1991.MM.DD - Hard n' Heavy Video Magazine - Guns N Roses: 7 Days in Rio (Slash, Duff, Matt)

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TRANSCRIPTION:
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[Intro: Axl and Slash cartoon]

[Intro titles: On January 20th and 23rd 1991, Guns N’ Roses played two sellout concerts in the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, in front of 280,000 Brazilian fans.
This was the first time the band had performed together on stage since October 1989, and marked the debut of new band member Matt Sorum on drums and percusion.
It was also Guns N’ Roses first headline concert... ever!

Guns N’ Roses
7 Days in Rio]

[Rehearsal footage from January 4th, 1991
Long Beach Arena, California]

Duff: Hey, this is Matt Sorum, our new drummer.

Matt: Hello, folks.

Duff: My pally pal, rhythm section. He did the whole record, if anybody wants to know. And...  album is being mixed and off we go to Rio – first live gig with Matt playing drums.

Matt: 170,000 thousand screaming kids.

Duff: Two nights. That’s... Two times, that’s 340,000.

Matt: Times. 20 dol... No.

Duff: (Laughs)

[Cut to footage from Rio: inside the band’s plane, airport, sound check, crowd, press confererence, Copacabana beach]

[Cut to rehearsal footage
Caption: Rehearsals January 9th, 1991 Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil]

Duff (voice-over): We’ve been rehearsing at a little rehearsal place and just getting warmed up for... being geared up and psyched up to tour. Rio should get us in groove. I mean, you know, usually you don’t play those gigs til the end of the tour. We’re doing it backwards, that’s how we do everything.

Matt: That’s backwards.

Duff: But we’ll be... We’ll be ready for Rio.

Matt: No problem.

[Cut to rehearsal footage sans Axl]

[Cut to footage of crowd outside Maracana Stadium]

[Cut to footage from soundcheck

Caption: Soundcheck January 20th, 1991 Maracana Stadium – Rio

Tech: Make sure 6 is plugged into 6 and 7 is into 7, Randy (To the camera): Get away from me.

Axl: We’ll go over before we go on.

Axl is soundchecking – mic fault
Axl: Fuck! (To the camera) Yeah, smile.]

[Cut to live footage: McBob intro – Welcome to the Jungle

Caption: Guns N’ Roses Live Jan. 20th 1991 Maracana Stadium – Rio 140,000 Sellout]

[Cut to Duff in his hotel room]

Duff: I should have talked to my mom - she lives in Seattle- before I went. She goes, “You’re going where?” I said, “To Rio”. You know, this is real, mom, we’re going to Rio. (?) She was watching us. Um, I think we heard about it about four months ago or something... Three months ago. Four months ago. We were right in the middle of doing a record so it was kind of pain in the ass, so... But I was done, and Matt was done, we were done with the basic tracks. All we had to do was sing backgrounds and mix. So Matt and I had time to go in and start rehearsing. Slash has still been doing guitars. Slash and Izzy came in and it was like... You know, we had just got done getting Matt as a drummer, so... Matt and I rehearsed together. It was great to finally get a drummer. Matt is just a solid drummer, you know. And he’s not, like, a kid, like, all excited, like, shitting bricks, you know. We’re going on stage in front of 140,000  people, first time he’s up to play with us. And, for that matter, Dizzy, the piano player, who was actually kind of shitting bricks cuz the biggest crowd he had ever played to was, like, 400. Matt is... I hate the word, but he’s a pro. And for him to come into this band... Cuz we don’t have a setlist, you know. We just kinda call of songs - if that, you know. Or we just kind of like, someone starts off the next song and... We kinda told Matt that, like, 5 minutes before we went on. “This is not a setlist by the way, Matt. It’s a call list. And, by the way, you’re doing a drum solo (?)." So he can take the pressure (laughs). We don’t know, a night we’re on tour... We don’t know if the whole band is gonna be there, you know, at the gig. And it becomes, like... just like a kind of joke; like a nervous, kind of, laughter joke, you know? “What time are you guys going on?” “I don’t know – if we’re even gonna go on at all”, you know? As we were opening for Aeromith, you know. You’re used to it, you become accustomed to it, you know. "How many songs are you gonna play tonight?" "I don’t know. Maybe only 2 or 3", you know, so...

[Cut to live footage: Patience]

[Cut back to Duff in his hotel room]

Duff: For all the differences the band has had and all that, when it comes down to it, you know, we do what we do best. And that’s write songs and make music. And finally get it down on tape, and (?) That’s really... The hardest part is getting it on tape. But as far as writing songs and getting them to a point we like them and rehearsing them to a point that we can actually go into the studio, and go and get ready for the basics (?). You know, “Here’s the song.” We don’t have... You know, a lot of bands, most bands, I’d say 95% of the bands have, like, the producer, they’ll hire a producer. Or the A&R guy or the manager will say, “Ah, this song, you need to change here and there” and this and that. And the band will go, “Okay.” You know, we will take some constructive criticism but we know what we wanna write. So, you see, if we change a song at all, it usually comes from, like, one of the road crew. You know, it’s like, “That part sucks.” You know? (?) actually. There was a time where everything was really kinda dark and grim and hardcore. All of a sudden it was like... We were like “Whoa, we got a rehearsal. Rehearsal?”  Everyone was wearing black and shit (laughs). We didn’t even notice. It was like, “Grrr”. All songs got something kinda dark. But something is real, you know, what the song was written about. They’re all, you know, basically non fiction songs. A song called “Why do you look at me?” and then (?) “When you hate me” it’s about the press. It’s like, you know, “Why do you look at me when you hate me? Why do you look at me when you know I hate you too?” It’s about the press, you know, writing shit they have no idea about. And so if they’re getting so hardcore about us and they don’t like us, why do they write about us? You know, that’s something to say about them.

[Cut back to live footage: Patience]

Duff: They’re looking for this record to absolutely suck and go, you know, tits up, down the drain, whatever. And I’m confident and fortunate to work with the guys; you know, to write songs with the guys in my band and be positive enough that I know without them even hearing the songs yet that the album won’t do that. Even if it’s not successful sell-wise, which, you know, that’s not a proof of anything. Some of my favorite albums only sold 10,000 copies, if that.  You know, like, a lot of other people say, “Oh, they sold all these records” and not looking through it, to the music; which a lot of people will attempt to at first, just how many records we sold - which I’m sick of.

[Cut to live footage: Axl introduces Matt
Axl: I’d like to introduce you to somebody new in the band. Someone who came along and if it hadn’t worked out we wouldn’t be here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Matt Sorum. Rate it, bear his ass, right now. Take it away home.
Matt’s drum solo]

[Cut to Matt going sightseeing]

Matt: I’m going to see Jesus.

[Caption: Corcovado – January 22nd, 1991 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]

Matt: Well, I promised you, hard and heavy fans, that we were coming down here with Guns N’ Roses. Here you are. On top of the world, in Rio. Well, I was figuring about 100,000 people but ended up being 140,000, so it was quite a nice little warm-up gig, you know? (laughs) A lot of fun, really, you know. And really my first rehearsal with Axl. In front of 140,000 people, so it was interesting. For me it was kind of wild because, you know, it was the first time I ever heard him sing with the band, with me playing, you know? So a couple of times when he did some screams and stuff, you know, kind of throwing me for a second. Maybe, you, know, messed up my fill or something (laughs). When I joined the band about 8 months ago, everything was in turmoil. And the band has really come together and we pumped out a lot of tunes for this new album. And, you know, everything is going really well. I wanted to play drums, like, from the day I could talk. But not right this second, but... (laughs). (Signs an autograph): Here. What was the question again? (laughs) What made me start drumming?

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. What made you get into it?

Matt: I just always wanted to play drums. I got my first set of drums when I was about 5 years old. You know, I was just always banging on things, I don’t know. My first band I was really into was probably Black Sabbath. You know, during, like, junior high school. I guess that’s what made me hit drums so hard, because I saw Black Sabbath and, you know, his drumming was just so amazing, Bill Ward, back in those days. And I liked his power. And then I got into Zeppelin and all the stuff that the rest of the guys were into, you know, Aerosmith and... They told me about five minutes before I was going on that I had to do a drum solo.

Interviewer: You were?

Matt: Yeah. That’s what happened. That’s the first time I’ve ever done one, so... And then he introduced me for the crowd and I kind of went, “What will I do?” “Solo”.

[Cut back to Matt’s drum solo]

[Cut to Slash interview]

Slash: There’s not one single solitary thing in my life that it comes close, you know, or has any kind of priority over this band. Ever since before it really got going, we were doing clubs, alright? I’d sold whatever it is you sell a long time ago, you know? And even when I was fucked up, I was only fucked up because of this band. I mean, so it’s always been like that. I’m just really happy to see it, you know, and I’m... Also cuz the new material and stuff... It’s like, when you’re really proud of something, and there’s just so many things in it that I’m so proud of, and I’m just, really, excited so... You know, it’s all I think about.

[Cut to live footage: Paradise City]

[Cut back to the Slash interview]

Slash: It was the first gig with everybody involved in a long time. Especially, you know, with two new people, right? It’s the first show that we’ve done that it was fucking – no matter how many technical problems we had and this and that – we fucking had a fucking blast, you know? And I could turn around... It was like, turn around and there’s those people that I know so well, you know? It was great.

[Cut to live footage
Axl: Good fucking night!]

Slash: I hate to think that was all a big farce (laughs). You know?

Interviewer: That’s where the bullshit stops, right there?

Slash: Yeah. That’s where the bullshit always stops. You know, it was all the other bullshit that made everything difficult. When it came down to the people we played for, you know, whoever it is out there that we entertained, that was always the simple part. It was everything else that makes it so fucked up; and so complicated and so unenjoyable sometimes.

[Cut to live footage: End of the show]

[End titles]

Transcription added.

This was recorded in Rio in January 1991 obviously, but I'm not sure about the release date.

The source of this is Hard n' Heavy Video Magazine Vol. 13 (1991)




So I updated the title and the drop-down menu.