1989.MM.DD - Rapido (UK) - Interview segments (Duff)

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TRANSCRIPTION
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Duff: We are who we are, you know, and we don't really hold back on any of that, because there's not really reason to, to try to fake. We're not actors, you know. We’re, you know... We play in a rock ‘n’ roll band. So I think that honesty might have built a bit more in us than in other bands.

[Nightrain is played in the background]

Host voice-over: They've developed a reputation for rock ‘n’ roll excess in all its rowdy, raunchy, beer-swilling forms; and the tradition of their mentors, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and AC/DC. But Guns N’ Roses don't relish the label of bad boys.

Duff: I hate that term, you know, cuz it sounds like... It sounds like a rich daddy's boy, a bad boy. I don't know, it sounds weird to me.  You know, we're just five guys that really kind of just moved here and, you know, survived to get to drink a lot. And just we have fun together. It's five of us and we're honest about our feelings and stuff. And I think a lot of people...  that's what people kind of shy away from, you know.

[Footage from the Ritz 1988 concert - Welcome to the Jungle audio]

Host voice-over: Appropriately enough, Clint Eastwood chose “Welcome to the Jungle” as the theme song for his latest Dirty Harry flick.  How would Dan [sic] describe Axl, the band's lead singer? If his tattoos are anything to go by, he looks mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Duff: Yeah, you got just to deal with it. He knows he sometimes is an asshole, yeah. And he’ll admit it and he’ll say sorry later. But it's just something that can’t really help right now, you know. It's fine, you know. He’s an interesting guy. He’s very creative though. I mean, um, he’s a good guy.

[Clips from the Sweet Child O' Mine video]

Host voice-over: Guns N’ Roses would have liked to participate in New York's Rock Against AIDS festival in June but U.S gay rights activists outraged by a track called “One in a Million” and vetoed their appearance.

Duff: You know, what the song is, it’s one guy's perspective using words that are real words and that people use and that you hear. And he was just this... I mean, as the song says, a “small town white boy” coming from Indiana, you know, to downtown L.A with a backpack and he was scared, you know? It's really unfortunate that they don't want us to do it. We wanted to really make some money for AIDS, you know, cuz it's a big problem and it's unfortunate that they felt that strong and pulled us. I don't agree with them.

[Footage from the Ritz 1988 concert - It's so Easy audio]

Host voice-over: Their live shows have all the energy and rawness of early punk, but combine that with the overblown heavy rock theatrics and you have an explosive chemistry; and one that led to tragedy at Britain's Castle Donington festival last year.

Duff: I felt bad when in Donnington two kids were killed in front of us you, know. It was horrible, but we saw it and the kids were just, you know... That was directly the promoters' fault by over-packing the place by thousands, by ten of thousands, you know, who... For 70,000 capacity he shoved in, like, 110,000. But other things, as far as a kid taking a verse of (?) and living it out or something, you know... That's his problem.

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There are a couple more segments of this interview in this 1991 Rapido TV show (French edition) special:
https://tinyurl.com/y5cufm2b

On Axl:

Duff: He doesn’t do a lot of, like, drugs and stuff. He’s got good control. I think he’ll outlive us all, actually.

On the new album:

Duff: It’s different, yeah. But, I mean, it’s the same... It’s the same aggression to it, you know; and even more so. There’s a couple of softer songs, um, this piano kind of ballad that Axl wrote. That’s a real nice song.

I'm not sure if that UK show was the original source of this interview - it probably wasn't.
It seems that the interview was recorded after the band was banned from the AIDS benefit concert (mid-March) and before that concert took place (June), so most likely in April or May 1989.

I added the rest of the quote about Donnington, found in a french edition of the 1989 program:
[