Sorum talks HOF Reunion and says that he'll be available w/ Adler for "whatever goes down"

via Metal Hammer
Matt Sorum's recent comments on Guns N’ Roses’ Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, and the future of Velvet Revolver, who recently reunited for a special gig with original singer Scott Weiland.

“People keep asking me about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and I’m really like the last guy to ask,” he told Komp 92.3 Radio in Las Vegas. “I was the guy that joined Guns N’ Roses and I was lucky to get the gig. And I was sort of there to be of service to the rest of the band. And the band is Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin. Yeah, was I in the band? Sure. But when it comes down to making the decisions, I was the last guy to hear about it. So when people ask me [about Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame], I go, ‘To be honest with you, I really don’t know what’s gonna happen.’ I just don’t know. Will I be there and be available for whatever happens? Yeah.

“And at the same time, I would like to see [original Guns N' Roses drummer] Steven Adler up there. . . We are getting along now, which is great, because there was a lot of years where, I think — and I’ve said this in the press before — I was sort of like the guy who was having sex with his ex-girlfriend, you know what I mean?! It’s like, you don’t like the guy at all if you don’t know him, but it still pisses you off. It’s like, ‘He’s with my old lady’ kind of thing. But I think once he got to know me, he realized that I wasn’t there to [screw] him over or whatever, and if it wouldn’t have been me, it would have been some other guy. It’s like he was out of the band. I think people maybe that are GN’R fans of the original lineup have to kind of look at it that way.



“Guns N’ Roses would have either imploded completely after Steven, or someone would have come and replaced him. There was about three or four guys they tried out before me, and luckily, I was the guy that sort of stepped into that position. After a lot of years and a lot of healing for Steven, he was able to accept the fact that that was the situation. And I have always supported him in the fact that, I said in the press a few times, if Guns N’ Roses ever got back together, it would be cool if I played the ‘Use Your Illusion’ stuff and he played the ‘Appetite’ stuff, and if he was healthy enough to do that, I would support him on that. To me, it’s not about the money, ’cause if it does come down, which, I don’t wanna tell you what the offers have been, but I know they’re in the multi-, multi-million-dollar range. Yeah, if I was asked, what would I say? Probably yes. But Steven’s in line for that before I am.

“As far as GN’R and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, me and him are gonna go there together; I said I’d meet him there. It’s part of our lives, it’s part of what we’ve done and what we accomplished. And he was there for the beginning and I was the guy that came in and, basically, went out there and helped send the GN’R message to the rest of the world.”

Of Velvet Revolver status he adds; “”We haven’t closed the door on it, because it’s not a thing that we really wanna break up, but at the same time, we haven’t found the right guy. And to go back with Scott, it’s like a little bit dangerous good territory. I mean, I love the guy. The chemistry, as a band, is great onstage, but backstage it wasn’t great. I think, for me, I’m at a certain age now where it’s like I wanna be able to go out and play music and have a really good time doing it. If I make some money, that’s great, too. But the main thing is, I don’t really wanna deal with too much crap anymore. I think we’re all getting a little too old.. We’re not 20 anymore, so going out there and having to deal with a bunch of crap is not really where our headspace is at.”

It’s been suggested by keyboardist Dizzy Reed and others that the Guns N’ Roses entire original lineup will all be present at the Hall Of Fame induction on April 14.

Haley Reinhart Performs with Slash and Myles Kennedy at Muhammad Ali Benefit

MJsBigBlog
Singer Haley Reinhart, musician Myles Kennedy and recording artist Slash perform onstage at the Keep Memory Alive foundation's "Power of Love Gala" celebrating Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena February 18, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event benefits the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center.



This is a moving rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses." Beautiful stuff.

GN'R announce seven-date UK arena tour for May

BBC NEWS
GN'R have announced a seven-date UK arena tour.

The band will start the concerts in Nottingham on 19 May.

They will then play dates in Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester before finishing at London's O2 Arena on 31 May.

The original members of Guns N' Roses are due to appear together on the same stage in April as the band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

Guns N' Roses last performed together in the UK in 2010.

They were bottled off stage at a concert in Dublin after they arrived on stage nearly an hour late and their set was cut short after they played past their curfew at Reading that year.

The band say they are working on new material at the moment.

Their last album, 2008's Chinese Democracy, made it to number two in the UK album chart.

The UK tour dates are as follows:

Nottingham Capital FM Arena - 19 May
Liverpool Echo Arena - 20
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena - 23
Glasgow SECC - 25
Birmingham LG Arena - 26
Manchester Evening News Arena - 29
London O2 Arena - 31

Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday 3 March at 9am.

Discuss this article with other Guns N' Roses fans here.

Win a Slash Fan Pack

"Gunsnfnroses Giveaway"

It's a great time to be a Slash fan.

The iconic guitarist has been working non-stop ever since he re-emerged as a solo artist, and there's more music coming this Spring.

Two years ago, he released his first solo record - SLASH - featuring an all-star roster of guest vocalists; He embarked on a mammoth world tour with a great band featuring frontman and SLASH contributor Myles Kennedy; Last year's Made in Stoke 24/7/11 live album and DVD, captured the show that got rave reviews from fans on every corner of the globe.

Now the band - "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators" - are ready to release their first studio album together - APOCALYPTIC LOVE.

This is reason to celebrate. Fans know what to expect from a Slash album -- a bunch of great new rock songs full of killer riffs and classic solos.

And once again, Classic Rock is offering an exclusive fan pack edition of Slash's new album that includes the CD + bonus tracks and a collectible magazine.

The Slash Fan Pack is currently available for pre-order from Classic Rock Magazine. This pack includes Slash's brilliant new album (13 tracks + 2 bonus tracks) plus a collectible 132-page magazine devoted to the album. Pre-order your fan pack here and you will also receive an official Slash metal keyring.

To celebrate this landmark release, GunsNFNRoses.com is giving away three copies of Classic Rock's Slash Fan Pack. To enter, simply leave a comment here telling us why you're looking forward to Slash's new album. You can enter a second time by following us on Twitter and then tweeting a similar message. Let us know by including both "@gunsnfnroses" AND "#fanpack" in your tweet. We’ll give you a third chance to grab one of the packs by "liking" us and leaving a message on our Facebook wall. Be creative. Once the contest entry period closes we’ll tally all the entries from our forum, Facebook and Twitter and pick three winners at random.

Here’s the fine print ...

To enter the contest, leave a comment here telling us why you're excited for Slash's new album.
You can enter a second time by "liking" us and leaving a similar comment on the wall of the Gunsnfnroses Facebook Page
You can enter a third time by following @gunsnfnroses and then tweeting a similar message to us, including both “@gunsnfnroses” AND “#fanpack″ in your tweet
Your comment(s) must be left by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on May 20
Anybody entering more than once a piece on Facebook, Twitter and here will be disqualified, drawn and quartered
Three winners will be selected at random from all entries
GunsNFNRoses staff members are not eligible to win

If Axl And Slash Can (Maybe) Get Along, There Is Hope For Us All

Houston Press
When it was announced that Guns N' Roses were to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame back in December, a kind of hush went all over the world as everyone pondered whether or not lead singer Axl Rose and former lead guitarist Slash would share a stage, or even a podium together.

This was after everyone cried into their mugs of Moosehead after realizing Rush and the Smiths were snubbed yet again.

But according to some sources, it may happen. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed, the lone holdout from the Use Your Illusion days revealed that the original members of the classic GN'R lineup -- Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler, and Adler's replacement Matt Sorum -- will all attend the awards show in April. Now, if this means there will be a solemn nod and handshake when they receive the honor, or a balls-out onstage reunion the likes of which will liquefy the world's faces remains to be seen.

Of course, this would be a great coup for rock fans the world over, and if Slash and Axl, -- who have helped cultivate the best odd-couple tale in the history of the music industry -- could put animosity from their twenties aside and weave together again, then there is hope for everyone: Ex-wives and ex-husbands of the world, Morrissey and the rest of the Smiths. Maybe even the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, Liam and Noel, could hug and reunite, if only for one night of ecstasy.

​The rest of the band -- Adler, McKagan, and Stradlin -- have all seemed to have made peace with Rose since the '90s blow-up, even playing with the singer's new GN'R touring lineup.

But does the rock world really want Axl and the Top Hat to get along again? It seems better for business that they don't, and it propels the band's image of this angry organism of miscreants and artists that could only get shit together for a few years before imploding.

I have always had this fantasy that behind closed doors they are still the best of friends, and text and email each other when they can and have crazy Google Talk sessions like I have with my friends on the regular, and they both laugh at their own mythology.

"Did you hear what Rolling Stone said I thought about you? LOL!" Slash would type, to which Axl would reply with that clip of the monkey putting a finger up his ass, smelling it, and falling out of a tree. Standard music industry talk.

Let's all wait with bated breath for the April 14 induction ceremony to see what happens. Personally, I am praying for a wicked pissah version of "Welcome to the Jungle" with a sweaty Axl and Slash hug at the end.

4 Wheels, No Axl: Taz Bentley on Guns N' Roses lost sessions

Interview with Taz Bentley (Izzy Stradlin's drummer) from the Dallas Observer.

Did you ever play any shows with Izzy Stradlin?

Yeah, we toured Japan once. About once every year we go out and do an album. He doesn't believe in "the machine" at all. He hates the industry, so initially he licensed the albums overseas and wouldn't tell anyone in America. He's a really big fan of the Internet. Now we'll go record and he'll slap it up on iTunes. That's been a hoot. Duff's on most of them. There was a time when Slash, Izzy, Duff and I got together a few times and recorded some stuff. I think it was Duff who called it Four Wheels, No Axl. But none of that stuff ever got released. It's kind of fun to sit around, be a fly on the wall, playing the drums with these guys and say, "How did I get here?"

Nice.

Izzy has become one of my very, very best friends. When The Burden Brothers stopped touring, Zack quit because he and his wife wanted to start a family, and then Rizzo took that cue to leave as well. So the three of us had the wind taken out of our sails. Towards the end of that last album, touring was really sparse, it was hard and we weren't drawing because nothing was on the radio. What had been on the radio had run its course. That was a real stinker. We have been on hiatus for about four or five years now.

But that first phone call was to Izzy and I said, "I'm done." I was fucking furious. He goes, "No, no, no, just write it down on a guitar." I said, "You're not listening to me, I'm done." He goes, "You have a guitar?" And I go, "Yeah, I have a guitar, but I'm done, I don't want to play music. I don't want to hear music. I'm gonna throw every radio in my house out the window." But he knew exactly what was going on, and he had been through this, obviously in a much bigger arena. In that moment, I really found how close we had become. He really helped me get through this. About a week after that initial conversation, I come home and there's a brand new acoustic guitar on my front porch with a note that says, "Write it down." I started writing and that's the music you heard at my show.

Full interview here.

"Coke was dripping out of Izzy's nose, but he didn't realize it because his face was numb"

I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution - a new book by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, collects interviews with over 400 key people from MTV's Golden Age. In one interview, (MTV's) Peter Baron, (director) Nigel Dick, (manager) Alan Niven and (drummer) Steven Adler reminisce about the shoot for GN'R's "Patience" video.

Said MTV exec Peter Baron, "The first Guns N' Roses video I commissioned was 'Patience.' Alan Niven sort of co-directed those early videos with Nigel Dick. We shot the conceptual part at the Ambassador Hotel, and the performance in Hollywood. Of course Axl showed up about seven hours late. And Izzy was screwed up. Coke was dripping out of his nose, but he didn't realize it because his whole face was numb."

"Izzy," said Alan Niven, "was in the depths of a cocaine habit that was destroying him, sat in a dark corner while we were filming. When we looked at the footage, Nigel and I agreed to minimize Izzy in the video, because he looked wretched. He got sober not long thereafter, but that video represents the nadir of Izzy's cocaine habit. There were other moments when Slash was in dire condition, and moments when Steven was in dire condition. Those were the three that had the biggest problems with excess."

"I was sitting there rolling joints," says Steven Adler. "That was my whole gig in that video: light incense and roll joints. As for Izzy, if you look at the cover of Rolling Stone when we were on it in 1988, he's sitting on the ground, and if you look at his wrists, you can see the track marks. He was doing drugs longer than any­body, but he ended up getting it together better than anybody, and then he left the band because he got clean and couldn't be around us."

Director Nigel Dick adds "Mostly what I remember about that video is a shitload of chicks and coke."



"It was like Spinal Tap with money"