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APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
Welcome to Appetite for Discussion -- a Guns N' Roses fan forum!

Please feel free to look around the forum as a guest, I hope you will find something of interest. If you want to join the discussions or contribute in other ways then you need to become a member. We especially welcome anyone who wants to share documents for our archive or would be interested in translating or transcribing articles and interviews.

Registering is free and easy.

Cheers!
SoulMonster

18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

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Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:32 pm

CHAPTER INDEX

- COPING WITH SUPERSTARDOM
- 1993-1996: SLASH'S MUSICAL COLLABORATIONS
- 1994: SLASH WANTS TO TOUR
- SLASH BECOMES AN "IDENTIFIABLE PERSONA"
- JANUARY 1994: THE SINGLE 'SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU' IS RELEASED
- JANUARY 17, 1994: AN EARTHQUAKE HITS SLASH
- JANUARY 17, 1994: THE SINGLE 'ESTRANGED' IS RELEASED
- JANUARY 19, 1994: AXL INDUCTS ELTON JOHN AT THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND DUETS WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
- JANUARY 1994-FEBRUARY 1995: GUNS N' ROSES AND HIGHLANDER III
-1993-1994: D-F-R
- JANUARY-APRIL 1994: SLASH, MATT AND GILBY WORKS ON SONGS FOR NEW RECORD
- FEBRUARY-MAY 1994: THE NEW SONGS ARE REJECTED
- "SHUT UP AND SING"
- AXL WANTS TO CHANGE THE SOUND; SLASH DOESN'T
- MARCH 1994: ERIN EVERLY SUES AXL
- "SHATTERED ILLUSIONS" - THE LOST BIOGRAPHY
- MAY 10, 1994: DUFF'S PANCREAS QUITS
- 1994-1996: DUFF MAKES CHANGES TO HIS LIFE
- MAY 1994: IS GILBY OUT?
- KISS-ASS SYCOPHANTS, THROWING PENANCE AT YOUR FEET?
- JUNE 1994: IT IS TRUE, GILBY IS OUT
- EARLY 1994: TRYING TO REPLACE GILBY, PAUL HUGE IS CONSIDERED
- JULY 24, 1994: GILBY RELEASES 'PAWNSHOP GUITARS' AND GOES TOURING
- MAY-OCTOBER 1994: THE BAND IS SPLINTERING AND LITTLE IS DONE
- JUNE-DECEMBER 1994: SLASH STOPS COMING TO BAND REHEARSALS
- 1994: TRYING TO REPLACE GILBY, DAVE NAVARRO IS CONSIDERED
- JULY 1994: THE GUNS N' ROSES PINBALL MACHINE
- SONG: AIN'T GOIN' DOWN
- SUMMER OF 1994: AXL WANTS THE SONGS AND THREATENS TO SUE SLASH
- OCTOBER 1994: SLASH INSULTS KEITH RICHARDS
- OCTOBER 1994: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
- SONG: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
- NOVEMBER 1994: UZI SUICIDE IS RESURRECTED
- NOVEMBER 1994: GILBY SAYS HE HAS QUIT GUNS N' ROSES
- GILBY LOOKING BACK AT HIS TENURE WITH GUNS N' ROSES
- 1994-TODAY: GILBY AFTER GUNS N' ROSES - PERSONAL LIFE
- 1994-TODAY: GILBY AFTER GUNS N' ROSES - MUSIC PROJECTS
- 1994?: THE GUITAR TECH SEAN PADEN STARTS WORKING WITH THE BAND


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:33 pm

COPING WITH SUPERSTARDOM

After returning to Los Angeles from the massively successful Use Your Illusion touring in 1993, the band weren't only stars anymore, they were superstars, they were celebrities.

When it comes down to it, you get up in the morning, try and find something to eat, and figure out what you’re going to do for the day. You’re not a celebrity. Then, when you walk out the door and get into your car to do some errands, and that's when things start to get weird.

Yeah, it’s weird. I mean, there’s no school to go to learn about it, there’s no book you can read. You know, there’s nobody to actually tell you what’s gonna happen. So you learn the lessons the hard way. And we’ve all learned the lessons. We’ve all actually learned from them.
Rock & Pop Argentina, September 1996; translated from Spanish

I arrived in this band that was the modern version of Led Zeppelin. I remember riding in a limo up the back way through Madison Square Garden and going, 'Man, this is exactly like "Song Remains the Same."' I was in the limo, driving up the ramp, getting on the private 747 jet and doing it, being there and living everything I'd dreamed.


This new celebrity status posed more problems to Axl and Slash who were by far the most recognizable and popular band members:

I have to admit that our social life, personal life, or whatever, is a little bit more restricted. I don't go out as much anymore. We stay in hotels and we don't come out during the day, and we hardly go to clubs anymore at night, just because it's a hassle. I sort of feel raped because of that. But it's a small price to pay for being able to go out on tour and play to all these enthusiastic people that like the band and everything.

[Talking about being recognized]: I'll go someplace like Portofino, Italy, and the next thing you know, you've got to stop eating dinner because there are people all around. […] LA is probably the easiest place for me to get around, and the second would be New York. In New York, it's like, 'Yo, Axe'. But they can spot me no matter what I'm wearing, so I don't bother to go in disguise. It just doesn't work. They think it's Axl's new look.

If I go to a bar in LA, every so often I run into someone who really appreciates the music, or they know a certain direction a song has that they relate to. That lasts for a week. That really does work when people appreciate the music and don't care about the other stuff. They may not even read the papers or know about it! […] The thing I can't stand, the thing that irks me, is I cannot get into my car and go to local clubs I used to hang out at. I can't go to the local store or market without feeling everybody's f**king staring at me! Some people are really nice and genuine and you appreciate that, but some people see you like you're a f*king cartoon character, like you're Bugs Bunny walking down the street! That gets to be a drag. I cannot hang out like I used to. And as far as the press goes… I don't read it! I don't wanna be bitter or overly jaded, but I can see changes in myself when I get around certain people.

I can't hang out on the street like I used to be able to do without getting hassled. So I've got this house and this studio - I've even got a pinball machine! I don't go anywhere any more.


Slash's solution to this, when the pressure from media and people got too high, was to escape to Africa:

[…] Africa's where you go! I've done that a couple of times, and it's extreme. Every time a record comes out I leave town. I don't wanna be around when it comes out. I don't wanna deal with LA so I go to a place where there is no 'community'. There's just animals around. I take my wife, we put up a tent, hang out for two weeks - there's no phones. You clean out. And your woman turns into an awesome creature if she's in the jungle and into it! It's great. You hang out with in the forest for a couple of weeks, and when you come back, everything that was worrying you before you left seems really f**king stupid!


Stephen Thaxton, the band's chiropractor, would tell a story which must have happened at a break during the Use Your Illusion touring:

Axl wanted to go to dinner on Sunset one night. So we did. And after dinner, one of his friend's bands was playing at the Whisky A Go Go. So we go to dinner and there's parking was limited at the Whisky. So you just, you know, we're just gonna leave the car here. We'll just walk up Sunset. And I'm like, "Okay, let me call Earl." "No, no, you and I'll just walk up." I'm like, "Well, let me call some security." He's like, "No, no, we'll be fine." Sunset Boulevard on like a Friday night and there are mobs of fans that start spotting him from across the street. Traffic stops because they're crossing the street. Nobody's paying attention. There's a group following us. I'm not exaggerating. I bet by the time we got to the Whisky, there were probably 2000 people in tow. I still remember a guy like right before we got to the Whisky, he drops down on his knees, does the whole I'm not worthy thing from like Wayne's world. And he's like, "It's God, oh my God, it's God." And he starts doing the whole like bowing like Allah kind of thing. [...] Thank God the Whisky security guy saw us when we were probably 50 yards out or so and came down and helped get us in. But oh my gosh, I mean that was just, it literally stopped traffic on Sunset for like five or six blocks. It was pure chaos.


Duff, despite being a less popular member, would also have to cope with the new reality of Guns N' Roses being the most popular band in the world, but would realize that he had remained the same:

When we started to get big and make some money — whereas before we were just a band making a record — I was doing interviews and people were asking, 'How much has fame and fortune changed your life?' And I could never really give an answer. I was always like, 'Well, I don't know.' And then it finally hit me — that it hadn't changed me, it just changed other people, how they react to you. I'm the same person, you know. All this money or whatever hasn't changed me. I'd give it all away to charity in a second if I thought it had. [laughing] Luckily, it hasn't!


In early 1995, Slash would talk more about being famous:

It depends how you handle it. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable if you're on your own and you want to take a walk or go to the record store and you can't browse without people breathing down your neck. That can be a drag, but… you know, I was driving through the streets this morning, pretty much shagged out of my mind and going to do some promo thing for Snakepit, and I see a guy with a jackhammer drilling in the street. Nothing I do is that hard a job. And musicians take themselves so f***ing seriously and think the world is on their shoulders, and that's where I draw the line. I can complain about this or that, but I'm not that guy on the street, I'm not one of the guys I saw working on the Thames Barrier this morning. I mean, that's hard work, and I'm about to do, what? — get into a bed with some chick for TV. What have I got to complain about, really?


When returning home from tour in 1993, Matt experienced some of the same things the rest of the band had experienced when returning back to Los Angeles after touring in 1988/1989, with people suddenly wanting to be your best friend and take advantage of your good fortune:

Being able to have a stable sort of existence was really hard to adjust to... I came home and there were a few people who wanted to get to know me a little bit better, maybe a few people who weren't exactly my friends, and I had to adjust to that as well.

I think I lived the dream of every kid who wants to be a drummer in a rock 'n' roll band. A lot of the reason I got into drumming was because of Ringo Starr. And I grew up emulating great rock drummers - Roger Taylor, John Bonham, Ian Paice, and Ginger Baker. And I remember, at fifteen, seeing Roger Taylor get out of a Rolls Royce in Hollywood with a few pretty girls. I remember honestly liking the craft of drumming, but I remember being very excited about what came with it. They were boy dreams. So when I eventually got to that level of success, all those things came true - and more. […] I got very confused about who my friends were. My trust level sort of changed, and I got out of focus. I became someone who was always "on." GN'R was at such a level that everybody wanted a piece. Of course, there was a ton of money, and then all of the egos became involved. It's traditional with great rock bands - all the same garbage you see on VH1's Behind The Music. […] I think that I stayed the same in certain areas, but I definitely felt like I needed to be "Matt Sorum the rock drummer guy" all the time. I wasn't able to step out of that or separate it from my regular life. I felt like it was a major part of who I was, and if I relaxed a little bit, I wouldn't keep that edge. It was a whole lifestyle with that band, and it wasn't abou tbeing a great musician or getting on stage with other great musicians.



MANAGING WEALTH

You know what? It's neither here nor there (Laughs). It's never been the issue with me. But obviously when you're at the airport or some local restaurant bar, and your credit card doesn't work because of any number of whatever incidents might have happened, there's some people that, when they're talking about $6 million here and $90 million there, not any person on this planet can sit there and go, 'I wonder if he has any real financial problems?' When you're getting $180 million a season, it's like 'I bet his parents call him a lot.'

But then, life does happen in some shape or form, and you start to lose track of where it's all going. So you end up having to grow up a little bit, and stay a little bit grounded or rooted so you don't blow everything. It's not like when you got your first big record advance check, and you bought your old lady a Lamborghini Countach and yourself a Countach and a new house, and then next thing you know you're broke.

I've seen people do that. That does happen. But for me, I basically have been focused around playing, and the only money I really lose, the only big expenditure, the most frivolous I am with money, is dealing with attorneys. You have to watch them, and you have to hire people to help you watch them (laughs). So that's where the money really goes, it's not really me or my old lady or my eccentricities, having this lifestyle, or drugs or anything like that. But I am aware of what to watch out for. It doesn't mean I'm all that great at it, but I have my act together. No matter how much of a rock 'n' roller you are, at some point you have got to pay attention.


Being asked if he was lucky enough to have your money managed by someone who was trustworthy:

Nope. In a perfect world, it could have been, but the more money that guys like us make, the more money that people who work for us rip off. Being a musician and doing what it is that we do, we actually have a life. A lot of the people that work around us live vicariously off of that for fun, and financially off that because they think we're not paying attention. There are people who've been working together for years, and have a mutual relationship where one hand feeds the other and it just goes smoothly that way, but in my short experience, I realize you have got to watch your back (laughs).


After Slash was out of the band in 1996 he was asked whether he still earns money from GN'R back catalogue and guitar endorsements:

Yeah. But we're also still paying back a lot of people. I'm not tremendously excited about it. My whole reality is that I'm not sitting around and waiting for the next Guns check to come in. I pretty much just move forward and try and keep my slate clean as I go.


And on whether he invests in stocks:

I didn't get caught up in all the stock stuff. Don't expect to. Being as I'm as disinterested in finances as it is, and I don't gamble, not as a rule, it just never interested me. Money for me is a necessity, depending on your lifestyle standards, and mine aren't necessarily that high. I need a TV set, I need a couch -- you know, basics.



MEETING FANS

It’s very surreal when somebody comes up and says [you’re my inspiration as a guitarist]. It happens every so often and you’ve got a myriad of emotional reactions to it. You can’t really pinpoint, but there’s a lot going on. When a kid walks up to you and he goes, “I started playing guitar because of this song” or “that song” or whatever, you’re like, “Wow!” – you know? And you can’t take it with a grain of salt, because it’s such a big deal. You don’t know how to react, so you just say, “Thank you very much” and try not to flip out over it, you know? (laughs) But it has a huge effect on you for the moment. It’s a big deal, because I know how I am about guitar players that I’ve met, that I’ve grew up listening to, and how over-the-top you get when you get to meet one of them. You don’t even know where to begin to ask questions, if you ask any at all, so you get sort of frozen in that time. So if somebody comes up to me, I sort of know what they’re feeling, and that’s probably one of the biggest compliments as a musician you can get.

I like meeting all kinds of fans but after a show (I realize that's the only time some may feel they have an opportunity but w/the exception of close friends around...) not to be offensive but I'm generally not looking forward to walking off stage to hang with guys whether they're fans or not. I deal with Guns all day every day so coming off stage to talk about the band is just like more of the same. Unless there's pressing business I wanna forget that till it's time to go at it again the next day. And people may enjoy meet and greets and have their reasons why it meant a lot for them which I respect but overall charging fans for it I thinks disgusting of bands. Now if they did it for free to winners of a contest etc that would be different. Charging is lame. How to meet bands? Maybe try to hang out places u might hear they do sometimes.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:34 pm

1993-1996
SLASH'S MUSICAL COLLABORATIONS

[Slash is] a maniac. That guy'll play anywhere, at anything...He'd probably play at a department store opening if someone asked him.

____________________________________________________________

In March 1994 it would be reported that Slash had played with Billy Joel and had intended to play ukulele with Bette Midler but that "there was no place in the show" [Kerrang! March 12, 1994].

I like to jam, and Billy is a cool guy. We got drunk together, that's all it takes for me to get my guitar. There are people I can’t imagine myself on stage with, but they’re not too many. If I like the music, I can play it. I have some difficulties with jazz fusion, hehe! But I never listen to jazz fusion anyway.


When asked if he lost credibility from playing with so many different artists, he responded:

No! That’s anal retentiveness. If I were to sit down and try to guess what other people are going to think, I’d never do anything and we’d be a very different band. The worst thing in the world is to judge someone because they’re playing with so-and-so rather than with someone else. That’s stupid and pretentious. Instead, the public should focus on the fact that I’ve led my life in such a way that I can still play.


On June 26, 1994, Slash participated at the 'Gibson Night of 100 Guitars' at Wembley Arena, London:

It was real fun. I had a great time, although I suffered from severe jet lag because my schedule only allowed me to fly from LA to London the day before the gig - and I had to fly back again the following morning. Still, it was worth it, just to be able to play with someone like Paul Rodgers.


Talking about his collaborations:

[Being asked why he do all the collaborations]: Because I dig playing and, you know. Some people go out, you know, doctors go and they play golf. I get together with musicians and we jam. And we've recorded. And most of these people I've played with are, they are cats that I've met and, you know, people I admire or respect in some wayship before. And gotten to know. And we get together and we play. And we record and it comes out cool. And whenever Guns isn't doing anything, in order for me not to sit around and fester, you know, hanging out with somebody, you know. Just jam with them. And so that's where that started. And then I started doing it a lot. And then, um, more recently I started getting all the phone calls. You know, will you play on this and will you play on that. Um, are you gonna be available at this such and such date. Which is gotten a little bit more then, you know, I never planned on doing it this much. But I'm still having a good time and all things considered, it's been a lot of fun.

I spend most of my time writing material that's focused towards Guns N' Roses. But there's some songs that we just ended up not doing. And so I just go recorded it with someone else. [laughs] I mean, when Steven was still in the band, he couldn't play certain songs. There were certain songs that didn't make the record that I recorded with other people. And Axl and Duff were like: "Why did you do that?" I was like: "'Cause Steve couldn't play 'em". And we got a new drummer and we could have played 'em. Especially the Lenny Kravitz tune. But I'm happy I did it with Lenny, 'cause he's great and I'm glad the way that turned out.

Well, it's good experience, is what it is. It's like, a lot of these people I know. Michael was the one I didn't know at the time. But, a lot of these people I just gotten to know. Either from the business, or people I went to school with. Or... people that were friends with my parents. You know, stuff like that. And so we just get together and play. It's really not that big a deal. But, at this point, it's great to work in other people's environment. You know, I'm a pretty decent studio guy at this point. I can deal with any situation in any studio, just because I've worked with so many people. And it's how I keep active. Otherwise I'd fuckin'... I don't wanna be a complacent, fat, you know... Sitting around in a house somewhere doing nothing, because of, you know, I was successful with, you know, a couple of records. I mean, it's like good to keep working, and knowing that you still have the groove happening and your chops are still together and so on.

Everyone's so amazed that I go to these things and want to do it; I'm so totally out of place, but it's really cool. It's just grounding for me. It keeps me focussed on what I'm supposed to be doing. When I'm home, I can't just sit around and take it easy to the point of kicking back and doing the housework. I'll never change to that extent. So I just keep myself playing all the time, and then I'm happy.

It's a good thing that I've been doing so many outside projects where I'm so adaptable that I can play with almost anybody, within reason. All that experience of working with different people, in different studios, with different engineers and producers, not to mention musicians and so on, really is worth it. You might not think about it at the time. It just seems like fun. Looking back on it, it's really important for you to be able to take that experience and use it to your advantage.

I jam a lot now. When Guns was first starting, I didn't go out and jam with many other bands. And now I've jammed with so many people and done so many records and I've taken all that experience. […] People will read stuff about me getting involved in different stuff and give me a hard time about it. But fuck it, life is short, and if there is an opportunity to go out and do something, at least try it. I mean that's all I do. These guys are all friends of mine and where some people going out to play golf, we hang around and make a record.

I like jamming with other people — when it's their band; I like getting up with people that are way above par to see if I can stand up on my own and pull it off. If you have a good night, it means the world to you.

[Commenting upon why people want to collaborate with him]: Usually it's either people I hang out with, that I get along with, that happen to be musicians as well, or it might be something about my guitar playing, I don't know.

I just like playing and then it makes you sort of, you learn to work with different people in an environment that's theirs, it's not yours, it's theirs and it's cool because you get a lot of experience and then, at the end of the day, you can walk into any recording studio and work and be able to adapt to the situation, whatever, the environment might be like. As opposed to if I only worked with Guns N' Roses then if I walked into a studio and it wasn't, say, Axl and Duff and Izzy, Matt, Steve or you know, I wouldn't know what to do. So you go out and you take your chances and you just play with different people.

It's too much fuckin' fun, and life is too short. When things are getting too slow, you can always find a day in the week or a weekend to go out and play...If you don't take chances, you don't know what it would turn out like. […] Yeah, sometimes it can be bad, but rarely is it not fun. The first gig I had with Les Paul, was six years ago. I got up and jammed with him at Fat Tuesday's. He basically wiped the stage up with me; I never wanted to be off stage so badly... But it was an experience, a lesson definitely well-learned. I've played with him three times since and it got better and better. I know now you've got to pay attention, don't get ahead of yourself and play in the situation, you know?


In May 1995, Slash would say he was going to do something with Iggy Pop again, but that he might have missed his chance due to being too busy with other projects [Guitar Player, May 1995]. He would later mention that Iggy Pop was his favorite artist to work with after Guns N' Roses [Netscape Online Chat, July 30, 1996].

In 1996 he contributed to a "a couple of soundtracks", including the Beverly Hills Cop 3 soundtrack [Netscape Online Chat, July 30, 1996]. He would also travel to Mexico and play on two songs with Alice Cooper on his June 2 show in Cabo Wabo [Online Chat, October 16, 1996].



Slash, Alice Cooper and band, Rob Zombie, and Sammy Hagar
June 1996



When asked what he had been doing while Guns N' Roses were on a hiatus, he offered:

I've done, like, since the last... Guns' last show from the Guns' tour, I've done like 580 some odd gigs. So no I haven't had any downtime. I've been doing a soundtrack for a movie called Curdled -  that's a Quentin Tarantino movie. I wrote a song for that. And then we're working on the Howard Stern movie right now, which is uh… and actually in this particular hotel, I've been writing all this stuff in the studio downstairs. So I've been working and then I just keep playing, you know, doing gigs. Because if I'm not playing I'm not happy, you know, and if Axl and I aren't seeing eye-to-eye on something having to do with Guns then I just go, "okay peace, I've gotta go, see ya!" [laughter] and I go on off to work elsewhere until we do come to a meeting of the minds, you know.


He would also say he had played on what would likely be his mother's record [The Howard Stern Show, September 30, 1996] and would describe the music as "a Sade kind of thing, dance music but with a little more to it than that" [Total Guitar, January 1997].

Among many other collaborations, Slash also played with Bobby Blue Band:

At first I asked Bobby 'Do you have a tuner or something?' He looked at me and said 'You got ears, man.' So then I go onstage, and I said 'What do I plug into here? There's no chord!' Finally someone gave me a chord and it was great...But that's just a reminder that if you want to play, you have to be ready for whatever unexpected occasions arise. You have to learn to adapt to any situation, no matter what it is.



1995: AXL NOT SUPPORTIVE ANY MORE?

Axl had been supportive of Slash's musical collaborations [see previous chapter], but in early 1995, Slash would indicate that the opposite was now true:

[…] [Axl]’s got this distorted vision, or thought, that when I apply my talents to the guitar - or however we wanna call it – that it’s automatically Guns N’ Roses material, which isn’t the case. That means Lenny Kravitz stuff, Iggy Pop, Michael Jackson and Carole King would all be Guns N’ Roses material (laughs). That’s not the case at all.


And in late 1999, Axl, admittedly hurt by the "divorce" between him and Slash, would state that Slash was throwing his talent away:

I never said that I was bitter. Hurt, yeah. Disappointed. I mean, with Slash, I remember crying about all kinds of things in my life, but I had never felt hot, burning tears...hot, burning tears of anger. Basically, to me, it was because I am watching this guy and I don't understand it. Playing with everyone from Space Ghost to Michael Jackson. I don't get it. I wanted the world to love and respect him. I just watched him throw it away.
Rolling Stone, January 2000; interview from November 1999


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:34 pm

1994
SLASH WANTS TO TOUR

I wanted to go on a club tour for Spaghetti Incident, get back to the kids, but Axl and I didn't agree on that one.

_______________________________________________________________

After returning after the marathonic 'Use Your Illusion' touring and getting 'The Spaghetti Incident?' released, Slash wanted to get back on the road quickly. To him, the period between touring was always hard and he was suffering from "post-road depression" [Kerrang! March 12, 1994].

If I don't play, I'll be a junkie in a hotel room somewhere. That's the honest reality.

I like being excited, which is why I have so much trouble when we have time off. When I get up in the morning, I need to have something to look forward to. I'm not very self-motivated; I'm not one of those guys that can get up and say, "I'm going to write a great song today." But if someone focuses me on something, I'll work my ass off. But usually someone or something else has to provide the impetus. I can be the laziest motherfucker in the world when there is nothing to focus on. I'll just watch TV and feel sorry for myself. [laughs].

If I don't keep busy, I go crazy. Considering the amount of hours I spend awake, I really find it hard to… Even if I'm laying there watching TV, I have to be thinking about something I'm gonna be doing. A phone call or a practicing or something. And it's just because I like to be active. If not, I might start to get stagnant, then I find things to keep me… stagnant. You know, something I can just… lay back and not care about anything. Which isn't really the pattern I'm using at this point, to keep myself moving on. So I hide myself in working all the time.


Despite Duff having said they had grown too big for club shows [Rip It Up, January 1993; Kerrang! January 1994], the Boston Globe would in November 1993 report that Slash had "half-persuaded" Axl to agree to a club tour, which would be "the best way to put the lid" on the Spaghetti Incident-project [Boston Globe, November 26, 1993].

In March 1994 Slash was talking about an arena tour and that he was "just trying to get back on the road!" [Kerrang! March 12, 1994]:

I'm thinking maybe we should go back to doing some medium size arenas or whatever with this record [= 'The Spaghetti Incident?'], so enough people can get in but I don't have to play in front of a hundred f**king thousand people a night.


Slash failed to get this tour happening. Eventually it was Axl who didn't want to do it:

'Cause I can't get Guns to go back and play clubs. Duff would do it, but Axl won't.


In early 1995, he would look back at this dream tour:

When ‘Spaghetti Incident’ came out, I wanted to go play clubs and get a chance to get toe to toe with people again. But Ax wasn’t into it. So now what? I thought we should play somewhere. We just never got a cohesive idea happening.

[Being asked why they didn't do a club tour]: Well, to begin with, there was the controversy over the Charles Manson cover that we did. That complicated things. But I suggested that we did a club tour - after we had played in so many stadiums, it seemed like a good idea to play in clubs, so I suggested it and Axl said, ‘No fuckin’ way.’ And I thought,  ‘Okay, fine...’ (laughs). That's why I'm doing this solo thing now, because it's good to be close to the people you play for, in the clubs, and see the expression in their eyes, and then go to the bar and chat with them instead of getting into the limousine, going to the airport and flying to another city to play in another stadium of 100,000 people a night, night after night, night after night... Where do you go after playing in stadiums of that size? You have to go back and find something to fill you in. Clubs are cool, because it's a more personal environment. The reason Guns N’ Roses doesn’t play in clubs is that Axl doesn’t want to do it.
Popular 1, February 1995; translated from Spanish

We don't really have anywhere to go but backward into clubs, and Axl doesn't want to do that.

I mentioned to Axl, “Let’s go play some clubs for the Spaghetti Incident, when that came out, and Axl wasn’t into the idea. And I was like, “What are we gonna do?” And you know, like, I don’t wanna get a huge orchestra, all that kind of crap on the stage. I just wanted to get back down to a normal rock ‘n’ roll level, which meant going back to clubs. You can’t get any bigger than the stadiums, you know. It’s not possible.

I can’t knock playing in stadiums ’cos there’s a sense of accomplishment there, but I don’t see why we couldn’t go back when we did ‘The Spaghetti Incident?’ and play some clubs. But Axl just wouldn’t do it. So I’m getting a lot out of my system by doing this [Snakepit tour].


In 2008, Duff would state that both he and Slash wanted to tour The Spaghetti Incident? in smaller venues:

[...] but I remember all Slash and I wanted to do, once we made ‘Spaghetti Incident’ [Guns N Roses album of punk covers], was to go play that record in small clubs, take Guns N Roses back into the clubs. Just make it a frenzy to get into the show and lets just get back next to our audience, you know, lets do that, we needed it.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:35 pm

SLASH BECOMES AN "IDENTIFIABLE PERSONA"

Well, he walks and talks. You know, he doesn't just talk it, he walks it, too. He puts up, you know… he is what he is. What you see is what you get. He is good.

________________________________________

The "bad boys" reputation which has started back in the 80s followed the band into the 90s:

I mean, now were not so shocking, but they still expect us to do bad even when we don't. Like I said 'f**k' on MTV—big f**king deal! But now they expect it from us. If we stray away from being the predictable bad guys, then they get freaked out about that too. The whole thing is ridiculous. Everybody is just sitting there waiting to pounce on everything we do. People say, 'What's the gimmick?', you know, but there was no f**king gimmick!


Still, Slash would argue that the reputation did not fit him:

Yeah, I'm very normal and very sensitive. Not sensitive in a way of being overly self-conscious and all that crap, but I care about what other people that I deal with feel. I think I went through a period when I was 13 when I was really rowdy, but that was just a phase. But as soon as I started playing guitar I just more or less… No, I still have my bad moments! But I don't like being inconsiderate to other people without it being necessary. I like to avoid conflict if possible, and I don't see any reason why anyone should treat anybody rudely unless necessary. I ran into a singer from another band, that I won't name, the other night who got in my face. Then I wanted to kick this fucking guy's ass. That's a different subject all together, and I don't go looking for trouble.
Metal Hammer, February 1995


Despite arguing that the media was creating a caricature, Slash was clearly creating a brand out of his looks to a point where he would mention he had stopped wearing his tophat in public:

If I go out to the record store or market, especially if I wear my top hat out, it's like all of a sudden I'm Mickey Mouse, you know, that cartoon character. Everybody's like, "Whoa!"

It’s like I’m some (expletive) cartoon character.


When pointed out that he had chosen to include the top hat himself on the cover of the Snakepit album, Slash replied:

Yeah, I’m a schmuck.


Slash would also be impersonated, including by Kiefer Sutherland at Saturday Night Live, but also more maliciously:

Yes, on Saturday Night Live (laughs). I mean, I saw it... (laughs). I had something worse happen to me recently. I was in New York mixing this record when the MTV Awards took place. I got an invitation but I didn’t feel like going, plus I had work to do, so I didn’t go. So, the next morning, a guy that I’d been working with in the studio all night phones me and he’s like, ‘I saw you and Renee in the newspaper, at the MTV Awards.’ I go, ‘What are you talking about? I was with you all night!’ and he goes, ‘But there’s a picture of you in the newspaper’ and I didn’t understand anything. Then Renee came with the paper, and there was that picture of a guy disguised just as me, with a top hat and a bottle of Jack Daniels, and with his arms around a blonde woman. I contacted the newspaper right away and asked them to correct their story, because it wasn’t me in the photo. It was embarrassing, that guy could ruin my reputation. Then, a few days later, they sent me a letter with an interview with the impostor, who had been arrested. It turned out he was an MTV employee who had been fired and wanted to get attention. The guy was copying my movements until he got to look a lot like me. There are people who are crazy. How can they take things so far? That was worse than Saturday Night Live. SNL is fine, because it's entertainment.

It’s nice to be recognized in the entertainment world. I’m not gonna complain about the success Guns N’ Roses has had, but there comes a point when it feels like Disneyland and the sense of reality disappears. Some people confuse you with Mickey Mouse. I go down the street and people shout at me, 'Uuuhhh, uuhh, uuhh!' (laughs) It's fun, but sometimes it's hard to have to go through all that in order to make music. But, like I said, I'm not complaining. I love working, despite the fatigue. I like to get up in the morning, meet people on time, be prompt, go to a radio station, talk to the kids that call and carry out commitments. I prefer that instead of being out of sight and acting like a rock star.  The communication between the band and the public is very rewarding. It’s worth the effort.
Popular 1, February 1995; translated from Spanish


Slash's market value would just increase into the 2000s:

I don't really wear the hat around that much. I used to, but now it's just too recognizable. I love wearing them at shows and all, but when I go out in the street with one on, people act funny, like I'm the poor man's Mickey Mouse. It's just a $35 hat. I guess people notice the leather pants too, but that's different. They're the only pants I've got; I've been wearing them forever.


In October 2000, Slash would talk about being proud of succeeding at becoming an "identifiable persona":

I’ll always be Slash from Guns N’ Roses, but I do so much other stuff and work hard at being an individual. Over the years, I’ve managed to get an individual, identifiable persona. I don’t know too many guitar players who have been able to leave their bands and be identified. So I’m very lucky.

In the context of working, touring and stuff it goes with the territory and it's nice. I actually appreciate the fact that people recognise me for what I do. But when I'm at home I stay as low key as possible. Being famous at home is weird. Being stuck in a store where everybody knows who you are is very intimidating.


In 2001, Slash would be asked he had meant to create such an uproar with his image:

No, not even! I had no idea! I get it every Halloween. It was never really a thought. That being the case, after the fact, I didn't really realize how established it was until people started drawing so much attention to it.


In 2008, San Diego Union Tribune would refer to Slash's image:

The trademark top hat. The big hair. The bare chest. The leather pants. The half-smoked cigarette that seems permanently attached to his lips. The pet snakes. The f-words that punctuate his every sentence. The drug addictions. The drinking. The debauchery.


And Slash would comment on this image:

There is a dichotomy. It's something I didn't really think, or care, about -- what the public impression of me would be. It was quite the opposite; in certain instances I thought it was better just to (expletive) tell everybody to (expletive). I guess I perpetuated that whole image in some ways.


Also in 2008, when pointed out that he hasn't changed in 20 years, Slash responded:

That’s just the way that I am. It would be too much of a hassle to try to think of something different to do. At least it’s not as far blown as the whole Kiss thing—that would have grown pretty tiresome.

I just wanted to point one thing out before I step off the stage; it's kind of ironic that we both have the exact same hair style that we did 25 years ago.


And when asked if he wasn't afraid of becoming a caricature of himself:

I've always been a caricature (laughs). I love cartoons, so I don't have a problem with it. In fact the magazine cover that has meant the most to me was probably when I appeared in Mad magazine as a caricature of [the comic's jug-eared schoolboy mascot] Alfred E. Neuman. That was when I felt that I'd arrived.


And about hanging up the top hat:

No, it's too much a part of me. I've been hiding behind that thing for years!


In 2010 Slash was asked about how conscious he was about Slash the brand contra Slash the musician:

I’m more of Slash the musician. I think people around me are probably more aware of the actual brand. When the word brand first became anywhere near synonymous with my name it didn’t come from me (laughs.) I think there has been a sort of a lot of interest in what they consider is a sort of an image. I just do what I do. I don’t spend that much time cultivating that ya know?


Traciii would comment on Slash's effort to create a brand:

And you know what is kind of smart and lucky at the same time is Slash. This guy created a character that he lives and breathes that is the most original thing a human being has become - he's almost like a super hero, he's so identifiable....like Superman. Umm, leaps and bounds above his ability as a musician, I mean he's a great musician, but the way he naturally marketed himself was outstanding! And a real commitment, he's made such a commitment to his image that it's just mind boggling and amazing and one of the most clever and cool things that I believe has ever happened to rock..he's like a Little Richard!
All Access Magazine, June 2010


In 2014, Slash would talk about traveling with his top hat:

No, it doesn't have a special handler, but two Christmases ago, I got a leather hat box. I don't wear it in airports, so I got this really nice hat box, and (one of our) security guards usually carries it



STALKERS



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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:35 pm

JANUARY 1994
THE SINGLE SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU IS RELEASED

In January 1994, the second single from The Spaghetti Incident? was released (at least as a promo single) [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 1994].



Since I Don't Have You
January 1994



The only time I really lost a battle on a video was on 'Since I Don't Have You' where I came out of the water. That was something I had nothing to do with, but Axl refused to finish the video unless I did it.

When we did "If I Don't Have You," this lady who's now the president [of MTV] and very into women's rights, even little nuances in a girl's body were offensive as far as she was concerned. We had to fight. [MTV is] a very corporate, non-feeling organization.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:35 pm

JANUARY 17, 1994
AN EARTHQUAKE HITS SLASH

At 4:31am on January 17, 1994, the Northridge earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck the San Fernando Valley in California. The earthquake killed 60 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused significant damage.



The collapsed Interstate 5 connector
January 17, 1994



Slash's house was not spared the devastation:

Actually I just gotten done recording and come down the stairs, and was getting in bed and kiss the little woman goodnight, kind of thing. And all of a sudden: "Bam!", and the TV popped out across the room and that's when it started. The whole house blacked out and it was pretty much one of the most violent things I've ever been through. […] the house is fucked! [laughs] Everything living in the house, my pets and my wife and my cousin-in-law are all fine. All things considered, I could give a fuck about the house.

It was major. That had to be the most shocking experience I’ve ever had. The house was devastated. And my wife was there and her cousin and I’ve like some 40-plus animals and t he whole thing was just a panic. Some of the cats were so freaked out, they were wedged in areas where you couldn’t even find them. And one of the major priorities after the initial shock was over was to check the cobra cages, but it was OK. They hadn’t gotten out.

Besides, it was just a house. I can still play guitar and everybody close to me is still alive and all the animals are fine. So, I’ve got nothing much to complain about.

On the hill where I was by Mulholland, it was an 8.3 not 6.9. I lost all my neighbors, all their houses collapsed. Mine was the only one that didn't completely fall down. My cousin-in-law from Chicago was staying with us. he'd never been to LA. before. First earthquake. It moved through town in veins. I have a house I used to live in that I still own that I'm trying to sell, the first house I ever bought in Laurel Canyon. That house, nothing even fell off the mantel. […]  We went to Chicago after the earthquake, I was like, 'Fuck this." A house is material. The things I care about—my guitars, my wife, my snakes, my cats— everything was fine. It was very grounding. I think LA. needed it. We just don't need another one right away. It's funny, when it happened I'd just mixed three demos of the Snakepit tunes in my studio. I'd never mixed three series in one night. I went to bed, kissed Renee, we started to get into it, and all of a sudden the TV flew across the room. It was very surreal. I cut my foot a little. The refrigerator flew like five feet. Everything broke except a huge half gallon of Jack Daniel's that hadn't been opened yet. The only picture that didn't fall was one from my and Renee's wedding.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

You can see through [the house] [laughing]. When all was said and done and the dust had cleared, the whole house was totaled, everything that was material of mine was pretty much wasted. But the studio was more or less still intact. My wife was fine, I was fine, the snakes were fine, the cats were fine. My cousin Greg, who was visiting from Chicago, who’s never been to L.A. before, he was fine. […] And I realized that none of the (“stuff’) really mattered in the first place, so we just left. […] And we had a bottle of Jack that didn’t break.

The coolest omen was the night I recorded three songs and mixed them that night, which I normally wouldn't do. I went to bed with the DAT in my hand, all 14 songs. Actually, I was going to have sex [impish grin]. I took my tape and said [to wife Renee], `Honey, I'm done...' And it was like Godzilla came to town. It was so freaky, so surreal. I'm pulling down my clothes, trying to get into bed, and all of a sudden the TV at the foot of the bed, it just went. […] Everything I really cared about, which is my snakes and cats and Renee, were OK. I lost one guitar.

I was the only guy in the band that got hit with the quake and I just split. I live in the Hollywood Hills so it hit our house real hard. The whole house was pretty much devastated, but all my animals, my wife and myself were fine so that’s all I really care about. [...] Fortunately, none of the animals were damaged. I thought for sure the snake cages were going to break, and the lizard cages, and stuff like that. The two things that came out of the earthquake unscathed were the animals and the pinball machines.


The damage meant that Slash and Renee would evacuate to a hotel for some time [Kerrang! March 12, 1994]. Slash also travelled on a promotional tour for The Spaghetti Incident? [The Province, February 2, 1994].

In December 1994 Slash and Renee were leasing a house in Hollywood:

When the earth-quake hit, my house was hit really hard. All the cages have plexiglas fronts so I didn't lose the snakes. but before that all the snakes were in the house, every room had snakes in it. But I had to move out of there. I still own it but it's not live-able. I'm back in Hollywood, which is nice. I'm leasing this one. Before I was on the cusp between the Valley and Hollywood. I hate the Valley. But Renee's from the Valley so I ended up hanging out there for the most part. The building where the snakes are is in the Valley.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:36 pm

JANUARY 17, 1994
THE SINGLE ESTRANGED IS RELEASED

The third video in the trilogy was for the single 'Estranged'. The video was recorded in 1993, but the label had a problem with two records out and singles from both waiting to be released. Geffen decided that the song would not be released as a single. Mel Pusner, head of Geffen Information, would comment:

With the release of 'The Spaghetti Incident?' album in November, we were then faced with a choice of starting to release singles from this album or continuing with the 'Use Your Illusion' tracks. It was decided not to confuse the marketplace and the fans and to focus on the new album material. This does not preclude a possible future single release of 'Estranged' in Europe. In America, they're are not faced with the same problems as Europe as they are able to work more than one track on the radio simultaneously, as they have many different radio station styles in their country.


Despite this, the song was released as a single on January 17, 1994 [but maybe only in the US?].



Estranged
January 17, 1994



Axl would talk about the story of the music video:

Eventually, I wrote the theme song to the story [by Del James]. […] I wrote it about my own life. […] It’s actually the song Estranged. […] It’s based around a song that this guy writes when it’s over in his relationship and what happens. And I wrote that song, you know? And I wasn’t even planning it - after I wrote it, I call Del and I go, “Del, I wrote the song for it.” And I had never planned on that. I never even thought of that. It just ended up fitting together, and I was on a different track, but the two came together. […] ["Without you"] is the last words of the last verse in Estranged. It just came about, it just fit. You know, it was not planned; it just fit. And all of a sudden I was like, “No way!”

We released a making of… One for "Don't Cry" and one for "November Rain" and we're making one for "Estranged"… Actually "Estranged" isn't… in some ways a part of the trilogy. It's more like part four. Part three was a mutual self-destruction of the couple that was in "November Rain". And… well, someone had other plans and we were in a position, where something we had worked on for five years had to be rewritten to kinda transcend it. So, it's a video about transcendence of a real life situation, that didn't have a whole lot to do with the story that was intended. And actually I'm kinda glad we made this video instead of the one we were going to make. To know about the story that was in "November Rain", you have to wait on Del's book. It's a story called "Without You."

[…] my friend Del James wrote a short story called "Without You", that was influenced by me and my ex-wife, in some ways. And then I ended up writing a song that fit that story, which was "Estranged". And so… You know, that was about, I don't know, four or five years ago and… The story started, then a couple of years later the song came about and then we started working on this project. And then in the middle of the project, or two thirds into the project, real life kind of changed all the plans. And we had to make something else and figure out how to rise above… As an artist, I had to figure out how to rise above my own creation that meant a lot to me. That I was kinda stop dead in my tracks and had to figure out how to make something else and… Like, write a whole new thing on top of something I'd been living to make, that I liked even more. And it was a really hard challenge and myself and the director, Andy Morahan was involved in this whole thing all along. And so was Del James and the band and… For all of us, it was a really hard challenge to rise above. Plus, we've spent 2.5 million dollars and we had to put it out.

Estranged [=the video] was way late in the making, actually; because, I mean, it [=the song] was recorded two and a half years ago. […] Yeah, that’s when the record came out. […] we just did it [=the video]! You know, as far as schedules go, this band is just not adhering (laughs). So that’s two and a half years late. We’re not gonna do any more.


The video for 'Estranged' was filmed after Axl and Stephanie had broken up, which lent various challenges to the script of the video and how to resolve story lines from the previous videos:

At the end of the November Rain video, it says, “Based on the short story ‘Without You’ by Del James” - and that would be me. A lot of people have asked where’s the story, how did she die, and this and that. What we were going to attempt to do was let people know what her fate was in this video -

- where we had intended to make the sequel or the follow-up and the conclusion of November Rain. Things changed, plans changed. […] There was an evolving that took place that’s very hard to rise to, to transcend the story that we had and that we intended. But I’ve kind of been put in a situation where that’s what was necessary to make the right video.


Andy Morahan would claim the put dolphins in the videos as a substitute for Stephanie:

By the time we got to “Estranged,” Axl had split up with Stephanie Seymour, and he said, “I never want a girl in a video again. I’d rather go out with a dolphin.” Which is why I put dolphins all over the video. I’ve been asked by students about the metaphorical imagery in those videos, and I’m like, “Fuck if I know.”
Craig Marks & Rob Tannenbaum, I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution; ‎ Plume, October 27, 2011


Talking about the dolphins:

The dolphins was to assimilate a state of peace or state of grace. It was not originally intended, but in the next scene I will be drowned and go to heaven; and I really didn’t want to shoot a heaven scene. […] The music in the song always reminded us of whales at that particular point, and so dolphins showed up and it kind of brings all that together.


Talking about the water scene in 'Estranged':

You know, when you see the video, it's not anything close to as hectic as it was, at the time. I got down to... We did it at Universal Studios, and I figured it would be in some sort of tank or something like that. And I get there and it's the "Jaws" set, right. Which is a huge lagoon, man-made lagoon. And they had... guys on jet-skis, huge hydraulic fans making the storm happen. That whole sky behind me, the backdrop. And the water was like, some, I don't know, ten below zero. I had to stand in it from eight in night to eight in the morning. All right, it's three lousy seconds out of the video. [laughs] […] I had like paramedics checking me for hypothermia and all that stuff. It was a nightmare. […] And then, you know, the video comes out and it's like, you pop out of the water and there you have it... guitar solo bit. And then it's over. […] And all of Axl's shots in the water were either in Miami or in 92-degree water tank.

Last week I played a helicopter rescue guy (laughs); and I attempted to save Axl in the middle of an ocean kind of setting. We actually went into this huge soundstage, where there was this really big, huge, gigantic tank that had a wave machine that created waves and flopped Axl right in the middle of this wave (?).

I was just informed, moments ago, that I’m gonna throw a thing, a little lifesaver thing off a ship (laughs). I don’t know. We don’t really act, you know (laughs). It’s like, they just kind of give us direction and we just kind of do it. I think if we, like, try to do any kind of acting it looks really stupid, because we’re not very good at it.

My part was really – I don’t know if it really came across in the video; to me it does, but probably people don’t know really what’s going on. It’s trying to save Axl in the middle of the ocean. And really, when he was in the water and I was in the boat, it was pretty scary. I mean, at one point I was like, “Shit, I should jump in and save his ass” (laughs). And a few times I fell into the water. The thing tipped over, you know.

Another drowning scene that was very – I went into the water for about eight hours or so, and freezing water. And it’s more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting.

I really, really tried to save him, but no lucky. He went down and we’re gonna replace him. We’ve heard Elvis is back in business, and he’s gonna sing lead for us now, so... He’s actually nearby, we’re gonna go find him in a little while, and he’s gonna do the gig from now on. Axl has drowned. I’m sorry (laughs).

Axl jumping off the oil tanker in “Estranged,” that’s got to be the most extravagant thing I’ve ever seen.
Craig Marks & Rob Tannenbaum, I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution; ‎ Plume, October 27, 2011


Talking about his solo scene:

We’re doing this Estranged concept, and I felt with the town that I grew up in, where  – I don’t know, this where I used to hang out, so it’s coming back to it where it’s a completely different deal, and the environment is completely different and the people treat you differently. So I’m just going to be doing a guitar solo through a group of – you know, the average Sunset hangout people, and I’m just going through and they’re totally oblivious to me. It’s very moody and I’m just gonna be playing the sad solo.


Talking about the live footage used in the video:

When we did this live footage we were somewhere in Germany. That was a real gig, you know. It’s no bullshit, it was a big show out there in Germany. And then we went down to Long Beach Arena, and rent out the entire arena and basically set up the entire staging again, and they got closer shots which is hard to control in a live situation.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:36 pm

JANUARY 19, 1994
AXL INDUCTS ELTON JOHN AND BERNIE TAUPIN AT THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND DUETS WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

As previously discussed, Axl was a huge fan of Elton John. They had previously sung together at the Freddie Mercury tribute show in April 1992 and at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards where Guns N' Roses performed 'November Rain' together with Elton John.

Elton John has always been one of my biggest influences, and if it wasn’t for Elton John wouldn’t necessarily probably exist for Guns N’ Roses. And then John Connelly of MTV came up with the idea of having him play it with us in the MTV Awards. So that was a great honor, to have him play the song. I didn’t think that he really got his place in the song live, but just looking over and seeing him playing this song was just – I’ve never been that nervous but I felt that much under pressure and I was also blown away. You know, that’s Elton John sitting across playing the song, and he’s just into it, just doing it, whatever. And he kept teasing me and laughing, and I was, like, trying to keep concentrating cuz that was the longest version of November Rain, just mentally, to play ever. I was like, “When this song is gonna end so I can relax?” (laughs) That was pretty extreme, but that was kind of like taking the song to its highest peak for me.



In January 1994 Elton John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Axl held the induction speech:

I've never done anything like this before, so this will be kind of simple put together.

I've never really understood what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was about, but tonight I'm getting an education, and I'm thankful for that. I've always considered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame kind of in my record collection, on my radio or now on MTV; but, more importantly, in our hearts and minds. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors the musicians who make the music, that not only becomes the soundtrack to our lives, but it actually helps us get through each day of our life.

And for myself, as well as many others, no one has been there more for inspiration than Elton John.  Also when we talk of great rock duos, like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, John and Paul, Mick and Keith, I like to think of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Also tonight I think that Elton should be honored for his great work and contribution in the fight against AIDS; and also his bravery in exposing all the triumphs and tragedies of his personal life, and the knowledge of these things helps ourselves get through things every day.

When I first heard “Bennie and the Jets,” I knew at that time that I had to be a performer. So now a man, who in ways is responsible for more things than he ever planned on (laughs): Elton John.


In late 2011, Axl talk about being proud over having inducted Elton John:

Elton asked me to induct him and so I took it upon myself to go on stage and induct him and Bernie. You know, I was pretty proud of that still.




Elton John and Axl
January 19, 1994



At the end of the induction ceremony which also included John Lennon's posthumous inducted, Paul McCartney was supposed to sing 'Come Together' with Bruce Springsteen. But supposedly according to jetlag, McCartney decided to opt out of this. On short notice Axl was reined in to do the duet instead together with Springsteen [Hartford Courant, January 21, 1994].



Bruce Springsteen and Axl
January 19, 1994



Another version of what happened would later be posted at Bruce Springsteen fan forum and youtube by "Will Hoffmann":

This duet was originally scheduled / planned for Rod Stewart and Elton John. Rod Stewart didn't make the event because of the earthquake in Los Angeles shortly before the event. As Bob Weir / John Popper and others performed on stage the production personnel approached Bruce with the lyrics to "Come Together". Bruce politely refused, repeatedly. The producers then approached Axl Rose who was at the next table over. Axl agreed and then pulled up a chair next to Bruce. After a minute or two of conversation, Axl put the lyrics on the table and Bruce and Axl hovered over the paper for a few minutes. As Bob Weir / John Popper et al. left the stage, Bruce and Axl simply got up, walked onto the stage and rocked. No rehearsal. No practice. Amazing to witness.


It is impossible to determine which version is correct (that McCartney and Springsteen was supposed to do the duet or Rod Stewart and Elton John), and it is also possible both are correct and that the original plan was for Stewart and Elton doing the song together but when Stewart couldn't make it to the show, McCartney and Springsteen was asked before McCartney pulled out and Axl was reined in at the last minute.

Elton John would later reminisce about the experience:

[...] I think the first time David really saw one up close was the night in January 1994 when I was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York. I didn't want to go, because I don't really see the point of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I loved the original idea of it – honouring the true pioneers of rock and roll, the artists who laid the path in the fifties that the rest of us followed, especially the ones who got ripped off financially – but it quickly became something else entirely, a big televised ceremony with tickets that cost tens of thousands of dollars. It's just about getting enough big names involved each year to put bums on seats.

The smart thing would have been to politely decline the invitation, but I felt obliged. I was being inducted by Axl Rose, who I really liked. […]

So I went along to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As soon as I got there, I decided I'd made a mistake, turned round and left, ranting all the way about how the place was a f****** mausoleum. I dragged David back to the hotel, where I immediately felt guilty for blowing them out. So we went back. The Grateful Dead were performing with a cardboard cut-out of Jerry Garcia, because Jerry Garcia wasn't there: he thought the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was a load of bullshit, and had refused to attend. I decided Jerry had a point, turned round and left again, with David dutifully in tow. I had got out of my suit and into the hotel dressing gown when I was once more struck by a pang of guilt. So I got back into my suit and we returned to the awards ceremony. Then I got angry at myself for feeling guilty and stormed out again, once more enlivening the journey back to the hotel with a lengthy oration, delivered at enormous volume, about what a waste of time the whole evening was. By now, David's sympathetic nods and murmurs of agreement were starting to take on a slightly strained tone, but I convinced myself he was probably rolling his eyes like that at the manifest failings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rather than at me. This made it easier to decide – ten minutes later – that all things considered, we had better go back to the ceremony yet again. The other guests looked quite surprised to see us, but you could hardly blame them: we'd been backwards and forwards to our table more often than the waiting staff.

I'd like to tell you it ended there, but I fear there may have been another change of heart and furious return to the hotel before I actually got onstage and accepted the award. Axl Rose gave a beautiful speech, I called Bernie up onstage and gave the award to him, then we left. We drove back to the hotel in silence, which was eventually broken by David.

"Well," he said quietly, "that was quite a dramatic evening." Then he paused. "Elton," he asked plaintively, "is your life always like this?"
Elton John's biography, 2019


In 2016, when asked if he considered music and lyrics equally important, Axl would answer and talk about the induction:

Well, I think that would dep- it depends on the song, but yes I've always felt that way. Bernie Taupin is my favorite lyricist and when Elton asked me to induct him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I took it upon myself to induct him and Bernie as a writing pair. It is my understanding it is the only award Bernie has ever gotten and he was pretty happy.


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Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:36 pm

JANUARY 1994-FEBRUARY 1995
GUNS N' ROSES AND HIGHLANDER III

In January 1994 it would be reported that Axl was playing the role of the villain's henchman in the Highlander III movie [The Daily Sentinel, January 7, 1994]. The villain was played by the actor Mario Van Peebles.

The same month it would be reported that Guns N' Roses would do the music for the movie, although Slash would say it wasn't decided yet:

I didn’t even know that rumor had gotten out yet. […] Anyway, I’m gonna check out some footage, but we have no idea whether we’re gonna get involved in that, in all honesty.


The movie was released in November 1994 in the UK and January 1995 in the US. Curiously, in February 1995 newspaper short notices would state that Axl featured in the movie [Press Democrat, February 5, 1995; Northwest Herald, February 10, 1995]. But the movie did not feature Axl.

Andy Morahan, who directed the movie and had directed the November Rain video, would later provide an explanation for why Axl dropped out of the cast, as told by Empire Magazine:

Morahan had worked extensively with Guns N’ Roses, not least on the infamously overblown November Rain clip, and for a while it seemed that he had secured the coup of Axl Rose and co. providing the soundtrack. 'They loved that Queen had done the music on the first one and I had Axl ready to go,' says Morahan. But Rose suddenly revealed an unexplained dislike of Mario Van Peebles (on hand as cartoony main villain Kane) and refused to provide any songs if the actor remained in the film. 'So that screwed that one,' says Morahan. 'Miramax wouldn’t get rid of Mario. At the time I thought it was more important to have Guns N’ Roses!'
Empire Magazine, July 2009


So the movie did not feature music from Guns N' Roses.



Highlander III,
a movie not featuring GN'R


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:36 pm

1993-1994
D-F-R

After returning to Los Angeles after the massive 'Use Your Illusion' touring in July 1993, Dizzy would start playing occasional shows at LA clubs under the moniker "D-F-R" ("Dizzy Fuckin' Reed") [Kerrang! March 12, 1994].

Dizzy would also work on a solo record, to which Slash would contribute:

I've just been recording two of Dizzy's songs. I'll play you one. It's only piano and acoustic guitar. I heard it when we were on the road. […] It's really pretty.


It is not clear what happened with this solo record. Dizzy would release a solo record in 2018.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:37 pm

JANUARY-APRIL 1994
SLASH, MATT AND GILBY WORKS ON SONGS FOR NEW RECORD

When 1994 came around the band had song ideas for the next record, most coming out of rehearsals at the 'Use Your Illusion' tour but also at least one song from Axl ('This I Love'). See earlier chapter for details. In an interview published by Kerrang! in January, Slash would indicate they expected to record in February:

Me and Axl are talking about going in to record a new album in February, so I’m hoping to be on the road by the Summer...


The same month Slash would talk about what they had done so far:

Everybody had their own things to do [after the tour that ended in July 1993], and everybody gets isolated because no one wants to deal with the pressure of being on the street; people coming up to you and recognising you and all this other crap. […] Then we started recording, writing new songs, and got happy. We forgot about the outside bullshit.


He would also say he had been recording eight new songs in his home studio:

And I built a studio in my house, so I've been spending all my time in there, from 8pm to 10 in the morning, recording new material for the next record. It sounds awesome!. […] And now me, Axl, Duff, Matt and Gilby are writing some awesome tunes. We're eight songs into the next record already.


And discuss the music they were working on:

Well, I don’t know how cheery it’ll be in terms of lyrical content; and what’s more, I won’t ever knock the ‘...illusion’ records for whatever vibes they might have, because they really f**kin’ mean a lot to us. […] With this one right now, everyone is really happy, even though we’re dealing with court cases, lawsuits, this, that and the other. […] The grooves on this record are f**king great. I don’t know what the finished product will sound like or how it will be received, but we’re all very happy and that’s all I care about.


On a joint radio interview on January 3, 1994, and likely conducted after the Kerrang! interview, Slash and Axl would talk about writing for the next record and Slash would say he had just sent his latest tape [likely containing the eight songs described above] to Axl [Rockline, January 3, 1994].

The majority of things are done on the phone, until we actually get in the studio. A lot of things over the phone and sending tapes back and forth. And we've done this for years.


In the same interview they would be asked about the musical direction of the next record:

Musical direction with the band really has to do with what the band… you know, what we do as a group or as an organization of people. You know, the six of us, constitutes. […] I mean, it's really simple and it's a lot less complicated than most of the public thinks. […] It'll be what we think is good at the present, that's all.

How about it's like, compared to the "Illusions", the direction will be a shorter direction [laughs].


Later, sometime in January after the 17th, Slash was up to 14-15 songs:

Anyway, so ['The Spaghetti Incident?'] was set and done and I built the studio in my house. And started recording material for the next record. So we got about 14 or 15 songs for the next record. […] we've got 14 songs done, at this point and as soon as I get back to LA from Canada, I'm gonna rent a place to live next to the rehearsal studio and then we'll just go in there and start jamming.

I’ve been working on the Gunners record ever since I got home after The Spaghetti Incident? was finished. I’ve built a studio in my house that the band can use and so far we’ve done 14 songs.

The Use Your Illusion records, if you really knew, if anybody knew the whole story of what we were going through, they’d realize how important those records are to us and why they took so long — but you had to be there. When you read the lyrics, it starts to come out. It was a real period of turmoil. This time around everybody’s more stable.

I mean, we had every reason to split up before those albums turned out as far as the obstacles we had to face. So as far as being able to pull off that tour and Izzy leaving in the middle of it and this, that and the other thing and being able to go back into the studio and do The Spaghetti Incident? . . . well, we just wanted to go straight back to work and do something else. So, it shouldn’t take as long (for the next album to come out).

[Talking about the direction of the new music]: […] it’s gonna be like, well, we have a new fusion jazz approach. We’ve been listening to Yes a lot lately [laughing]. No, it’ll be rock ’n’ roll.

I’m hoping we’ll be out before next year. But the best laid plans with Guns, as you know....


Also in another interview dated from January but actually recorded later, Slash would talk about 16 songs:

Actually, I think we’ve got sixteen. [...] They’re good songs and I think they’ll make a good album. It's very hard rock and very bluesy at the same time. Nothing's really finished yet. "Use Your Illusion" was a different thing, because we had so much material that we ended up putting two records out. Some songs were totally Guns N’ Roses and some others were... surprising. The next album will probably be more in the vein and spirit of "The Spaghetti Incident?" at least as far as the sound is concerned, because we’re going to record live and have a lot less samples. As for the music itself, it’s difficult to analyze right now, as we're not even in the pre-production stage yet. The only thing I can say right now is that it sounds really good.


At the same time, Robert John, would indicate the band had only sketches of two songs and that neither of them contained vocals:

I don't know when [the next record is] going to be released, but it may not be in the near future, because all I have heard is two sketches of songs. In other words, the backbone of two songs is ready, but there’s no vocals yet at this point.

[...]

What I’ve heard sounds very aggressive but, again, these are only sketches. It doesn’t mean that the rest of the album will be in this vein... but it doesn’t mean it won’t either!


Still, in January Slash would say that the making of the next record was progressing quickly:

[…] we’re working on it, yeah. And it’s going very fast, considering we got off the road six months ago, put out “The Spaghetti Incident” and already started on the next record. It’ll be out sooner than usual, you know? […] I’d like to have it out this summer.


In early February he would suggest they would start pre-production as soon as he was back from a promotional tour:

We’re working on the next record now. I’ve been doing the demos with the other guys at my house... until the earthquake hit. The studio is now down; it’s not functioning at the moment. As soon as I get back to L.A., I’m going to go into pre-production.


In a Q Magazine interview published in March 1994, Slash would talk more about the songs he was making and indicate they had nine songs done, compared to the 14-15 he had mentioned previously:

I instantly went back into the studio and started working on the next record, so we're about nine songs into it. In a perfect world, we'd have the record out in the summer.


In a Kerrang! interview also published in March, he would shed more light on the new music:

Most of it's really sort of slinky groove things, but real mean. They're cool. […] They're sort of like dirty sex, and there are some that are just fast and hard. There's a lot of really brash stuff that we've finished already that's really killer.


He would also suggest getting the record done quickly:

What I want to do, as opposed to last time with all the distractions and shit, is get between eight and 12 songs done, get in and record them real simply and quick. […] Because of all the work we've been doing up here, when we go into pre-production and were sitting in a room with a stack of amps and a real drum kit, it should be that much better. I can't wait!


And that there would be no covers or left-overs:

Some written on the road, some since we've been off. No covers - 'The Spaghetti Incident?' took care of that one - and no left-overs; anything even vaguely resembling an earlier-era song was squashed onto one of the two ....Illusion's. […] It's really important not to look back. When we did the '...Illusion' records we cleaned our whole slate. We did all the songs that Izzy ever wrote - because Izzy was really on the way out at the beginning of that; he started to phase out and we grabbed a bunch of his old songs, some of the ones that we were currently doing, some old songs from before Guns N' Roses, so we'd never have to think about it again. This is all just new stuff. […] You know how a lot of bands go, 'This is our best stuff'? It's such a cliche, so I hate saying it, but I'm really happy with this, so let's just see what happens.


Slash would also say that he and Mike Clink was supposed to enter pre-production by now, but that the January 17 earthquake in Los Angeles and Slash's subsequent evacuation to a hotel, had postponed this [Kerrang! March 12, 1994].

In an interview published in July 1994, but likely done March-April 1994, Slash would again say they now had nine songs set for the next album:

We no longer live in the same room like in the early days, but we’re in constant contact for all the important decisions. I have a recording studio at my place, where Gilby (Clarke) and Matt (Sorum) come to play. We already have nine songs set for the next G n'R album.


In the same interview, Slash would say he had started working on his solo record, and so had Gilby, indicating that there were disagreements over some of the songs they had written and that Axl didn't want them for Guns N' Roses. So maybe only 9 out of the 14-15 songs they had in January were considered good enough for Guns N' Roses and the rest would go to solo projects?


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:37 pm

FEBRUARY-MAY 1994
THE NEW SONGS ARE REJECTED

And then I played some of the songs for Axl, and he didn't want to do them. The music was too retro for him or something.

____________________________________________________________________________

As previously noted Slash, Gilby and Matt had been busy working on new material for GN'R's next record.

Usually, I'm at Slash's every night. We work on new material and different things, whether it's my stuff, his stuff or whatever. He's got a studio in his house. We're working on some stuff right now - me, him and Matt.

I've never written a note with Axl; I've written a lot with Slash. He has a studio at his house, so we got up to his house and me, him and Matt will get together, we fuck around, we write songs, record them […]


In May 1994, though, Matt would say that the material was now intended for a "side project" after having been offered up to Guns N' Roses but rejected:

They didn’t like it. We were working on it for eight months and they really didn’t dig it. […] It’s just heavy, solid rock ’n’ roll. No pianos, no ballads.


Gilby would confirm:

There is no 'next GN'R album'! […] I don't know about ever. For now. We started working on one, and it got canned. […] it's an Axl thing. He just wasn't into what we were doing, so he's kind of rethinking what he wants to do. He just kind of threw a wrench into everything that me, Slash and Matt had worked to. And then Duff came in. […] Duff and Axl have an idea what the album should be, and the rest of us have another idea. So right now, we're not gonna do anything. […] GN'R's not gonna do anything, so we just go up to Slash's place and work.

For a while there, I contributed a lot [to the writing]. But now, I don't know how much I'm going to contribute. Like I said, Axl pretty much threw a wrench into everything. He didn't like what we were all doing. […] It's Axl's band, and he runs it the way he wants. And whatever he wants to do is gonna happen. So we can work on songs all year long and come up with 20 songs, but when it comes down to it, if Axl writes 10 songs, he'll go, 'I want my 10 songs on the record'. And that's what's gonna happen.

[…] Axl is of course the leader and after that comes Slash. It is true that the rest of us is contributing with material, but if you are a productive songwriter like myself it's impossible to give them all compositions.


Slash would later shed light on what had happened:

At one point I was actually encouraged to do a solo record because this material was a little bit, as Axl put it, 'too retro’.

I was hoping it would work with Guns. I was just writing at home, I built a studio, and I was experimenting.[…] It's a simple studio and Matt would be there to help me arrange the stuff. […] So I wrote all these songs and played the demo for Axl and he just wasn't interested. I said, "But this is really what I want Guns to do," and he wasn't into it. So I had all this material and Axl had all these lawsuits going on and he wouldn't have time to get into writing at that point anyway. So he sort of suggested I did a solo record.

When we were working on our demos, Axl came by a few times, he ended up listening to the seventeen tracks we had put in the can but he never wanted to get into them, so we continued to do our thing without asking questions.

I played some of the stuff for Axl and he didn’t seem to take to it too well. So I kept it and – I mean, it could have been Guns N’ Roses material at the time, if he’d been really into it, but that wasn’t a musical direction that he wanted to go.

I played Axl the material when it was in demo form and he said he didn’t want to do that kind of music anymore.

When I started writing all this stuff, you know, and I played [Axl] some of it, he was like, that wasn’t the direction musically he wanted to go in, because it’s basic hard-rock stuff. And at the time, I think Pearl Jam was like what he was into, and [laughing] I said, ‘Oh, wait a second, OK. I won’t have anything to do with that.’

When I finally made a record. He was like ‘I like this song and this song and that song.’ I said ‘Yeah? You hated it when I wrote it.

I played some of this stuff for Axl at one point, and... he was, like, going, ‘It’s too retro, it’s too like old hard rock, and I want to do something more like Pearl Jam.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, no, no. We’re not going that direction.' So I kept the material […].

It's our band. So if I write something, my first and foremost priority would be to dedicate it to Guns. At the time, no one seemed to be interested in the material. Axl said, `That's not the kind of music I want to do.' I said, `OK,' and took it all back. We've had that happen too many times in Guns, when certain songs just didn't make it, and they would have been killer. I didn't want to lose any more material.

Before that was even really a concept as far as an album was concerned, when it was just like demos, I was like, “Well, this would make great material”, at least a great foundation for the band to work on. But Axl had made up his mind that he didn't want to play that type of music any more. So I was like, “OK, cool. Fuck it then!”


In another interview, Slash would say the songs were intended for Guns N' Roses, but that Axl didn't like them because he "was going through a Pearl Jam phase at the time" [Associated Press/Greenville News, March 3, 1995].

I wouldn't go as far as to say that [these 14 songs would have been the next GN'R record], especially with the way we all work together. I don't know what’s happening with the band. These songs wouldn’t sound the way they do if they were played by Guns, and maybe these songs wouldn’t be on a Guns record.

I was just writing the way that I write. A lot of stuff that I wrote for the Use Your Illusion records, you don't even know it's there. The kind of material that I like is on this record, which I would have loved to have been a Guns N' Roses record, but that's not the direction that Axl wanted to go in. I was really amazed that Axl was like, "No. I want to sound like Pearl jam." I was like, "Okay. I'm going to keep this stuff." That's where I got the concept of making a record out of it. I didn't know where I was going. I never seem to know that. I just stick my foot somewhere and take it from there.

Axl’s been wanting to make a record this whole time. But when we finally got together and I'd written some material, he didn’t want to do that type of music, cos the scene had changed. I’m not going to keep up with trends, so we had a conflict of interests.

And actually, that first Snakepit record [It's Five O'Clock Somewhere] was initially ideas that I had for the [next] Guns record. But at some point, Axl and I had a falling out over what kind of music would be on the album. I played him a demo of some of my songs, and he said, "I don't want to do that kind of music." And I was like, "But it would be an awesome Guns record, done Guns' way!" But he wanted to do industrial music, and he wanted to do "Pearl Jam"-[type] stuff.

When I presented my typical off-the-cuff riff writing to Axl back around 1994, he told me he didn't want to do that kind of music anymore. He told me he wanted to do something that was a cross between Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam. Axl was very adamant about pursuing that direction, and I think that was the beginning of the end for me.


Gilby would indicate the songs they had worked on might end up on a Slash solo record and that his own 15 songs would go to his solo record:

So as much as we work on 'em, it doesn't mean anything, because they may never get anywhere. Slash and I are working on some stuff right now together. It's stuff that we put together for the next GN'R record, stuff that isn't gonna make it now. So we're putting something together. We don't know if this is gonna be a Slash solo album or what it's gonna be.

[…] I had a collection of songs, there's like 15 songs that I had, right? And knowing when we started working on the GNR stuff, they were gonna use no old stuff, it was all gonna be fresh new stuff. I had all these songs and I didn't want them to disappear or have to give them to somebody else to do.

I gathered all my songs and did it.

it was what ended up being the snakepit record. not all the songs, but some. i thought the were good ideas that axl & duff could really help develop.


These songs would end up on Gilby's solo record, "Pawn Shop Guitars" which would be released in July 1994 [see later section].

In June 1994, Gilby wasn't sure what would happen to the songs he and Slash had been working on but would reveal that Slash was now considering a solo album:

Me and Slash are working on some songs. It’s not for Guns N’ Roses, not for anything in general. […] It could be Slash’s album, this is what it could be, because Slash has been talking about making his own album. You know, because Duff did it, I did it, he can do it (laughs). He has some really, really good songs and, like I said, it’s gonna be a while before GN’R is gonna do a record, and this stuff isn’t really for GN’R, so he’s been talking about doing his own album. So he’s been working with me and Matt on it, you know, just trying to get it in together.


In late 2000, Slash would discuss this episode:

Like, when I was coming up with ideas for what would have been the new GNR album. On a personal level, I was pissed off at him, and he was pissed off at me for turning my back on him.

I mean, I just didn’t know his aspirations were so high. It wasn’t a conscious effort for the rest of us. But Axl’s whole concept on everything was somethin’ else. We did try, Gilby and Matt, too. We were undeniably really trying...


In 2018, Slash would claim to not be sure the songs were even intended for GN'R to begin with:

Hmm. I mean, I’m not even sure what was going on there. It was just stuff that I was writing. I don’t think it was necessarily, like, I don’t remember ever presenting any of it as new Guns N’ Roses.


When the interviewer pointed out that Slash himself had stated in his biography that they were intended for GN'R:

I mean, I know there were a couple riffs, but then, those probably didn’t go anywhere, so then I was just like, “OK, fine, I’m just gonna go do this.” And that’s more or less what happened. No one was particularly excited about doing those songs, so then the rest of the record just was other new stuff that I was writing, and I just sort of went that way.


Also in 2018, Gilby would look back at the songs being rejected by Axl:

Everybody was starting to write some songs for the next Guns record. Slash likes to do things the band way. He likes to jam with guys and work on different ideas — kind of make the 'soup' of the song. Him and Matt were getting together, and then he called me and said, 'Why don't you come down and let's jam on some of these ideas?' I said, 'Well, I've got a couple of ideas too.' We all got together and started recording a bunch of songs. We actually had a lot of really good bones of a song — no lyrics, but just musically. Finally, it was time to present it to Axl, and Axl heard it and he just wasn't into it. From what he told me, he goes, 'I want to go in a different direction with the band. The days of 'Appetite' are over. I want to bury that record.' He liked bands like Nine Inch Nails. He liked Pearl Jam. I'm speculating, but I think when he heard the stuff, it might have sounded a little too southern rock, a little too guitar-based. It just didn't do anything for him... It's kind of like what happened with me. I had a bunch of songs; I gave them to Axl; I said, 'If you like any of these, let me know.' He didn't like any of them, so I made 'Pawnshop Guitars', my first solo record. I think Slash did the same thing — 'I really like these songs. I really want to get them out there.'


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:37 pm

"SHUT UP AND SING"

Matt would indicate that the songs that were rejected simply weren't good enough and that it was Slash's songs and that he wanted others to play and sing the way he wanted it:

The Snakepit album could have been the new GNR album, but Axl didn't thought it was good enough. […] There was some good songs [on Snakepit record], but it wasn't a band effort, it was Slash's songs. It had nothing to do with 5 guys working hard in a studio, what we are doing with Guns right now. When Slash says "I'd like to work on that riff" and Duff answers "Yeah, let's work on it", it's really GNR. This has nothing to do with "This is a Slash song, you will play like that and Axl will sing like that."
Hard Rock, September 1996; translated from French


This claim would later be supported by Doug Goldstein, Beta Lebeis, and Fernando Lebeis:

In 1996, Slash decided to walk away from Guns N' Roses. He wanted to pursue his Solo career and musically he had gone in a different direction from the other band members. He was not fired, point of fact we made every effort to keep the band intact. He brought in a completed album, and no one in the band thought it was a viable way to work. Historically the band has always collaborated on material, and this wasn't done with Slash's music. He left with his music and recorded it as Slash's Snakepit. With hopes of success, he failed to convey these events to the public.

Axl took so long because he was trying to make the record with the old band. Slash came saying that he had the band’s ‘next album’ ready, lyrics and music. It had never been like this before, everyone wrote together. The bassist and the drummer came to me and told me they were afraid, because the songs sounded like they were from the ‘80s. Axl knew that he needed to bring the Guns N’ Roses’ sound into the new millennium in order to stay relevant. Slash wants to be like AC​​/DC, every record is the same. Axl wants to be like the Beatles, every record is an evolution. When Slash released the first Snakepit record [which contained the rejected songs], I had to tell him, ‘You’re going to ruin your career.’ I got fired.

The problem was that Slash, at that time, said he already had the new Guns N’ Roses album ready, which would be the next one, right? That "next" album was the one he would then release, which was terrible. Slash's last two records were terrible. Axl wanted to do something more advanced for the new generation. You can't stay on the same thing, like the same kind of music that he played 15 years ago.
Bolsa de Mulher, January 22, 2001; translated from Portuguese

But Slash wanted the Snakepit songs on the Guns album and Axl didn't want them. So he started making things difficult. He wouldn't accept other songs except his own songs.


In late 1999, Axl would finally shed some light on what had happened and confirm that both he and Duff had not thought the songs that ended up on Slash's Snakepit album were good enough for Guns N' Roses. Furthermore, Slash had been unwilling to work on the songs to improve them, indicating that he considered them finished, which corroborates Matt's statement above:

[…] what people don't know is, the [Slash's] Snakepit album, that is the Guns N' Roses album. I just wouldn't do it. […] Duff walked out on it, and I walked out on it, because I wasn't allowed to be any part of it. It's like, "No, you do this, that's how it is." And I didn't believe in it. I thought that there were riffs and parts and some ideas, I thought, that needed to be developed. I had no problem working on it, or working with it, but you know, as is, I think I'm with the public on that one.


Then in 2008, Axl would again state that Slash had insisted he just added vocals to Slash's songs:

[missing quote!]

Much later, Axl would refer to Slash's claims that they couldn't continue together because Axl wanted to change the music of the band, as "crap", and claim they had worked on blues rock before Slash quit but that Slash had insisted Axl would just add vocals to Slash's songs:

A lot of people bought that crap and me having gone in other directions seems to many to have verified that. Then you have the mind twisting equally as true horseshit in Slash’s book but I have the rehearsal tapes. There’s nothing but Slash based blues rock and he stopped it to both go solo and try to completely take over Guns. I read all this if Axl would’ve put words and melodies on it could’ve… That was denied and I didn’t walk till several months after having 3 to 4 hour phone conversations nearly every day with Slash trying to reach a compromise. I was specifically told no lyrics, no melodies, no changes to anything and to sing what I was told or fuck off.



EPILOGUE

In May 1995, rumors would state that Geffen Records was angry Axl had dismissed the material Slash had presented for him [New York Daily News, May 8, 1995]. The songs had been released on Slash's side-project, "Slash's Snakepit" and "bombed" [New York Daily News, May 8, 1995]. Geffen Records allegedly concluded that the material would have done much better if it had been released by Guns N' Roses [New York Daily News, May 8, 1995].


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:38 pm

AXL WANTS TO CHANGE THE SOUND? SLASH DOESN'T

The sections above describing Slash and Axl disagreeing on how the future record should sound like, illustrates a deeper conflict between Axl and Slash. Axl had always been interested in musical trends and new bands, like when he wanted Nirvana, Faith No More and Body Count to open during the Use Your Illusion touring. He had also expressed a desire to make Guns N' Roses into more than a one-trick pony hard rock band, but expand upon its musical repertoire, similarly to what Queen had achieved. It is also likely that he realized that to remain hugely popular, as Guns N' Roses had recently achieved, they needed to reinvent themselves for their next album. The music scene had changed and alternative rock bands were taking over. This can help explain why Axl had been dismissive to the music Slash had worked on.

We look at the music scene in a different way. I see trends come and go and then come back again; that bands today seem to be playing with a 70s flavor a lot of the times. Axl always wants to be a little out there, setting the trends rather than following anything that may already be established. Together, that's how we get the sound of Guns N' Roses. It’s kind of like we try to bring together the best of two worlds.


Axl rejected the material Slash had worked on in early 1994, according to Slash because Axl "was going through a Pearl Jam period at the time" [Associated Press/Greenville News, March 3, 1995]. Gilby would confirm Axl wanted the band's music to evolve:

As soon as I finished [Pawnshop Guitars], before it came out, Axl came up with the idea that he wants to change the sound of the band. He wants to take the band in a more Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Jane's Addiction direction.

Axl wanted to change the sound of the band for a while, he wanted to take advantage of some of the new sounds. Guns N’ Roses is at its best as a hard-rock band and if it’s not that, I don’t think that any of the band members would really want to be in it.


As 1994 continued there were further indications that Axl and Slash didn't see eye to eye on the musical direction of the band.

We were supposed to do some stuff this month [=December] but we haven't done anything up till now and in March I'm gone [on tour with Snakepit]. Maybe in February, if we can come to some sort of an agreement as to what we're gonna do. So I did what I said I'd never do, which is a solo record, to get it out of my system. We'd been doing so many ballads and conceptual videos that I started to get a little concerned about where it was going.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

Axl's got an agenda but it doesn't really match mine. Every day is a new test, one after the other. It would be easier if the same test would happen repeatedly but instead there's one test, you deal with that and the next one is altogether different. You have to be tenacious to be able to handle it.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

Axl was on a different trip, where he wanted to sound like Pearl Jam, last I heard, with keyboards, and heavy-duty epic videos. That was all really tedious for me, [Snakepit] kept me sane.

Right now there seems to be a fucking confusion about what "a good Guns-record" is.

There are some things that need to be sorted out. Axl wants Guns to do a lot of ballads and stuff, and I want to do rock stuff. I don't care about the current musical climate or what is commercially viable. […] I'm just a street-level guy, and I don't fucking live on the beach in Malibu. And I'm not gonna conform to any of that shit either.

I wasn’t writing to make a new record, I was just writing. And it was over a period of a month or so after all the guys in the band had started to get together, and I realized we had all this material. I did play it for Axl at one time and that wasn’t the direction he wanted the band to go in. I still, to this day, do not know where he wants to go as far as Guns is concerned. So I just kept the material, since I wrote it, and started the other – you know, came up with another band.

There was a point there when Axl was going to do a solo record, and he wanted to do it with Trent, Dave Navarro, the drummer from Nirvana and then he changed his mind and thought why do a solo record if he could do it with Guns N’ Roses, which is the last thing I heard.


Later, Jim Barber, a former Geffen executive who had worked with Axl and his work on 'Chinese Democracy', stated:

An artist [like Axl] who's had as much success with Guns N' Roses as he has gets to a point in his career where he can settle into one sound and do it over and over again, usually with diminishing returns. Axl is determined not to do that. There's a sort of ruthlessness about pushing Guns N' Roses to grow, and to find some depth in their music, and to evolve.



SLASH DOESN'T WANT TO CHANGE

Despite playing with many different bands and artists, when it came to the music he wrote himself, Slash was less adventurous. When asked why his Snakepit record [released in early 1995] wasn't more diverse in musical styles, reflecting Slash's collaboration with other artsts, Slash would reply:

When it comes to writing, I don't have any interest in rap or punk.


Slash would confirm he wanted Guns N' Roses to go back to their original sound:

It’s just got to be such a big band that it didn’t seem to have any real direction anymore. It was like, it just got more and more expensive, big videos, big tour, blah blah blah. And I wanted to go backwards, back to sort of our roots, and Axl didn’t wanna do that. So that’s understandable, because once you finally reach being a big band, why would you want to go backwards.


Matt would later confirm that Slash had also little interest in changing musical style:

I had produced [techno songstress] Poe and there were drum loops in the songs, and Axl wanted that. But Slash is a rock guitarist. He doesn't want to do techno-industrial.


And Zakk Wylde, who worked with the band in early 1995, would confirm Axl was chasing trends:

I remember jamming with Axl Rose, and he was like, "Look at Fred Durst and Eddie Vedder. They're on the cover of Rolling Stone. Man, they've got something good going on." I go, "Your joking right? That dude wears a backward baseball cap, and you're Axl fucking Rose. Are you outta your fucking mind? Eddie Vedder can't lick your balls on a good day!" [laughs] I'm not joking man. I am stating fact. Whatever trend was popular, Axl wanted to do it.
Guitar World, December 2006


Despite these differences, Slash would claim to work on Axl's music in early 1995:

Axl has gotten very into a lot of stuff (musically) that I don't necessarily relate to, but we still work together on it. It's like we've expanded into different realms.

Guns is in no hurry to rush out the next record to keep up with current trends. I wouldn't want to sacrifice what Guns does naturally to try and keep up with the generational changes in music that happen really quickly. […] I'm not gonna sacrifice what I do to try and keep up with, say, the Seattle scene. It's not like I have any new rap material coming out.

My traditional values – as far as Guns is concerned or just in general, having to do with integrity and music sense and so forth – haven't changed. Everybody grows in their own way and when we all get together in a room, we know each other very well... but you want to get to where there's a meeting of the minds. And it's like pulling teeth actually to do that. But the guys in the band and I call ourselves the "bricklayers", the guys who really do a lot of hands-on work. And then there's the lead singer who has a whole other vision of his own. You just have to deal with it. You can't, like, stress out – I have no intentions of quitting the band or anything like that – and the only reason I'm doing a solo project is just to sort of get away from that for a while because Guns doesn't have to record now or next year. They can do a record whenever.


Finally, in November 1999, would Axl for the first time discuss what had happened when they tried to make a record while Slash was still in the band [MTV, November 8, 1999]. In this interview Axl would say that he, in contrast to rumours at the time, originally wanted to make an album more similar to Appetite in sound, but that he wasn't "allowed to do that":

I originally wanted to make a traditional record or try to get back to an "Appetite [For Destruction]" thing or something, because that would have been a lot easier for me to do. I was involved in a lot of lawsuits for Guns N' Roses and in my own personal life, so I didn't have a lot of time to try and develop a new style or re-invent myself, so I was hoping to write a traditional thing, but I was not really allowed to do that.


When asked who had prevented him from doing that, Axl replied Slash, and explained that he hadn't been able to replace Slash (and hence why new music would change in style):

Slash. […] Well, not really.... Not to make a true Guns record. It's kind of like, I don't know, if you know somebody has a relationship, and there's difficulties in that, and Mr. or Mrs. Right doesn't kind of just stumble into their path, or they don't stumble across that person, they can't really get on with things. Somebody didn't come into my radar that would have really replaced Slash in a proper way.


It is likely these quotes from Axl that Duff would protest against in a later interview:

I heard something that Axl was fucked up by Slash. More I heard, more stimulated to save friendship. Don't badmouth me or Slash! Stop it! I worked so hard and did as much as I could do to keep running the band and recognize the greatest band in this century. It's OK to say things about me, but I live my life frankly and have responsibility. If I do wrong, that hurts myself. I don't care what other people say. I did care about was lying this time. And that was very big one. I don't want to ruin the history what I was the part of the creation for rock n' roll. I couldn't stand that it was insulted by my friend when I watched that interview. He is just looking for excuse to make his band bigger. That's fine, but do not make me involved in. Slash is a killer rock n' roll guitar
player and treat guy. Axl would not be able to live in Malibu without us playing on the stage. Most important thing to him now is to make all the lies put it together and not to be contradicted. That's no way to make Slash to be involved. Finally that made me stand up for it. He has what he's saying. Off course each one of us has some. And there's the truth. A lot of things have been happening, but now I think I could show my status.
Burrn! Magazine, December 1999; poorly translated from Japanese


Axl would then talk about educating himself on new production technologies, and claim:

Slash told me, 'I don't want to work that hard.'
Rolling Stone, January 2000; interview from November 1999


A few years later, Axl would again deny having wanted to change the style and claim he wanted to make an Appetite-style recording but that he agreed to work on whatever Slash was interested in at the time:

Originally I intended to do more of an Appetite style recording but with the changes in the band's dynamics and the band's musical influences at the time it didn't appear realistic. So, I opted for what I thought would or should've made the band and especially Slash very happy. Basically I was interested in making a Slash record with some contributions from everybody else. There'd still be some chemistry and some synergy happening and whatever dynamics anyone else could bring in to the project. It seemed to me that anytime we got close to something that would work, it wasn't out of opinion that Slash would go ‘hey it doesn't work', but it was nixed simply because it did work. In other words, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. That actually might be successful, we can't do that.' People like to call me paranoid. It has nothing to do with paranoia; it was to do with reality. If the material were strong enough for me to sink my teeth in then I would still be in a certain public position in regards to Guns, we'd have possibly still held a certain popularity with the public as I have previously been fortunate enough to have had. Slash and his ex-wife Renee and his security guy and closest confidant at the time, Ronnie Stalnacker could not live with that. It's not something Slash could live with. Slash chose not to be here over control issues.

Now people can say ‘Well Axl, you're after control of the band too.' You're damn skippy. That's right. I am the one held responsible since day one. When it comes to Guns n' Roses, I may not always get everything right but I do have a good idea about getting things from point A to point B and knowing what the job is that we have to do. Within those parameters, I give everyone as much freedom to do what they want something Slash has verified in several interviews. Had Slash stepped up and written what we captured glimpses of, it would have created an environment that was beyond Slash's ability to control. He did not want to do that or put himself through the rigors of taking the band to that level even if he was capable of writing it. Was he capable of doing it? Absolutely 100%. I think that some of the riffs that were coming out of him were the meanest, most contemporary, bluesiest, rocking thing since Aerosmith's Rocks. The 2000 version of Aerosmith Rocks or the 1996 Aerosmith Rocks by the time we would have put it out. I don't know if I would have wanted to even do a world tour at the time but I wanted to put that record together and could we have done it? Yes. It's not something I would want to approach (without Slash) because at the time there was only one person that I knew who could do certain riffs that way. We still needed the collaboration of the band as a whole to write the best songs.


And in 2008, Axl would say the allegations that he insisted the band changed their musical direction was "crap" and repeat that he had been willing to work on blues rock:

A lot of people bought that crap and me having gone in other directions seems to many to have verified that. Then you have the mind twisting equally as true horseshit in Slash’s book but I have the rehearsal tapes. There’s nothing but Slash based blues rock and he stopped it to both go solo and try to completely take over Guns. I read all this if Axl would’ve put words and melodies on it could’ve… That was denied and I didn’t walk till several months after having 3 to 4 hour phone conversations nearly every day with Slash trying to reach a compromise. I was specifically told no lyrics, no melodies, no changes to anything and to sing what I was told or fuck off.


But that without Izzy that guitar interplay from Appetite was missing:

Part of what destroyed Guns was the battle between those guitars that works so well for 'Appetite.' I have no concept how to duplicate that with either the old guys or anyone else. I liked it then but can't say I truly understood their nature as I feel I do now. Make no mistake: That was a war and the efforts of one man to "successfully" remove another in his path between him and I. Neither player wants to deal with each other in those ways again. Those battles have already been fought, both sides went their prospective ways. Regardless of if they were to work together or not, the true dynamics of back then aren't something Izzy has an interest in or would allow himself to actually be in to such a degree other than for appearances, if that. Also, anything I had written I felt was in similar directions then, during and after the 'Illusions' tour was more than rejected by both Slash and Duff at a time, which greatly helped destroy whatever confidence I may have had at the time.


He would also again state that the music changed first after Slash left:

The music changed after Slash and I parted so the direction was where I took GUNS not where I had intended or tried to go previously. It had a lot to do with not finding or knowing a more blues based player that I found inspiring and I was really knocked down and beat up. Slash, Duff and Matt's [Sorum] decisions had as much to do with kicking a guy when he's down or abandoning ship at the time as anything else. Other things were going on with music as well, we were basically dead at Geffen. I liked other things as well so I wanted to explore, be legitimate and survive. I wasn't doing what was written so often about chasing fads etc. Jesus, I wouldn't have agreed for Zakk [Wylde] to come down if any of Slash's or the media's nonsense were real. And that could've worked on some level but like GUNS it would've been up to those two and their relationship. They talk nice but it wasn't pretty… but it was pretty awesome!!

Part of that, I feel, may have come from Slash painting a rather distorted picture publicly, both back then and since, of what our studio was like during his trial period. Contrary to his accounts, there weren't tons of computers, keyboards and endless, useless gear around that anyone was paying insane prices for. What in my opinion are Slash's aversion and fears have been greatly amplified and exaggerated and often in complete juxtaposition to and a subversion of reality to support his case publicly at both ours and the fans' expense.

I know that I wasn't opposed to anyone from then ... and tried anything I could, or that anyone else could think of, to allow that to happen at the time. ... The end of each relationship was devastating and terrifying, (but) ... no, there wasn't any way I'm aware of, then or in hindsight, to have kept the old lineup together, at least (by) myself or anyone involved in our camp at the time.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:38 pm

MARCH 1994
ERIN EVERLY SUES AXL

In March 1994 Erin Everly, Axl's former wife, sued him for assault and battery, sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress [Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1994; Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, March 9, 1994; Detroit Free Press, March 9, 1994]. In the lawsuit, Everly would seek compensation for injuries, pain and suffering and unspecified punitive damages [Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1994] from Axl "punching her, slapping her, shoving her, kicking her, tying her up, gagging her, spitting on her and dragging her by the hair" [Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, March 9, 1994].

Everly claimed that it’s only now, three years after the event and with the help of “considerable” counselling that she has felt able to go ahead with the lawsuit [RAW, March 30, 1994] and "because she feared for her safety" [Detroit Free Press, March 9, 1994].

After one alleged beating, according to Everly, Everly had been injected with cocaine and heroin resulting in her being hospitalized after suffering cardiac arrest [Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, March 9, 1994]. The latter allegation likely refers to the Steven incident as described before and if so it wasn't Axl who was responsible for her overdose. There was also no suggestion in the lawsuit that Axl was the one who had injected Everly with drugs [RAW, March 30, 1994].

Everly's suit would be connected to the upcoming May trial between Axl and Stephanie Seymour, for which Everly intended to deliver a deposition [Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, March 9, 1994].

The Seymour and Everly lawsuits would not be the first time Axl was accused of violence and domestic abuse. Gina Siler was an early girlfriend of Axl from Lafayette who moved with Axl to Hollywood and stayed with him there for some time. In an interview she did with Spin Magazine in 1991, she implied that Axl could get violent or at least threaten with violence:

And I don’t think [Axl]’s even conscious of what he does, or how angry he gets. […] I always thought that there was something chemical that happened to him when he was angry. That image of him sitting in that electric chair in that video ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, looking crazed, says it all. That’s what he looks like when he’s pissed off. And when you see that coming at you from across a room, coming near you, it’s frightening as hell. And I’m not very big, and that made it even worse. I won’t go much into that.


As noted before, in September 1991, when the band was filming the video for Don't Cry which featured a fight scene between Axl and Erin Everly, Stephanie Seymour, who played Everly, said the situation was weird because she had never fought with Axl:

It certainly makes things a lot nicer [to do a scene with Axl]. I mean, I’m a lot happier when he’s around. I think he’s a lot happier when I’m around. […] No, I’ve never had to do a scene [with violence] before. But it was weird, because we’ve never fought. […] Never. I mean especially not physically, but never even verbally or – we’ve never had a disagreement.


This scene was filmed before the Christmas party of 1992 when Seymour and Axl supposedly fought, indicating that in difference to the alleged violence with Everly, the relationship between Axl and Seymour, bar one incident then, had been peaceful.

In July 1994, People Magazine would publish an interview with Everly where she would go in detail on how it had been living with Axl and repeat the domestic violence charges from the lawsuit [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. She would also claim that she had married Axl because he threatened to shoot himself if she didn't [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. After they broke up, Axl tried to reconcile with Everly and according to Everly, sent her "flowers, letters and even caged birds" [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. The magazine would interview an anonymous female friend, supposedly of Axl, who would argue that it had been Everly who was the aggressor [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. Another friend, this one a friend of Everly, would state she had witnessed Axl beating Everly and act like "a rabid dog" [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. Axl's former girlfriend, Gina Siler - who had commented on Axl's behavior back in 1991, too - would also be interviewed stating that Axl "could be kind and loving, and at other times he was violent and irrational" [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. Axl would not give any statements to People Magazine, but his "camp" would state that Everly sued for monetary gains [People Magazine, July 18, 1994].

During the deposition, Everly's friend and Slash's former girlfriend, Meegan Hodges-Knight, would describe encounters where Axl got so angry he would break antiques:

I'd wake up to Erin saying, 'Please stop. Don't hurt me, don't hurt me,' and Axl screaming at her. And then all of a sudden he'd come out and he'd like, break all of her really precious antiques, and she would be, 'Please don't break them, please.' And trying to get them back from him. And he'd push her and he'd break everything he could get his hands on.

I remember sleeping and waking up to crystal flying over my head, shattering on the floor."

[…]

I remember asking Slash to do something, or I was going to do something. I said, 'I have to do something' or something like that. And he said "No, you're going to make it worse.'


Hodges-Knight also testified that Axl had kicked Everly with his cowboy boots, dragged her around by her hair, and spit on her [Rolling Stone, May 11, 2000]. Everly would also testify that Axl had sexually assaulted her [Rolling Stone, May 11, 2000].

Alan Niven would comment on the allegations:

It was a very volatile relationship, but it takes two to tango. I think she contributed in certain ways, too. She definitely had a way of pushing his buttons.


In the end the case was settled out of court [Rolling Stone, May 11, 2000].

Slash would imply that the ongoing suit with Everly took Axl's focus and was partly to blame for Guns N' Roses not working on music in 1995:

Axl has allowed some personal stuff to get in his way in recent months, but that hasn’t affected our relationship in any way. Once he gets those things out of the way the band should be getting on with things. […] I don’t really want to get into it, but there are some issues with people he’s been involved with in his personal life that had to be taken care of. He just needed to take some time and get that part of his life together, but it had nothing to do with me or the band.


In 2008, Del James would discuss Everly:

Before Appetite for Destruction was released Axl was involved in a relationship with Erin Everly. That relationship was seriously dysfunctional. Erin's done all the talk shows and painted a certain negative picture about Axl but I know the truth and someday all her ugly truths will be exposed.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:38 pm

SHATTERED ILLUSIONS
THE LOST GN'R BOOK

Already in 1988 had Axl mentioned a book about the band, but that "the project may take two or three years" [Screamer, August 1988]. Four years later, in 1992, Axl again talked about writing a book about Guns N' Roses:

I've been working with a friend on putting information together and stuff. More truth and reality is going to come out if l talk with him than if l talk with someone who doesn't know what's up. I've always believed that the truth about what's going on in Guns N' Roses' lives is just as exciting and just as dangerous and just as heavy and just as real as people thought the hype scene to be.


This friend that Axl mentions was likely Del James, because in the November 1992 issue of RIP Magazine, Del James would talk about writing a biography on Guns N' Roses:

[…] this summer I'll begin writing an authorized Guns N' Roses biography, which will come out when the time is right.


In January 1994, Axl would say more about the book, and indicate it was a biography of the entire band and not just about him:

We've been working on a book since we started as Guns N' Roses, with Del James. We've been doing interviews for this book for a very, very long time, to try to get an accurate picture with all our own personal mistakes and our own personal nightmares. And actually it's very exposing. But, we wanna show, like, an accurate picture of who we are and where we've been. It's not necessarily favorable for us in some places. It's a lot of times: "I said that? What an idiot! I can't believe I said that." But we're gonna put it all out.


In July 1994, Kerrang! would report that the book was destined to be released by DEL Books in the following year, that it was written by Del James, and that it contained photos by Robert John [Kerrang! July 16, 1994]. In November 1994, the book's title would be revealed as "Shattered Illusions" and was "understood to be the inside story of the band with a great deal of input from the vocalist's side" [RAW Magazine, November 1994].

Unfortunately this book was never released and its status is unknown.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:39 pm

MAY 10, 1994
DUFF'S PANCREAS QUITS

On May 10, 1994, Duff's alcoholism finally caught up with him dramatically. Slash would be one of the first to allude to something having happened:

Duff never had a drug problem; he had an alcohol problem as of late, which he's since physically had to stop.


Duff would later describe what happened:

I had to [stop drinking]. My pancreas blew up. It was pretty black and white for me there when I was in the hospital: 'If you drink, you die.' But I didn't know how to stop. I really didn't.

My pancreas blew up. […] I was in so much pain they shot me up with two shots of Demerol and morphine, and then morphine, and I was still just completely doubled over. And then seeing the doctors faces turn white once they did the ultrasound. Like, "how is this guy still alive?"

I had health problems after that tour. I was very sick. […] It was really serious. My pancreas exploded! So I became clean […]
Hard Metal, August 1996; translated from French

I was in my house in Seattle when a small pain became acute. It was so bad that I couldn't pick up the phone to call anyone. Luckily, my best friend happened to come over to my house, and I got to [the emergency room].

I didn't go to rehab, I went to the hospital. My rehab was a lot different from the norm. Effective as hell, though. Ya' see, my pancreas blew up so bad, I was admitted into a regular hospital. I saw an image of my doctor's face turning white. I was going to die. Another surgeon came in, and I had to sign something. Meanwhile, I'm out of it on morphine, but sensing I'm to die, I let them cut out my pancreas to put me on dialysis. And then my mom - she's got Parkinson's Disease - she's crying. I even saw myself above the bed, like I was floating up by the ceiling. I question everything, ya' know? I've had two really close calls now where I saw some things. You can read these books like Into The Light, but I'm telling you, I saw something and I was enveloped by something. It was great. If they could make a pill of this and give it to everybody in the world, we'd never have a war again. Whatever it was, some people say it's just nerves firing off massive amounts of endorphins. I can't put it to that. I don't know what it was but it was something. It was bright and it was warm and I was very, very fine with going to where it was taking me. It was amazing and I'm not scared of death because of it.

We got off that tour and I, like, woke up one morning and I kind of hurt, you know? And then going from kind of hurt to I can’t move or even dial 911, you know? Luckily, a friend of mine came over to my house and I heard him downstairs, “Hey, where are you?” And he came upstairs and he said, “Fuck, it finally happened.” So my pancreas had burst.

I had laid off the drugs and joined [Guns N' Roses] for a European tour. I didn't do drugs anymore, but was drinking like crazy. I always needed a cocktail by the bed when I woke up in the middle of the night, because else I'd feel awful. I wanted to stop the whole thing but I couldn't. After Europe I went to Japan and then back home. I had bought this house in Seattle, the place were I was raised. I was laying at home when I felt this pungent pain. At the moment I thought it was weird, though to be honest I was in pain all the time, I was real fucked! But this time the pain began to extend and became so severe, and lasted so long that I couldn't even move. Not even wake up to call 911. Luckily a friend of mine dropped by, and I heard him down the stairs crying "Hey, were are you?" when he entered the door. I couldn't even shout I was upstairs, but he came into my room, found me and took me to the hospital. My pancreas had exploded and a shitload of toxins were running around my stomach. When this kind of thing fucks up a lot of people die, but I did not. I could go on telling you the experience in the hospital, but you don't want to hear the details.

It was 1994. I had stopped drinking vodka, but in a fucked up way I'd replaced it with 20 bottles of whine a day. I mean, I thought I was cutting down. I was taking Quaaludes, anything to bring me down. And one day I had a pain right under my sternum. I thought it gas pains. It felt like someone sticking a knife in me. And I remember my best friend came round. He could always come without knocking, and I heard him downstairs, but I couldn't get out of bed. He got me to hospital. Sometimes, just before you die, they'll stick a knife in you just to relieve the pressure and the pain. I wasn't quite that bad, but I was in hospital for 10 days.

I was on Librium for the DTs, the delirium tremors. That got rid of the withdrawal. They wanted me to go to rehab, but I just felt that I'd had enough. I didn't want any more alcohol.

I had a major drink problem. I’d been drinking a full gallon of vodka a day. Then I switched to wine and I was drinking 20 bottles of wine a day and I’d supplement the wine with as many mandrax pills as I could get down me. I was drowning myself in alcohol. Then my pancreas expanded and burst. I was in so much pain that I wanted someone to kill me. Even on large doses of morphine and Librium, the pain was unbearable. It was a miracle I survived. I came so close to death I floated out of my body and looked down on myself.

You get third-degree burns on the inside of your intestine and your stomach. For a lot of people, they split their skin open to get the steam out. I had morphine in this arm for the pain and then I had lithium in this arm for the DTs.

I had basically resigned myself to the fact that I was going to die by the time I was 30. I had accepted it. It wasn’t a big deal. I got acute pancreatitis in 1993. My pancreas started to expand, and it burst.

It was f**king painful. I woke up one day and I had a little pain, like sharp stabbing pains in the stomach, and the pain started getting lower and lower. And it hit me so suddenly, from that first inkling to where I couldn’t even get to the phone. Luckily my friend Andy came by just at that moment. He came upstairs and said something like, ‘It has finally happened.’ So he put me in his car and rushed me to hospital.

That was not a good day. I came very close to dying and I saw the things you see when that happens. I was floating above my body, looking down at myself in hospital. My mom, who had Parkinson's, was there with me. To see her sitting there in a wheelchair and seeing all these tubes coming out of me, it was like, 'What the hell have you done?' I felt ashamed. The doctors said to me, 'If you drink or take drugs again, you're going to die.'

After three years on the Use Your Illusion tour, I finally got back to Seattle and was drinking a gallon of vodka a day. To cut down, I switched to wine. And Mandrax (drug, originally used as sleeping tablets). I was in my room withdrawing and had this sudden stabbing pain across my belly which spread down my thighs. My pancreas had exploded, spraying stomach acid all over my vital organs and giving me third-degree internal burns. When the specialist looked at my ultrasound scan I watched his face turn white. That was a very clarifying moment for me. When you shock a specialist you know you're in trouble.

My pancreas basically expanded and burst I had third degree burns on my intestines.

My pancreas expanded and burst, but I made it through that and realized I was given a second chance. I saw myself from above the bed. I realized I'm here for a reason. There's a lot out there that I haven't even come close to experiencing yet.

But then I turned 30, my pancrease exploded, and I ended up in hospital. My friend found me in my house and carried me to hospital coz I just couldn't dial 911. I was conscious but I was in so much pain, like someone had stuck a dagger in my chest and slowly dragged it down.

So I got into the hospital and they gave me a whole bunch of morphine, but the pain didn't go away. They did an ultrasound and I saw my doctors face turn white. Then they gave me a form to sign to say they could take part of my pancreas out and if I survived then I'd be diabetic. I said to the surgeon 'Just fucking kill me.' It hurt so bad.

Then at the last minute while they were prepping for surgery they did another ultrasound and my pancreas had started coming back down. So they held on and it kept coming down. I had morphine in my right arm with a button - so I could control it myself - and lithium in the other arm with a button off the DT's.

The end of my drinking career came with an acute pancreatitis attack – which means your pancreas expands and bursts, which is not fun. It lets out all the bile, which causes third degree burns on the outside of your stomach and intestines. Usually, they slit you open to let some of the steam out to relieve the pain before you die.

My best friend came over to my house. He saw my car and he knew I wasn't one to go out and jog (laughs) so he came in. I was mentally cognizant but I was in so much physical pain that I couldn't do anything. So he found me and carried me to his car... so you're right I'm lucky that I was home.

I was in triage for fourteen days. They had a rehab set up for me. I had morphine in one arm and librium in the other... with buttons for the first five days that I could punch whenever I wanted. I needed both of them. I was going through the delirium tremors (DTs).

Then they took the buttons away, which sucked, but they kept the IV in for like five days then they started to wean me off. They had a rehab set up for me to go to in Olympia, Washington.

There were a few days in hospital that were just flashing images. My mom had Parkinson's and I saw her come in crying, seeing her youngest son on tubes. That turned me around.

I remember getting the half-gallon cheap-ass wine. I would get four of those, just so I wasn’t far away from it at all times. It started on the Believe In Me tour. I was like, I'm gonna quit the cocaine and stop drinking. But for me, ‘stop drinking’ was quitting vodka, hard alcohol, and going to wine - you know, I’ll taper off the alcohol content. But with the wine intake I really didn't taper off. I drank a lot of vodka, but the amount of wine I drank was fucking insane. I was having panic attacks again, and chugging so much wine just to stay normal and not shake. That’s when I started giving up hope. I was like: “I don't think I can do this.” That was very uncharacteristic of me. And I think that’s really why my pancreas burst, because of all the acid in the wine.

I woke up one morning, and I thought it was just some sharp gas pains, so I rolled over, and it spread down to my quads all the way around to my back, and I couldn’t move to get to the phone to call 911. It was so bad I could barely breathe, and my friend came up to see – I couldn’t yell, I couldn’t do anything – he comes up to see me, and he just said, ‘Oh shit, it finally happened'. What had happened was that my pancreas had burst, so all the enzymes that digest your food aren’t supposed to be outside dancing around on top of your organs.


The friend who found Duff was Andy Fortier:

I was at my house and I got a phone call from him, and he said only two words: [gasping] “Help me.” I’m like, “What?” and he goes, [gasping] “Help! Something’s wrong.” I said I’d be right over.


Duff would later indicate that he did go top rehab after the UYI touring, in contrast to a few of the quotes above, but it could be that Duff uses "rehab" loosely and refers to the period after being admitted to hospital for his pancreatitis:

I was in a weird spot. At the end of the Use Your Illusion tour, I was completely wasted and collapsed physically. That's when I decided to go into rehab. From that moment on, I was the only one in the band that was sober.


In 2004, he would talk about the rehab he did after having been hospitalized:

I nearly died. I was in hospital for 12 days. They had a rehab for me, and I was done. I didn’t want to do rehab. After the 12 days, when I could get up, I wanted to leave. They said that they couldn’t make me go to rehab, but that if I didn’t, my pancreas was so exposed that if I took a drink I’d die. It was a choice of life or death. Pretty black and white.

So they sent me to rehab. My mom passed away from Parkinson's during that time, but before that she came to visit me in a wheelchair and I - her youngest son - was in a wheelchair. It wasn't cool. I was all bloated and had tubes coming out... I really felt like I'd let her down when she was all crying. I got out of rehab, shaking like a leaf. My insides hurt - they still do - from getting 3rd degree burns on the inside.

I was in hospital for about 12 days. It scared the shit out of me. In those 12 days I saw myself above the bed and I had experiences that I really needed. I had been looking for a way out, and I couldn't find it, so I had resigned myself to living fast, dying young and… Well, it would have been a pretty fucking ugly corpse, because at the end there I looked like a bloated Elvis.

But they had a rehab set up for me. I saw my mom. I'm the last of eight kids. My mom has passed since, but she had Parkinson's and she came to the hospital every day in her wheelchair. Someone took her to the hospital to see her youngest son with tubes running in and out of him. It's not cool. It's just not fucking cool.


Duff would also emphasize that it was the continuous drinking that caused it, and not any drugs [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996], and that the experience had been so bad that he didn't even want to drink anymore, two years later [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996]. Although in a later interview he would imply it was a combination of pills, booze and cocaine that did it [The Howard Stern Show, May 24, 2004].

It was the constant seven-days-a-week drinking and drugs. I couldn't wake up without there being a cocktail next to my bed. It was just constant abuse.


The burst of his pancreas resulting in third-degree internal bleeds [The Howard Stern Show, May 24, 2004]. Eventually it would heal up on its own:

If you’re lucky enough for it to repair itself, which I was. [...] But a lot of guys die from it.


Interestingly, the doctor who treated him was the son of the doctor who was there when he was born [Music West in 3D, 1997].

Duff's condition, pancreatitis, does not result in the pancreas literally blowing up, but is an inflammation that caused swelling and possibly rupturing.

According to one magazine from 1997, Duff had planned another solo tour when he was hospitalized [Music West in 3D, 1997].

Slash would come and visit Duff in hospital:

[…] Slash, my friends in Seattle and my family were there. […] I'm the youngest of eight brothers, so I had my family by me in the hospital. It was very nice that Slash was there as well. He and me, we've shared some stuff together. We're like brothers.


And Izzy would call Duff:

By the way, when my pancreas fucked Izzy phoned too. We've always been friends and our friendship has gone beyond music. We've been through a lot of things together.


After being sent home after 8-12 days in hospital, his doctor told Duff that just one more drink could kill him [Los Angeles Times, November 27, 1998].

When I was released from the hospital the doctor said, 'if go and have even one more drink, you will die. Just have a beer, and you'll be dead.' I'm fortunate that happened. Before that happened, I was trying to stop, but I couldn't.

I had acute pancreatitis, which is not fun. It was pretty scary. That's what changed everything. That's what drew the line in the sand. When you get out of the hospital, if you drink, you're going to die! That very day, you'll die! That's pretty black and white." So is it easy to maintain sobriety? "Easy is not the word but hard is not the word either. It's just my way of life now. I don't have a choice so it's not easy or hard, that's just the way it is. For me to say, oh, sometimes I really crave a drink, would be copping out.

Afterwards, the doctors told me, If you go home today and drink, your pancreas is still exposed, so you will die. I was lucky they didn't have to take my pancreas out, that I didn't have to become a diabetic. It may sound corny, but my doctor said, There's a reason you're still alive. Make good use of it. This doesn't happen all the time.


The doctors would also want him to go to rehab, but Duff felt it wasn't needed:

And that was the only thing that could stop me drinking - something in my body failing. It put me in hospital with intravenous Librium for the shakes and morphine for the pain. And after thirteen days I was off alcohol. When I got out of the hospital they had a rehab for me to go to. But I said: ‘You don’t understand. This is the break I’ve been waiting for. I’m done.”



LINGERING EFFECTS OF ABUSE

The problem is that the more you do, the harder it is to get up there. I wasn't getting high off the coke, I wasn't getting drunk, so it was back to heroin or Quaaludes or whatever pills I could get.

Even now my resistance is so high, after 10 years. If I go to get dentistry done or something, a usual person has two shots of novocaine. I have to have 12.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:39 pm

1994-1996
DUFF MAKES CHANGES TO HIS LIFE

I look at Duff McKagan, and nowhere ever did I think I could look at him and see the kind of man he has become. I used to think, ‘One day the phone’s gonna ring and I’m gonna get some bad news.’

My left fist is six months in hospital; my right fist is sudden death.

___________________________________________________

After his pancreas incident, Duff sobered up.

My big thing back when I got sober, my biggest fear was...I didn't want to get sober because I was like: 'I won't be able to be f**king rocker or something, I won't be able to do this thing'. I had to get sober eventually because for me it was pretty grim. There's that fear of the unknown like, what am I going to discover? And will it be good and will it be f**king cool you know? So once you get over that, over that hump, then its fine. I found that it was only a little pimple of a hump. I thought it was going to be a mountain I'd have to scale but it was really nothing, you realise you're just the same as songwriters, or in every way, probably better, in fact most certainly better.


Talking about how being sober affected his relationship to his friends:

I could’ve done things differently and been more of a friend and helped certain situations along, but truthfully I didn’t even know who I was until I got sober. Izzy [Stradlin] had already left the band, and when I got sober I had to kind of prove it to him. He was like, ‘Are you really sober, man?’ But he was a good friend to me through that time. Axl remained a good friend until I left the band, and then we became estranged for a while. And Slash was still really in it. We were still totally friends, but I just wasn’t in that world. It took about seven years for us to reconnect properly. I wasn’t staying away from him because I hated him, I just couldn’t risk being around him because he was my running partner for a long time, and I didn’t trust myself around him.



MARTIAL ARTS

After coming home from the hospital after his ruptured pancreas, Duff took up martial arts in Benny "The Jet" Urquidez's dojo [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996] to keep his alcoholism in check [Addicted to Noise, August 30, 1996].

When I got out of hospital I went home to Seattle. I was shaking so bad they gave me morphine and Librium. The morphine was for the pain and the Librium was for the DTs from the alcohol.

Sober, everything seemed like I was on acid because it was so real. I entered a mountain bike race where I met this martial arts teacher who took me under his wing. He broke me down and built me back up with a whole different mentality of how I look at life, how to deal with fear and anger and how to forgive and how to be honest with yourself. I was with him twice a day. I attacked it as hard as I would drinking.


By 1996, his health had improved vastly:

I had to do what I had to do or else I would be dead.

Well, my health is very good. Thanks for asking. Yeah, my pancreas basically… umm, expanded then exploded. So, that was two and a half years ago. […]  I really turned things around and I do martial arts and… and I just think totally different way about life. So, nothing takes its toll on the road now, you know. I'm ready for anything. So, thanks for asking.

You speak in the English language again, too. [laughs].

Well it had to happen. It's the only way you will stop. I saw myself in the hospital with all those tubes and shit. It changed my life completely. It was like "Hey, you can be proud for being here, you haven't died. You've done a lot of crazy stuff, and you ain't dead. It was the end you were heading for, but it did not happen. You are here for a reason". Now I'm enjoying a second life.

At that time [=after getting out of hospital] I started getting into kick boxing, and I found a martial art that I loved. More than anything, it taught me to think sober. It changed the way I thought about things. I started washing my clothes. I cleaned my house. I went to the grocery store. It was real life, little things. I did the martial art twice a day.

Then I met Benny the Jet, my sensei. He saved my life, got me kickboxing. It's pretty much the most intense workout there is. I face everything in the ring that you face in life.

Now I work out six days a week - kickboxing, lifting weights with Attila the Hun, this Hungarian guy from our dojo. I'm an extreme person. When I did drugs and drank, I was extreme, and when I go to the gym, it's not just to fuck around.

[Benny The Jet] took me under his wing, broke me down and brought me back up with a whole different way to think. The first thing I had to do was get honest with myself. It started with little things like making my bed, doing the dishes to bigger things like being straight up with people and not telling little white lies. All of a sudden you start feeling confident.

When I got sober in ’94, I lost 50 pounds. People said I got lipo.


When guesting the Howard Stern Show in July 1996, Stern claimed to barely be able to recognize a fit Duff [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996]. During the show, Stern would play a phone message of Duff's being wasted [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996]. When asked what Duff wanted them to do with the tape, he replied:

Ah, man. I will let Howard and Gary hang on to it, man. Just to remind me, what I don't want to be. Man, that doesn't even sound like me.


Duff would also confirm that he had sobered up entirely on his own without going to rehab [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996].

In 1995-1996, Duff was still recovering from his serious health issues in 1994, and would continue with kickboxing at Benny Jet's dojo [The Howard Stern Show, July 25, 1996; Hard Rock, August 1996]. By september 1996, he was finally ready to work fulltime on new music with Guns N' Roses:

I’m ready for this. I’ve been in training, mentally and physically, as opposed to a couple years ago. when I couldn’t have done this, no way. Now I look at life differently. I work out every day no matter what. I got my life back. As opposed to live-fast-die-young, I love life again.



MOVING TO SEATTLE

I don't think: 'Oh, this city [=Los Angeles] has all this shit that nearly killed me'. I have a lot of great friends here. But when I got sober I couldn't drive down the streets in LA without thinking: 'That's a drug dealer's house there, that's a drug dealer's place...' I had to get away from that when I was sober. I'd earned the right to not be there. What LA came to represent for me was that attitude of 'keep them on the road, get them whatever they want, just keep them out there making their money.' That is what LA is. When it was ripping the band apart, I remember thinking to myself: 'This is hell.' We weren't the first band to go through it. We knew the stories, we'd read them. We knew it was happening.




MOUNTAIN BIKING

In late 1994, Duff would also talk about his hobby doing mountain bike racing:

What happened was I stopped drinking. I bought a mountain bike in '88 and l'd ride a lot. I’d ride every day but not seriously. Kind of just get on and ride up this hill that was right by my house. Me and Adam - Slash's guitar tech - I'd ride with him. Every day he’d come over and we’d ride. And then Slash and I would ride mountain bikes to rehearsal. That was kind of our way to get healthy and cut down on drink­ing. We'd each strap a jug of wine to our bike and ride to rehearsal. That was our exercise and cut down on drinking plan.
But then we went on the Illusions tour and shit and then I went on my own tour and by the time that was over I gained like 40 pounds. I was drinking way too much. So, I just stopped and bought a mountain bike and just started riding hard and taking it seriously. I ride every day and I ride between - depending on what kind of workload day I want for riding - It’s between 6 and 20 miles. So, I cruise. I love it. That’s what I do. Except when I get a flat — like today.

I’ve been in two races and I got another one coming up. I went to Nationals - the Big Bear. I didn't know it was the fucking Nationals. At the bike shop, I bought the bike and filled out the application for the race. Cross-country is pretty gnarly, man. It's like 15 miles. Fifteen miles of uphill and shit. So, that was kind of my goal: I’m gonna buy this bike and work and then go up and do this race and finish it. I get up there, and there’s fuckin’ 30,000 people up there. And I rode my bike at least once a day, if not sometimes twice up these fuckin' hills and shit. And I went up and i finished the race and it turned out it was the Nationals. I was just in the beginning amateur part. I met some pros and really got into it and got a better bike. So, then I was in the Fall Classic, which is the state championships or something and I did bet­ter. You know, I'm just getting better and better. With anything, if you do it every day, you're going to get better.

There’s pro, expert, sport and beginner. I'm beginner. I’m gonna race next season, which starts in Spring: I’m gonna race as a sport Hey dude, there’s guys who are Olympic athletes. And here I am, just off the booze-fuckin’-wagon. I’m racing against some of these guys. Like at the Fall Classic. I was racing against whoever, you know, pros, experts, guys who have been riding for 20 years. I got a taste for competition at the Fall Classic. I was 11th on top of the hill out of, like, 80 dudes. See, I’ve only really been riding since July so my technical - I can fucking hammer with the best of them, I find out, but my downhill technical is just sucky, so like 17 guys passed me on the downhill.

This is an 18 mile race - the Fall Classic. You’re going up a moun­tain, man. You’re going up a moun­tain. Part of it was rolling single track - meaning just a trail, a sin­gle-track trail. Part of It was real steep - I'm talking about coming down. I mean, going up, it’s just grinding for about 13 miles. Grind. Grind. Grind. Guys just dropping out. But the downhill on this particular race is like - it's called the "fall line" on this particular mountain and it’s jagged rocks. Pros just fuckin' dance from rock to rock and they're just cruisin' down. Me, I’m not that good yet. I'm just kind of holding on for dear life, feeling every bump. Guys just fall off, roll over their handlebars. I mean, it’s just straight down - internal bleed­ing and shit, broken necks, broken col­lar bones.

The first race, coming down the downhill, I was like yeah, I fuckin' did it! I bought the bike, I entered the race, I'm finishing, man! I'm coming down the downhill and this girl with a bell jumps out of nowhere - biddle-liddle-liddle-ling! Fuckin' scared the shit out of me. I'm probably going 20 to 27 miles an hour - boosh! - my front tire hit a rock or something. I went over the fuckin' handlebars. […] I was scraped up. My bike was fucked up. I straightened it out, got back on and fin­ished. Yeah, you see guys failin' all the time. That's part of it.

I got out of the hospital, and I started riding my mountain bike; I was shaking so bad I didn't know what to do. The first day I rode for, like, eight hours, I didn't want to be static, or else I would think about drinking.


About doing this hobby while being famous:

I try to keep it kind of low. Not until I get good, man. I go up there to get away. So, last thing I want to do is say, "Hey, I'm the guy from Guns N' Roses." I want to be a rider. I don't want to be getting any step-up or handout because I'm in the band, I want to do it on my own.



LOOKING BACK AT HIS PAST ADDICTIONS

Do I wish I wasn’t as fucked up during ‘91 to ‘93? Yeah, but I think I probably became a stronger person because of it. I wouldn’t have learned the hard lessons that I did and probably wouldn’t be as clear as I am now.


In 2019 he was asked how his pancreas was doing:

Completely healed! I’ve done other damage to my sinuses and stuff, but I try to overcome and fix and whatnot. My organs are all good, thank you for asking.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:39 pm

MAY 1994
IS GILBY OUT?

In the first half of 1994, rumours would be spreading that Gilby intended to quit the band. Allegedly, he had informed close friends that he intended to quit his "day job" as soon as his solo record was out [Hit Parader, December 1994]. In May rumours would spread that Gilby had been fired. When asked about this, Gilby evaded the question [Kerrang! May 14, 1994].

Being fired had apparently happened many times to Gilby and was par for the course when being an underling in Guns N' Roses:

I've heard so many reports that I got fired - and, you know, I've been in the band for two-and-a-half years, and I've been fired a few times. All kinds of people have been fired! […] For real. I've seen more than just me being fired. I've seen other people quit, I've seen other people fired, you know, whatever. It's not that big a deal. […] I don't know what's going to happen. From the day I got the job, I didn't know if I'd be there for a week, a year, whatever. […] I have been fired a few times, and it was for nothing that I did. That was another reason for me making my album - you don't know what's going to happen in GN'R. I don't know if I'm going to be around for the next album. I don't know who's going to be around!


In a letter sent from Gilby's lawyer, Jeffrey Light, on April 14, 1994, to GN'R lawyer Laurie Soriano it would be confirmed that Gilby had been fired three times in April/May but not necessarily rehired three times:

As you are aware, Gilby has been fired at least three times by the band in the past month and has been rehired at least two times.


In July Gilby would be asked how he could claim to be good friends with Slash and Matt when he got fired so many times:

It’s just a thing about being part of the GN’R lifestyle. But when they come up they’re very momentary. You could have an argument at the end of the night, but with GN’R it’s not like, ‘Grumpy-grumpy…’ It’s more like, ‘RIGHT! You’re FIRED!’. It’s what we deal with every day. [...] Luckily for people like me and Matt coming into the band, we know the history of the group and how it works. Axl and Izzy (Stradlin’ – departed guitarist) have had some huge arguments where Izzy has quit the band for two-and-a-half years. But they’re still talking! That’s just how it is!


And it all comes down to Axl's fickle nature:

Axl and Slash call most of the shots. The rest of us just kinda go with the flow. You just never know, cos it's not our call. You're relying on Axl, and he changes his mind quite a bit.


Tom Zutaut would be asked about the rumors Gilby had been fired:

Those stories go round and round constantly, I don't think we'll really know who's (in the band) until they start recording.... I've learned with Guns N' Roses since 1986 that you never really know what's going to come out until it's finished.


Kerrang! would also speculate that with no official statement from the band about Gilby being fired, there was a possibility he was back in the band again [Kerrang! July 16, 1994].

I've been working with them all this time and I know the way things go. Axl is one of those people where it's just a lot easier if you don't figure him out because you'll never figure him out.
The Gazette/Reuter, September 4, 1994; from unknown earlier source


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:40 pm

KISS-ASS SYCOPHANTS, THROWING PENANCE AT YOUR FEET?

As the band splintered and grew bigger, different groups, or "camps", could be glimpsed among the band and its organization. Especially did Axl spend more and more time away from his band mates during the touring in 1990s, and more and more time with his friends and entourage.

As Lisa Maxwell would describe it:

Nobody really has contact with [Axl] other than his close friends, his assistant, his chiropractor.


And Izzy looking back:

I think these days Axl even has somebody to open the beer can for him. I don't know, I'm joking of course, but it got a lot like that. Those guys, especially Slash and Axl, are being protected from the outside world now. Even if they wanted, the powers controlling the band wouldn't allow them to go grab a beer in a local bar.


As usually, James Hetfield would be blunt:

[Axl]’s got a lot of yes men, which doesn't help him mentally […].


An anonymous spokesman from Geffen Records would say:

I think [Axl]'s learned to enjoy being Axl Rose. He likes the idea that he can snap his fingers and make things happen. He can get away with it because once you get to know him he can be a very charming guy. He can drive you nuts one minute, then make you want to do anything he asks the next. That's part of his magic.


Axl were asked if he had people around him who would disagree with him, and he replied:

Yeah. I have some close friends in the band and in our organization. That's why I'm friends with them. We pretty much lay things on the line with each other.


One of these close friends was Del James:

I proudly consider [Axl] a friend, but I'm not afraid to tell him what I feel or when I think he's being a jerk.

We value each other’s opinions and have found a way so that our lives work together. If I need Del, he’s going to be there for me, and if he needs me, I’m going to be there for him. He treats people the way he would want them to treat him and a lot of people aren’t like that. That’s who Del is.
Del James, "Language of Fear", 1995


Slash would imply that there were outside forces making it hard for them:

The bigger it gets the harder it is, because the pressures get worse, the amount of time that you can spend being creative is limited, you have to deal with a lot of the business end of it and money, which is something, I don’t know, I don’t think anybody wants to deal with; you know, money and the hardships that go along with it. So it can be a drag. I mean, there’s a lot of bullshit that goes on and there’s a lot of, you know, people outside our organization, the record companies or in the press and so on, that just fuck with us all the time. And it makes life difficult, you have to get really tough. And the bigger you get, the tougher you have to get.


Tom Zutaut would later discuss that Axl had tried to get rid of "bad people" through reading auras [see previous chapter], but that it didn't work:

Ironically, it didn’t work in the end. When you generate the millions of dollars that something like GN’R generates, you get surrounded by people that feed off you: sycophants, psychic vampires and all the rest of it. So on one hand I think that a lot of really bad people were filtered out – it’s not like there’s anyone malevolently evil around him – but you’ve got people whose livelihoods are totally dependent upon his moments of genius or insanity.


And Duff would also blame "yes men" for the downfall of the band:

A lot of drugs and yes men came in, and that killed the band.

But, in getting that big, a lot of people got in between the band. You know, our entourage got bigger and bigger, and a lot of people just got in between especially Axl and Slash and I. That’s what tore the band apart, it wasn’t the band itself. The band left to its own devices was okay, but it began to be - Slash and I were the only guys who had reason. We were saying, “No, no, no, we can’t do this.” There was 100 other yes men going, “Yes, yes.” So Axl is hearing Slash and I being the only guys saying “no” - you know, where we would have said “no” the whole time along, it wasn’t like we were just all of a sudden starting saying “no”. I’m using “no” as in for instance, you know. So, after a while, it just got really old.  

With Guns N’ Roses, so many people got involved. When we were just a band left to our own doings, we were fine. Guns got so many extra people. Right now we just have a tour manager, three crew guys and no yes-men. We’ve learned where yes-men come from, and how they can infiltrate and f**k up a band.

With Guns, there were probably 80 yes-men, and when Axl hears yes 80 times a day, and Slash and I say no, who’s right? It’s 80 against two. Money and sales didn’t have much to do with the demise of that band, it was the yes-men.


Duff would revisit the yes-man leitmotif in 2007:

I just think that that experience is where I earned my understanding, you know? I mean I was fucked up then, and so a lot of all that shit kind of fed each other. The machine was just so big. There was no way out, and there were just so many yes-men, and there's a myriad of reasons. Mostly it's because it was out of control. I know I self-medicated my way through the entire 'Use Your Illusion' tours. It wasn't til it was done did I know I had a health problem, and I got sober. That's where I got a lot of experience in dealing with people and strange situations — I got a crash course from '86 through '93, an expert education. There was a time where if it were up to me, I would have salvaged things, and even Slash tried many times. We all wanted to save it, it's not like we all walked up one day and said 'fuck you!'

You see, he (Axl) was a singer in this meteoric rock band that sort of captured the imagination and hit some sort of nerve with a whole reputation, and while every member of than band was important to making that happen, he was the singer. The focal point. I know that more yes-men came his way, and I think that soon your sense of reality gets a little eschewed, and that the real friends you have either change on you or those other people close them out. I can't speak for Axl now, and I haven't hung out with him for a real long time now, but a lot of this happened to me… but I wasn't the singer. So I was able to escape it. So yeah, it's sad, man."


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:40 pm

JUNE 1994
IT IS TRUE, GILBY IS OUT

Rumours about Gilby's being out of the band had circulated throughout 1994 [see previous chapter], among rumours that the band was breaking up [see previous chapter]. In an interview with Kerrang! published in late June, Slash would confirm that Gilby had indeed been fired by Axl and was indeed out of the band:

Gilby was fired from the band by Axl recently. We have been trying out a couple of potential replacements, but so far no one has really worked out. Gilby is working with me at the moment, and we shall just have to see what happens with him.


So apparently, this time he had been fired one more time than he had been re-hired as indicated in previous chapters, this ultimate firing had probably happened in May or April.

Still, only a month later, Gilby would dismiss the rumours and claim an article in the metal press has mistakenly indicated Gilby had admitted to being out of the band:

Well, that’s just not true. There was an article in the metal press where certain things that I said were chopped up to make it a little more interesting. But everything is okay now.

Guns N’ Roses are on down time right now. I’d decided that after I’d made the record I was gonna go on tour. So I pretty much gave notice to the band that when my record came out I was gonna spend eight months on it. Otherwise I could’ve sat around waiting for things to happen…

When that article came out, our manager said, ‘Oh my God! What happened?’ But I read it and just started laughing. It’s like, ‘What do you expect? Why don’t you ask them for the excerpts of that tape and find out what I really said?’!


And when the interviewer suggested the rumours about his departure was exaggerated:

Oh, way exaggerated! There are things that I’ve heard that I don’t even know where they came from!



AXL DOESN'T WANT TO WORK WITH GILBY

As discussed previously, it was uncertain from the very beginning if the band ever intended to write with Gilby or if he was just intended as a touring replacement for Izzy found on short notice. As 1994 came along, Slash obviously wanted to work with Gilby and together they wrote songs intended for the next Guns N' Roses album, but Axl had not changed his opinions and found Gilby's type of rock less aligned with his visions of where Guns N' Roses needed to go to be relevant [see later discussions].

When (frontman Axl Rose) explained to me how he wanted to change (GNR's) music, it was clear to me that I was going to be a pretty small part of what was going to go on. He basically worked me out of the band […]

I haven't spoken to him (Rose) in four years. Axl came to me and explained he wanted to make music that was Nine Inch Nails meets Pearl Jam.

As soon as I finished [Panwshop Guitars], before it came out [in July], Axl came up with the idea that he wants to change the sound of the band. He wants to take the band in a more Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Jane's Addiction direction.

It became pretty clear to me that I wasn’t going to be involved. Because I told him that I like a loud version of the Rolling Stones, that’s the band I want to be in. He said, ‘You know what, we're never going to be like that again.'

[Being asked when he last talked to Axl]: My last conversation with him was when he called me and was trying to explain what he wanted to do. And, basically, it was: I want to change the sound of the band. You know, I want to go more into a current direction. You know, I want to use, you know, more industrial type things. You know, he was really into bands like Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails. And I just kinda laughed and said: You know, look -- I want to play guitar in a loud version of The Rolling Stones, you know?

[Being asked when he had had enough of Guns N' Roses]: Actually, I never really had enough. My leaving was a strange thing. I left and was fired at the same time. I didn’t want to go along with the program. When Axl called me about the direction of the band he wanted to take, I voice my opinion. I said, “I think this is a great hard rock band and I think we should continue that.” He didn’t agree with me. I said, “Look, if it is a hard rock band then I am in but if you are going to have three or four guitar players then I am out.” Then I was out. I kind of made my statement and lived by it. […] The new Guns & Roses has three guitar players in the band and Axl plays guitar. That was not something that appealed to me. It is his band. He can do whatever he wants but I didn’t agree with it.


In April 1995, Slash would confirm that the reason why Gilby was fired came down to musical differences with Axl, and also that he wasn't really fired:

Axl and Gilby had some musical differences […]

He didn’t really get fired. It’s just that something between Axl and him wasn’t working


That Gilby wasn't fired per se, but just not on a retainer anymore but possible again in the future, also ties in with Axl's more fluid views on what a "band" could be, compared to Slash's more traditional perspective of a band being a fixed number of guys who are friends, hang out together, and play together [see other chapters].

That Axl might be open to working with Gilby in some capacity later is also implied by Gilby when he in 1997 would say he and Axl had planned to discuss the future after Gilby returned from his tour, but this discussion never took place:

We never talked when it was all done. It was clear I wasn’t part of the band any more.



HOW THE FIRING OF GILBY WENT DOWN AND SLASH'S ROLE

When this first came up, Gilby, Duff, Matt and myself were rehearsing. It wasn’t a great rehearsal, I was just trying to get Guns together. I had weird thoughts about what was going on, and then I got a phone call from Axl (about) the fact that he didn’t wanna write with Gilby but we'd keep him on as a side guy. He’s adamant. […] So I took Gilby to dinner and said this is what's going on; I just don’t want you to hear it from somebody else. Then Gilby had a conversation with Axl that didn’t turn out well, then there was a fight with Duff and the next thing you know everything was f***ed up.

One night, after I came home from a rehearsal with Gilby, Matt and Duff – we were writing new songs - Axl called me on the phone and told me that he didn’t want to work with Gilby anymore. I thought, ‘Fuck...’ From the way he said it, I understood that he was serious. […]  Anyway, from the way Axl talked to me about it, I realised that there was nothing I could do to fix the situation. He had made his decision, and I don’t even know the reason that led him to it. So I went out to dinner with Gilby and told him what was going on, because I didn’t want him to find out from third parties. He had already recorded his solo album when the problem with Axl came up. Gilby was the perfect guitarist for Guns N 'Roses, and now the void is evident, and I don’t know who his permanent replacement will be. But my band, Snakepit, is doing great. Gilby and I played very well together.  This whole issue with Gilby was typical Axl stuff, you know...
Popular 1, February 1995; translated from Spanish

The whole Guns N' Roses situation with Gilby wasn't as cut and dry as it seems. He wasn't really fired officially. Axl just didn't wanna write with him. He never even got a chance to write with us. And so, I told Gilby that that was going on. So he didn't hear it from somewhere else. Because if you know, in this business, leaks are like crazy. And it's just best to be upfront and honest about thing. So I told him what was going on. Then he had words with Axl and then in turn he had words with Duff. And that sort of cemented the, you know, the relationship, the departure. Whatever you wanna call it.

You know, I would love for none of this to have happened. It’s personally, on a pride level, very damaging and I don’t expect him, even if he was asked to come back, to come back. But he was never officially fired. Axl just didn’t want to write with him. Gilby never even got a chance to write, except for with me.

Anyway, so as far as Gilby is concerned, I wouldn’t expect him to come back even, like I said, if he was asked, only because his feelings were hurt. Axl didn’t want to write with him and I had to go and tell Gilby myself that this was going on, so he didn’t hear it, you know, in the field or something or turned into some sort of weird rumor. So I went and told him and then – well, I think the thing that really etched in stone Gilby’s dismissal from Guns was the fact that he had words with Duff and he had words with Axl, and that sort of cemented the fact that he wasn’t in the band. But Axl still thinks, like he does with everybody, like, “Well, maybe we’ll have three guitar players, or maybe we’ll do this or maybe we’ll do that,” or “Gilby can come out live,” but whatever. And I come from a different point of view altogether: that you get the guy that fits naturally, you write together, he plays on the record and he does the tour. It’s not like we get a bunch of hired Guns just because Axl thinks that me and him are the only things that are really important in Guns N’ Roses, you know. I don’t think - it has always been a band to me, you know, so we’ll see what happens.

I got a phone call from Axl after Gilby, Duff, Matt, and I had come home from rehearsal. He was adamant that he didn't want to write with Gilby, and he wanted to explore some other kind of writing approach. He's always had this vision of teaming me up with a guitar player that's going to stretch my boundaries, whereas I still come from the old Guns N' Roses school where I do what I do and he does what he does. Getting two lead players to meet eye to eye is difficult, not to mention overflowing the record with self-indulgent guitars. I told Gilby about this. He was never officially kicked out of the band, but I think the feelings were so strong, and Gilby was so taken aback by the whole thing, that he was a little confused. Then he had words with Axl and Duff, and that more or less cemented his position out of Guns N' Roses. Then he went on to do the Gilby Clarke project. Gilby and I have always been the closest of friends. I will never really understand why that happened, and that was the first thing that instigated a separation between Axl and me. And that's why there's still a hole in the band to this day.
Guitar Player, May 1995; interview from December 1994


But Slash would also imply that he had agreed with the decision to let Gilby go:

[The firing of Gilby is] a sensitive subject. Put it this way, it wasn't my idea. [...] What happened was we were rehearsing and Gilby was really out of it one day. The morale of the band, we were all trying to keep it together and he was the odd man out that day. I was complaining and then Axl called me that same night and said he didn't want to work with Gilby anymore for a lot of different reasons. In a way I sort of went along with it, at least Axl thought I was going along with it because I had my own complaints from that night at rehearsal. This was about a year ago. […] [The dismissal of Gilby] was never etched in stone, but it was etched in Axl's mind. I knew there was no argument. Axl probably thought I was totally behind it. I went to talk to Gilby because I didn't want him to hear anything on the street. I told him what was going on, and everything was in a state of flux for a while.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

[Gilby] got fired. […] I think it was writing differences basically. But it wasn't with me. I actually liked Gilby at the time.


The quote above suggests there could have been a misunderstanding between Axl and Slash where Axl assumed Slash also wanted Gilby out. Slash explicitly states that it was likely Axl thought he wanted Gilby out, too. Failure to correct this misunderstanding may have cemented Axl's decision. When Gilby then talked to Axl, it is natural Axl would be steadfast on the decision, thinking he and Slash was in agreement.

Later, Doug Goldstein would discuss the talk between Gilby and Axl and say it was Gilby who had quit the band:

Gilby toured with us to complete the "Illusions" tour. Shortly thereafter Axl and Gilby spoke about what Axl wanted to try next. […] After Izzy's departure Axl felt Guns could use a little help in the writing department. Axl thought the addition of another guitar player (#3) would help the situation. Unhappy with this, Gilby stated "I don't want to be in Molly Hatchet" and quit.


And Marc Canter would try to remember how it went down:

Axl didn't like what he was hearing with what Slash and Gilby were coming up with. He wanted Slash to work with Paul [Huge/Tobias] instead. Thats all that I remember. I don't even remember if Gilby then quit because he wasn't going to be able to work on the record or if he got fired. I think he just walked away knowing that there was nothing for him left to do? I think his only chance was to maybe tour again which was nowhere in site at that point. Also when Slash decided not to hang around with Axl, Gilby went with Slash to start Snakepit.


Interestingly, in 1999, Gilby would claim Axl had tried to get Slash to fire Gilby a few times, but that Slash hadn't done it:

I had known for a long time that Axl was going to change the direction of the band. I knew the end was coming. That's why I dug deep into my solo career. There were days when Axl would call Slash and go, Fire Gilby - he doesn't fit in with my plan,' but he would never tell me. That was going on for a long time.

One day, the money stopped, and that was my clue [laughing].

But I knew what was going on so it wasn't a shock. I was never officially fired or anything.


If this is correct that would explain why Gilby was so ambiguous about his own status in the band - he simply didn't know he was fired!

The comment about a fight between Gilby and Duff likely implies that Duff had taken Axl's side, too, or agreed that Gilby shouldn't write with the band.

In 2019, Gilby would recount Slash telling him at a restaurant that Axl didn't want to continue with Gilby, but also that Slash then did a 180 a week later and suggested Gilby still was in the band, despite the paychecks stopped coming:

The Guns thing, you know, basically, Slash said, 'Meet me at Casa Vega.' He goes 'Axl doesn't want you in the band anymore. I don't know what it is, I honestly don't, just go with it. I'm not saying this is permanent, I'm just saying this is what it is. He wants to work on some new music, he doesn't see what we're doing as viable.' And that's also the time when Slash decided to make the Slash's Snakepit record. He [Axl] didn't like Slash's stuff either, but he wasn't kicking Slash out of the band, so basically they didn't fire me, but my paychecks stopped. And then a week later Slash had this revelation, he goes, 'What the fuck are we doing? Are we going to replace Gilby?'. And he called me, 'Everything's fine, you're in the band, don't worry about it.' But my paychecks never came back, and that was it. I was never officially fired from the band, but it just kind of ended, and I was busy, I had my solo record, I had Slash's thing. And also, remember, it's not like I was not in the band and the band was doing anything. They didn't do anything [after I was stopped getting my paychecks]."


HOW IT AFFECTED GILBY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AXL AND DUFF

Later, after having left the band, Gilby would on a few occasions talk about his friends in Guns N' Roses and tellingly not include Axl or Duff [The Acron Beacon Journal, January 27, 1995]. This quote also informs us that the firing of Gilby happened before the end of June, since Gilby was still in Los Angeles rehearsing with the band at that time before embarking on his solo tour in July.


SLASH MAKES IT CLEAR, VERY CLEAR, THAT THIS WAS ALL AXL

[Gilby] was shocked when he was fired, because there was no other reason behind it other than Axl had made up his mind. And of course I had to be the f**king messenger of bad news, which was f**ked for me because Gilby and I are really close. You don't play with people like that.

That had nothing to do with me. I want to sort of try to set the record straight.

[…] Gilby had just been kicked out of Guns N' Roses but was still with me. I didn't kick him out anyway.

[…] you know, Gilby got fired, Axl got to fire Gilby and that was one of the main key things that separated me and Axl by miles.

It was something between [Gilby] and Axl, I'm not informed completely.
Folha De Sao Paulo Journal, July 21, 1995; translated from Portuguese


These quotes imply that it was entirely Axl's decision and that Slash was against it, and downplay the fact that Slash had "sort of went along with it" as he admitted above. It serves to put the responsibility for Gilby's departure entirely on Axl's shoulders, while the quotes in Metal Edge and The Gazzette indicate that Axl had been under the impression that Slash agreed with the decision (and even initiated it) and that Duff also agreed with the firing. As such, what went down is much more complex than the simple "Axl fired Gilby" as Slash would be pushing in 1995 when he was on increasingly bad terms with Axl. And since Axl had stopped doing press, Slash's "Axl fired Gilby" became gospel in the media. That Slash wasn't "fully informed" about the reasoning for Gilby dismissal, sounds quite unlikely considering the fact that he had talked to Axl about it prior to it happening, that Slash was the one that informed Gilby, and that he talked extensively to Gilby about it afterwards. Again, it seems like Slash is trying to wash his hands of it and put all the blame on Axl. Granted, this interview is translated from Portuguese, and there could be an error in the translation.

In 1996, Matt would also imply it had been all Axl's decision and that the rest of them were informed in a phone call:

We all got a phone call, he's out. And we were kind of bummed out 'cause we really like Gilby. He's a really nice guy. Now he's suing us.


Again, this is not entirely true since Slash, and possibly Duff, had been part of the process. And in another contemporary quote from Matt he would imply that Axl, Slash and Duff were all behind the decision:

When it was Gilby, humm, when I learned that he was fired, it was difficult. There was Slash, Duff and Axl, the 3 original members of the band and they said they had to tell me. I didn't knew what to say. It's their band and I didn't knew how to react. I said OK. […] [Gilby's] a great guy. But I don't know if he was the good guy to write the new album with us. We did some songs together, but Axl thought it was not good enough. And Axl is really intelligent and he always make the good choices. I must agree with him, because he's a visionary. He knows what GNR should be 2 or 3 years in advance.
Hard Rock, September 1996; translated from French



HOW THE FIRING OF GILBY AFFECTED AXL AND SLASH'S RELATIONSHIP

Later Slash would claim the firing of Gilby was the start to the end between his and Axl:

Unfortunately, when he got fired from Guns, I was completely - that was the beginning of when I left Guns, because I felt that Axl was losing touch with where I was coming from, and it sort of snowballed after that, on the down side. I sort of just went, OK, Axl, you do what you're gonna do. But as far as rock'n'roll is concerned, yeah, there's a few guys around that actually know it pretty well.


That Gilby's dismissal became a thorn in Slash's side and would make his relationship with Axl harder in the coming period, will become clear from future chapters.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:40 pm

EARLY 1994
TRYING TO REPLACE GILBY, PAUL HUGE IS CONSIDERED

EARLY 1994, AXL BRINGS IN PAUL HUGE

From the following quote it would be implied that the band had started working with a guitarist called Paul Huge already shortly after Axl had rejected Slash's material, and before Gilby was officially out of the band:

Axl’s been wanting to make a record this whole time. But when we finally got together and I'd written some material, he didn’t want to do that type of music, cos the scene had changed. I’m not going to keep up with trends, so we had a conflict of interests. That’s when Paul Huge came in.


Gilby would also later talk about being opposed to adding a third guitar layer to the band, which could mean Axl were considering adding Paul to the mix even before Gilby was out:

I didn’t think Guns N’ Roses should have three guitarists in the band. [Laughs] I was pretty stern about it so we [=Axl and Gilby] didn’t agree [...].



WITH GILBY BEING OUT THE NEED FOR A REPLACEMENT IS OBVIOUS

Gilby was fired from the band by Axl recently. We have been trying out a couple of potential replacements, but so far no one has really worked out. Gilby is working with me at the moment, and we shall just have to see what happens with him.


In November and December, Slash would mention that another guitarist had come in to take Gilby's place:

We’ve talking about it for the last year. We just haven’t really - you know, with the absence of Gilby there was a hole in the band. Then there was a new guy that came in, but we haven’t really all come to a cohesive decision as to what exactly we’re gonna do.

Axl wanted to bring a friend of his in that I didn't like. Right now there's a big hole on second guitar.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994


The guitarist that Slash refers to here, and who was an Indiana friend of Axl's, was Paul Huge (also referred to as Paul Tobias) [The Gazette, January 26, 1995]. When Slash mentions they have not reached a "cohesive decision" on Paul, that would be something of an understatement hiding Slash's refusal to work with him [more on this in later chapter].

In October, media would claim the replacement guitarist was indeed Paul Huge ("pronounced Oo-gee") who was described as a "thinner, lighter-haired Axl" [News Pilot, October 7, 1994]. Slash would later say they played with Paul for two weeks [Kerrang! September 14, 1996].


SLASH DOES NOT LIKE PAUL

Slash would later talk about trying to work with Paul at his Snakepit studio, but that the rehearsals broke down due to Slash and Paul not getting along:

Then finally, as time went on, I started trying to work with Axl up at the Snakepit studio with this guy, Paul Huge, who I couldn’t stand but tried to make things work. And finally, because of the fact that nobody besides Axl liked this guy, it built friction between Duff and Matt and I, which has never existed before. So once I saw that happening, I said rehearsals are over. Axl was out of town for a week or something, and he came back and he goes, “What time is rehearsal?” I said, “There is no rehearsal,” so that started another fight. Plus I took that guy, Paul, off the payroll, so there was a big conflict of interest there.


What is interesting from this is that planned work on the record broke down due to Slash and Paul not getting along, that Paul had been on the band's payroll, and that this conflict somehow caused friction also between Slash, Matt and Duff.

Slash's feelings towards Paul will be discussed in more depth in later chapters.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:41 pm

JULY 24, 1994
GILBY RELEASES 'PAWNSHOP GUITARS' AND GOES TOURING

I enjoy making my own music. I certainly enjoy working with the members of Guns N' Roses, but there really isn't much room for my songs in the band. Slash and Axl really have an incredible capacity for creating great songs, and I don't want to be appeased with having maybe one token song on an album. I think I'd find that a little frustrating.
Hit Parader, December 1994; originally from earlier source

___________________________________

Gilby had been working on a solo record for a while. By January 1994 Slash would say Gilby's solo record was "pretty much finished" [Rockline, January 3, 1994], and in May 1994 he would report it would be called 'Pawn Shop Guitars' but didn't know what his solo band would be named [Kerrang! May 14, 1994].

Okay, the most important thing about making the record was I that had all these songs already done, already finished, and it just didn’t really fit very well with what we were doing in GN’R. So I said, “Well, I’m gonna make a record of all my songs and I want to make it a record that I would enjoy listening to, too.” You know, I wanted it to be my style of music, everything. It’s like, I wanted to make the record that I would wanna go to the store to buy.

I had this project in mind long before I joined Guns n' Roses. In fact, most of the songs on Pawn Shop Guitars date from that period, which doesn’t have much to do with the music of Guns, even if it's still rock n' roll.

Some of this stuff was before GNR - you know, when we were playing in The Blackouts and stuff. And then, some of it I wrote on the road, but, you know, I didn’t have any time to write songs and stuff while we were out. But, as soon as I got off the road is when I went in to make it, you know, just a – I didn’t know what we were gonna do with GNR, so I just wanted to go in as fast as possible.

Well, we took, like, about three months to make it, and that was too much longer than I wanted to do it. So I kind of like (?). “I know you wanna work harder on it,” “Nah, it’s just fine, man, let’s just leave it.”


When asked, Gilby would say the songs had not been intended for Guns N' Roses:

No, not at all. These songs were – when I write songs, I don’t really write them for anything in particular. I write a song, and for me to come up with 10 songs for an album means I wrote 15. So, like, the last four years I’ve only written 15 songs. I didn’t really have any intentions for any of them to go to GN’R. I just write the songs and then, when it’s all done, I go, “Well, maybe they’d like to hear this one,” you know? But none of them was really GN’R material. It seemed like when everything was finished that it really was a record in itself. You know, it shouldn’t be for GN’R, it should be for me. [...] I’d written most of them, I’d say, before I got in GN’R. Then, since I’ve been in GN’R I’ve probably written about four of them. Songs like Cure Me or Kill Me, Let’s Get Lost, Johanna’s Chopper, those are brand new songs. Those are the ones that I did write – they really weren’t for GN’R, they were for... [...] Like I said, I write songs for myself. The most important thing is, when I’m writing a song, I write something that I’d enjoy to listen to. It’s like as much as I enjoy to put on a Beatles record and listen to Happiness Is a Warm Gun. I mean, I want to write a song that I would enjoy listening to, so I really write for myself. But, like I said, once I have a bunch of them then I kind of like go, “Uh, what should I do with them?” You know, “Should I start a band?” “Are they for Guns N’ Roses?” You know, I don’t know. But I don’t think any of these were really for Guns N’ Roses at all.

To get back to this solo album, I had a bunch of songs, some of which were written long before I joined Guns. The problem was that those songs didn't really fit in with the style of the band. So I figured it would be a good idea to find a way to record them and then go out on tour for a few months. This seemed to make sense to me because, as you know, when Guns N' Roses takes a break, it doesn't last two months, but rather two years! It looked like there was plenty of time to record an album and do a full tour (laughs) before going back to the studio with the band...


But later, Gilby would say the songs had been intended for Guns N' Roses, or at least presented to them, but that the band simply wasn't interested in them:

I had a backlog of songs that I had ready to go. I brought those songs to the band, because we weren't sure if we were going to make a new record. Nobody was really interested in them, so I just said, You know, I'm gonna put out my own record. If anyone buys it, they buy it; if they don't, they don't.

[Being asked if he plans to make a new solo record]: (Laughs) Well, not for a while. I was planning on doing it this year. When I got back from the MC5 tour, my job was to write a new solo record. But now that Supernova is happening, those songs that I was working on, I'm gonna be giving them to Supernova. So, if they won't make it, it'll be the same thing with GN'R, I'll make one next year. [...] I have a lot of really cool new songs that I'm really happy about. And like I said they're gonna go to Supernova, if we don't dig them they'll go to a new solo record.

The reason why I made [Pawnshop Guitars] was cause I knew the days were numbered. I could tell from the way Axl was on the road, and the conversations we had, that he was going somewhere different. So I gave a bunch of guitar songs to Axl and Slash, and they passed on them. So, that's when I decided to make my record. But, yeah, I could pretty much tell that it was going to be hard to keep it together.

So, towards the end of the [Use Your Illusion] tour, I got an offer to do a solo record. Before Guns, I had a deal with Virgin Publishing, I was a songwriter, and they offered me a record deal once I got the Guns gig, to do a solo record. Look, I didn't want to do a solo record, I'd much rather do a Guns N' Roses record, but the band was not gonna make a record for a long time. So, I got the offer, I asked the guys, 'These are my songs, do you have any interest in them for GN'R in the future?' They said no; I said, 'Is it okay if I make a solo record?'; they said, 'Absolutely, keep yourself busy.' So, I did, I made the solo right after.


In 2013, Gilby would clarify when asked if he had hoped the song would end up as GN'R song:

Yes and no. The Pawnshop Guitars record was mainly songs that I had written before I was in the band. It's songs that I had written, and when it was time - we thought - to make the next Guns N' Roses record, I did show Axl and Slash those songs. I said, "Hey, guys, these are some of my songs. These are already done. But check them out. If you hear something, I don't care, you can tear them apart, whatever you want to do with them." So yes, those were pre-Guns songs. I think the only one that I wrote while I was still there was "Cure Me or Kill Me," which was the first song on the record. That was actually a brand new song that came right as the record was being made.


Gilby intended to do a tour in Japan and then a tour in the US in July [Kerrang! May 14, 1994], because of his touring plans he had informed Guns N' Roses he would be unavailable from "July until the end of the year" for any GN'R work [Kerrang! May 14, 1994].

(It was) something I'd always wanted to do. It was the perfect time - I knew that the band wasn't going to do anything for a long time.




Pawnshop Guitars
July 24, 1994



Slash, Duff, Matt and Axl would all feature on the record [UG Rock Chronicles, June 13, 1994].

I don't know why Axl didn't play on Duff's album, but he was easy to work with on mine. He came down to the studio, wasn't terribly late [laughs] put down the vocals and the result was good. […] Axl came down, played piano and when he was ready he said "do you want me to sing too?". I was surprised and answered "and I thought you didn't want to."

I got all the guys in the band; you know, I kind of thought that by having the guys included that’d be a cool thing and then, you know, maybe people wouldn’t talk about things like “Gilby is leaving the band” or this and that. I wanted to include everybody and make it fun, you know? I didn’t have Axl sing on the record, I had him play piano and then he asked to sing. I had Duff play drums on a track. And Slash is, like, my best friend, so whenever he’s doing something I’m there, and whenever I’m doing something he comes and hangs out. Same with Matt. [...] Axl showed up - Axl won’t even show up for a GN’R record, let alone show up for my record, you know? (laughs).

All the Guns members came to help me out - even Axl plays the piano and sings on a song. I think it gave them a good opportunity to get their heads together before they started writing the songs for the next album. Then there’s my friend Frank Black of the Pixies and Rob Affuso, the drummer in Skid Row, who also guest on the album. It's good to make a record like that, with friends.

I had actually asked Axl to come play piano on the song, because he plays piano very well," Clarke said. I just thought it was kind of like an odd thing, kind of like having Frank Black (ex-Pixies) play on 'Jail Guitar Doors.' I had no intention of him singing, and then he said, "So, you want me to sing with you or what?"

The only time I ever worked with Axl in the studio is when he came and sang and played on my solo record. He was a pro in the studio. He knew what to do and what not to do. I loved what he contributed to the song.

It just ended up that way. We had just ended a two-and-a-half year tour where we were living together for two-and-a-half years. That’s your circle so I was the first one in the studio after that so they were all hanging out at the studio when I was making the record, which says how we did things. To be honest, it’s not like I had a choice with them playing on the record because they were hovering over me all the whole time, hahaha.


Talking about touring with his own band while GN'R was on a break:

[...] like I said, in GN’R it really is what Axl and Slash say, it’s what they want. I’m such a small part of what makes the whole GN’R thing go around, so it’s good for me to go out and say, “Well, I’m ready to do my record. Let me go out, I’m gonna tour for a while.” And I’ve already made the commitment that I’m going on the road for about six months. So, even if we do start a record, they’ll have got to wait six months for me to get back (laughs).

I don't know! We did the Spaghetti Incident to hopefully buy us some time and shit and I think towards the end of the year we might like re-group and see what's gonna happen. But right now I don't think anybody's in the right state of mind to make a Guns N' Roses record. And I gave them my notice as to the next six months and I said, So, wait!' That doesn't mean they're gonna wait, you know, but I made a commitment to myself and my record company and people I play with. I think GNR is something that will be around for a long time so if I take a little break for now, I think it's OK.

I would like to do it. I even considered putting together a touring band, but we started rehearsing with Guns n' Roses. We are working on the songs for the next album and I don't know if I’d have the chance to do a solo tour.


In late 1997, Gilby would summarize what happened:

After that (“The Spaghetti Incident”) we got together and said, ’It's going to be awhile before we put out a record, everybody go do what you want to do.’ I said, I’m going to put out a solo record.' The band was very supportive, everybody came and played on it. It was awesome.


And looking back at the record:

I was working with a really great label at that time. I was on Virgin Records and that was… most of the highlights were with that record. I mean I was really proud of that record. To me it encompassed all the music that I like, you know. I kinda got some hard rock edge in there, I got some bluesier stuff in there, some rootsy things, and then I also got some pop elements, like Beatles stuff that I like. It really encompassed everything that I like about music within one record. I had a lot of guest people that came in and helped out on the record and that was really important to me. And "Cure Me or Kill Me" did fairly well on radio, which was good, and I was happy about it because at least everybody else gets it. Not everybody gets your music. You don't always make music that was popular at the time. And what was cool when that record came out which was it was definitely at the end of hard rock music and when grunge was coming in. But the song was still doing well on radio even though radio was Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam at that time, that song was still out there doing well. So I was happy. I also opened up a lot of dates with Aerosmith in South America. That was a big, big thrill for me. I mean those were some of the greatest shows I've ever played in my life, doing my solo band opening for Aerosmith.


And the song 'Cure Me or Kill Me':

Slash plays on it and I'm playing guitar on there too. When I was making the Pawnshop record, you know, I'm not the kind of person that writes like 50 songs, and then picks 10 to do a record. If I'm making a record I pretty much write 10 to 12 songs. It's like, I'm pretty good at you know, if the song's not good it doesn't get that far. You know, so, usually if I write a song, I'm writing it. It'll make a record . So when we were doing the Pawnshop record, you know, I was still writing at the same time. My label was still pressing me, you know, make sure you write. Make sure you write and everything and I was like, ah we have enough songs, we're ready to go. And then right as we're going into the studio, I go, you know what, I've got this riff (laughs). And I had the riff around it, and I just kinda kept jamming it, and it really ended up being the last song we put on the record and I was finishing the lyrics as I was singing the song. You know, it's like I had the title, you know, for a while and some of the lyrics, but I really was finishing them as I was singing it at the time. So it's kinda unique because it really is to me, it's a song that kinda encompasses everything that I like about music in a three minute song. And it's funny how it came together so fast.


Being asked which of his solo records is his favorite:

Pawnshop Guitars. It was a record that was in me. Very rarely do you get to make a record where it comes out the way you thought it was going to, where what you heard in your head is what you end up with. If somebody ever asked me, "Gilby, what kind of musician are you? What do you do? I don't understand what you do," I would just give them that record and go, "This is me, these are my songs. It's the way my guitar sounds, it's the way I sing, it's the way I write." That record for me is very complete.

I've made lots of records in my day, but that was the one that I'm very proud of. It just kind of all rolled together.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:41 pm

MAY-OCTOBER 1994
THE BAND IS SPLINTERING AND LITTLE IS DONE

I think we're all looking forward to a long break. We love being on the road and playing for the fans. But after almost two straight years out there you've got to get back in touch with reality. I think we'll all be dong that, but we won't be far from music. I know Axl has some ideas that he wants to try out, and that's great. Let him get 'em out of his system. When the time is right, I'm sure we'll all get back together again.

Whatever I may do in my free time, there will always be a Guns N' Roses. As long as Slash and I stay interested and motivated the band will be here, and there's no question about that. Where the band will go in the years ahead is anyone's guess, but I'm as anxious as anyone to see where that might be.

The band will be together again at some point, just – The band has not broken up. We’re just taking a break.

We came from poverty together and wrote songs that were or songs- we didn’t write them just to get signed, and we didn’t write them to sell. When we did get signed, the album didn’t sell at first. Then boom- it hit a year later. So we toured and toured and made two more records and they hit; we were playing stadiums before we knew it. When the tour was over, huge egos had been created, and we weren’t prepared for any of it. So a lot of shit happened.

______________________________________________________________________

After a dramatic tour that had held the band together through a collective goal, the band started to fall apart upon returning to Los Angeles in the second half of 1993. Slash would refer to trying to keep the band together in March 1994 when he would say that he was "trying to keep the band together as a cohesive unit so we don't splinter off" [Kerrang! March 12, 1994]. Around the same time, but published in July, Slash would refer to the band as his "family" and deny any rumours of the band breaking up:

You’re talking about my family. Rather than complain, you’ve got to move forward, be practical and reasonable about everything. I always try to communicate with the other guys in Guns, both on a personal and on an emotional level. I think you’re asking me this question because of the breakup rumours that have been flying around, but there’s no truth in any of that. We’re still working together.


So Slash would claim to try to keep the band from splintering. But it didn't work. The material that Slash had worked on was ultimately rejected by Axl and (possibly) Duff around April and then in May, Duff was hospitalized when his pancreas burst due to years of alcohol abuse [see different chapter]. With this disagreement over musical direction and Duff likely being out because of rehabilitation, Slash would continue working on the songs and contemplate another way of releasing them and Gilby would take his songs and start working on a solo record [see previous chapter], while Axl likely had enough to do with his ongoing legal entanglements [Musician Magazine, March 1995]. The result of all this was a break, a band on hiatus.

Duff would later mention Axl visiting him when he was recuperating in Seattle, likely in May and later, and how they had discussed the future of the band:

My band, Guns N' Roses, was in shambles, and suddenly the dynamic had changed. Not too long after I got out of the hospital, Axl came up to Seattle to visit me. The challenge was how we were going to make a new record and what direction we were going to go musically. We couldn't very well do anything at the time because Slash was out doing a Snakepit tour and battling his own addiction. In previous years, there had seemed to be a fail-proof alliance and understanding within our band; we knew that at the end of the day we only had each other to rely on. Now I was doing sober things with Axl, like riding mountain bikes and eating healthy food and talking on the phone about a productive musical direction. That sense of family and trust had recently been tainted by management dealings and other wedges that did everything possible to vanquish our bonds.

Looking back now, it is all so fucking clear. But then and there in the moment, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that outside forces could be so selfish and money-grubbing. These were the hard lessons I would finally learn to live with, although never by.


In May, Matt would indicate that the band had fallen apart, but that it would get back together "when the feeling is right" [The Windsor Star, May 20, 1994].

Nothing's happening right now. We're not gonna do anything. We were gonna do a lot of shows, but we're not gonna do 'em now. Nobody's really getting along right now. Everybody just called everything off, and we'll work on it when everybody feels like doing it again.

It's really strange, because the band is like two separate things. There's the guys, everybody except for Axl, and then there's the band with Axl. […] When we're on the road, we're always together. We hang out together, just like a band. But that's not including Axl. And then there's the band with Axl. He just kinda comes in and does what he does, puts the vocals on and all that kind of stuff. So when we're in the studio, it's cool.


In June, Gilby would again talk about the future of the band and imply nothing was expected to happen until the end of the year, and reiterate that he would focus on his own solo record:

I don't know! We did the Spaghetti Incident to hopefully buy us some time and shit and I think towards the end of the year we might like re-group and see what's gonna happen. But right now I don't think anybody's in the right state of mind to make a Guns N' Roses record. And I gave them my notice as to the next six months and I said, So, wait!' That doesn't mean they're gonna wait, you know, but I made a commitment to myself and my record company and people I play with. I think GNR is something that will be around for a long time so if I take a little break for now, I think it's OK.

Guys, you know what? There’s always rumors [about GN'R breaking up] (laughs). What happens is, when we’re on downtime like this, a lot of rumors fly because nothing’s happened. So people just kind of – you know, they – […] They have to write something. Look, as far as GN’R is, the band has always been in that situation where we always knew that it could be there one day and it could not be there the next day. It’s a very volatile situation. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. Right now we’re off time. Nothing’s happening. Everybody’s just gonna take – a lot of people haven’t even seen each other in a while. It’ll probably be another six to eight months before we even get back together to work on some stuff.


The same month an interviewer would ask if the process of making a new record hadn't started yet:

No. Not even close (laughs).


And on whether it was delayed:

[...] there’s no delay. One thing about GN’R is that we really don’t have a set schedule at all. It’s kind of like what would happen is, everybody one day will wake up and go, “It’s time to make a record.” I mean, it’s just that we have no rules; it just kind of like happens like that. [...] [ It’s like, in GN’R we made an agreement that we weren’t going to start a record for a long time. We were gonna take a long break - put out the Spaghetti Incident, take a break – and then, when everybody’s fresh ready, we start a new album. But the thing is with GN’R, it really is Axl and Slash’s band. When they are ready to make a record is when we’ll all be ready to make a record. So, until we get the go-ahead from those two, we find something to do in the meantime, you know?


In July, Los Angeles Times would write an article about the problems within the band, writing "reports are that the volatile rock band Guns N' Roses has divided into two feuding camps, with singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash at war" [Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1994], and this story would be repeated in many newspapers [The Winnipeg Free Press, July 27, 1994; Star Tribune, July 30, 1994]. The main problem was the divide in the band between Axl and Duff on one side and Slash, Matt and Gilby on the other, with different perspectives on the musical direction of the band resulting in Slash starting a new band, 'SVO Snakepit' [Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1994] more on this in later chapters. Axl and Duff was also said to start a separate project [Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1994].

A spokesman for the band's management would also deny that the band had broken up but were officially on hiatus for the moment but intended to start pre-production for the next record shortly [Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1994]. Zutaut would confirm that GN'R, or "some part thereof", was supposed to start working on the next record "this weekend" [Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1994].

Around the same time, Gilby would say the band was on a long break:

We made a band agreement that we’d take a long time off until the next record.


The Times would also raise the point that the public didn't really care any more about GN'R, and quote Bryan Schock, program director of L.A. hard-rock radio station KNAC-FM:

When Guns first came out it was fresh and exciting. But now Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam are the exciting things. If Guns N' Roses puts together a solid record with an hour's worth of great material, sure, there's gonna be interest. But if they don't, this could be it.


At the same time as the Los Angeles Times' article was published, Kerrang! would shockingly report that Duff had been fired, after Gilby [Kerrang! July 16, 1994]. Slash would strongly object to the rumors that Duff had been fired and that Dave Tregunna, former bassist with Sham 69, Lords Of The New Church and Kill City Dragons, had replaced him [Kerrang! July 16, 1994]:

I’ve heard the Duff story myself over here in Los Angeles and I’m frankly really pissed off about it. It’s a nasty thing for anyone to spread around. That’s one of the worst rumours I’ve heard about us in a long time! […] Duff is an important member of this band - and nothing has happened to change that. As for this guy Dave Tregunna, who is he?! I’ve never heard of him before.


Slash would claim the band was working on new music, but that nothing had been put down on tape yet:

We’ve been busy on new material for some while. There’s actually nothing down on tape as yet, but the band is working together on a regular basis.


Around the same time the band would be pursued to play at Woodstock II which would happen in August 1994 [AP/Press and Sun Bulletin, April 21, 1994]. As usual, there would be protests against GN'R on the bill, especially due to the recently released Charles Manon cover on 'Spaghetti' [Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1994]. Eventually, then band declined the offer to play but Slash would play there together with Paul Rogers and Jason Bonham on a cover of Jimi Hendrix' 'I Don't Live Today' [Public Opinion, August 15, 1994].

I played Woodstock with Paul Rodgers. Guns was supposed to play Woodstock but we turned it down because I don't think Guns represents the generation that Woodstock represents. There's nothing about the '9os that relates to the '60s to me except for a couple people running around trying to keep the fashion going. It seemed very commercial so we bowed out. But I didn't mind going down there and playing with Paul Rodgers. He's one of the originals. But the crowd wanted so much for it to be real as possible. They made the gig. It was the crowd response and enthusiasm that made it. I had a great time. It was actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be. Aerosmith is from those days so you can't knock them. But I'm glad Guns didn't do it..
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994



EPILOGUE: LOOKING BACK AT THIS PERIOD

Duff would later look back at the reasons the band was falling apart in this period:

You know what it was? It was the fame. It was the press. It was the almost unlimited power. We got too fuckin' huge, too fast. It got so big, so fast, that in most countries, we couldn't even go out after the show when we were on tour. I remember we'd all be sittin' in the damn hotel room watching CNN just to see what was going on. It was that kind of isolation, that kind of fame'¦ and of course, us trying so hard to be bad boys like The Rolling Stones. For me, personally, it was one of the darkest points of my life when we were that big. It was so unreal. Izzy left halfway through the Illusions tour. We still were holding on to that band family thing. And like a trooper, he came back out on the road with us - even though his heart wasn't in it - when Gilby broke his wrist. Later, he told me we were like zombies. Nobody on the stage was even talking to each other. It wasn't because we were hating each other, we were just kind of going through the motions. So scary. In Europe and South America, especially, it was fanatical, and we were just dazed. WE WERE FUCKING ZOMBIES! Izzy couldn't believe the change. I mean, we were hell-bent on doing whatever we had to do to continue. There were riots in the streets. We couldn't go from our cars to the gig. That shit scared the hell out of me. Yet, through it all, I still thought we were gonna pull it together after we got off that long tour. It started to happen again for a second for us. I got excited again'¦ For about a minute. But no, it was just too big a business, and none of us had the training for that.

We started going to Slash's house. I'd gone out on the road promoting my first solo record [1993's Belive In Me]. I was touring Europe and Japan, then I got sick. That's when I started visiting Slash at his house. He has a little studio there and we had a batch of songs. But, ya' know what? Without Izzy, we just weren't writing the old way. We had a bunch of great songs, but the way we uses to write wasn't all sitting in a room and trying to force ourselves to be a family. We just were. But there was a point up there where it was looking good and we started cranking out songs, but it just started falling apart.


In late 1997, Gilby would summarize what happened:

After that (“The Spaghetti Incident”) we got together and said, ’It's going to be awhile before we put out a record, everybody go do what you want to do.’ I said, I’m going to put out a solo record.'


And Slash would discuss it in 2000:

At some point during the Metallica shows, I just lost Axl. I just didn’t where he was at anymore. I didn’t know where I was at anymore! Steven was already gone, and then losing Izzy [who had quit at the end of ’91]. And it was all nothing we had control of. Everything was kind of... out of hand. Then all of a sudden, we got off the road after two-and-a-half years of touring, and everything just kind of... stopped. Dead.



STATUS OF THE WORK IN 1994

In June 1994, Slash would mention that they already had songs down on tape:

And, contrary to what some people might think, Guns N' Roses haven't been idle. We already have some songs down on tape.


These songs would come in addition to the 25 songs Slash had set aside for possible inclusion on his upcoming solo record [Kerrang! June 25, 1994].

In September The Gazette/Reuter would report that Geffen publicist Bryn Bridenthal had issued a statement saying that all members of the band were now working on new music for the next record [The Gazette/Reuter, September 4, 1994]. But, as stated above and later, with Duff recuperating from his illness and Slash's attention being elsewhere, very little was likely being done.

Rumours would also fly in the media, claiming the band was making music together. One "source close to the band" would describe the new music as "a little bit more moody" than previous material [News Pilot, October 7, 1994].

As for when a new album could be ready, Bryn Bridenthal would respond:

We don’t ever predict on Guns, because that’s wanking. The album will be finished when it’s finished.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:42 pm

JUNE-DECEMBER 1994
SLASH STOPS COMING TO BAND REHEARSALS

With Axl rejecting the music Slash had written, Slash decided to use them for his own album Snakepit [see later chapter for details on this band and record]. Matt would later speculate this was the beginning to the end:

In retrospect that was probably the beginning of the end. We should have rallied as a band and figured out how to get the songs better instead of jumping out on our own. In Axl’s defence he was probably right. We should have stuck together, it wasn’t the time for solo records. You don’t see Metallica running around doing solo records. Has Bono or the Edge made a solo record? No.


But Axl still wanted to work on the next GN'R record and this prompted Slash to speculate that he would have to work on both records simultaneously:

So I thought I’d go ahead and use the songs I’d been working up for a solo album... only now Axl has decided we should start on the new GN’R album anyway! So the two projects will be run almost in tandem.


But soon Slash would focus exclusively on Snakepit and stop coming to Guns N' Roses rehearsals:

And a lot of time went by, we started working the Snakepit album and I wasn’t coming down to Guns N’ Roses rehearsals, so Axl was getting pissed off about that. So I took some time out from Snakepit and rehearsed with Guns, and Zakk Wylde was playing with us at the time.

At one point I was actually encouraged to do a solo record because this material was a little bit, as Axl put it, 'too retro.’ So I just took the material and said, 'It’s mine now.’ […] He got pretty upset about that but he did say do a solo record. But then two weeks later it was done.

I got so disillusioned with Guns that I stopped even being able to write for Guns. That was in ’95 when I started doing Snakepit.


Later Slash would say he wasn't able to write music for GN'R anymore:

I got so disillusioned with Guns that I even stopped being able to write for the band. That was in '95 when I started doing Snakepit. I remember Axl threatening to sue me because he thought that material should have been for GN'R. I just didn't see Guns doing it so I slapped it all together for a solo record.


Zakk Wylde would first play with GN'R in January 1995, which implies that Slash didn't make himself available to Guns N' Roses for the remainder of 1994, except for the recording of 'Sympathy for the Devil' [see later chapter].

In November, after the recording of 'Sympathy' [see later chapter], the official statement was that the band planned to reconvene in the second half of 1995 - after Slash had toured in support of his Snakepit album - to work on their next record [Raw Magazine, November 1994]. Still, the media was rife with rumors suggesting the band was breaking apart, including a rumor that Matt would join Led Zeppelin for their reunion tour [RAW Magazine, November 1994].

It is unlikely that the band were able to get much work done together as a band in this period. The recording of 'Sympathy for the Devil' happened with Axl coming in separately from the rest of the band [as discussed in a later chapter], and Slash likely recorded new music in his own studio while playing with and rehearsing with Matt and possibly Duff but without Axl. This is corroborated by this quote from Matt in late 1996 where he said they "didn't really work" together:

I must agree with [Axl], because he's a visionary. He knows what GNR should be 2 or 3 years in advance. When we got out of the plane [in 1993], he said: "Guys, we'll see us again in 96". It was 3 years ago. And now, we work together and an album will be released in 97. […] I saw him! But we didn't really work.
Hard Rock, September 1996; translated from French


And Slash would talk about his not being there for Guns N' Roses:

I had to get away from Guns for a minute just because it's such an institution. I want to get really inspired to do any now Guns stuff. Guns is big enough that it doesn't matter what year we come out with a record so much. I know that people want one to come out, but I want to make sure that it's a great Guns record, not churn it out just because. So I'll get away from it for a while, have fun dicking around in clubs and get toe to toe with the kids. I'm looking forward to It.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

I love Guns with a passion. It just got to the point where - after two band member changes, ballads about Stephanie (Seymour), multi-million-dollar videos, the whole f**king cabaret thing that went on onstage - I just went, ‘There’s too much going on!


In 2019, Duff would comment on Slash withdrawing from the band prior to leaving:

I saw Slash pulling back, and I was like: “Dude, don't make any rash decisions.” But he was not in the best place at that point, and I could really recognise that. You know, I get it.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:42 pm

1994
TRYING TO REPLACE GILBY, DAVE NAVARRO IS CONSIDERED

It is not known who else were potential replacements and played with the band as indicated in the Kerrang! quote. One likely possibility is Dave Navarro, whom Axl had tried getting in when Izzy left [see previous section]:

But the idea of working with [Navarro] excites me to no end because I still put on Jane's Addiction and it always seems brand new, no matter how many times I hear it. I'd like to try to achieve a fusion of what they were trying and what GNR is doing. I think that blend, if taken seriously and patiently, could be amazing. It could be a fuller thing than anyone's done before. Dave and Slash together could be incredible-two guys very "out there" on their own, working together. […] I think the world kind of missed Dave. I'd really like to help fix that.
Hit Parader, June 1993; interview from December 1992


Media would report that the band was indeed considering hiring Navarro [Hit Parader, December 1994] and Navarro would later confirm that it had been considered:

[Being asked if he ever thought about joining the new Guns N' Roses]: No, only because I already had my hands in my new book and in this record and the possibility of a Jane's reunion. I didn't wanna bite off more than I could chew. And honestly, I love him as a person and I love his music, but I don't know if it's necessarily suited for me personally.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:42 pm

JULY 1994
THE GUNS N' ROSES PINBALL MACHINE

Slash was a big fan of pinball machines:

[…] I didn't play pinball until, It was Christmas a couple of years ago I bought one for Renee. I was in Chicago visiting her family and there was nothing to do and it started to get to me. They had three pinball machines in their basement and to kill time I started playing them. I'd never played when I was a kid. I smoked pot. I came home and bought her an Addams Family one, and one machine turned into two, two turned into four and so on. They're all over the house. We don't even have a dining room table. We always eat takeout anyway.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

All the pinball companies are in Chicago. My ex-wife, her family lives in the suburbs of Chicago, and I went there to visit for the first time - I never played pinball as a kid - so I was bored. there was nothing to do except drive into the city and get fucked up and never be able to find my way back. But they had a basement - those are real popular in Chicago - and they had pinball machines down there. So I played pinball every night for a week. We came home and I bought The Addams Family (pinball machine) for Renee. That was the first one. Then one turned into two, two turned into four, four into six, and next thing you know, I was designing one!

I got into the pinball machines, because I bought my ex-wife Adam’s Family. I mean, she turned me into pinball in Chicago. Over Christmas time you couldn’t go outside, it was freezing cold, and they had a bunch of pinball machines in the basement at her uncle’s house. It was a family thing and I was like, “Oh, Christ, this sucks. I gotta stay here for, like, two weeks.” So I started playing pinball and when we got back I bought her one for Christmas. Then I started getting into playing it with her, you know.


Then in 1993, after having returned from touring, Slash got an idea of a Guns N' Roses pinball machine:

Then while the studio was being built and Guns wasn't doing anything I thought Guns could do a pinball machine 'cause there hasn't been a genuine rock 'n' roll machine in a long time. The whole idea came together. The basic idea is to get all six guys on stage, because we have a penchant for being late.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

I’m designing the Guns N’ Roses pinball machine now. It’s gonna be killer — the loudest machine ever. It’ll be a six-ball machine ... with songs from the albums on it.


In early 1994 Slash would talk about a Guns N' Roses pinball machine that was slated for launch in the summer.

It's almost done. I've been working... Actually, to tell you the truth, when the earthquake hit [on January 17, 1994], I'd already planned on going to Chicago to work with the Data East Company, who make awesome pinball games. And I came out to Chicago to work on the artwork for it. So, it's sort of like, my little project, that I'm working with them. And it should be out in the summer. […] there's like 13 songs on it.

I like pinball because it’s physical and it’s definitely more rock ‘n’ roll. Video games are wimpy. I got really hooked at it, you know? And I thought, well, they haven’t done a rock ‘n’ roll machine in about 15 years. I think the last one was Ted Nugent. So I thought Guns could probably get away with making a machine at this point. […] It’s definitely a hip game. Plus, it’s the first game that’s ever had real guitars. It’s the loudest one made today. So I’m really proud of it.




The Guns N' Roses pinball machine



The pinball game would feature unreleased music from GN'R:

There’s a song called Ain’t Going Down, which we just never finished, and we have a chorus for it, so I figure we’d use that, you know, and finally get it out there. So now that we’ve done it we have to actually record it.


'Ain't Going Down' had previously been intended to be released on 'The Spaghetti Incident?' [see previous section].

Talking about the pinball machine after its release:

A few years ago, I spent a couple of weeks in the suburbs of Chicago one winter. After a couple days of just sitting there watching TV. I got pretty bored. I was at my uncle-in-­law’s house. In Chicago they have base­ments, and in his basement he had three or four pinball machines that sort of cut the boredom a little bit. I’d never ever been into pinball when I was a kid, never was interested. Finally, I broke down and I was like, well this is something to do, and I got into pinball. I bought my wife one for the following Christmas. And then one turned into about 20. And the whole house was completely — I mean, the living room, the upstairs bar, everywhere there’s pinball machines. Anyway, the band was off the road, finally, and I started thinkin' Guns could probably do a pinball machine. We haven't had a rock n' roll machine in 15 years that was based on a particular band. So, I just started jotting ideas on scraps of papers and napkins - that’s how I always come up with ideas - doodling. And I came up with the basic framework for what I’d consider to be a really different kind of pinball machine. The next thing was which company to go with and who would be interested. I didn't want to go with Barry and Williams because I would have given them the idea and then that would have been the last I would have seen of it until it came out. I wanted to have — you know, more or less creative input through the whole making of the game. And a couple of the machines that I have at home which are the most original and the most, like, on- the-edge machines - you know that take chances - are the Data East machines. So, I went to Chicago and I met with them, showed them my basic designs and stuff and I said, like, "Can you do this? Can you do that?" And they said, "We can fuckin’ do anything." You know, that’s more of the attitude where I come from. We hooked up. And those people at Data East are wonder­ful. They’re really great people. I’d bring a bottle of Jack and we’d all hang out in the drawing room with a big sheet of paper and draw things out into the middle of the night. So, we basically came up with a game and the design team that I worked with — I can’t give you all their names, but there was a guy named Lymon and there was a guy named John Borg who - if you see the machine, it’s designed by John Borg and me. Then, they were serious. They got into it. And before you know it. I'm flying back and forth to Chicago, like, shit, once every couple of weeks, and going over details and so-on and so-forth. So, to actually see it finished and working right now - I'm really proud of it. But it's the loudest game ever made, it’s the only time that real gui­tars and real vocals have ever been used on a pinball machine. So, it’s real Innova­tive. At least at present. God knows what the next pinball machine’s gonna be like. I got to go into the studio and take the origi­nal Guns N' Roses masters from the record and strip them back down to the individual tracks and that was sort of nostalgic. And then we went in and did some voice overs for it. You know, "jackpot" and this and that - little things that the pinball machine says. And that's basically it. It's out and you can find it in arcades. And I have one here at home and it drives me crazy 'cause it plays "Welcome to the Jungle" as the main song and I'm sick of hearing it. And you can crank it as loud as you want - we keep all the machines pretty loud. Everybody who comes over plays it. It’s a good game though. I mean gamewise and also strategically.

It's actually pretty much the most original high-tech kind of game to date, because it's got real guitars on it, and real vocals on it. I'm really happy with it, I was sitting around at home and writing on pieces of napkins, getting the design together. I actually managed to pull off about 80 percent of it, so there's not really any other game like it.

I took the original master tapes out of the vault and stripped them all down to 24 tracks, and then took the guitars and pulled them off. I lifted the riff off ‘...Jungle’, and all Axl’s vocals. The drum samples are ones that Matt uses when he does drum clinics. It’s really unique the way it’s done.

It’s actually really aggravating, because usually - like if you go and just press start on it, it just plays the beginning of Welcome to the Jungle for, like, ever, and it’s very irritating – and, sonically, the loudest game ever.


And about making it different to other pinball machines:

Well, obviously it's got to have great sound because it's a rock band. It plays nine dif­ferent Guns N’ Roses songs. So, it has to sound good. That was our first and fore­most priority and then I came up with the idea of a "G" ramp and an "R” ramp -I really wanted to pursue that. The whole idea of the game — the whole premise of the game, right from the get-go is to get the whole band on the stage; so, it's a six ball machine. There's a mode for every band member. So, when you go into, say, Axl's, you've got the "Mystery Ball;" Dizzy’s got the "Dizzy Ball" which has magnets that can turn on - when the balls coming down the playing field, the magnet will shoot it off somewhere else so it’s, like, out of control. There’s “Riot Ball" when all six balls come out - it gets real crazy. There’s "Coma Ball" that plays "Coma." There’s “Nightrain." There's "Matt Ball" where all the targets turn into drumheads. There’s "Gilby Rolls" which is on the dot matrix, and that's on the backboard where you have, from a heli­copter's view, a motorcycle that you can control with the flippers - with the buttons for the flippers. All you have to do is avoid traffic and hit pedestrians. There's the "Death Mode" which plays "It's So Easy." Anyway, there’s "Slash Solo," there’s "Snakepit" which is — see, it’s a two lane game so there’s a gun on one side - there’s a plunger and there’s a rose on the other side of the machine that's got a lane where the ball goes into a snake. So, there’s a lot going on. You can play it for four or five hours and you’ll never get close to how much information this game’s got. Those people over there at Data East, they call 'each other "pinheads." As fanatical as I am about guitars, that's how they are about pinball machines. They get up in the morn­ing and they play until midnight. They get other people's machines and fuckin', you know, scrutinize them and figure them out. It's a whole different world over there. But, they’re all really great people to hang out with. […] I had what you call my own produc­tion team to make this. So, we would all get together. We got to be good friends. There was just no end to the ideas that we could come up with.

It's the most technically advanced game to date. I'm really proud of it. And all my ideas are all on there. It sounds really great, there are eight or nine songs on there. Making a record is one thing but making something that's totally out of your league and have it actually come to fruition is really great.
Metal Edge, April 1995; interview from December 1994

Well, for one, okay, there hasn’t been a cool pinball machine in the last 11 years as far as rock ‘n’ roll is concerned. Like, I think the last one, not to plug Ted Nugent, but it was Weekend Warriors. Anyway, so when we decided to do one, it had to be something really cool, and different, and exciting, and so the Guns N’ Roses machine is the loudest one ever made.

The funny thing about it is that the whole object of the game, if you know any history of Guns N’ Roses, is just to get the band on stage, right? So you go through all six members, which is this shot right here, alright? Every time you make this shot, you get another band member. If you get all six of them, the band is officially on stage and all six balls come out, and then you get to play a six-ball game, right? And that’s got a certain personal for me, because we’re notorious for not getting on stage on time. So, initially, when we started designing this game on the napkin (laughs), it was drawn out with a basic goal, which was the “G” and the “R” ramps, and that’s where it started, and so here they are. To be able to establish the fact that it is what it is, is really important and it’s nice to have a real official rock ‘n’ roll machine that has our name on it, you know, so I’m happy.


Looking back at the pinball machine:

I don’t intend to get into a whole video game versus pinball machine war here, but it’s hard to deny the romance of the blinking lights of a pinball machine. The sound of the pinballs dropping into the catch still raises the heart rates of us ’70s kids. We can still picture the other kids gathering around the glass as we took our turns. If you were good, you gave off a Steve McQueen–like mystique. The kids who were good at pinball got laid more (kind of like video gamers of today, right? Oh, wait…).

Slash was always one of those Steve McQueen–like pinball studs. He was good at every pinball game out there. Not that this should come as a surprise: whether it’s guitars, snakes, dinosaurs, or pinball, Slash studies and excels at the things he is passionate about.

Sometime during the Use Your Illusion tour, Slash—a collector as well as a player—hooked up with manufacturer Data East, and the idea of a Guns N’ Roses game started getting floated around.

We grew up with some great pinball machines. The Playboy machine was epic. The Rolling Stones had one. KISS had one. There were gambling-themed games and Western-themed games. For our band to actually be entered into a conversation of having our own game was a totally cool and unbelievable step in our otherwise totally unbelievable ride up the rockandroll escalator.

Like I said, I wasn’t very conscious at the time, but I remember going to a recording studio in the San Fernando Valley to do voice-over sound bites for the game (the “oh, dude!” when you lose a ball is me… I think). McBob laid down an introduction for the game the same way he ushered us onstage every night: “Of all the bands in the world, this is definitely one of them!” McBob has a huge, deep voice and can sound exactly like the guy on one of those monster truck radio commercials. McBob also has a very dry sense of humor and would change up his intros of the band to fit certain opportunities. For example, when we were late to take the stage, McBob would announce us as “the band that put the punk in punctuality.”

Slash worked hard on the design of the game and was rightfully proud of the finished product. I was blown away when the machine showed up at my house (we each got one for free). I still have it, and it has a little plaque in the bottom right-hand corner with my name on it.


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:43 pm

18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Newbor11
SONG: AIN'T GOIN' DOWN
Also known as:
Ain't Goin' Down No More

Albums:
Appetite for Destruction Remastered. Sound City Demos 1986 (instrumental).

Written by:
Lyrics & music: Guns N' Roses.

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead Guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Notes:
This song was probably written during the period before the recording of Appetite For Destruction. Although only an instrumental demo of it (as "Ain't Goin' Down No More") from 1986 was included on the Appetite For Destruction box set (released in 2018), the band had already written lyrics for it since it was performed live at least once in 1986.
It was later considered for inclusion on the Use Your Illusion albums (a rough mix with vocals has appeared on various bootlegs along with other recordings from the Illusion sessions) and then for The Spaghetti Incident? Finally, it was partially featured on the Guns N' Roses pinball machine that was released in 1994.

Live performances:
The song has been played at least once live, on August 23, 1986 at the Whisky.
Lyrics:

Ooh, I'll be laughing when you're crying
Push me and you lose
Ooh, I'll be dancing when you're dying
Your paid dues

You got me out of indecision
You can slash me out of fear
Good intentions get me nowhere
It’s always nothing, all your love
Tell me about your overview
And I'll, try to show you how it looks from here

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

I can see your true colors
I see red
When you hide all of your lovers under the bed

Instigate a simple life
And who's to say what's black or white?
Just because, you're curious
I've earned another brought me near
Through all the dreams that I could use
Now I know there's nothing I could do
For you!

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

No, no, no

[Spoken]
That'll change, don't worry about it

I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more
I ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down no more

I ain't goin' down
Ooh, ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
No, no, no


Quotes regarding the song

This is a new one. This one's called "Ain't Going Down."

[Talking about songs that would be on the next album] Let's see, there’s "Ain’t Goin’ Down," "Don't Cry,” “You Could Be Mine,” "Perfect Crime,” another one called “Night Crawler" and one called “Back Off Bitch.”

Out of the 13 songs we’ve done [for the new record], there’s about five old ones. If that. ‘Back Off Bitch’, ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘Ain’t Going Down’. These were songs which could have surfaced on the first album, but we weren’t really working on them at the time. We were concentrating on the songs that came on that first album, so we saved them for later.  

I do actually, I do remember [The Alpine Valley shows in May 1991].  [...] When we played Alpine Valley we hadn’t released the “Illusions” records yet and we actually finished a couple of the songs on the album over there in Wisconsin, there was a recording studio (Royal Recorders, Lake Geneva) and I remember me and Duff had to go in there and do background vocals and I think Axl had to sing a lead vocal. We did a song called “Don’t Damn Me” and another song called “Ain’t Goin Down” which is actually only on the Guns N’ Roses pinball machine so I remember all that stuff yeah (laughs).

As far as the Punk thing goes, there’s gonna be a new song on there that we didn’t finish for ‘Use Your Illusion’. It’s finished as far as all the backing tracks were done, but we didn’t finish the words. It’s called ‘Ain’t Going Down’ and it’s one of those songs that we wrote in the streets in Hollywood just walking around.

There’s a song called Ain’t Going Down, which we just never finished, and we have a chorus for it, so I figured we’d use that [on the pinball machine], you know, and finally get it out there. So now that we’ve done it we have to actually record it.

[Asked if there are any unreleased GN'R songs that could be used for a future box set] There's nothing available. (Laughs) There really isn't... Everything that I know about is out already. [...] The only track I can think of is the one on the pinball machine, but I don't even think we ever finished that.



18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Newbor11


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18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED Empty Re: 18. NOVEMBER 1993-NOVEMBER 1994: AXL AND SLASH DISAGREES; GILBY IS DISMISSED

Post by Soulmonster Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:43 pm

SUMMER OF 1994
AXL WANTS THE SONGS AND THREATENS TO SUE SLASH

In 1994, the press would report that there was a big fight between Slash and Axl over Slash's solo plans, including a rumor that Axl had sued Slash over Slash's decision to use the songs he had worked on on a solo record  [RAW Magazine, November 1994]. RAW Magazine would deny that this rumor was true, but state that the conflict between the two band members was very real [RAW Magazine, November 1994].

According to the rumor, Axl didn't want Slash to release all the songs that Slash, Matt and Gilby had been writing, on Slash' solo record, but instead keep them for Guns N' Roses [Kerrang! November 5, 1994] and Slash would confirm this:

[…] it wasn’t until later that [Axl] wanted [the songs] back - but at that point I’d got this band together, and my focus had shifted completely from Guns for a while.


This is interesting considering earlier reports that Axl and Duff had rejected the material flat-out. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding or perhaps Axl wanted them, or some of them, for a future release.

Slash would also comment upon this apparent paradox:

I played Axl the material when it was in demo form and he said he didn’t want to do that kind of music anymore. Then after the record was done, he said he wanted to do it. ... To this day I don’t know where Axl’s head is at.


This comment from Gilby could also imply that Axl hadn't rejected all the songs, only some of them:

Most of the songs on Slash's album were intended for Guns N' Roses, as well as a couple of my songs. We were sure those songs were perfect for the band but... some were not, so there's that!


Slash would talk in more detail about how it happened that Axl wanted the songs back:

Axl at some point decided that he wanted certain songs back and they were already - the album was already finished by that point. It sort of was a shock to him that it was done so quickly, you know? And then he was like, “Well, I want those songs back,” and I was like, “No, it’s too late, they’re gone.”

[Axl's] used to me taking care of everything. No matter whether he shows up or not, he thinks I'm going to be there taking care of writing new songs and setting things up for Guns N 'Roses. What happened was that he was convinced that the material I was recording in my house would go to the next Guns record. I let him listen to what I’d been writing, and he didn’t like anything, so I said, 'Okay, no problem.' At that time he was preoccupied with the lawsuit from his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Seymour. The songs I had written were very similar to Guns N 'Roses, but he didn’t like them, and I thought about doing my own record. I know I said many times that I’d never make a solo album, but I had those songs and I wanted to get them out. Then, after my album had been recorded, Axl came to see me and told me he wanted those songs. I told him that it was impossible, that the album was already done, and we had an argument. He tried to convince me that this material belonged to Guns N’ Roses, and I had to answer that it was done in my fucking house and it was mine. I’ve always been totally dedicated to Guns N' Roses and he’s now worried because he thinks that I won’t go back with the band. But that's not gonna happen, I’ll always be in the band. So he’s been a little paranoid over this thing, that’s what’s happening. It’s not right that Axl tried to sue me, because I've been his best friend.
Popular 1, February 1995; translated from Spanish

I mean, even Axl, who we had a couple of altercations between he and I where he wanted the material back, and I said “No, the album is finished.” He was like, “You couldn’t have done an album in two weeks.” I said, “Oh yeah. It’s done. It’s been done” (laughs). So he was like, “Well, I want this song and I want that song” and I said, “It’s too late,” you know, because when I first played it for him he didn’t like it. So that’s how quickly this thing happened.

[Axl] just wanted these certain songs and he didn't like them at first. And this is way before Snakepit even became like, a reality. This is when I was just writing at home. And he didn't like them. So I was like: "Cool".

You know, it's sorta like old Guns stuff and then all of a sudden, after the album was finished, he goes: "Remember those tapes I have. You know, I want to...". He didn't know we'd finished the record. And he goes: "This song, this song, this song, this song and this song." And I went: "Dude, we finished it already. It's gone". And he goes: "You couldn't have done an album in two weeks." I said: "Oh yeah. I can". You can do that. And it turned into a big fight.

At one point [Axl] didn't like the songs, and all of a sudden he wanted them and the [Snakepit] record was already done. That set me off. What the f.ck is that? It turned into a bit of a fight.
Metal Edge Magazine, October 1995; interview from May 15, 1995

So Axl and I, there was some conflict of interest over my doing this record and making a priority of that instead of concentrating on my relationship with Axl, and Guns N’ Roses in general, and doing a Guns record. He wanted that first before I went on to do this. But before I went on to do this, he had encouraged me to do a solo record because he wasn’t ready to get to work yet. Then, once he did want to get to work, he was like, “I want this song, and this song, and this song,” the songs he'd turned down. I said, “Dude, the album is finished already, it’s done.” So that pissed him off […]


In 2002 Axl would claim he originally had wanted to make an Appetite-style record but when that wasn't possible to make a "Slash record with contributions from everybody else":

Originally I intended to do more of an Appetite style recording but with the changes in the band's dynamics and the band's musical influences at the time it didn't appear realistic. So, I opted for what I thought would or should've made the band and especially Slash very happy. Basically I was interested in making a Slash record with some contributions from everybody else. There'd still be some chemistry and some synergy happening and whatever dynamics anyone else could bring in to the project.


This is perplexing since Slash would in various interviews claim he also wanted to make a Appetite-style record and since we know Axl, at least at first, rejected the songs Slash had written. Taken everything into account, it seems Axl changed his mind after first rejecting the songs, possibly when it became clear Slash wouldn't compromise on a more modern sounding album, and decided to work on the songs Slash had presented but by then Slash had already taken them for for his Snakepit project.


WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?

Since Axl was surprised about how quickly Slash had recorded the songs, this realisation likely came before the press started writing about Slash's album and his search for a singer, which could put the fight between Axl and Slash regarding the material to as early as June 1994.


AXL THREATHENS TO SUE SLASH

More specifically, the "big fight" included Axl threatening to sue Slash:

The rest of the band was very supportive of me doing this album, but Axl has a problem with it. With my taking it on the road for so long with the whole thing. But there's always a bit of tension - nothing major, but it’s part of us.

I took off and then he threatened to sue me, because he wanted the material back that I'd written and already recorded.

[Axl] just wasn’t into it. Now he wants the songs back and we’ve sort of got this pending situation. He was going to sue me!


Slash would comment on the litigation rumours:

Legally, it's all verbal stuff. We have never gone into litigation of any kind with this. Axl just thought that the songs were rightfully Guns' because they were written with the intention of them being Guns songs. I disagree.

[A lawsuit] was brought up; I’m surprised that anybody knew about that - I never went public with it. What happened basically is ever since Guns N’ Roses... even when they first started, it’s always been my thing to be the glue that keeps things organised. That’s always what I’ve done. Not to say that Axl or Duff don’t help, it’s just that that’s always been my thing. I live, sleep, breathe Guns N’ Roses. That’s all I ever did.

So all of a sudden for me to get up and disappear really blew Axl’s mind, ’cos he’s always had me to lean on. All of a sudden he wants to do a record. Now, I’ve waited around for years at a time for him, so when I ended up hanging out with these guys and made a record...

Axl had a tape of demos with no vocals on it that he turned down on me, so I said, ‘Okay, well no big deal, I’ll write more stuff, whatever you don’t like about this particular direction ... What direction do you want to go? Because I’m not really sure what you’re getting at because I wanted to do a real hard, back-to-basics kind of thing?’. So he wasn’t sure and we really weren’t getting on that well: he fired Gilby and that started a whole big slew of f**kin, you know, that caused a mess between us for a while. Then Eric, Matt, Gilby, Mike and myself went in the studio to do a record like that! (snaps his fingers).

All of a sudden Axl decides he wants some of the songs back and I go, ‘They’re gone!’ And he goes, ‘You couldn’t have done a record that fast!’ I said, ‘Well, it’s done!’. So he says, ‘Well, I’m gonna sue you!’. ‘Like, for what?’. ‘Because they’re supposed to be Guns N’ Roses material!’. ‘No they’re not, I wrote them!’.

He has this sort of distorted image in his head that because I’m such a part of Guns N’ Roses that anything that comes out between this hand and this hand is Guns’ material. At the time I wasn’t thinking about doing any kind of side-project or starting another band, I was just writing. I was sitting around the house, I had a new studio, and when he said he didn’t like them I was like, ‘Cool! Whatever!’.

Then I started hanging out with these guys and we had such a good time I thought, ‘We should record this, because we have a decent band,’ so we went and did it. Then he was like, ‘Woah, wait a second, slow down!’. Axl moves at like a quarter of the speed that I do. That’s always been one of the issues with Guns N’ Roses, that’s just the way it is, always has been. I mean, Axl’s awesome but sometimes I need to get back to having to get to work on time. I need that drive. Not just be some sort of lazy Rock star waiting around till whenever.

[…]

[Axl] just works slower. He takes things a little bit more seriously than I do. And he has to wait till the timing’s right, and this and that. I mean, I can write a song at the same time as falling out of a car! I just sort of do what I do and I don’t like to think about it too much, whereas he does like to think about it. So that’s one of the things, opposites attract; that’s one of the great things between the two of us, but at the same time this happened so quickly for him he was like, ‘Woah! Woah! Stop! What happened?”


Being asked if Axl really threated to sue him:

Yeah, yeah, but we worked it out. That’s just Axl’s way.

He just thought that the songs were rightfully Guns’, because they were written with the intention of being Guns songs. I was hoping they would be Guns songs. He can't sue me for that!


Looking back:

The typical fights between guys in bands, between Axl and I, have been blown way out of proportion. There was a little bit of concern about me taking off to do [Slash’s Snakepit], but I really needed to do it. I need to get that vibe back. I don’t want to feel like some unobtainable rock-star character. This is grounding me.


In February 1995, Slash would say he and Axl had "come to terms" with the fact that Slash had taken the songs for himself:

And so we’ve come to terms about it at this point, but there was a little bit of friction there for a while.


Slash would also imply that Axl considered all music Slash makes while a band member of Guns N' Roses as belonging to Guns N' Roses, and that he didn't like Slash's collaborations with other artists:

[…] [Axl]’s got this distorted vision, or thought, that when I apply my talents to the guitar - or however we wanna call it – that it’s automatically Guns N’ Roses material, which isn’t the case. That means Lenny Kravitz stuff, Iggy Pop, Michael Jackson and Carole King would all be Guns N’ Roses material (laughs). That’s not the case at all.

When I first got into this thing, there were certain songs he wanted back, like he thought anything – like any time that I apply this hand and this hand with a guitar in between, it’s supposed to be designated Guns N’ Roses material, Guns territory, which wasn’t the case.


In an interview published on March 1, 1995, Slash would claim the Snakepit songs hadn't been intended for Guns N' Roses:

I didn’t write them for anybody! […] I’d have a riff and Matt would come up with a beat, and by the end of the day we’d have a song. We didn’t take it so seriously ’cos we had no reason to.


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