Angus would've passed him. He was vetted, surely, because of his past reputation. Imagine Axl holding up an AC/DC crowd.
#266 Re: Guns N' Roses » Axl and the Haunted Piano at Houston » 509 weeks ago
The emphasis does seem to have shifted to bringing out the best technical performance. We could describe the Axl of the old as an 'instinctive' performer, waiting for the apt energy surge pre-show, blowing his vocal chords and flipping out due to errors, simply because he feels compelled to deliver his utmost, and is intolerant of any errors or disruptions. This is something I'd imagine to have gone through his mind whilst on the outset, it appeared as diva-like behaviour, rightly or wrongly.
Now, he's consistently on the clock, all warmed up and visibly enjoying himself. Maybe that's the thing that's changed from 2010 onwards. After showing initial form, he got a bit jaded (possibly due to the necessity to tour for Azoff lawsuit). Slowly creeping back from being a wedding band in the French Riviera, the entertainment for the night for Russian oligarchs and a Vegas act, he's regained some professional dignity.
It's a win some - lose some. Forgive Slash and welcome him back, tour stadiums. Trade in your anger and manic stage presence for a reigned-in, conscious effort, get AC/DC thrown in for good measure. The days of Manic Axl seem to have gone by. The joke of it is, he spent them exactly the way wanted, by taking his time to forge an album, blowing off all restraints. He was allowed to go out unchecked, and the album only came out by way of ambush.
He's certainly tamer now, the one-time hellion. But can you blame him? CD was a huge albatross he carried around for over a decade, getting derided and isolated. When he toured, it was obvious he had a mental strain - he wanted closure, but the bridges with the label were too burned for Guns to function like any other band. Now that he's out of past stalemates, he can bask in adulation and make the most of his present situation. He knows the alternative.
On the other hand, there are still moments when his voice raises through the roof and the verse ends with that thousand-yard stare, those moments when he's in the zone, carried on by the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29up_UZA24s#t=3m30s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOjKAVJmipE#t=3m51s
#267 Re: Guns N' Roses » Axl and the Haunted Piano at Houston » 509 weeks ago
Part of what made him so aggressive in the first place was surely the 'last man standing' syndrome. Now that's settled and he's also got AC/DC going for him - he surely knows by now that he's on his biggest hey-day since 2001. One'd think that would placate him and push him to work for it.
#268 Re: The Sunset Strip » Suicide Squad/Justice League Films » 509 weeks ago
For an understanding of how Suicide Squad was made:
"A production schedule engineered to meet an ambitious release date; a director, David Ayer (Fury), untested in making tentpole movies; and studio executives, brimming with anxiety, who are ready to intercede forcefully as they attempt to protect a branded asset." -src
The script for this $175 Million venture (double that amount before seeing profit) was written in six weeks. 6 weeks. 
#269 Re: Guns N' Roses » Axl and the Haunted Piano at Houston » 509 weeks ago
You sure? Really, I'm genuinely curious as to how you reached that conclusion.
The 2012 interview with Jimmy Kimmel saw him slur and generally run on a low gear. If ever he was on medication to cool his nerves, I'd say it was that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv4nN0Ua6eI
#270 Guns N' Roses » Axl and the Haunted Piano at Houston » 509 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 21
The grand piano surprises Axl during November Rain by offering up additional high notes.
"I don't mind ghosts or gremlins, but they should probably learn the fuckin' song!"
