Monday, August 31, 2009

Adler's Appetite at Universal City Walk


This high quality footage was recorded last Friday night, August 28. That's Melrose Larry Green (of the Howard Stern show) pictured Steven Adler (above).



The next night, Steven and his buddy Slash jammed with Aces & Eights at the Viper Room.

Thanks to Blabbermouth.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Slash and Steven Adler at the Viper Room


Slash and Steven Adler joined Aces & Eights on stage!

Slash: "Going to the Viper Room is like going back in time a couple decades everytime I go there, like a time warp. Cool, but disorienting."


"It's So Easy"

Richard Fortus: "Playing the last show at the Viper Room tonight with Dizzy at midnight"

Dizzy Reed: "Viper Room tonight. Playing some new original songs with Richard Fortus and other surprise Guest Stars. You don't wanna miss this! Come and rock!"


Photos via twitter by T.J.Roe. http://twitter.com/@intr0vert

'Live From the Jungle' EP (1988)


1. It's So Easy
2. Shadow Of Your Love
3. Move to the City
4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
5. Whole Lotta Rosie


MEGAUPLOAD


Live from the Jungle is an EP by Guns N' Roses that was only released in Japan. Tracks one, four and five were recorded live at London's Marquee Club on June 28, 1987.

This EP is referred to as Live from the Jungle even though the similarly titled song "Welcome to the Jungle" does not appear on the EP. It is named so because part of the large red text on the album's obi strip reads "raibu furomu za janguru", meaning "live from the jungle".

The cover art uses the banned Robert Williams artwork originally (but very briefly) used for Appetite for Destruction.



Thanks to Rock is Dead / R.I.P.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

It's Time For Some Rock 'N' Roll Music


Ron Wood's solo stuff performed live in Kilburn 1974 with Keith Richards, Ian McLagan, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark as The First Barbarians. Special guest Rod Stewart.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Even Newer New Bumblefoot Interview (New)


Peter Hodgson at i heart guitar just conducted another new interview with Guns N' Rose master of P.R. and fan liason, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

A brief excerpt follows.

What are your memories of Australia on the Guns N' Roses tour?


Oh man, let’s start off with the flight to Australia. At first I was dreading the flight because it was a good 14 hours, but it was the most comfortable flight I’ve ever been on. It was the first time I actually had a full comfortable night’s sleep on an airplane in my entire life, so it’s the first time I ever experienced that. So it was off to a good start.

I think we landed in Sydney then shot all the way over to Perth. Then we drove up to Fremantle and visited Bon Scott’s grave, paid our respects. Just the little things you remember. I remember being on a train and there was a young girl who had part of her face painted – she was going to a football game and the way it looked was something different to what you see in America. She had a little flag painted under her eye. It’s the little things like that. I remember those things more than the shows. Just the normal, human moments. Those are the things that really stand out.

Y’know, the view from the hotel in Sydney overlooking the Opera House and the bridge and everything. Walking around with my wife, Sebastian Bach and a couple of guys from his band, and suddenly some guy in a trenchcoat comes running up to us going “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and he opens his coat up and pulls out Axl’s microphone. It turns out that the night before, when Axl through his microphone out, that’s the guy that caught it. Oh what else ... I remember also in Sydney eating in a really nice restaurant along the water at night… just the nice moments like that.

The shows are always ... how do you even describe a show? It starts and your brain is in this other mode, and next thing you know the show is over and it’s more like one of those hazish dreams: “Did I just play, or didn’t I?” So unless something very significant happens in the show, I don’t really remember the show in a very clear way. But it’s everything after.

Going back afterwards and meeting Chris Szkup and his girl, hanging with them. I can still picture seeing them and this nice drawing they gave me in a frame, which is hanging in my living room right now. It’s hanging over my wife’s head as she’s sitting on the couch right now watching Hell’s Kitchen on TiVo. So it’s little things like that. No matter what happens, good or bad, those are the fond memories that make it an endearing experience you cherish. The dinners, the hanging out.

Are there any plans for more GN'R touring?

There have been a lot of plans, it’s just that when it comes to battling the economy ... there are so many variables that could make it not work. I’m guessing at this point that if something is confirmed, management would let everyone know. So at this point if I said anything it would be premature, so I should just wait for them to say anything.

(As usual, this is just a short snippet. You can read the full interview here.)

Please Stand By


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

GNR Evolution Q&A with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal


Yesterday, GNR Evolution published an interview with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

I've copied a brief excerpt of the Q&A below.

GNR Evolution Q&A with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal

GnREvolution: I would like to ask if your solos on "Shacklers" and "Riad" were influenced at all by Buckethead and did you secretly try to out do him?

Bumblefoot:
Hahaha, no and no. Listen to my demos from 20 years ago and you'll find that I play the way I play, long before there were buckets on anyone's head or bumbles on anyone's feet. Guys from the same era like me, Bucket, Mattias Eklundh, Christophe Godin, Guthrie Govan, and plenty more, all have a similar thread in the spirit of what we do.

No one's copying each other, the same way most 70's blues rock guitarists aren't copying each other - but there was something in the air at the time their cast was solidifying, that affected how they expressed themselves. This happens throughout every era of music, and in our case, the transition from the fun gluttonous 80s into the tighten-your-belt 90s, a time when cultures began to merge, big hair rock turned toward funk rock, grunge, rap rock ... there was an open-mindedness, more of a multi-mindedness that occurred. Listen to any of our solo albums, you'll hear what I mean.

GnREvolution: Are there any songs on Chinese Democracy that nearly didn't make it? What can you tell us about the alternate album artwork and CD booklet?

Bumblefoot:
Ah man, I never get into things that haven't happened - it can affect the final outcome of things, ya can't do that. It's like going up to a stranger and saying, "In 10 seconds I'm gonna try to steal your car." Guaranteed, the outcome won't be the same. So I never talk about plans, things that haven't happened yet - also, as I'm here typing this, managers could be walking out of a meeting in LA, and I don't know what's up until they tell me. Anything I'd say would be mis-information until it's so absolutely undeniably definite, in which case you'd probably find out from them soon after I did.

In my own band, there's less riding on things, it's OK to open the window and let everyone see inside. And I enjoy that, making videos in the studio as an album's being recorded, letting people know what I'm planning for myself - no biggie, if the plans don't happen, it's not like multi-million dollar companies have invested time and the work of hundreds of people are affected by the change. There's a need for protection and privacy when it comes to GN'R biz, or anything on that level. I know it can make you feel frustrated, invisible, abandoned - even though it sucks, I hope you understand that there's too much at stake to risk being irresponsible with information.

GnREvolution: Do you have anything to say about the chemistry of the members of Guns N' Roses, either person to person, or as a whole group? And what the hell happened with Robin, it's so weird he left on the eve of the album release?

Bumblefoot:
I can't and won't speak on Robin's behalf, it's totally up to him if he wants to share anything about it. Me, I'm in touch almost daily with members of the band and crew, we hang when we can. I see Frank most often because we live near each other on the East Coast. But we all have phones, email, we're in touch pretty often.



GnREvolution: Did you work on any of these tracks which Axl confirmed as working titles of future GN'R Material or was your involvement in the recording process strictly limited to the songs which appear on Chinese Democracy? (Ides Of March, Berlin (Oklahoma), Atlas Shrugged, Oh My God, Silkworms, Down By The Ocean, Soul Monster (Leave Me Alone), Seven, The General, Thyme, Quick Song, Zodiac).

Did you contribute to writing any new material for GN'R that we won't hear until some possible future album? Is the material you've heard for the follow up albums heavier or is it pretty much the same ballad to rocker ratio as appears on CD? Basically anything you can tell us about any future GN'R material would be appreciated...

Bumblefoot:
I played on a good handful of songs that weren't on Chinese Democracy. [I] can't predict what the fate of any of those songs will be. I haven't written any new songs with GN'R, [but I] would like to see it get to that point.

(This is but a short excerpt, you can read the full interview here.)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

La Grange (Slash with ZZ Top and John Mayer)



From Slash's twitter: "I think this is the coolest show I've seen at The HOB so far, definitely the best vibe. That was a gas last night, Billy was phenominal & John Mayer is a pretty bad ass player as well."

From John Mayer's twitter:
"Sometimes I hear myself say something and I feel like a liar even though it's true. 'Last night I jammed with ZZ Top and Slash.' Finally met Slash. I had to keep reminding myself that I'm sort of cool too and that I shouldn't feel like a gnat. Worked half the time."

Here's "La Grange"



And here's some more music from the same night, this is the transition between "Waitin' on the Bus," and "Jesus Just Left Chicago."



This last video is of Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top jamming with Slash at his Vegas birthday bash on July 23 of this year.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Vince Neil: "Axl Rose Let His Fans Down"


via Blabbermouth
Motley Crue's Vince Neil has slammed Axl Rose for letting the Guns N' Roses fans down.

GN'R's latest album, Chinese Democracy, the band's first since 1993's The Spaghetti Incident, failed to live up to the hype its 10 years in the making generated.

Neil tells the UK's The Sun that believes GN'R's loyal fans have finally grown sick of the band, thanks chiefly to Rose's failure to turn up to rehearsals and perform live shows.

"For [Chinese Democracy] to fail was pretty crazy after so many years of being recorded. Then the tour got cancelled," Vince is quoted as saying.

"A buddy of mine [presumably referring to current Guns N' Roses guitarist DJ Ashba, who also plays in Sixx: AM with Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx] went to go play guitar for him. They rehearsed for three months and Axl never once turned up. Rule number one: show up!

He's been doing that for many years. Finally I think the fans just went, 'Fuck it — can't do this anymore.'

You can't be a fan when you can't see the band."

Chinese Democracy, estimated to have cost around $13 million to make, had to settle for third place behind Kanye West and Taylor Swift on the US album chart when it was released in November last year.

Neil adds: "I heard one track and then it just disappeared off the radio. It was never talked about again."

Read more from The Sun.

Tour Rumors are Starting Up Again


Axl Rose may bring Guns N' Roses to the seat of Chinese democracy, namely Taipei, Taiwan, to kick off the Asian leg of their Chinese Democracy World Tour.

Guns N' Roses
2009 Asia Tour

Date: Dec. 11, 2009
Time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Taipei County Stadium

www.bbh.com.tw

In March, GN'R manager Irving Azoff told Rolling Stone that "we have some exciting things in the works this year for GN'R, I’m looking forward to it."

More rumored dates as they trickle in ...

Guns N' Roses at "THE CRASH MANSION"
Saturday, Oct 24 @ 10:00 PM

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Slash Ranks #2 Among World's Top 10 Electric Guitar Players


Time Magazine's list of "10 Greatest Electric Guitar Players" named Slash number two, just behind Jimi Hendrix.

1. Jimi Hendrix

The greatest of all time? Maybe. No one merged the blues, rock and psychedelia with as much ease, or wielded his guitar with as much charisma.

2. Slash
A remarkably precise player who had to put up with more crap from his lead singer than any guitarist on this list. Does he make the cut partially because of the hat? Yes. Yes he does.

3. BB King
He doesn't call his guitar Lucille to be cute. With King's emphasis on vibrato, she sounds like a real woman singing the blues.

4. Keith Richards
The most notable of Chuck Berry's many disciples is also the creator of more memorable riffs—"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Gimme Shelter," "Start Me Up," etc.— than anyone in rock and roll.

5. Eric Clapton
Fluent in every blues style, Clapton is probably best known as the king of the Tulsa Sound. He's also among the most melodic of guitarists, using his solos to move a song along instead of stopping it cold.

6. Jimmy Page
Page's guitar sounds like six guitars, and the heaviness of his right hand is key to the instant recognizability of Led Zeppelin's sound.

7. Chuck Berry
The father of rock and roll guitar, his staccato influence is still heard on most songs today.

8. Les Paul
An amazingly talented guitarist, Paul had a series of futuristic sounding hits in the 1950s. But his music has been superseded by his invention: Paul pioneered the design and construction of the modern electric guitar, which made everyone else on this list very rich.

9. Yngwie Malmsteen
The Swede's superfast "neo-Classical" style —he credits Bach and Paganini as influences—is a blur of scales and technical precision. It almost makes you forget that the great bulk of his music is so fast that it's unlistenable.

10. Prince
He does a little singing, but Prince also plays a mean lead guitar. The solo on "Let's Go Crazy" is a frequently cited example of his frenetic style, but covers of "Just My Imagination" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" prove he can also play under control.

11. Johnny Ramone
No one hated guitar solos more than Johnny Ramone, so it's not surprising he perfected the Punk style, packing chords together tightly and leaving no space for freelancing.

TIME

Q&A with Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal


Appetite for Discussion

Are you on Dizzy's solo record?

Yes.

What future music projects will you be involved in?


I have a new band that's coming together quickly; we should be out there by the Fall. More info as soon as we have something recorded and shows booked.

You can read the full interview here.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Slash N' Perla's Real Estate Lawsuit Update


Slash and his wife had mixed results in court today in their bid to recover more than $500,000 they say they lost in a transaction involving a Hollywood Hills home.

LA Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana said he is leaning toward allowing a jury to decide whether Slash and his wife Perla deserve punitive damages from real estate agent Gregory Holcomb and Sotheby's International Realty.

However, the judge said he wanted to consider the matter further before making a final decision.

On a second issue, Recana said the couple's lawyers cannot begin collecting information on the defendants' financial worth unless a jury finds they acted with malice, oppression or fraud.

The Hudsons' lawyers wanted to begin gathering the financial data sooner in preparation for a possible punitive damages phase of the trial.

They allege Sotheby's and Holcomb acted in conscious disregard of the Hudsons' rights by not telling them they were entitled to a preliminary title report.

The plaintiffs' lawyers also argue the Hudsons should have been told they could have backed out of the purchase if they chose and gotten a refund of their $186,500 deposit before escrow closed.

Slash and Perla sued in November 2007. They allege they were not given proper disclosure about the home, including that it was much smaller than 7,800 square feet, as listed, and that there were other issues with the title to the property.

In a sworn declaration, Perla Hudson said she and her husband closed escrow on the home in January 2006 for $6.25 million, then sold it in November 2007 for $5.725 million without ever moving in.

The couple lost an additional significant amount of money in carrying costs on the property, while Holcomb received a commission of nearly $124,000, the Hudsons' court papers state.

In choosing a home, Perla Hudson stated she and her husband also were concerned about security for themselves and their two young sons, after being forced in the summer of 2005 "to obtain a restraining order against a deranged fan."

Defense attorneys say punitive damages should not be available to the Hudsons because there is no evidence anyone in authority at Sotheby's was responsible for approving anything Holcomb is alleged to have done wrong.

The lawyers also maintain there was no way their clients could have known that the MLS description of the home was incorrect and that it was not actually on a private street as the Hudsons had thought.

The trial of the suit is scheduled for Sept. 21.

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Sunday, August 16, 2009

New Chris Pitman Programmed Synth Software


ChrisPitman.com
Xils 3 synthesizer released

www.xils-lab.com/pages/XILS-3.html

XILS Labs has just released the Xils3 software synthesizer, a recreation of the great EMS VCS3 Modular synthesizer from the 1960’s. This synth was used by Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Brian Eno amongst others and well known for its individual character and unique experimental sounds.

Chris Pitman has programmed some factory presets for this software version. Included are sounds for bass, ambient soundscapes, noise and experimental sounds, and new for this structure are polyphonic sounds.

Check it out at their website.

www.xils-lab.com/pages.php?pageid=22

Friday, August 14, 2009

Les Paul: A Total Fuckin' Maverick


Yesterday after learning of Les Paul's death at 94 years old, LA Weekly caught up with Slash, a guitar legend in his own right, for an exclusive chat about the loss of not only a brilliant musician and innovator, but also a friend and mentor. "It's important for kids to know who Les was because when I first started playing, I thought Les Paul was the name of a guitar," Slash says of the days before he was schooled by other players like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton on who Les Paul - the man - was. Eventually the two icons met, Paul took Slash under his wing, and they became fast friends. Slash remembers Les Paul as a "total fuckin' maverick" who was upbeat and funny, both polite and perverted, and who lived life to its fullest.

Slash: So, with Les...

LA Weekly: Yeah, sad day.

Slash: Les Paul invented the guitar that I use. The first guitar I ever got was a Les Paul copy [laughs]. First and foremost, he's an amazing fucking musician and jazz guitar payer, but he also invented a whole bunch of recording techniques that we use: reverb, multi-tracking, overdubbing, echo, delay ... He invented them because they didn't make them back then. He thought he needed different things so he built them. He was a total fuckin' maverick. He was awesome. I've known him since 1991. The first time I met him I jammed with him at the club where he had a residency, Fat Tuesdays, in New York. Meeting and jamming with an icon like that was pretty overwhelming. He promptly just wiped the stage floor up with me [laughs], you know? It was one of those humbling experiences. But he sort of took me under his wing after that and we became friends. I would always gauge my progress as a guitar player by how well I did jamming with Les on any given day. [Laughs] He was like the barometer for my evolution as a guitar player.

It's an honor for me to have Les Paul models with my name on it. He's going to be missed. He was such a great guy, really warm, funny, very to the point, didn't mess around, didn't mince words, but had a really great heart and tons of energy. He was one of those people that set out to do something and accomplished things. He didn't sit around and wait for things to happen; he just went for it. He lived to be 94, always stayed true to his school as a musician, and kept inventing the whole time. He was a landmark influence on all us young musicians [laughs]. One of the reasons Jeff Beck, one of my favorites, is such a bitchin' guitar player is because he was so heavily influenced by Les Paul. I'm just paying tribute to the guy.

LA Weekly: Are there any particularly memorable moments that stand out above the others from when you'd hang out or jam together?

Slash: I just had a gig with him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few months ago, a tribute to Les Paul, where a dozen guitar players all got together and jammed and then Les played at the end of the show. It was really one of those special events where some phenomenal guitar players got together and each one of them did their own little show, [laughs] including myself ... it was another humbling experience ... and when all that was done, Les got up there. And this is only a few months ago, so at 94 years old he gets up there and makes jokes into the microphone and has his whole band with him and fuckin' plays phenomenally. For the last 60 years he's had this major influence on guitar playing and the recording industry. So there he is, this little guy, so fuckin' full of life and vibrant and doesn't seem 94 years old, jamming out to this huge audience. It was really a special moment ... it's hard for me to verbally explain it. Les was the kind of guy that anytime you were in his presence, he was always very upbeat, always cracking jokes, always making comments about the women present ...

Very polite but very perverted at the same time, you know? [Laughs] The fact that he took a liking to me and took me under his wing was a huge honor. We always talked on the phone and that kind of stuff. It was special. It's important for kids to know who Les was because when I first started playing, I thought Les Paul was the name of a guitar. I didn't know it was a real person until I learned from guys like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Obviously from that point on I researched and then finally got to meet him. Kids nowadays don't even really know that kind of history but it's important to have an understanding of that delay pedal that you're using and where the original concept came from [laughs]. Whenever you hear guitar harmonies recorded, like Brian May used to record harmonies on all of Queen's records, that was all Les Paul stuff. He invented the technique where you could layer guitars. Before that people just had to play live and that was it.

LA Weekly: Yeah. It's a sad day but for someone that lived such a full life ...

Slash: Yeah, it's a drag that he's not here. I would have loved to have seen him again but at the same time he was such a great example of a life fully lived that everybody should just celebrate the fact that a human being could have such a great life and accomplish so much. You can never complain about being bored when you think about a guy like Les Paul, you know?

LA Weekly

Thursday, August 13, 2009

RIP Les Paul



Aw Heck.

Les Paul, whose innovations with the electric guitar and studio technology made him one of the most important figures in recorded music, has died. He was 94.

Paul died in White Plains, New York, from complications of severe pneumonia.

Paul was a guitar and electronics mastermind whose creations - such as multitrack recording, tape delay and the solid-body guitar that bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul - helped give rise to modern popular music, including rock 'n' roll.

No slouch on the guitar himself, he continued playing at clubs into his 90s despite being hampered by arthritis. (CNN)



Loaded to Play Acoustic Benefit Gig Tuesday


Next Tuesday, August 18 at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard section of Seattle, Duff McKagan will be playing with Loaded's acoustic offshoot, the Rainmakers, at a benefit concert for Dave Ravenscroft, who has been suffering through Squamous-cell Carcinoma.

Dave has not been able to work for the last 12 months while going through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy.

Donations can be made to the Dave Ravenscroft Benevolent Fund at any Chase branch.

GN'R Stalker Goes Postal


The woman who's allegedly stalking Slash and Steven Adler found a clever way of recycling her restraining order - cops say she wrote a bunch of crazy stuff on the back of the documents and mailed them to Adler's lawyer!

Lisa Jill-Martin Cahn was arrested on Monday by Oregon police for violating the order, after she allegedly scribbled a bunch of disturbing stuff of seven pages of the documents and mailed them off as separate letters to Attorney Eric Greenspan - hoping they would land in Adler's lap.

In one of the letters, Cahn says she believes the restraining order is the musicians' way of communicating with her. In another, she refers to herself as Adler's "runaway kitty kat."

The letters can easily be translated as a call for help, because she asks Adler's private investigator - David Mancini - to "come and get me ... I'm scared and sick ... I can't do this on my own and I'm really, really, really, really, really, really scared!"

Cahn is currently behind bars at the Washington County jail and could face up to eight charges.

You can read the letters here.

TMZ

The Most Ridiculous Overblown Albums of All Time


One Louder - Wild Beasts And The Importance Of Being OTT

by Luke Lewis

"Oh untetherable bird of the blue! Oh unpluckable flower of the moon!"

That's not a line from the new Gallows record. It's the work of Hayden Thorpe, hooting and howling vocalist with Wild Beasts, whose second album Two Dancers has sent traffic to thesaurus.com through the roof as music journalists seek out synonyms for "grandiloquent".

There seems to be a taste for this sort of thing at the moment - a pervasive appetite for camp excess.

Florence And The Machine's Lungs picked up glowing reviews, despite being so over-produced as to make the "Ride Of The Valkyries" seem subtle. At Latitude last month the line-up was laden with artists – Of Montreal, Patrick Wolf – performing between-song masques while dressed in outfits that would have been regarded as "outre" by the denizens of Studio 54.

Musically, though, these artists can hardly be called over-the-top. Not when there are people like Axl Rose in the world. Rose famously burned through $20 million recording Guns N'Roses' Chinese Democracy, which Rolling Stone called a "great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record", and absolutely everyone else called a load of rancid old dogwank.

A choir, strings, Mellotron, a bloke playing guitar inside a chicken-coop: Chinese Democracy had everything. Except tunes, and soul: two things no amount of money and time can guarantee.

Then again, who didn't have a sneaking respect for the sheer, insane ambition of it?

Everyone loves a grand folly. Rock would be a drabber place if it weren't for the nagging inner voice that makes a musician think: "Write a sprawling concept album based on the tale of Gawain And The Green Knight? Why yes, that's a fantastic idea."

Call it the Meat Loaf gene: the eternal, ill-advised desire to go one louder.

Something like this presumably gripped Suede's Brett Anderson while recording Dog Man Star and convinced him it would be a wise idea to augment "Still Life" - a song that started life as a beautifully understated acoustic ballad – with an 80-piece orchestra, and the kind of vocal hysterics that would make Celine Dion think: jeez, tone it down a bit, will you?

Again, you've got to admire the spirit, if not the end result. It takes a special kind of delusional maniac who, when in the studio overseeing the final mix, surveys the winking LEDs of a dangerously overloaded, 90-track, everything-in-the-red mixing desk, and solemnly tells the engineer: needs more alpenhorn.

By way of tribute to these lunatics, then, what are the most ridiculously overblown albums ever?

NME

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Alice In Chains Album Cover and Track Listing Revealed


Black Gives Way to Blue available everywhere September 28/29.

All Secrets Known
Check My Brain
Last Of My Kind
Your Decision
A Looking In View
When The Sun Rose Again
Acid Bubble
Lessons Learned
Take Her Out
Private Hell
Black Gives Way To Blue

iTunes pre-order begins this Tuesday.

Alice In Chains

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Sweet Child O' Mine Voted Greatest Guitar Riff


Guns N' Roses anthem "Sweet Child O' Mine" has been named the Greatest Guitar Riff in a new poll by Asian News International.

Eric Clapton's 1971 hit "Layla" came second in the poll of 5,000 music lovers.

Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" landed the third spot while Michael Jackson's "Beat It" came fourth.

Motorhead's "Ace Of Spaces" rounded out the top five.

The top ten are:

01. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
02. Derek and the Dominoes - "Layla"
03. Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
04. Michael Jackson - "Beat It"
05. Motorhead - "Ace Of Spaces"
06. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
07. Queen - "Another One Bites The Dust"
08. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
09. Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water"
10. Green Day - "American Idiot"

The Sun

A Modern Classic

"You know, we've only done one show before this, and already we have been criticized for playing the old songs, but I have no intention, and I never did, of denying you something you enjoy, and I thought it was only fair for you to see that this new band can play the fuck out of these songs.

It's very hard to ask a musician to learn to play the part or parts played by other musicians before them. These guys here have worked very hard.

As for you guys ... On lead guitar here we have Mr. Buckethead. You've already met my friend Mr. Paul Tobias. On keyboards once again Mr. Dizzy Reed. On the drums - Brain, and on the keyboards over here, Mr. Chris Pitman. You've met Mr. Robin Finck, and leading us through these rehearsals, General Tommy Stinson.

This is a new song, I hope you like it, this is called "Chinese Democracy."

Monday, August 10, 2009

Richard and Dizzy at the Viper Room, Part Deux

It's a Guns N' Roses reunion!



[Part One]

Thanks to: Matt Larsen.

Slash to Embark on Massive Tour Next Year


From Slash's MySpace blog:

"I don't know how I'm supposed to wait until next year to put out this record! It is so fucking cool & I am so anxious to get it out already. We start mixing soon & that will be that, ready to go. But, I have to wait, there's no way around it, for all kinds of logistic reasons & that's the reality.

But, my VR bandmates & I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago & although the search for a singer will continue, I am going to tour on my solo record most likely thru next summer starting in March or April. We (VR) will keep the word of mouth system going & listening to submissions from singers & checking out different singer's sites etc, we know the right guy is out there somewhere. It's possible somebody could turn up before I do my tour & we could start working on new material sooner than later, in a perfect world.

As far as my tour is concerned, I have already started to put together ideas for a kickass band & the plan is to perform some new stuff, Snakepit, VR & Guns stuff. The new album is really great & deserves that I should support it. Plus, I'm really looking forward to getting out there & doing some gigs, its been more than a year since I was on a proper tour & all these one off jams are basically just a tease.

So, there's the update for now, I'm still tinkering away on the solo record but there really isn't much left to do on it but mix it, which starts in September."

Sunday, August 9, 2009

August 1989 Interview With Axl Rose


20 years ago, Axl Rose gave one of his most quotable interviews ever to Rolling Stone magazine. The August '89 issue sat in my bedroom all Summer, as I read and re-read it, before signing up for a slew of business classes at school that Fall. I was 16.

The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose
Rolling Stone, August 1989
by Del James

Sitting on a black Persian rug, chain-smoking Marlboros and sipping Corona beers, the singer welcomes any and all questions about the band. His onstage roar is replaced by a soft-spoken tone, but nonetheless he can be brutal in his honesty.

A few years ago you were a poor kid in a struggling rock band, and today you're in one of the most popular groups in the world. How have you adjusted to your success?

Trying to handle success is a pain in the ass. It's really strange and takes some getting used to. I've never had my own place to live before, never had to deal with the amount of money we've made and not get ripped off, never understood doing your taxes and all these things. I was hating it a few months ago, trying to get organized and trying to get a place to live and to get a grip on everything. But now things are coming together. I've wanted to be here my whole life.

Did you ever in your wildest dreams think your first album Appetite For Destruction would do as well as it did?

Thought about it a lot.

Besides dreaming about it, did you ever believe it had a real chance to sell 9 million copies?

No, but it was like this: I thought about trying to sell more records than Boston's first album. I always thought that and never let up. Everything was directed at trying to achieve the sales without sacrificing the credibility of our music. We worked real hard to sell this many records. The album wasn't just a fluke. Maybe Appetite will be the only good album we make, but it wasn't just a fluke.

Does the business end of rock & roll ever interfere with your creative attitude?

Not for us. This is music, this is art. It's definitely a good business, but that should be second to the art, not first. I was figuring it out, and I'm like the president of a company that's worth between $125 million and a quarter billion dollars. If you add up record sales based on the low figure and a certain price for T-shirts and royalties and publishing, you come up with at least $125 million, which I get less than two percent of.

I like being successful. I was always starving. On the other side. When it came to people with money, it was always "The rich? Fuck them!" But I left one group and joined another. I escaped from one group where I was looked down on for being a poor kid that doesn't know shit, and now I'm like, a rich, successful asshole. I don't like that. I'm still just me, and with a lot of people's help, the group was able to become a huge financial success. None of us were the popular kids in school - we were all outcasts who got together and pooled our talents.

Is there any lesson you've learned that you wish you knew a few years ago?

What I'd tell any kid in high school is "Take business classes." I don't care what else you're gonna do, if you're gonna do art or anything, take business classes. You can say, "Well, I don't want to get commercial," but if you do anything to make any money, you're doing something commercial. You can be flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, but you're a commercial burger flipper.

Now that the band is getting ready to work on the follow-up to Appetite and the GN'R Lies EP, what's your frame of mind?

As my friend Dave puts it, I'm jacking off [laughs]. We're trying to regroup. I'm ready to work. I'm creating, and finally I have an environment in which I can work. I haven't had that for a long time, since three years ago, when we all used to live in one room, sitting around writing songs. Until recently, I haven't had peace of mind. There were always distractions, but now it's like we can finally work on our songs.


Do you feel heavy pressure to sell as many copies with your next album as Appetite?

We have two records out, both of them in the Top Ten, and everybody wants another record immediately. They all say, "Let's milk this sucker." It'd be nice to outsell that album. A lot of groups are trying to outsell it. For a debut, it was the highest-selling album in the history of rock and roll. Definitely in America, but I'm not sure that's true worldwide. I read where Bon Jovi was saying nobody's out done their biggie, Slippery When Wet. He knew it was their biggie, and he didn't know if New Jersey would be as big. Of course, you're gonna want to outdo it. What I want to do is just grow as an artist and feel proud of these new songs.

Although you're only in the pre-production stages of the next album, how do you feel it will compare with the others?

The next record will definitely be much more emotional. I try to write so the audience can understand what emotions I was feeling. Also, I think the songs are worded in a way that a great number of people will be able to relate to the experiences; it's not so personalized that it's only my weird, twisted point of view. We hope to make a very long record. It'd be nice to make one that's seventy-six minutes long, A seventy-six-minute CD, with varied styles.

The most important songs at this point are the ones with piano, the ballads, because we haven't really explored that side of the band yet. They're also the most difficult songs to do - not difficult to play, but to write and pull out of ourselves. The beautiful music is what really makes me feel like an artist. The other, heavier stuff also makes me feel like an artist and can be difficult to write. But it's harder to write about serious emotions, describing them as best as possible rather than trying to write a syrupy ballad just to sell records.

Any specific titles for the next album you can talk about?

Well, there's a song called "November Rain" and another one called "Breakdown." There's also a song tentatively titled "Without You." Last night, I wrote a whole new intro to that. It just appeared out of nowhere, like the verses - just little pieces that have come whole.

How do write complete songs from separate bits and pieces?

They'll just show up. I keep them on file in my brain and then add them together. Like, I'll be brushing my teeth and all of a sudden a prechorus will come, and I won't know why. Then a bridge came about a year ago. Six months ago another part came. Last night a whole intro came. When I was writing it, I wasn't planning on putting it with this song, but all of a sudden it just flowed.


The GN'R Lies EP surprised a lot of people because of it's emphasis on acoustic material. Aren't you afraid that some people may be turned off by the band straying from the sound that got them on top?

We're not getting away from hard rock. Our basic root is hard rock, a bit heavier than the Stones, more in a vein like Aerosmith, Draw the Line type stuff. We love loud guitars. George Michael was telling me he really loved our melodies and wondered why we covered so much of it up with loud guitars, and I said because we love that. I told him he should put some more loud guitars in his music. He has such beautiful melodies, and it'd be nice to hear some loud guitars in there. At the same time, I have my favorite symphony pieces, orchestra pieces if you will.

I've always looked at things in a versatile sense because of Queen, ELO, Elton John, especially early Elton John and groups like that. With Queen, I have my favorite: Queen II. Whenever their newest record would come out and have all these other kinds of music on it, at first I'd only like this song or that song. But after a period of time listening to it, it would open my mind up to so many different styles. I really appreciate them for that. That's something I've always wanted to be able to achieve. It's important to show people all forms of music, basically try to give people a broader point of view.

Speaking of versatility, you're known primarily as a singer, but you've been playing piano quite a bit lately.

I've been playing piano my whole life. I took lessons, but I only really played my lesson on the day of the lesson. All week long, I'd sit down at the piano and just make up stuff. To this day, I still can't really play other people's songs, only my own. I haven't had a piano for years. I couldn't afford one. I couldn't figure out where I was sleeping at night, let alone try to have a place for a piano. So I had to put it aside and have the dream that I'd get into it. Now I really want to bring the piano out.



So far the song that's inspired the most controversy in the band's short career has been "One in a Million." How did you come to write that song?

"One in a Million" was written while sitting in the apartment of my friend West Arkeen, who's like the sixth member of the band. I wrote it at his house, sitting around bored watching TV. I can't really play guitar too well, I only play the top two strings, and I would write a little piece at a time. I started writing about wanting to get out of LA , getting away for a little while. I'd been down to the downtown-LA Greyhound bus station. If you haven't been there, you can't say shit to me about what goes on and about my point of view. There are a large number of black men selling stolen jewelry, crack, heroin and pot, and most of the drugs are bogus. Rip-off artists selling parking spaces to parking lots that there's no charge for. Trying to misguide every kid that gets off the bus and doesn't quite know where he's at or where to go, trying to take the person for whatever they've got. That's how I hit town. The thing with "One in a Million" is, basically, we're all one in a million, we're all here on this earth. We're one fish in a sea. Let's quit fucking with each other, fucking with me.

The lyrics have incited a lot of protest, so let's go over them line by line. Let's start with one of the verses, "Police and niggers, that's right/Get outta my way/Don't need to buy none/ Of your gold chains today."

I used words like police and niggers because you're not allowed to use the word nigger. Why can black people go up to each other and say, "Nigger," but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big put-down. I don't like boundaries of any kind. I don't like being told what I can and what I can't say. I used the word nigger because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black. Doesn't John Lennon have a song "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"? There's a rap group, N.W.A., Niggers with Attitude. I mean, they're proud of that word. More power to them. Guns N' Roses ain't bad ... N.W.A. is baad! Mr. Bob Goldthwait said the only reason we put these lyrics on the record was because it would cause controversy and we'd sell a million albums. Fuck him! Why'd he put us in his skit? We don't just do something to get the controversy, the press.

How about the next verse? Immigrants and faggots/They make no sense to me/ They come to our country/And think they'll do as they please/ Like start some mini-Iran or spread some fuckin' disease." Why that reference to immigrants?

When I use the word immigrants, what I'm talking about is going to a 7-11 or Village pantries - a lot of people from countries like Iran, Pakistan, China, Japan et cetera, get jobs in these convenience stores and gas stations. Then they treat you as if you don't belong here. I've been chased out of a store with Slash by a six-foot-tall Iranian with a butcher knife because he didn't like the way we were dressed. Scared me to death. All I could see in my mind was a picture of my arm on the ground, blood going everywhere. When I get scared, I get mad. I grabbed the top of one of these big orange garbage cans and went back at him with this shield, going, "Come on!" I didn't want to back down from this guy. Anyway that's why I wrote about immigrants. Maybe I should have been more specific and said, "Joe Schmoladoo at the 7-11 and faggots make no sense to me." That's ridiculous! I summed it up simply and said, "Immigrants."

How about the use of the word "faggots"?

I've had some very bad experiences with homosexuals. When I was first coming to Los Angeles, I was about eighteen or nineteen. On my first hitchhiking ride, this guy told me I could crash at his hotel. I went to sleep and woke up while this guy was trying to rape me. I threw him down on the floor. He came at me again. I went running for the door. He came at me. I pinned him between the door and the wall. I had a straight razor, and I pulled the razor and said, "Don't ever touch me! Don't ever think about touching me! Don't touch yourself and think about me! Nothing!" Then I grabbed my stuff and split with no place to go, no sleep, in the middle of nowhere outside of St. Louis. That's why I have the attitude I have.

Are you anti-homosexual then?

I'm pro-heterosexual. I can't get enough of women, and I don't see the same thing that other men can see in men. I'm not into gay or bisexual experiences. But that's hypocritical of me, because I'd rather see two women together than just about anything else. That happens to be my personal, favorite thing.

How about gay-bashing? Have you ever beaten up somebody simply because of their sexual preference?

No! I never have. The most I do is, like, on the way to the Troubadour in "Boystown," on Santa Monica Boulevard, I'll yell out the car window, "Why don't you guys like pussy?" 'Cause I'm confused. I don't understand it. Anti-homosexual? I'm not against them doing what they want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody else and they're not forcing it upon me. I don't need them in my face or, pardon the pun, up my ass about it.

The "One in a Million" lyrics about "faggots" who "spread some fuckin' disease" got GN'R bounced from an AIDS benefit in New York by the Gay Men's Health Crisis, one of the groups that was involved with putting on the show. How did you feel about that?

We're in no way associated with the Gay Men's Health Crisis, except that David Geffen is on the board of directors for the concert and he's the owner of our record company. We were asked to do this, and we wanted to contribute some money to help stop a deadly disease that's killing humans of all kinds. A friend of mine who's homosexual and was largely responsible for the record companies taking notice of us was upset about it because we didn't even get a chance to clear ourselves, to make good. AIDS is something very scary. The concert was something we wanted to do and felt it was important to do but we were denied the opportunity. We were even denied the opportunity to say anything about it. It was just publicly announced that we weren't allowed to do it because the Gay Men's Health Crisis wouldn't let us. I don't feel they have the right to deny the money and attention they would have gotten from us playing. It's pride, it's ignorant and it's childish.

Women seem to be one of the more popular subjects with Guns N' Roses. Are you a romantic kind of guy?

I'm a person that has a lot of different relationships. It's really hard to maintain a one-on-one relationship if the other person is not going to allow me to be with other people. I have a real open, hedonistic, sexual attitude. Just 'cause you're not totally in love with a person doesn't mean you don't like them. You can think they're attractive, and you want to touch them, have a great time with them. Maybe at that moment you are in love. I think love and lust go hand in hand, like good and evil. One without the other is not complete, But I don't tell someone I'm in love with them if I'm not. I never have.

You'd describe yourself as promiscuous then?

I have sex as often as possible.

Don't you ever think of contracting AIDS?

Yeah, but I also live in a city that's supposed to get the big quake any day. You can get killed on the freeway in drive-by shooting, the foods irradiated, there's a million ways to go out. A lot of times, sexual situations are very spontaneous, but I try not to be overly careless.

So you practice safe sex?

Practicing safe sex ... I like the word practice. It means keep doing it, keep repeating the process, get it right. Practice makes perfect. I don't know if it'll get perfect. But you can get a lot better. Just keep practicing.


What about drugs? Everyone and their mother seems to have a GN'R story involving junkie debauchery ...

I'm not and never have been a junkie. The last interview in RIP Magazine got taken out of context about me talking openly about my drug use. That was over two years ago and was only for a few weeks when there was nothing to do. I was also very safe about it. That doesn't mean that at some point I won't get really sick of life and choose to OD. Then people will go, "He was always a junkie." That's not the case, but you can believe what you want, I don't give a fuck. No one's really gonna believe anything I say anyway as far as what I do or don't do with drugs, 'cause it's such a taboo subject. Lately I've been drinking champagne for fun, a few beers, you know. Right now drugs get in the way of my dreams and goals. I really don't want drugs around me now, I'm not necessarily against the use of drugs, they just don't fit in my life right now. Then again, I could be out on tour for six months and a blast might be what cheers me up that night.

Do you ever think these excesses might hurt other members of the group?

I don't want to see drugs tear up this band. I'm against when it goes too far. Right now, for me, a line of coke is too far. A line of coke puts my voice out of commission for a week. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I did a lot of stuff before. Maybe it's guilt and it's relocated in my throat. All I know is it's not healthy for me right now. And if somebody goes, "Oh, man, he's not a partyer anymore," hey, fuck you! Do you want a record or not?

With all the misconceptions floating around about G N'R, the biggest misconceptions seem to come from magazine interviews you've granted.

That's just a lot of sensationalism. People out there don't know what's real or not. Things are always going to get changed or taken out of context, but some magazines will make up an interview just to sell issues. One's written that Slash said I run over dogs. I think it sucks when a kid has three bucks and he buys a candy bar, a soda and a magazine because he's really into Guns N' Roses, and he gets bad photos and an interview that's not true. It's not fair. Unfortunately, it probably will never change.

Some schools have banned GN'R t-shirts, and organizations like the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) have objected to what they feel is the band's glorification of a degenerate lifestyle. When you sing to a younger audience, do you think you have any responsibility as their idol?

It's just a record. . . . I don't know. You have to go through your own changes sand growth. I'm not trying to influence anybody in a negative way. Also, I'm not raising your kid. You're the parent. The PRMC? Who are they? A TV show, like AM/PM?

If you had a young son, say Axl Rose II, how would you feel if he brought home an album with lyrics about "niggers" and "faggots"?

Right now I don't want to have a child, because I can't give it enough time. But I'd want him to talk about what he listened to with me, and have him show me new things, and me show him new things. He could play me the Screaming Banshees From Hell, and I could play him Jimi Hendrix or something. We could talk about the music. We'd talk about things together. I think it's a parents job to raise their child. My father likes "Welcome to the Jungle." Ten years ago, if a song like that was caught in our house, man, it was over. But I can't hold how he once felt against him.

Let's go back to your childhood. Were you a bad student?

No. On the placement tests in school, I was always in the top three percent. I dropped out in the eleventh grade, went back as a senior, then dropped out again.

Why did you drop out?

'Cause I couldn't make school work for me. I was having to read books, sing songs, draw pictures of things that didn't stimulate or excite me. It just didn't do anything for me. So I dropped out and started drawing and painting at home and spending a lot of my time in the library. Basically I started putting myself through Axl's school of subjects that I wanted to learn about.

You grew up in Lafayette, Indiana. What influence do you thing your small town had in shaping you?

It made me despise people with closed minds. It made me want to break out.

What about small-town values?

That's a load of shit.

Were you in trouble a lot?

Me and my friends were always in trouble. We got in trouble for fun. It finally reached a point where I realized I was gonna end up in jail, 'cause I kept fucking with the system. This guy and I got into a fight. We became friends afterwards, and he dropped charges against me, but the state kept on pressing charges. Those charges didn't work, so they tried other ones. I spent three months in jail and finally got out. But once you've pissed off a detective, it's a vengeance rap back there. They tried everything. They busted me illegally in my own back yard for drinking. They tried to get me as a habitual criminal, which can mean a life in prison. My lawyer got the case thrown out of court. I left and came to California. They told me not to leave, but I left anyway. My lawyer took care of it. I didn't go back for a long time. Now when I go back to see my family, I avoid the police there. I try to avoid all police in general.

What happens when you go back now as a celebrity instead of an outcast?

It gets a little bit out of hand. I can't really go any where. I just go to my friends' houses, but people I don't know show up wanting autographs. People that I used to go to school with, people that used to hate my guts, want me to invest money in this and that. People say shit like "Axl thinks he's too cool to party with us." But those people never wanted to party with me before, The people who are offended by this comment are the ones who should be.

How do you explain your volatile nature?

When I get stressed, I get violent and take it out on myself. I've pulled razor blades on myself but then realized that having a scar is more detrimental than not having a stereo. I'd rather kick my stereo in than go punch somebody in the face. When I get mad or upset or emotional, sometimes I'll walk over and play my piano.

Your own music has been diluted somewhat by radio stations that play different, shorter versions of GN'R songs. How do you feel when you music is cut to suit the airwaves?

Not that any of our songs compare, but if you hear a short version of "Layla," I think you're gonna be pissed off, especially if you're planning on hearing the big piano part at the end. I hate the edit of "Sweet Child o' Mine." Radio stations said, "Well, your vocals aren't cut." My favorite part of the song is Slash's slow solo; it's the heaviest part for me. There's no reason for it to be missing except to create more space for commercials, so the radio-station owners can get more advertising dollars. When you get the chopped version of "Paradise City" or half of "Sweet Child" and "Patience" cut, you're getting screwed.

What kind of music and bands do you enjoy?

That's always the hardest question. Lately I've been listening to Derek and the Dominos, the Bar-Kays. I really like the first Patti Smith. I'm just starting to discover the Cure. I keep trying to find things to open myself up to. I enjoy Soundgarden. The singer just buries me. The guy sings so great. On the club circuit, I like Saigon Saloon a lot.

Today, my favorite record is Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything . I just got turned on to it. I've still got my favorites and things like the Pistols, ELO and Queen. The two records I always buy if there's a cassette deck around and I don't have the tapes in my bag are Never Mind the Bollocks and Queen II . I think I'd be in a bind to figure out which one I'd want if I was stranded on a desert island. I might go with the Pistols, because maybe a boat would hear me if I played it.

You are also a Rolling Stones fan. There were some rumors floating around about G n' R possibly opening for them on their upcoming tour. What happened?

No formal offer has been made. I'd love to open for the Stones, but at the same time I really want to do my own record. We'll probably go back on the road sometime next year. I don't know exactly when.

Do you consider yourself the leader of the band?

That's a good question. I'm gonna do what I want to do. That may be selfish, but it's the best way for the most to come out of me. When we write a song, nobody in this band plays anything they don't really want to. When we write a song, the bass player plays his line and it ends up being what he wants to do on bass. It ends up working that way and fitting, so we end up with a set of songs that everybody likes. I couldn't say I'm the leader, like "We're gone do what I say." It doesn't work that way.

Earlier you touched on the rock-star image and people falling into the music just because it adheres to a certain attitude and look. What about Axl Rose's longhaired, tattooed, pierced-nipple image?

What about it?

Is it just an image?

It's part of me. When I put on my clothes or do a photo session, I want to look the best I can. If you're going on a date, you want to look good for that person or for yourself. I've got enough money now to buy a suit I like and wear it the way I want. I don't wear suits every damn day now. Maybe I'm gonna shave and wear makeup and do my hair fuckin' way up. We're definitely image conscious. I think if Izzy came wearing a clown suit to a photo session, we'd want to know how he could validate his presence in a clown suit [Laughs]. But if he could back it up and convince us there was a reason, then it would be cool. Otherwise, it wouldn't be. Steven has his own way of dressing, in the latest commercial-rock fashions. Steven enjoys the hell out of the clothes he wears, whereas Slash and I wouldn't be caught dead in either. It's just different personalities. If we're gonna do a show, I wear a headband because my hair gets in my face. When we do a photo session, a lot of the time I'll wear a headband because that's how I am onstage. If I feel real dominant and decadent, I'm gonna be wearing my jack-boots and stuff like that. I try to express myself through my clothes. It's another form of the art. I'm not afraid of what people think about different ways I look. I'm gonna do what I want to do.

Do you really get hassled much when you go out locally in LA?

I really only go to clubs where I know the people who work there, so I can have some privacy and hang out. It's hard when you go to a club with 600 people and you end up having to talk to 400 people. You have no time of your own to have fun. Maybe if I haven't gone out for a week, I'll go to the Cathouse, because I know some friends are gonna be there. I just want to be around my friends, even if we don't talk about anything. I just need it. You have all these people asking you for an autograph, and it gets kind of embarrassing. I don't want to be a prick to people and go, "Get away from me." But I don't enjoy going someplace and just signing autographs all the time. It comes with the fame, but sometimes it gets out of hand and people can be very rude and obnoxious about it. I've had people break into my hotel room with cameras, waking me up and taking photos. People find out where I live and show up at my building. I've never asked anyone for an autograph.

Having to deal with autographs doesn't seem like it's the worst thing in the world. At this point in your life, what's your biggest regret?

That I didn't talk to Todd Crew before he went to New York. [Crew, the bassist in the band Jetboy, was a close friend of the band's who died due to an alcohol-related overdose.] I felt a massive need to talk to him out of concern for his well-being. But I wasn't aware enough to realize I didn't have the time I thought I did. I thought I'd have time later ...

You seem to have an exceptionally strong bond with your friends. Do you think your values have changed any since you've become a rich rock star?

I saw a guy last night, a homeless guy on the beach. I hate panhandlers 'cause I've never done that. I just couldn't, it would have felt too weird. I walked past the man and realized I had some money in my pocket. It's not that I give everybody I see money. I don't at all. But I handed him twenty bucks and he was like "Thanks, man, I appreciate it." He can have breakfast tomorrow. I could have just walked away, but I could tell in my heart that the guy could really use the money. He wasn't trying to scam. He looked like he was gonna get up tomorrow and look for a job or something to survive. I felt good about that, and I'm wondering if he's all right now. I don't know. The next day I was hoping he didn't go buy crack with it.

HTGTH

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Tribute Bands the Beneficiaries of a Bad Economy


Imitation as a Form of Flattery
No Longer a Parody, Tribute Bands Pay Homage to the Original
By Mario Iván Oña

Who knew that tribute bands could be the beneficiaries of a bad economy?

Given the chance to pay $50 to see the original Journey or $12 to see the Frontiers, a band that covers Journey songs, fans may well be opting for the low-cost alternative. And that alternative may also be high in entertainment value.

We're not talking about Elvis impersonators here or other similar parodies. We are talking about talented musicians who may, in fact, put on a better show than their aging counterparts.

"The Rolling Stones are obviously in the twilight of their career or farther," says Chris LeGrand, 47, who is Mick Jagger in the Rolling Stones tribute band, Satisfaction, which is performing in the area next week. "Our shows give fans a slightly younger version of what they're used to seeing, and we're looking to do some shows with a '60s look, a '70s look and a modern-day look."

Musically, Satisfaction is dead-on. But for the full effect, it might not hurt to squint to convince yourself that LeGrand's pouting lips really belong to Jagger.

Joe Pascarell, 48, lead vocalist of the Machine, a 21-year-old Pink Floyd tribute band, says: "I think we've probably done as many shows as the real Pink Floyd at this point. We've performed about 2,000 gigs."

And it shows. During a recent acoustic set (a departure from the band's typical high-octane, laser light show), the musicianship permeated with hypnotic effect. During "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," the classic Pink Floyd tune dedicated to founding member Syd Barrett, Pascarell sang with such genuine sentiment and visible emotion, you would have sworn Barrett was Pascarell's pal.

Chad "NotQuiteAxl" Atkins, 33, lead singer of Appetite for Destruction: The Ultimate Tribute to Guns N' Roses, thinks a hardcore fan should catch both bands. "We would quench your thirst for that old Guns N' Roses with Slash and Axl Rose wearing a bandana instead of sporting cornrows or braids," he says.

The band has learned Rose might not be touring in support of GN'R's long-awaited album, 2008's Chinese Democracy, and though Atkins says he likes the album and his group has learned it, "we're kind of sitting on it until we see how people respond to it."

So far, so bad. Though it has gone platinum, the album received tepid reviews and hasn't been selling as well as expected. If Rose does go on tour, fans will have to decide between forking out bigger bills to watch an older Rose perform some unrecognizable songs or watch younger, more nimble look-alikes perform vintage GN'R.

In most cases, the impersonators have not met the impersonatees, though they've often come close.

Current GN'R keyboardist Dizzy Reed has played with Appetite for Destruction, and saxophonist Norbert Stachel, who has toured with Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters, has played with the Machine. Although Waters's son, Harry, can't recall watching the Machine, he says from his London flat: "I think tribute bands can be great, particularly for bands that don't play anymore, like Pink Floyd. I can only see this as a way of honoring the band."

Steven Kurutz, author of "Like a Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of a Tribute Band" agrees: "My sense is that most famous musicians are flattered by tribute bands, and in a way, they keep the flame alive and help promote the music. I'm certain the extensive touring of Badfish, a Sublime tribute, has helped push sales of Sublime's recordings."