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"

Slash Talks New Album, Explains Why He's a 'Band Guy'

RollingStone
Guitarist: 'I still have my name on the marquee and everything, but I’m just not a dictator'

Slash has announced his second solo album, the follow-up to 2010's Slash, will drop May 22nd. The as-yet-untitled record finds the guitarist performing with a new band that features Myles Kennedy on vocals, Brent Fitz on drums and Todd Kerns on bass. Rolling Stone visited Slash late last year to discuss the making of the album, why he is a "band guy" and the importance of jamming with other musicians to stay humble.

So at this point is this a full band, now?

I’m a band guy. Everything I touch I turn into a fucking band. I still have my name on the marquee and everything, but I’m just not a dictator, I don’t want to rule anything. I like to hear what other people’s ideas are and so on and so forth. But the guys, like Brent and Todd, aren’t looking for any kind of glorified credit other than what it is that they do. Some people are stumbling over themselves trying to write even though they’re not inspired to do anything, but just to get their thing in there, which I deal with a lot in other situations. So I just write music, Myles writes his lyrics and his melodies, and he helps me get all that together with the music. And if anybody has any input on anything, it’s open season.

When did you realize you were a band guy?

I realized I was a band guy when I was 15 when I only knew like four licks and two chords and I started a band. I like working in a band atmosphere, I think something about that camaraderie. I do not want to do it all by myself. I’m like that with everything else, I don’t want to do that with music. I’m very much a loner in most respects, but when it comes to working with music, whether I’m leading it or not, the last record was very collaborative. It was just a lot of different people. But this is just one group of guys, which is really cool for me at this point after having done the last record and going in with Chris Chaney and Josh Freese and going, “Here’s the demo, let’s learn it real quick.” Then we record it and bring the vocal in, that’s how every song went. This is more my style of recording where we rehearse the shit out of it until it feels second nature and then go and bang it out in the studio.

Are the songs being done primarily live then in the studio?

The most live I’ve ever done it. This time, instead of rerecording my guitar tracks in the control room, we built a big iso booth that I have huge monitors in in the studio room where the drums and the bass are. So I just play live along with them, but I’m isolated, but I can see. Really it’s got a certain live, raw feel to it.

Who’s producing the album?

Eric Valentine. It was a good experience and got great sounds with Eric and I love working with him and everybody loves him.

How do you balance everything you and Myles have going on?

We rehearsed, we did pre-production for about three weeks to a month to get those 17 or so songs together. And we just went in everyday from two o’clock to eight, nine o’clock everyday and bashed it out. Then Myles came back and he took off and we went in and recorded three songs just to have something to use. So I knew early on, we worked it out between our managers when his schedule is going and so on and so forth. So his last run with Alter Bridge [was] this European tour, then I’ve got him for a year. Poor guy hasn’t rested since he met me.

When was the last time you rested?

Yeah, but I don’t sing. I don’t rest easy. I took a couple weeks' vacation in Ibiza when I renewed my vows, and that’s a test of wills for me. Even then I’m tinkering with shit the whole time. My mind never stops. I took a guitar and a laptop.

And Perla let you do that?

Yeah, I’m getting good at it, having to juggle it all. I would go out and party with her all fucking night and then during the day when everybody is asleep is when I would get shit done. Or I wouldn’t go out and I would just stay in when they went out. It gets sorted out.

When was the last time you went someplace on vacation as opposed to being on the road on tour?

Before the last U.K. leg I went and met Perla in Ibiza once again for 10 days, and then took off to go play with B.B. King during the middle of that. It’s hard to nail me down for any length of time because there’s too much to do. And since I’m pretty much solely responsible for my own fucking destiny at this point I can’t rely on other people to do it. I have really great management, but I work toe-to-toe with them on everything. So someone’s gotta be here.

You have that flexibility to do what you want, pick up that guitar, and if B.B. King says, “Jam with me,” take off and play with him.

I started doing that as soon as I was welcome to do that by my sometimes peers and also some heroes. As soon as that started coming in I took off and started doing it. And that was in the very early Nineties or even late Eighties, like ’89 to ’90.

Do you remember who the first band was to welcome you on stage?

I think I have always needed that, where you go up and just stay completely humbled and fucking learn to work with other people cause you can get in such a bubble being in a rock & roll band that’s arrogant and fucking does its thing and is probably one of the best bands around doing it. And you just become isolated into that little island, and it’s very limited. I would jam in bars even. That’s always kept me grounded and always kept me learning as a player and keep me seeing how really great other musicians are that are better than me all over the place (laughs). One of the first recording sessions I started going in and doing was Alice Cooper, Lenny Kravitz was early on, Iggy Pop was early, Insane Clown Posse. There were a few sessions in there, but those pop out as really early on, especially the Alice Cooper one, that “Hey Stupid” song.

Now in this group you are the senior member, correct?

I’m the oldest out of the bunch, but they’re not that far behind me.

But in experience you have a good leg up.

I realize hanging out with those guys I got a fucking story for everything.

Do those stories help keep them humbled and being the senior member and leader of the band are you in a bit of a mentor role?

Those guys are all really, really professional, so they don’t need any schooling in any way, shape or form. And fucking Brent and Todd are both from Canada so they’re polite as hell and Myles is a very genteel individual himself. When it comes down to it they all do it as much as I’ve ever done it, maybe not as long, but they’re in the thick of it so there’s no mentoring going on.

Was it important to you starting a band this time that it was just all guys that were professional and you feel comfortable with?

Well, that’s food for thought. Professionalism, for me, has always been a key thing. I think that’s something that I admire and respect, a good work ethic and people who, no matter it is they do in their free time, show up and do their job. So I’ve always wanted to be that guy and I think I always focused in that direction, even if it was subconscious. And so I expect that from the guys that I work with and I appreciate being in that kind of environment. I cannot stand working in a situation where people are so arrogant that they just are really inconsiderate or can’t get their shit together or whatever it is that keeps them from functioning properly. And I’m deathly afraid of being that guy.

Did you write at all this time thinking about what this band is capable of and playing to those strengths?

The thing about this band is, and I really have not sat down and analyzed it in any way, shape or form, everybody is such great rock ‘n’ roll players. They can play pretty much everything, but there’s that spirit of people who grew up in it, they’ve learned from Kiss to Ramones to whatever and everything in between, there’s Zeppelin, some Rush, whatever, they know everything, but they really love it. They have really great influences, so I can pretty much do anything with them and so that’s one of the reasons I just wrote whatever I felt like and didn’t think about whether they can play it or not and I just made it up. When I played it for them we were off and running every single song.