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#791 Re: Guns N' Roses » sp1at thread » 597 weeks ago
I think the Slash bits are definitely riffs, upon which songs have later on been built.
"A couple of the ideas I had come up with Axl apparently liked and they were recorded onto Pro Tools and stored for him to work on later." (Slash, autobiography)
"Some of the riffs that were coming out of [Slash] were the meanest, most contemporary, bluesiest, rocking thing since Aerosmith's Rocks." (Axl, press release, 08/14/02)
"Some of the stuff is stuff that we've been working on with ideas that were already there. Some of the stuff Slash did, you know, that was like the beginning, the seed of the song, that's been around for a while." (Fortus, 11/20/14)
Three separate ideas grow into three separate songs, Axl wants Slash to play on those songs?
And Slash recorded these things during his trial period as a Guns employee, look at how he just hands out the notion that Axl would "work on them later". Just like he wanted to do with those 3-4 Snakepit demos.
#792 Re: Guns N' Roses » sp1at thread » 597 weeks ago
Correction, we may. Just like we may get the 1995 Izzy/Duff song, Down by the Ocean.
The surprise is that they are now tinkering with that stuff, and yes, it would be very interesting.
Back in 1996,
"The band managed to do a little bit of jamming and come up with some things. A couple of the ideas I had come up with Axl apparently liked and they were recorded onto Pro Tools and stored for him to work on later." (Slash, autobiography)
"I think that some of the riffs that were coming out of [Slash] were the meanest, most contemporary, bluesiest, rocking thing since Aerosmith's Rocks. The 2000 version of Aerosmith Rocks or the 1996 Aerosmith Rocks by the time we would have put it out." (Axl, press release, 08/14/02)
In 2001, Axl casually mentioned some 1996 tracks had apparently been considered during the initial making of CD.
"We hadn't written songs or recorded for many years. There were band changes and there were many changes in the record company. [...] When we tried writing songs in the old style of Guns N' Roses, they sounded too old, they didn't sound so alive. We could not make that. And I think that that also passed with the old Guns N' Roses. The songs composed by the boys for another album many years ago, everything sounded old. Then we tried to explore to maintain the band alive." (Axl, Rock & Pop FM, 01/22/01)
Less than a week before, Axl had confided to Marc Canter that there were three Slash songs still considered to be on CD.
The day after Rock In Rio [01/16/01,] Axl and I were at the pool... [Axl] saying to me "If Slash apologizes publicly for the things he said about me in the press I have three songs that he could play on the new album". They were three songs that Slash had written on and Axl wanted to do something with them and include them on Chinese Democracy which would have been cool. - Marc Canter
At the eve of the 2002 tour, Axl brought up the '96 stuff all by himself.
"[The 1996 tracks are] not something I would want to approach (without Slash), because, at the time, there was only one person that I knew who could do certain riffs that way. [...] That's the reason why that material got scrapped.
If one were to say 'Well then, why not do it now' there are several reasons.
1) My band, too much time, too much effort and hardship. Confidence in our material. Excitement in watching this grow and being a part of the whole experience.
2) Money.
3) Slash has lied about nearly everything and anything to nearly everyone and anyone." (Axl, press release, 08/14/02)
His second and third points were originally much more verbose, but contained little meat aside the opening sentences, as usual 
But yeah, it does appear there are three tracks, or 'seeds of songs', that have been kicking around for 18 years.
#793 Re: Guns N' Roses » sp1at thread » 597 weeks ago
Duff won't be a peer....Axl will never have any peers again business wise. He obviously wants full control and is too old and stubborn to change now. Duff is more of a peer on a spiritual level and a friendship level.
That's my point exactly.
Duff can knock on the door after over a decade and have Team Brazil tell him Axl's taking a shower. Nonplussed, he's the dude who can say, 'I've seen him naked before.'
Team Brazil know this. Duff and Izzy are guys who are beyond their reach. They want to talk to Axl, they will talk to Axl, because Axl wants to hear from them. Out of the two, Duff is the one who could become a returning member. He's dependable, eager to write, eager to work. Duff could be the magic bullet to push Axl into a respectable twilight of his career. Reunion could be never, but imagine the Axl band with Duff on bass full-time and Izzy guesting on a song. That'd be amiable.
As for Axl collaborators, I don't put Bucket in that category or Fortus or Dj or Ron. From what we have heard (tracks actually released or leaked like Going Down), Axl's main collaborators for song ideas were Robin, Tommy, Paul, and Dizzy.
Regarding the songs of the '99 album, you're right. But then came the Bob Ezrin 'three good songs' incident and more songwriting was encouraged. Bucket left his mark at this point, I think. Brain wrote The General, etc. Robin and Richard wrote Better, even if the main riff may have been around longer. This was all post-Sean Beavan stuff, it was the Roy Thomas Baker -produced album.
There can't be much pressure except in his own mind. Nobody is waiting for a new GN'R album. Nobody is expecting it will sell much. He can pretty much do it in any style he want.
True. Imagine if this Richard video had surfaced a decade ago. The wait for nothing between 2003 and 2005 was crowded, against all reason.
#794 Re: Guns N' Roses » sp1at thread » 597 weeks ago
Yeah, I transscribed the Guns bits, because they are quite interesting.
On the CD sessions songs
On Chinese Democracy, yes. I was adding to ideas that were already there. That entire record was written when I joined the band ten years ago. Except for, I wrote the chorus to Better [plays chorus], but Robin wrote that main riff, that [plays main riff], which is really interesting harmonically. So yeah, other than that, there were little bits and pieces that I added, but most of that record was done.
Because there's so much stuff that's recorded, there's so much stuff that was done, I mean, there's three albums' worth of material, easy...
I probably know them [CD sessions tracks] with different titles than you do... I don't know any that [of them] that I could play now that would make sense... There's some really good stuff. There's a song, my favorite one is a track that I don't even know it has a title, but it's one that Robin Finck wrote, and it's fantastic. [It's not Soul Monster,] no. This one hasn't leaked at all [while Soul Monster may have].
On more recently worked tracks
DJ and I've worked on stuff, nobody's worked on stuff with Ron, but yeah...
Really, what the focus has been lately is just been writing and stuff like that. And I've been pretty involved with the [Dead] Daisies, you know. Dizzy and I have been.
A lot of the new stuff that we've been working on, some other stuff that we've come in from nothing, and some of the stuff is stuff that we've been working on with ideas that were already there. Some of the stuff Slash did, you know [some 1996 session work???], that was like the beginning, the seed of the song, that's been around for a while.
But, the way he generally works is very... He's doesn't want to take the idea DJ sent. What'll he'll do is that he'll take a little piece that I sent, he'll take a little piece that DJ sent on another track, and he'll, like... and he's always done that, back even with the Appetite stuff, you know. He'd take a little piece of this, and a little piece of that, and they put it together... If you listen to it, you can sort of hear it, if you listen to different tracks. You can hear it, especially on Illusions, with the opuses, where he took little bits from different people and put them together. He's got a real talent for that.
Some of them he's working on as we're here, 'cause I know in this week, he's recording a lot of stuff, vocals, yeah...
Leaks, Team Brazil, Slash
There's a lot that hasn't leaked, thank God. Yeah, it's so weird that whole thing. Y'know, tracks getting leaked and the different versions and stuff like that, people making their own leak, there's a lot of that. And nobody from our camp really talks about it, so... meh. I'm sorry, I wish I could.
That camp is very... because, I don't know why, I mean, it's just that they're very... Axl's very secretive, I mean, he doesn't want the stuff getting out, he wants to create stuff and release it when it's ready. I get it, yeah, no problem. No problem. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, as you can imagine.
The thing with Slash is really between Axl and Slash, and none of the rest of us have any feelings about it whatsoever. No, it's not something we sit around talking, 'Oh, it's Slash doing it...' We all have a lot of respect for him and it's not something we talk about really. Axl tells stories all the time, you know? [About Slash?]
Live shows, Duff
[Leaving the stage after the show is] hard, especially when you're playing in front of a lot of people, that's tough to come down from. Y'know, it's tough to walk off-stage and that's why, like Guns N' Roses, Axl's thing is he doesn't want to come down, he wants to carry it on somewhere else and he goes to a party and that party goes to another... yeah, yeah. I rather just go to my room and meditate, get up early and all. Otherwise, you just end up in this quaqmire, the black hole, hours become days and days become weeks... yeah, it's not good.
As far as [playing future shows with] Duff, I really couldn't say. I mean, I love playing with him. He's a fantastic musician, and has also become one of my best friends. He's a really close friend, and a great human being. Really, really solid dude. He's become a great guy. But yeah, I really don't know, because Tommy's been busy with the Replacements stuff, so there was talk about Duff doing more shows... I don't know what's going to happen with that. That's very up in the air right now.
======
Richard makes very curious remarks. He's saying he and DJ have worked on the next album as of late, as has Axl. Hell, two weeks ago Axl was apparently in the studio! The aside is, Ron appears oblivious to all this.
Am I alone in feeling Ron's troubled relationship with the band has ostracized him from the song-writing process? Is this Ron going Gilby, in that the great collaborator in the form of Izzy/Bucket has left the building and Axl's wary on using the replacement as anything but a step up from a technician, someone who can walk in and fill the pocket, but doesn't really inspire Axl to collaborate from scratch?
Richard and DJ both have said they were hired because Axl wanted players he felt he could write with. Not Ron. He was the 'fuck-it-the-world-tour-is-starting-and-we-lack-the-lead' guy. He walked into a highly charged situation made worse by the Axl/Merck Mercuriadis way of managing Guns. That is, the band learned about Ron being, essentially, the guy, when he walked into the room a week before the shows.
For any self-respecting band on the verge of their show-yr-teeth moment, it's turbulent. It would help a lot if they'd already know the guy personally, or better yet, would've played with him in the past. Ron was the nobody hail-mary, as Axl felt Bucket's parts should be reproduced live - instead of allowing the band to gel into a tighter unit and find alternate ways to fill that pocket. They could've done it, I think - Fortus is Josh Freese, a right off the bat chameleon, who can quickly adapt to the players around him. The other guys had been together for six years, they'd written a pile of songs, toured...
The '06 band was dangerous in its own way, only the danger was inward. Imagine how charged the atmosphere is with the Guns legacy hanging about the venue, the crowd getting disgruntled with the wait, walking on to the stage with the guy you have issues with, and then having your crazy boss run past you like a man on fire, and you just try to lock in to the groove. The good thing is, the songwriting's solid. The Appetite tracks have that timeless rock bent to them that also characterized the best of Stones, among others. These guys found the songs and became good with them.
Still, Ron has mentioned in interviews that he was the redheaded stepchild; he decidedly rebelled against the way Guns operated internally. He was at odds with the band, who were a segregated, long-suffering unit from the rest of the organization. Who took him like Slash took Paul Huge. It's wasn't probably the same 'the guy can't play', but it definitely came across as similar to Slash's and Duff's sentiments that they were being forcefed someone they had no part in choosing. The difference is, Paul was Axl's boy, a 'made man', like Robin.
This, of course, is how Guns operates on Axl watch. As he explained it:
In working with these people. You know, I developed a kinda one on one individual relationships, and little.. Little groups in putting this thing together rather... I mean this isn't a band of a bunch of guys who met at a bar, or found each other through, you know, ads in the paper or anything. It's been, you know, I carefully looked for these individual people and their personalities and how exciting each one of them is and what they bring to this project. So then, the challenge was, you know, working with all those different personalities and bringing those personalities together. Especially personalities that, ahh you know, when they have to learn how to play other people's material, then that's difficult as well.
So there was a lot of challenges in bringing that together, but now everyone's pretty excited. Everyone got pretty excited doing the little mini-tour, and that brought us together more as an actually band rather than a studio band, where everyone is kind of working separetely maybe even on the same songs. In little clusters here and there, but it's not the same thing as actually being a stage and road band.
...With the guys, I mean. I do have, a really positive relationship with the individual members and each one of them ahh, you know excites me with what they bring to it creatively or just as a person and how each one of them works really hard, because I think anyone that watches this project at all, also sees, the abuse that this project goes through. And these guys shoulder that really, really well and... And they dont have a problem dealing with it, and I have to, you know, just respect the hell out of that with these guys.
The band is an extension of Axl's artistic vision, so recruits come through him and by the time they reach the band, the scales are already shifting. The interpersonal chemistry of the lineup is not something Axl bothers with much. His line would likely be, 'They're grown-ups, they can work it out by themselves.' While auditioning to a high-profile gig like Guns understandably takes a few sessions without the band in the room, would it hurt to have Tommy there in the control booth with Axl? As the bassist, Tommy could offer his two cents about in relation to the rest of the band, musically. He'd have an inkling on whether or not it could work. He could brief the band at the next rehearsal on what to expect. The band would be given the respect of having a vote.
But it's not a vote, it's the Axl band. And Duff's looking strong to come back to it. It's Duff's best gig at the moment, hands down. VR would be the optimum, but Slash doesn't want to play with Corey Taylor. Tommy's got Paul Westerberg calling him up, so it could be perceived as a win-win. I'd assume Duff would very soon carry the gravitas Axl doesn't give employees, not even made men.
Duff would be a peer.
#795 Re: Guns N' Roses » sp1at thread » 597 weeks ago
That's your take and you're good for it.
For all we know, there appears to be an intention to put new music out. This June, Ax said there's a studio album and the remix album.
They have the would-be product available to them, the only intention relevant to releasing it would be Axl's.
Where does that leave us? Right now, exactly where we started. Axl always had a very, very serious intention to release CD, and he would've had an album from '98/99 onwards. Only took him a decade.
Time will tell, but one thing's for sure. There'll be plenty of time to get excited if the actual prospect for it arises.
#796 Guns N' Roses » The Axl They Saw » 598 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 1
"After each line he is gazing at the crowd with those strangely startled yet fearless eyes, as though we had just surprised him in his den, tearing into some carrion..."
- John Jeremiah Sullivan on Axl Rose
Here's something that started off as something else, but turned out as it is.
May 12th, 2006 - Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City.
First Guns show since the sold-out Madison Square Garden show in 2002.
First show with Ron.
First performance of Better.
Axl fucks up early on, going into a verse too early.
He motions the band to cover up and they save his ass without missing a beat.
Axl struggles on.
As he gets to the line about 'determination', he snarls the word like an angry dog.
He pulls back, again, as the song is structured that way. He's waiting the moment.
Then he gets to scream the breakdown verse. And scream he does.
Better is a great song for Axl, because it utilizes his range in clever ways.
The big screams are where he comes alive.
You can tell he's absorbing the mood the second he stops singing.
"The outcome will determine whether tonight [May 15th, third Hammestein show] was badass or "Sort of sad, but it's Axl, y'all." What happened? Well, call me a twisted fanboy, but I thought he won. His voice is back, for starters. He was inhabiting the notes. And his dancing — I don't quite know how to say this. It has matured." (- CQ Magazine)
A man who took as his legal name and made into a household word the name of a band—Axl—that [Lafayette musician Dana] Gregory was once in, on bass, and that Bill was never even in.
==
[In late 2010], the legendary rocker was looking for a New York apartment to rent. He thought it might be time to move from Malibu and wanted to test out New York.
==
Though Rose, who lives on the West Coast, has been in New York on and off in the last couple years, night-life insiders say he hasn’t hit the town this hard since 2006.
==
[In 2006,] Four years after disappearing from public view, Axl Rose is back on the scene, looking like a wax figure of himself, absorbing the crushing blows of Tommy Hilfiger, biting the legs of security guards, and gyrating, shrieking, and storming off stages across the land.
==
Local lafayette morning rock deejay Jeff Strange, on Axl's... fisticuffs with... Tommy Hilfiger; actually, "fisticuffs" is strong—accounts suggest that the fight consisted mostly of Hilfiger slapping Axl on the arm many times, and photos show Axl staring at Hilfiger with an improbable fifty-fifty mixture of rage and amused disbelief, like, 'Should I hurt it?':
"Man, I saw that, and I thought, That is straight Lafayette."
==
We were repeatedly told by his very nice assistants, a mother and son team, that he was definitely planning a move to New York, which we were informed he’d fallen in love with. (He might even want to buy our place.)... Axl was in a hurry to get into the place, we were told.
==
He expressed an interest in buying a house in the metropolitan area — possibly in Connecticut, an [insider] said.
==
[During the Rock in Rio 3 show in 01/15/01,] Rose has rented an entire floor of the five-star Intercontinental Hotel for his entourage, and is paying for it out of his own pocket.
==
He is from nowhere. I realize that sounds coyly rhetorical—in this day and age, it's even a boast, right? Socioeconomic code for I went to a second-tier school and had no connections and made all this money myself.
==
Since he arrived in [New York] city for his Fashion Week concert on [02/11/10], he’s gone out nearly every night (and continued on till the morning), usually crashing afterward at his $1,550-a-night suite in the Essex House Hotel.
==
[During RIR3,] Axl himself will be staying in the [$1,500]-a-night Presidential Suite, which measures 185 square metres, faces the sea and has a huge Jacuzzi.
==
[Axl] snorted at people who like spaces "bathed in light," as the Realtors say... We learned that he had been to New York, though, renting a roomy suite at a fancy hotel with a balcony and, well, lots of light.
==
By the time he inspected my apartment, he was almost 50 years old and getting the belly to prove it.
==
[Axl Rose is] having this contraption installed in [his mansion in May, 2001]. It's a gym machine which promises that, in four minutes, you can achieve the same results as if you were to jog for 45 minutes, weight train for another 45 minutes and stretch for 15.
==
[In 2010,] The middle-aged rocker has put on at least 15 pounds since his heyday and doesn’t appear to have a strict eating and drinking regimen to keep him in tip-top shape.
==
Axl Rose was working out at [a Seattle gym at the time of the Tacoma show in 11/08/02]... Axl reportedly caused quite a giddy stir amongst the mostly gay male thirtysomething crowd at the gym (AKA everyone)... He replied with a polite, very un-rock-star-ish "Thank you" when wished well.
==
People who know him say his hard partying is simply a balance to his tough road schedule.
==
The members of GNR and their road crew were going to celebrate Thanksgiving [11/28/02] in Toronto... Axl smoked cigars, drank, and chatted with the locals until 5am. Not too bad considering he had a sold out concert at the Air Canada Centre the next day.
==
[On 02/14/10], Guns N’ Roses played a late-night gig at Rose Bar to a crowd of 150... “Are you as hung-over as I am?” [Axl] snarled.”
==
While I cannot say he is dancing as well [in 2006] as he used to, that so fluidly are his heels gliding out and away from his center they look each to have been tapped with a wand that absolved them of resistance and weight, and although he does at particular moments remind one of one's wasted uncle trying to "do his Axl Rose" after a Super Bowl party, he is nevertheless acquitting himself honorably.
==
[During the 2014 Vegas shows,] his voice is strong, wide-open, hitting the highs, and his energy level is still prime, never showing signs of being out of breath, as he was in great shape physically... Yes, there are times when his voice has a bit of a different tonality but the majority of the time he’s spot on.
==
Take a second look next time you’re out at a show. Is this really what passes for a rockstar these days? Identikit tattoos, scripted stage patter and a watch-the-clock attitude from a band desperate to get home in time to cosy up with Netflix before bed?
==
Listen, these guys aren't fake-booking, like happened on MTV. Everything's note for note. And although we could get into the whole problem of virtuosity as it applies to popular music — namely, that for some reason people who can play anything will, nine times out of ten, when asked to make something up, play something terrible — still, if you mean to replace your entire band one instrument at a time and tell them, "Do it like this," you'll be wanting to find some monster players.
==
One thing is certain, by the time GNR went onstage [in Toronto on 11/29/02] all of the beer [at the venue] had been sold and drank... An unofficial rumor going around is that a new building record for merchandise as well as a record for the amount beer sold was set.
==
Axl is the greatest rockstar in the world for the simple reason that he believes he is. Because he walks, talks and breathes with the arrogance of a man who is [the rock star], and has [been] since day one, when he hitchhiked to West Hollywood from his small hometown in Indiana with a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove.
==
Central Indiana? That's like, "Where are you?" "I'm nowhere."
==
M. Sheidler stated that Bailey was also arguing with Sheidler and that he was using the "F" word in front of her kids. M. Sheidler stated that she went up to Bailey and pointed her finger at Bailey and told him not to use the "F" word in front of her kids... Bill Bailey himself then goes on to say that he "struck M. SHEIDLER in the FACE with... the hand without the SPLINT."
Once again, this only after "MARLEEN SHEIDLER struck him in the face" (though seconds earlier, by his own admission, he'd told her "to keep her fucking brats at home"). The story ends with a strangely affecting suddenness: "BAILEY stated SHEIDLER then jumped at him and fell on his face, he then left and went home..." ("The Scheidler Incident")
==
Another person who’s partied with Rose says he’s working on a new album... and has something to prove.
==
After each line he is gazing at the crowd with those strangely startled yet fearless eyes, as though we had just surprised him in his den, tearing into some carrion.
==
I don’t think he’s even conscious of what he does, or how angry he gets... I always thought that there was something chemical that happened to him when he was angry. That image of him sitting in that electric chair in that video ‘Welcome to the jungle’, looking crazed, says it all. That’s what he looks like when he’s pissed off. And when you see that coming at you from across a room, coming near you, it’s frightening as hell.
==
"I lived with him during that period of ‘Bill’ to ‘Bill Axl’ to ‘Axl’. It was the strangest thing, because some days he’d be Bill, some days he’d be Axl, some days I didn’t know who the hell he was. I didn’t know what to do, because I didn’t know what person he was. For a long time he tried to dispel the fact that he had ever lived in the Midwest. He was trying to build an image, and a persona of a musician he thought he wanted to be. And sometimes I find it ironic that that thing which he tried most to get away from is what he’s trying most to go back to."
==
So far, no one knows when the party — or his existential crisis — will end. As Rose prepared to leave one club, The Post cornered him and asked how late he generally stays out. Rose just smirked. “As long as it takes,” he said.
==
When it came time to renew for a third year, negotiations began, but then rationality — his management’s — prevailed. Axl's ghost rental ended in the beginning of 2013, at the two-year mark.
==
"He is extremely intelligent", insists Gina [Siler]. "That was one of the things that attracted me to him. He is just a nit-picky perfectionist and when things don’t go smoothly and to his liking he just loses it. He blows up. I’ve seen him do it on many occasions, smashing things and breaking things and yelling and screaming - holes through walls. Seen him do it one too many times."
Maybe he finally got around to finishing the next album.
One thing's for sure, he's proud of his band. It's the solid yessir unit, that can self-regulate as long as the paychecks keep coming. He can live out the rock star dream through it, only that he always teeters at an arm's length of the self-destruct button. That's what makes it dangerous, to his fans, at least. They rest on the verge of another disappointment.
Then Axl Rose the person takes it into heart, and retreats to his mansion, maybe firing a few people on the way. We're all looking at a few years of 'Ahem.' Call it minute perfectionism, or a spoiled brat, the outcome is the same for the rest of us. But, if an album comes, and only the hardcores care about it, Guns can always tour with the strong songs, together with AFD. The 1991 money is not around, but there's a payback with his name on it... If he gets to it.
May 31st, 2014 - The Joint, Las Vegas.
Duff's first show in Guns since the UYI tour wrapped in 1993.
Axl still has the voice.
He moves less now, and he does, he barely jogs, let alone sprints.
The snake dance... wait, did he do it?
There are no quarantees.
"The outcome will determine whether tonight was badass or "Sort of sad, but it's Axl, y'all." What happened? Well, call me a twisted fanboy, but I thought he won. His voice is back, for starters. He was inhabiting the notes. And his dancing — I don't quite know how to say this. It has..." (- CQ Magazine)
http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/arti … rticleid=7
http://www.kerrang.com/16019/axl-rose-s … tar-world/
http://www.vulture.com/2013/12/what-hap … tment.html
http://nypost.com/2010/03/02/new-yorks- … party-boy/
#797 Re: Guns N' Roses » Reckless Road Bio-pic » 599 weeks ago
There's more to it than just licensing the music. Financing feature-length films is a fickle business, as it's basically done through presales. The whole thing started when a production company / studio licensed the property from Canter and put their internal development money into the pool. Their goal is to generate a script which can be lobbied to talent. They will shop it around, and different parties will express separate views on how the property "should be" before they could feel secure in investing time, effort and money into it. Think the American Idol juries and you have a good idea what thousands of scripts have gone through over the years - loggerheads with deep pockets claiming to have a clue of the artistic side making demands so it'd be viable.
At some point, talent may come in. A director will find the script suitable, although s/he may ask to revise it. A talent (meaning actor) may also sign up - he's more likely to be an up and coming star than an established talent, because we're looking young Axl and Slash here. Depending on the budgetary range, they may not go for the unknown guy who just happens to be the best actor. Someone may go, 'Gulp, we need that guy from Twilight (for example)', simply because the unknown talent doesn't ring a bell with the distributors. And now we get to the meat of it.
The global distributors are where the money is. Film producers nowadays want to pre-sell to the international market, because the money's too tight to be had in advance in the US. So, they have a script and talent attached, and they come in, offering the film. The distributor looks into the package, offers his two cents, and they haggle. If all goes well, the producer leaves with some money in his pocket. He may have to make some creative concessions along the way, but that's showbiz. This is how the shooting budget is compiled, even with many studio projects - the money is, effectively, loaned.
This is why you hear people looking at the box office numbers of the opening weekend. Because for every dollar spent making the film, it needs to earn two dollars back. One dollar goes to cover marketing and other post-completion costs, the other makes its way to break the film even. So, if Reckless Road would be made at a moderate sum (by today's standards) of $50M, it would be $100M in the red once the budget had been signed off - and before the film would've even been shot.
Canter's a minor player in all this and if the project does hit that certain budget range, he'll be hoping they remember to invite him to the premiere. He'll have the 'based on the book by' credit, but everything else at this stage would be pushing it.
#798 Guns N' Roses » St. Louis '91 - The Riverport Riot » 600 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 6
"Bulletin boards dedicated to GnR tell all sorts of versions of the story... " (StlBeacon, 11/08/12)
The St. Louis Riot, also known as the Riverport Riot, was the first riot on the UYI tour. In fact, it was the first Guns concert ever to turn into a riot. The closest thing to a precursor might've been a show in 1986.
"We had been in a riot once before, when we played the Street Scene festival in L.A. [09/20/86], opening for Fear. That day cops had come through on horseback and cleared the audience as we were about to go on. But we didn’t lose any equipment, and nobody got hurt. We were shuttled over to a different stage at the festival and opened for Social Distortion instead." (Duff, autobiography)
"During the [Street Scene] show, Axl gets hit with a bottle. Surprisingly it didn't phase him and the show continued. From GNR's security man at the time: "The show was stopped when the crowd got too excited and dumped the barricades, which were big industrial drums full of water. The water had run underneath the stage and the fire marshall insisted the show stop immediately because of the risk of electrical shock. The fire marshall came to me on stage, told me they had to shut it down or someone was going to get electrocuted.
I ran out onstage after a song, told Axl to listen to me, whispered in his ear. He then told the crowd something to the effect of 'Because some of you got a little crazy with the water down there, the show's over!' I also recall him looking at some guy in the crowd on the way out and shooting him the bird and telling him on the mic, '...And you... FUCK YOU!' And then we left the stage." (GNR On Tour)
This is the story of the Riverport Riot.
"On July 2, 1991 16,000 St. Louis Concert goers attended the Guns N' Roses show at the newly constructed Riverport Amphitheatre, 15 miles west of St. Louis in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The band took the stage to a standing room crowd thrilled to see the band after it's three-year absence from the city. Guns N' Roses performed several cuts from its debut, Appetite for Destruction, as well as numerous tracks from its forthcoming Use Your Illusion twin albums." (Musician, 09/91)
(image courtesy of There's a Lot Going On.
"The show started about an hour late — which by this point almost counted as on time." (Duff, autobiography)
That lame-ass security
"There was a weird space in my mind the entire night. I was thinking, "Something isn't right up here. Why is there this weird attitude, this passiveness, in the security?" There was no feeling that they were on the same team as us." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Witnesses say that security was particularly lax at the venue. "As we went into the amphitheater, I was not frisked at all.", says Melodee Lang, 24, "To me, that was unusual because at every other concert I've been to, I have been frisked," Lang says that she saw numerous patrons with bottles and cameras in the venue." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"Through all of this, several members of a motorcycle gang called the Saddle Tramps were making their presence known in the first row, allegedly intimidating other concertgoers... Rose claims that the G n' R staffers tried to have one of the bikers ejected and were met with indifference by the venue's security staff." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"Their feelings towards the crowd wasn't right. A young boy and a girl were getting shoved over here while rowdy bikers are being allowed to do whatever they want. What is going on? I was very confused." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"One [regular concert-goer] says: "[The bikers] always cause problems. I see them at every show. They're always pushing people around. And the thing is, the security guards are intimidated by them. They security guards have never, at least in my experience, gone in and said, 'Listen guys, calm down'."
"I found out later that these guys were all friends with local security" says Guns n' Roses' manager Doug Goldstein, "which would explain why security wouldn't deal with the problems they were causing..."
"Both the police and Steve Schankman, the president to Contemporary Productions, the concert's promoter confirm that the Saddle Tramps are regulars at arena shows and are indeed known to the venue's security staff but deny that the bikers were causing any problems and say that they hadn't caused problems in the past." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"Here's my card."
"Early in the show, Rose says, another of the bikers, who the promoter says goes by the name of Stump, began bellowing to get Rose's attention. "You have people yelling and screaming during the whole show," says Rose, "but this guy just wouldn't stop, and he was loud - almost as loud as my monitor. He's holding up a card, and I'm like 'Okay, yeah, that’s great.' But he still won't stop yelling." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"This guy kept on waving his motorcycle card for his gang, the Saddletramps. I just didn't care about it." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"I was a fan. I'd seen them open up [on 09/03/88] to Aerosmith. I had a front row, got some good pictures; Axl was basically posing for me that year." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"Those four guys were yelling and driving me nuts the whole night... They were like "we know Guns N' Roses and we're going to prove we're his best friend and we are his biggest fan and so on." I was like, "Shut up!"" (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
Axl picks up Stump's card and comments on it.
"[During Dust N' Bones, the fourth song in the set,] Rose finally stopped and asked the biker what he wanted; Stump handed over a card bearing his name and affiliation."
(Lee Phillips, Guns n' Roses' attorney, says the exchange was captured on videotape by a member of Guns n' Roses crew. Daniel Durchholz, a reporter for the Riverfront Times who was there to review the show says, "I did see somebody hand him a card.")
I read his card," says Rose, "and I said, 'Okay, you're Stump from the Saddle Tramps - was that worth interrupting the show for?' Rose says he asked what he was supposed to do with the card and that Stump told him to 'remember it."" (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"As the show progressed, Rose says the problems mounted. Fans, unchecked by venue security kept grabbing his ankles. Bassist Duff McKagan was hit twice by bottles." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"I wasn't told about [Duff being bottled] until two days after the gig. [He] didn't want me to get excited... [things] such as Duff getting hit with a bottle twice during the show. Duff knows I would have called the show and he didn't want to be responsible for whatever happened out of that. Duff's attitude is, "I'm a man about things. I got hit with a bottle, big deal." My attitude is that no, you don't allow yourself to get hit by bottles because that encourages it in the future." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
Axl stands still during Jungle.
"During "Jungle," [the 9th song of the set, out of 12,]... I just stood there and watched a security guy shove a young kid and walk about four feet out into the aisle just to act tough and show the crowd that he was a man. Then he turned around to me with a smile of pride on his face." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Although, the video doesn’t show what Axl saw, we can see him standing and staring intently into the audience for about half a verse before he snaps out of his inner thoughts and resumes running around." (There's A Lot Going On, 04/02/13)
"I looked at this slob while he was looking at me with this pride on his face and going, "See what I do to your fans?" It took me a couple of days to understand the look on his face... I was very confused. I was like, "What is going on with these guys?"" (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
I see you standin'
"We played about an hour and a half, and were in the middle of “Rocket Queen” when all hell broke loose." (Duff, autobiography)
"One thing that is not being said in the press is that [my personal bodyguard] Earl Gabbidon was on the headset and he warned those guys in the front that either the cameras go or the show is off. He warned them four times. He was doing his job." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Daniel Durccholz - who says he and his associate were not frisked before entering the venue either - claims to have given his business card to at least three amateur photographers during the concert, one of whom had managed to smuggle a camcorder." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"Stump Stephenson was near the stage with his friend Go-Go, photographing the show, as he’d done at dozens of gigs over the years. Of course, the camera wasn’t cleared..." (StlBeacon, 11/08/12)
"Stump admits to sneaking in not only the infamous camera, but also a knife and bottle of whiskey, 'like I always have.'" (There's A Lot Going On, 04/02/13)
"I'd taken pictures throughout the show... It was during Rocket Queen, as you said, and after I took the picture, he started pointing and holler down at the crowd." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"This guy was shooting pictures the whole show. He'd been doing it, and probably having a good laugh. I saw Axl tell the security guard, 'Stop that f?!kin' guy!' and the security's watching the band." (Slash, RIP, 03/92)
"At that time, I'd already realized he was pointing at me, and I turned and gave the camera to my friend, he was in the row behind me." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"So Axl went in, and that's when it started." (Slash, RIP, 03/92)
"When he jumped down, it was great, we kept playing that suspenseful riff that starts off 'Rocket Queen', and I thought the whole moment was killer." (Slash, autobiography)
"When I handed the camera off and I turned back, he was already in flight, coming at me." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
Rocket Queen starts up, following a Slash solo (Godfather theme).
"I dived into that crowd. And when I dive I'm aware of what can happen... I got hit in the eye when I jumped off the stage." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"So he hit me blindside, and we went over chairs... And he's like, 'Gimme, gimme [the camera].' At that time, my adrenaline was so pumped and flowing, I didn't realize that, on my back, I had ruptured some discs when we hit the chairs." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"Oh, and by the way, I never hit [Stump,] the guy with the camera. All I did was grab his vest and... did not let go of that guy." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Babu Brat, who witnessed the incident from the floor, says: "He never hit the guy... It didn't even look like he made it to the guy when he initially jumped. He looked like he just grabbed him and held on to him."" (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"I wouldn't let go of the guy with the camera because the security was trying to get me to let go of him so he could get away. I was like, "No, no, no." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"All of a sudden, he just disappears off me. I've a hold of him, he's got a hold of me - and he just disappears." (Stump, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"I saw him hit a security guard, but he didn't hit the guy." (Babu Brat, Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"We went to throw [Axl] up on stage, and on the way up, he slaps one of my guys." (Walter Wright, Riverport security, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"The only guy I hit was the security guy who was screaming at me and grabbed me, and I didn't even hit him, I slapped him. I was like, "Wake up!"" (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
We've lost contact with Axl
"The band kept going. We'd gotten good at improvising to fill dead space - drum solos, guitar solos, jams - we had a bag of tricks to keep things moving whenever Axl made a sudden exit. We kept jamming, and I went over to the side of the stage.
"Where is he?" I asked Doug.
He looked at me with a pained expression. "He's not coming back."
"What do you mean he's not coming back?" I shouted, still playing the riff.
"There is no way he is coming back," Doug said. "There's nothing I can do."
(Slash, autobiography)
"I lost a contact [during the dive]. I wear these experimental lenses and I didn't know I had another set. So I am half blind going, "Okay, I can't see. The show is over. As a matter of fact my next few shows are over." I was really upset." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"For about ten minutes, we waited in the wings, unsure what to do. Since we all had our own dressing rooms and staff and Axl had hurried off to his, we didn’t know whether or not he was planning to return. We thought he probably would. The crowd seemed to think so, too." (Duff, autobiography)
"We wanted to go on again. I know there's a certain amount of blame that can be put on us, because if you don't know us, you might say, 'Well, you could've done something to keep it together.' But from our point of view, it all happened so fast, we didn't know what the f?!k was going on." (Slash, RIP, 03/92)
"A lot of people don't realize that we tried to come back." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"[Guns'] production manager [Dale "Opie" Skjereeth] came in and said, 'That's it, he's done, houselights.' Houselights signify, 'Hey, that's it. Go home.' It's the end of the show, unless it's Bruce Springsteen." (Sunil Sinha, Riverport production manager '91-03, Welcome to the Riot Show)
"Once I realized I had another contact I got the band together and we were going to go back out." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Axl re-emerged from his dressing room and we offered to go back out and play to calm things down. It was too late." (Duff, autobiography)
10 Minute Warning
"After that first ten minutes, the tone of the crowd changed and people began to throw stuff at the stage." (Duff, autobiography)
"The riot started about ten minutes [after Axl's stagedive], when the houselights were turned on. Sporadic fights broke out, and then concertgoers went on a rampage, hurling bottles, destroying seats, pulverizing shrubbery, setting fires and laying waste to the band's equipment." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"We felt we had a better chance of calming everybody down than the police, but by that time everything was too far gone... The police were trying to figure out whether they should just arrest me and let the crowd do whatever they wanted to do..." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"[Maryland Heights Police Chief] Neil Kurlander... confirms that the band did offer to play a few more songs to calm the crowd. "By that point," says Kurlander, "it was too late, and it was too out of hand."" (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"We found out the drums were damaged while the police were on the risers, so we couldn't [perform]." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Police officers used fire hoses and CapStun (an aerosol cayenne pepper similar to Chemical Mace) on the mob to no avail and were forced to retreat; according to one fan, the carnage continued for an hour before officers in riot gear arrived and got the situation under control." (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"I wasn't aware that they were going to tear the place down, but I'm aware of all the legal things that can happen with me. Someone getting hurt or whatever. But I've got a videotape of people destroying our equipment. It wasn't the building's equipment. I think people got ripped off of a good show." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Various reports have quoted the Maryland Heights police as saying that Guns n' Roses "snuck out of the venue" during the melee... Guns n' Roses' management says that the band left the amphitheater on the orders of the police and the promoter. Kurlander wouldn't confirm that, but he did say that the band's leaving the venue "was probably a wise thing for them to do."" (Rolling Stone, 08/22/91)
"We were told to leave and now people are saying they don't remember that... It's really hard to handle the frustration I get, and the anger, at being portrayed consistently so negatively. There are certain areas of the media who do that to me all the time." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
"Another twenty minutes went by before forty or fifty police cars came screaming in and backup police stormed and retook the venue.
The band was shoved into a small van and told to get on the floor so we weren’t visible. Slash’s hat was sticking up. The driver asked him to take it off.
When the van drove out of the enclosed part of the venue and into the parking lot, I could hear that the mayhem had spread outside. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I peeked out the back window — I could see speaker cabinets and pieces of our pianos. Kids had gotten tired of carrying them or dumped them when the cops showed. Clots of cops ran around with batons and pepper spray. Kids ran this way and that. Medics rushed around treating bloodied fans. Police had people in cuffs. It looked like a war zone." (Duff, autobiography)
"The kids had a field day. I lost all my amps, my guitar tech got a bottle in the head, someone got knifed, our stage and video equipment and Axl's piano were trashed. I don't know. It was a fluke. It shouldn't have happened... but it did." (Slash, RIP, 03/92)
"I know that there were a few hundred bad eggs in a crowd of 18,000, and one of those bad eggs is probably having a good laugh right now, sitting on one of my Marshall cabinets. I know a lot of people were hurt, but a lot of our people were hurt too. It goes both ways. I'm not trying to sound like an asshole. I feel bad for what happened, but I can't just say it was our fault. And I won't blame the kids of St. Louis, either. It just happened. I'm not putting the rap on anybody." (Slash, RIP, 03/92)
"The van took us to our hotel, we ran in and grabbed our bags, and then we got back in and headed across the state line into Illinois to avoid any legal difficulties. We drove all the way to Chicago — management figured the cops would go straight to our plane if they were going to try to arrest us." (Duff, autobiography)
"Rose, who left the amphitheater with his band as the disturbance grew, called KSHE-FM about two hours after the incident to express his concerns about the riot. "I regret what happened last night," Rose told KSHE-FM deejay Jim Ellis." (LA Times, 07/04/91)
"Every gig after Riverport, the threat of violence hung in the air — or at least it felt that way to me as I sat around stewing, waiting for our singer to turn up each night, listening nervously for the festive noise of the arena to transform into the low rumble of a big, angry crowd. A crowd could turn and you could hear it. I knew that sound now. I knew that if you were at the wrong end of that, it was scary. And I knew it meant more than a bit of property damage. It meant casualties." (Duff, autobiography)
"As of right now, we are considered the most dangerous band in the world. That's kind of a good reputation to have as far as a rock band is concerned. That means you're doing great and you're going to do better." (Axl, Musician, 09/91)
SEE ALSO: Welcome to the Riot Show - 30min documentary on the St. Louis riot, told from the venue's perspective.
#799 Guns N' Roses » Axl's public statement on Look at Your Game Girl (1994) » 601 weeks ago
- apex-twin
- Replies: 1
Q Magazine - March 1994
Bring Out The Manson
Statement from W. Axl Rose concerning the unlisted bonus track, Look At Your Game, Girl by Charles Manson, on Guns N' Roses' new album, The Spaghetti Incident?
It's come to my attention that some people have taken offence to a particular song, Look At Your Game, Girl, on our new album The Spaghetti Incident?. What it all boils down to is this: The Spaghetti Incident? is 13 historical and musical gems that may have been overlooked. For instance, New Rose was one of The Damned's main songs but for whatever reason a lot of the world didn't hear it.
In Indiana, I was ridiculed and physically attacked for my musical tastes, tastes that I never made any effort to hide. I thought it would be interesting for the so called mainstream and the people who were against this material when I was a teenager to actually hear these songs. Maybe they'll hear something they like, and more importantly, maybe they'll go and find the originals better, including Look At Your Game, Girl. The reason we didn't list that song on our album is we wanted to downplay it. We don't give any credit to Charles Manson on the album; it's like a hidden bonus truck.
It's my opinion that the media are enjoying making a big deal out of Guns N' Roses covering a song that Charles Manson recorded, but if another band had recorded that song, it probably wouldn't have been of interest. The media need their "bad guys" to guarantee some ratings, so they use Manson's name coupled with mine to promo their news programs.
However, when I do something positive, like contribute to charity, it's hard to get the news to pick up on those stories. The media is an interesting beast.
Why did I choose to cover that particular song?
Oddly enough, one of the things we do up at my house is have "Name That Artist" contests where we play obscure songs and everyone tries to name the artist. My brother Stuart found Look At Your Game, Girl at a large record chain and, needless to say, he won that round. Personally, I liked the lyrics and the melody of the song. Hearing it shocked me and I thought there might be other people who would like to hear it.
I like the words because, to me, it's about a woman who has thrown things away. She thinks she's gaining love but basically she's gaining sadness. It was very fitting for a personal situation I happened to be in. The song talks about how the girl is insane and playing a mad game. I felt that it was ironic that such a song was recorded by Charles Manson, someone who should know the inner intricacies of madness.
Manson is a dark part of American culture and history. He's the subject of fear and fascination through books, movies, and the interviews he's done. Most people hadn't heard anything Charles Manson recorded.
A lot of people can say I wear the "Charlie Don't Surf" T-shirt for shock value, but I've worn that shirt for the past year on tour, all over the world. Yes, I was trying to make a statement. I wore the T-shirt because a lot of people enjoy playing me as the bad guy and the crazy. Sorry, I'm not that guy. I'm nothing like him. That's what I'm saying. There's a real difference in morals, values and ethics between Manson and myself and that is "Thou shalt not kill," which I don't. I'm by no means a Manson expert or anything, but the things he's done are something I don't believe in. He's a sick individual. Look at Manson and then look at me. We're not the same. Plus, I like the black humor of the "Charlie Don't Surf" line for the movie Apocalypse Now.
I think people think I'm crazy because I believe in telling the truth. I'll admit sometimes I don't do a perfect job of it, but my efforts are true.
It is my understanding that the song was written by Dennis Wilson. To what extent Charles Manson is involved in the publishing, I'm not aware. However, I am donating all my personal profits from having that song on our album to a charity, an environmental group to help protect wildlife and our oceans. In our video for Estranged, which will be the last video for the Use Your Illusion albums, we used dolphins, and this is my way of giving something back to the dolphin, which are endangered and threatened with extinction.
Unfortunately I Don't Surf Either.
[source]
==============
As a sidenote, those strange symbols in the cover art were discovered to match the code used by the Zodiac Killer.
It spells out FUCKEM ALL.
#800 Re: Guns N' Roses » 20 Years Ago: The Snake and the Devil » 601 weeks ago
Here's another very interesting one, this one's from late '96, when Slash was rehearsing with the band.
And our man Slash's main gig has been on something of a respite since its Use Your Illusion tour wound down in 1993. With exception of some oddball oldies projects - The Spaghetti Incident LP (which, by the way, features a Slash vocal medley of T-Rex's Buick Makane and Soundgardens Big Dumb Sex and the remake of Sympathy for the Devil for the interview With the Vampire film - the Guns have been firing only sporadically.
But the group has been working hard of late, with every intention of releasing a new album in '97. And the band's guitar ranks have swelled to three - with Rose picking up an axe of his own.
"That tripped me out when I first came back," Slash says. "I figured 'Okay, that's where his focus has been. I haven't really talked to him about it, to tell the truth. I guess he's just been sitting at home, figuring out chords or something. Maybe he's been taking lessons."
So how is he?
"How's Izzy?" Slash asks with a laugh."I'm avoiding the question."
Well, is he better than Mick Jagger on guitar?
"I've never paid attention to Mick Jagger playing guitar, so I couldn't compare them. Rose's sound is a lot more synthetic than anything I would get anywhere close to. That's about all I can say."
So far, Slash and McKagan say the band has worked up about 16 songs, and the bassist reports that: "the material is really strong...This record is going to fuckin' rock. There's nothing like the chemistry of Guns when we're in the same room."
But Slash warns of potential chemical alteration in the future.
"Right now we're in sort of a trial and error period," he says. "To me, the group is actually Duff and Matt and Axl. Where I stand is not etched in stone." Oh. "I can't say it's all working out perfectly," he continues. "That's part of the illusion of looking at five different personalities onstage and seeing them actually get on. It's not as easy at it looks. Over the last year, everybody has gone in different directions. Putting us all back together in one room is not simple."
There are issues, he says. He was unhappy with the Sympathy For The Devil remake, mostly due to tinkering on Rose's part after Slash had recorded his part.
And then there's the matter of Guns' second guitarist. Guns has been working with a friend of Rose's, a guy Slash firmly says he 'can't stand'. And then there have been the rumours - Zakk Wylde, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani...
"Steve Vai - I have no idea about that one. He might have to take my place is anything weird were to happen," slash says. "As far as Zakk is concerned, he was there. I rehearsed with Zakk for like two days. I think he is a great guitar player. The problem is taking two lead guitar players and trying to get a lead-rhythm thing happening. We play the same guitar style at the same volume. There's no texture there.
"It'd definitely be the same thing with Vai, having two overly - I wouldn't say flamboyant - but two aggressive front guys as lead guitar players. We'd both be doing the same thing at the same time, and it would lose its personality. The guitar playing shouldn't be excessive; it should be one of the instruments in the band."
Slash, in fact, is putting his money on a return of Izzy Stradlin, Guns' original guitarist who split in '91 amid much acrimony but came back to play some shows on the Illusions tour after now-departed replacement Gilby Clarke suffered an injury.
"It works that way," Slash says. "If you have someone who plays like Izzy and someone like myself, you play off each other. You have two textural things, a different mentality."
So where does all this leave Slash - and Guns N' Roses? It's hard to look at this band without a feeling of opportunity squandered. At the turn of the decade, they seemed poised to take over the world. Appetite For Destruction, their major label debut, has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. A follow-up EP, GN'R Lies, was another multi-million seller.
And the two-part Use Your Illusion extravaganza was the most highly anticipated release of its year.
But an astounding proclivity towards self-destruction - substance abuses, erratic performances (sometimes coming onstage hours late), internal squabbles - has sullied the band's position. The chemistry McKagan mentions may gel again, and Guns N' Roses may re-emerge as the exciting, combustible hard rock outfit it once was. But until that happens, one can't help but wonder where Guns N' Roses will stand when it does offer new music to the alternative-saturated marketplace that hasn't shied away from abrasive or aggressive performers during the intervening years.
"Guns is one of those things; it'll basically always be the same things it's always been," Slash explains. "We might spend too much as far as the studio is concerned, but whenever we go out and play live it's the same thing - very brash and energetic. That's the reason I don't like to spend time in the studio, but I can't seem to convince the lead singer of that... Axl likes to ponder everything and spend a lot of time with it.
"When I talk about the individual personalities and so on and so forth - this is a group whose members have a really strong individual outlook. When we get together, everyone had to compromise. That's why Duff and I work outside of the band so much. When you're in the band, you have to sit there and work together, and deal with the idiosyncrasies of everybody else. "A good song transcends all that, of course. When you wind up with material everybody collaborated on and meshed together on, you've had a success. So it makes up for it. Sometimes."
A Guns N' Roses without Slash, however, seems like a decidedly lesser band.
"It would be egomaniacal to say that," he says. "There's no animosity between the guys in the band, put it that way. But I've been out if it for so long, and there's a reason why that hasn't changed all that much. I'm trying right now; if it works out I'll be ecstatic... And if it doesn't, I don't want everybody to think it's a done deal and everything is fine. If they turn around and I'm not in the band, I don't want everyone to say 'He Lied'."
====
Duff comments from the same era. They've been translated to French and back.
HR: You play guitar on the Neurotic Outsiders album. Are you the replacement of Gilby Clarke?
Duff: Surely not!
HR: Does it bother you if I ask you some questions about Guns N' Roses?
Duff: Go on man, anything you want!
HR: OK! What is the status of Guns N' Roses today?
Duff: We rehearsal every night and I play bass! Axl is playing the rhythm guitar, and it works very well! We work from Monday to Friday, ha, ha! There's me, Axl, Slash, Matt, Dizzy. There's also a friend of Axl who helps him to learn to play guitar. But we play, and it works!
HR: And with Axl on the guitar, it works?
Duff: Believe me man, it kills! You know, with that Neurotic Outsiders thing, I found old sensations. I don't know if I lost it or if I didn't know how to recover it, if you can understand the difference… With Guns N' Roses, we started to play in very big places, and at a moment, you start to forget where you come from. It's hard to explain. When there's a 20-meter pit and 40,000 people, it becomes surrealist. The Neurotic bring me back on the ground and it makes me play like in the beginning, in small bars. Matt feels the same thing. And we both bring this freshness at the rehearsals.
HR: Is there something concrete that came out from these rehearsals?
Duff: Yes! Some songs are almost finished.
HR: Titles?
Duff: No! It's only work titles, it's very stupid. I don't want to mention them to have bad luck!
...
Duff: OK! Last night, I went to sleep at 3 am, after the rehearsals. Normally, we stop at 5 am, but yesterday… Anyway. I got up at 10 am. It's OK. I can do with 6 hours of sleep. Then I do a lot of interviews on telephone. After, we go out! Slash, Axl and me are going to see the Sex Pistols in Los Angeles. They play here tonight. After the show, we will go to rehearsals. And it goes on. I don't have a social life. I don't even have a girlfriend. Maybe I will find one tonight!
...
HR: To come back to the Neurotic Outsiders, do the members of Guns N' Rose listened to the album?
Duff: Yeah! Slash played with us at the Viper Room, many times.
HR: Yes?
Duff: Of course. Everybody knows that he plays with anybody, ha ha!
HR: But there's no solo on the Neurotic songs…
Duff: Not on the album, but on stage, we do what we want. And Slash is very good even when he plays rhythm. I'd really like to see Axl playing with us. I invite him many times. One day, he will. The guys of Guns N' Roses really like the Neurotic Outsiders. They know that it's just a side project.
HR: And Axl, he said nothing? People doesn't have a good perception of him in Europe…
Duff: Oh no! He's quite at ease right now. You know what is the problem with Axl? He doesn't go out at all and then everybody starts rumors. But Axl Rose has a normal life!
HR: I read that some songs were ready, but Axl didn't want to use them.
Duff: Ha, ha! I never heard this one. Don't believe everything you read! It makes me think that I received Kerrang, but not anymore. But I moved!
...
HR: Of all your band, Guns N' Roses, your solo career and the Neurotic Outsiders, which one do you prefer?
Duff: I really love those three. I'm very happy: I play in the Neurotic with my mentor. My band, Guns N' Roses, it's… it's a carnage. We are back together and it will be great. And I'm in good health. What else could I want?
HR: Guns N' Roses is often on the "who's hot/who's not" thing. How does it feel to be in the band that people like to bash?
Duff: It's cool. They can fuck off. I don't care. It's a thing that has to happen anyway. If I was not in the band, I think I would also bash them. But they are not into the studio with me and that the band works very well and that we are preparing a carnage.
HR: Appetite or Illusions orientation?
Duff: Appetite. It's normal. We haven't played together in a long time and our collaboration in fresh, just like in the beginning.
