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#741 Re: Guns N' Roses » The enigmatic Beavan album ('98-00) » 572 weeks ago
I'm with Sky Dog, there.
Axl, Beavan, Freese and others have been consistent in saying two albums' worth of music, actual songs, was in the can.
Late 1998: "The record just needed a lead vocal and a mix. [...] If Axl had recorded vocals, it would have been an absolutely contemporary record in 1999." (James Barber, Poptones, 10/16/05)
I'd say these were mostly sketches and ideas.
Late 1999: "We've been working on, I don't know, 70 songs." (Axl, 11/08/99)
Here, Axl's likely referring to both sketches and songs.
Early 2000: "When I left, there were two lists, the Master list ('Here's the 20 songs we're concentrating on') and the B list ('Here's the other 20 songs, we'll finish them one day and we'll see what happens')." (Josh Freese, Podomatic, 04/13)
Freese's numbers corroborate with Beavan; these were, by all accounts, more songs than sketches.
Late 2000: "Axl: We are ready to mix." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)
After drums were re-recorded and a batch of new songs were written with Bucket & Brain...
Late 2001: "Mixes were being finished... 'I felt we had a well finished version of The Blues, Madagascar, Chinese Democracy. Atlas Shrugged was pretty good.'" (Tom Zutaut, Classic Rock, 04/08)
I think Axl's been singled out as the sole cause for the delays up to late 2001 for no good reason. All things point out to him being ready to mix the Beavan album, but Interscope head Jimmy Iovine, an even more notorious trend-chaser than Axl, got cold feet. His reaction would've made Axl more insecure about releasing CD, coupled with the lukewarm reception of OMG.
A bigger mystery is what the hell happened with the album from 2002 onwards, with Axl as the designated driver. Instead of just mixing and packaging the work done with RTB and Zutaut, Axl commissioned Marco Beltrami and Paul Buckmaster to work with orchestrations on songs. To me, that's a mindbending moment - all we know adds up to the conclusion that the album could've been released by the 2002 tour.
They had the RTB mixes, the works. Axl would've done himself an immense favour by letting the first album drop there and then, while fiddling around with the second one for the next 2 years, if he'd like.
I'd really like to know that part of the story. Axl seemed out of place on the '02 tour. While he said he was touring against his better judgement on the UYI's, that goes double for the ill-fated ClearChannel tour. Something had really gotten underneath his skin since completing mixes the year before.
#742 Re: Guns N' Roses » The enigmatic Beavan album ('98-00) » 572 weeks ago
A recent Sean Beavan interview, good stuff on working with NIN and Manson. Beavan's the guy who mixed the Pretty Hate Machine demos, in case you didn't know 
You worked with Axl Rose and Guns on "Oh, My God" from the "End of Days" soundtrack and then the "Chinese Democracy" record?
He was really cool. I was there for two years and did 35 songs, haha. I was approached by Billy Howerdel from A Perfect Circle. He was doing some programming there with Axl and running one of the computers for it. Robin Finck was playing lead guitar and so the two of 'em kind of approached me to come in and help out and do some production for it. I brought in my friend Critter the engineer who had started engineering for them. Around that time, Chris Vrenna but Josh Freese started there who was a friend of mine.
A lot of people going in and out.
It was fun. I knew lots of people there and they knew me. Axl was really, really interested in working with me and doing some stuff together, which was really fun. Axl and I are the same age so we get along really well. We have similar influences.
What are those?
We're both big Alice Cooper and Queen fans. That was really fun. Then I got to become really, really, really good friends with Tommy Stinson who was playing bass. Tommy and I have become really, really close and he's part of my first LA family and made me feel good being here.
You have a good time doing the sessions for "Chinese Democracy" though they seemed to have lasted a while?
[Laughs] Oh, yeah. Totally. Axl is an incredible talent obviously. He was the only singer I've ever worked with where he came in and in order to warm up, he'd do a 45-minute stand-up routine, hahaha. The dude is amazing. Any joke he hears, he remembers perfectly and he's got a great delivery. He would just get in the vocal booth and then just start killin' it with jokes.
And for a bit of alternate history...
Todd Rundgren was really one of your heroes?
Yeah, one of my heroes. Todd and Bob Ezrin were probably my two big influences as far as production goes.
...
What about Bob Ezrin?
For me, it was Ezrin and Alice Cooper together. It's funny because I think my love of Todd Rundgren's "A Wizard, a True Star" kind of made prime for the "Downward Spiral" and Nine Inch Nails. And I think my love of Cooper and Ezrin made me ready to work with Marilyn Manson. You know what I mean? I loved the vibe of all that stuff.
Imagine that. About six months after Beavan split, Ezrin came in. One can only wonder if Beavan could've worked as a liaison between Ezrin and Axl.
#743 Re: Guns N' Roses » Why Slash's fans can't stop talking about the "cancer" » 572 weeks ago
Had there been new music released since late 2008, the cancer bit might've passed more quickly.
Now, Axl's just been touring, largely behind the material co-written by the unwanted party.
That went on for seven years before CD and has gone on for another seven years after CD.
#744 Re: Guns N' Roses » Why Slash's fans can't stop talking about the "cancer" » 574 weeks ago
If anything, that interview was a massive misstep from Axl and his buddy/GNR tour manager, Del James.
They both should've realized that joining Slash and cancer in a sentence will be the hotspot. It was a deliberate, venomous attack on Slash. Axl basically said that Slash can be compared to a parasite, which, if untreated, leads to a nasty demise.
If Axl really meant that 'Reuniting with Slash could mean a throwback to the UYI days, with me wanting to stick a gun to my mouth', he should've said so. Admitting to fear for the mental stress he'd shoulder in a reunion would've been an understandable concern. It would've humanized Axl a bit, even.
#745 Re: Guns N' Roses » Big Brain Interview - 'Who's going to clean up the confetti?' » 575 weeks ago
Tom Zutaut was in a Detroit record shop the other week, having a Q & A. Any forum regulars seemed to be out of it, but he did post the intriguing comment on the shops FB page.
I am so excited to share some more GnR tales with as many of you that can stop by on Sat. The MTV story is just the tip of the iceberg! In many ways it will be a preview of an upcoming book I'm working on. This is "Everything You Wanted to Know About GnR But Were Afraid To Ask"…see you there!!!
He's writing a book, then. Figures. As Brain said, anyone who's been around the band long enough would have their own material. A book by Zoot might be a hoot, as he was there to sign the band to Geffen, watch them ascend, fall into a stalemate with Axl on the UYI release, orchestrate 'The Devil' sessions, release the Snakepit album... and come back for a year into the RTB / Bucket / Brain era, which was prolly one of the high watermarks of madness in the CD saga.
#746 Re: Guns N' Roses » Stay of Execution » 575 weeks ago
Here you can play the copyright game. Stay of Execution is currently in step 8.
2014-12-23 NOA E-MAILED - SOU REQUIRED FROM APPLICANT
The NOA is not a registration, but indicates that the mark will be allowed to register after an acceptable Statement of Use (SOU) is filed. The deadline for filing an SOU or request for extension of time (extension request) to file an SOU is calculated from the date the NOA issued. If the applicant does not file an SOU or extension request within 6 months of the date the NOA issued, the application will abandon.
Within 6 months go to step 9a or step 9b or step 9c.
By June 23rd, the copyright claim will be null and void unless Ax applies for a 6-month extension (up to 2,5 years in total) or provides with a Statement of Use. In the latter scenario, the copyright would be his in around August.
#747 Re: Guns N' Roses » Stay of Execution » 576 weeks ago
Axl's heart is in the right place, there.
In general, he should work on his syntax, tho. Any given sentence with a comma rambles on and on, and the key point can get a bit muddled.
give them a permanent stay of execution
There, he said it.
What the fuck is this topic about. Some major speculation going on here. Hahaha...
The topic is what it says on top. Axl's copyright claim and the possibilities therein, as well as his letter to the president of Indonesia.
Speculation's alright, when we have only a limited amount of facts to go on with. I'm still wary to suggest SOE = CD2, but it's definitely shaping up to a Guns thing.
#748 Re: Guns N' Roses » Stay of Execution » 576 weeks ago
Um, DJ's saying the band's on hiatus. We know as much
But since you brought it up, it reminded me of those rumors of Axl retiring Guns.
“Band members have been told their calendars are free following Vegas,” a source close to the band tells RadarOnline. “Axl (Rose) is considering retiring and it’s done. Band members and support staff were surprised when told the news and are actively looking for work.”
The article was posted on the first day of the 2014 residency (21st May). One ulterior motive could've been to circulate a rumor of farewell shows to the tourists. What it says about the crew being notified is certainly plausible.
A few weeks into the residency, came the Revolver interview.
We have what I call kind of the second half of Chinese. That’s already recorded. And then we have a remix album made of the songs from Chinese. That’s been done for a while, too. But after Vegas, we’re going to start looking very seriously at what we’re doing in that regard.
The next thing you know, Ax applies for the SOE copyright - a live 'thing'. It's starting to look like another residency in 2016, possibly in Vegas as the deal could've been reached with Hard Rock during the '14 residency.
Then, the residency is over, crew is let go, Axl starts looking very seriously at what he's doing with albums... Stay of Execution starts now!
#749 Re: Guns N' Roses » Stay of Execution » 577 weeks ago
While that is prolly true, SOE is now getting dangerously close to an AFD rehash.
#750 Re: Guns N' Roses » Stay of Execution » 577 weeks ago
Nice to see this convo going to places, it's fun to have different possibilites re: the title weighted.
The one-time HTGTH resident insider Mysteron threw a new one out at MyGNR.
With the ICs, 041 is live performance, 009 is DVD or CD. That is what they mean
I am reasonably confident it is a live release of sorts, whatever it is. Not a band name or an album
The whole endeavour though is forward thinking and the means the band are functioning and pushing forward with ideas and releases.
You get muddy boots the longer you go on, it is why alot of bands split. Seeing this, whatever it is, represents something good, something positive.
Like I said, muddy boots, everything is slow and difficult, but the intention is there. And if it was there June last year, it means there is intention for this year as it takes a year for these things to process.
All good
A GNR live 'thing', called Stay of Execution.
The one caveat in that would be Appetite for Democracy.
What sort of a live event, short of a reunion show, would be marketable in the present situation?
