2020.09.18 - Appetite For Distortion - Roadie Tales and DED Joe

Joel Miller's new book "Memoir of a Roadie: Axl said I made a great cup of tea. Scott Weiland liked The Carpenters… & Ozzy drinks rosé" is out now and we chat with the former roadie all about it.
Plus Joe Cotela from DED calls in to discuss what it was like touring with Korn, Corey Taylor, and what it meant to him being on the same bill as Guns N' Roses.



Excerpts from Ultimate Guitar:
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During an appearance on The Appetite for Distortion Podcast, Joel Miller talked about working as a roadie for Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses, looking back on the late Scott Weiland, Axl Rose's bad reputation, and more.

Joel is promoting a book titled "Memoir of a Roadie: Axl said I made a great cup of tea... Scott Weiland liked The Carpenters... & Ozzy drinks rosé." You can check it out here.

When asked, "Do you recall that first STP show? How much do you interact with the band? What was that first day like?", Miller replied (transcribed by UG):

"None at all, like, nothing - they came on stage, I just remember looking at them with these big eyes going like, 'I wonder if these guys know that they hired a dude who doesn't even know how to use a hammer and label as their carpenter.' I wore a white t-shirt on stage, I didn't know, and he never gave me any directions, so I didn't know that roadies, I hadn't been to any shows really, I've been on one concert, and that was Steve Miller, and I was on mushrooms.

"So when I started working for those guys, I didn't want to mess up the opportunity, and I absolutely felt it was an opportunity. I knew it was going to be a cool ride, I didn't have anything going on at home that was interesting, and I just wanted to have my story, and I didn't know how long that was gonna be, but I wanted to have it.

"To circle back around and answer your question, it depends how long you are touring with the band, and it depends what band you're touring with, so like with Guns N' Roses, no, I'm not best buddies with most of the people in the band, I don't know them at all. I mean, you're on a big tour with a lot of people and a lot of buses and a lot of trucks and stuff, and you're not hanging out drinking beers all the time. When you've traveled with the band for 20 years, one would expect you to know some of these guys a bit... I became pretty friendly with [keyboardist] Dizzy Reed, Dizzy and I are tight. I did a movie after touring and Dizzy did the majority of the score for the film ['The Still Life'], and we became pretty good friends - it's called 'The Still Life,' and I distributed it to Warner Brothers. I made a little movie and I filled it with rockstars, and honestly I thought I'd make a couple of bucks, and I didn't make a single penny. But I've had an awesome experience, I had cool people in it. Jonathan Davis from Korn was the liquor store clerk, Dizzy was the piano player in the bar, Josh Todd, it was really fun, it was a super cool thing to have done."

Anything about Scott you can share? He passed away before I had this platform to interview him...

"So, the first tour I'm doing is with STP, and I think I'm like 23 by like a week if I remember right - I'm really young then, and I just didn't want to get fired, that was like my whole goal. And I worked my little ass off and I learned a lot. I liked Scott, I've heard a lot of stories from people in the band to like random fans, that he was really tough, but I never saw any of that. He treated me real good, and never really had any moments where he scared the hell out of me for any reason at all. He was actually a comforting, pretty good dude, he kind of referred to the band like an elderly-brother-type, and I think it's because of the age difference.

"That being said, the age is the difference, they're younger than you and I are now, it's just I was really young, so I think I had a closer relationship with Scott than I had with Axl, for sure. I mean, my relationship with Axl really did come and go with that little funny conversation-type thing, that was it.

"So, I'm a kid, I'm 13 years old, I got a gift certificate for Sam Goody. I remember thinking, 'Whoever got me this gift certificate should've gotten something for the warehouse' because they were cheaper. So what does a dude do, does he buy 'Hysteria' or does he buy 'Appetite' on CD? What do you do? It was the biggest decision ever, and I got 'Appetite' on CD, but the CD player I had at my house didn't work, so I listened to 'Hysteria' a lot, and man, I would run every day, 'Appetite for Destruction, and I was just a super-fan.

"I loved the emotional effect the music gave me, so I'm coming off of STP and my boys say, 'Hey, we got to talk because the next band we're working for are really big, and I need you to maintain a level of professionalism.' And as he's telling me this, I'm just like, 'It's got to be Guns n' Roses' - because there's only one band they know I'm head over heels for. I used to tell people like, 'Guns N' Roses is my Led Zeppelin,' but it's not true, Guns N' Roses is my Guns N' Roses, I'm an adult, I feel comfortable saying that, and I just remember all the hair standing on my hands - when I had hair - and I'm just thinking like, 'There's no way that I'm gonna get to work for Guns, there's just no way.' And then it came true, my dream came true, and I'm sitting in a studio watching these guys perform, and I'm just mesmerized how talented they are. And I saw a lot of talent, I did a lot of radio shows, so you get to see a lot of people.

"I saw Ozzy a lot and a lot of people that I thought were really, really cool. Axl, for whatever reason, was this higher level for me, and I thought I musically appreciated him more than a lot of people growing up, and I thought he was really a cool guy. Like, I've heard some of the horror stories of how hard he [Axl] can be to deal with and all that, but I don't know, he seemed pretty cool to me, and then when he performed, I remember just watching him, like, ''Chinese Democracy' is gonna be badass, and he's gonna look at everybody and be, 'Screw you all, wait 'til the shit comes out!' And then there were these few songs that they played that I just was like, 'This is it, this is why he looks at you and says screw you.' The other people are like, 'Well, how do you feel about waiting for hours and hours?' And I'm thinking like, 'Well, it's called a job and the dude's paying me. If you don't want to work for the guy, quit.' I never had any issues, I really didn't. I always had the utmost respect, and I was never not-a-fan - always a fan, appreciating every opportunity. And they came, they really did. I loved watching those guys play."

Did Axl fire you once?

"Axl, he got mad at me and he fired me once, but then at the time, well, you know, everybody gets fired. He called the studio, and I'm one of the couple of people in the rehearsal studio, and I pick up the phone. I can't hear him because the band's playing, and he's trying to talk and I don't know who it is - I never knew who it was. And finally, one of the other guys comes and goes, 'Dude, just hang up the damn phone, man.' So I hang up the phone, and then it was like, 'That was Axl on the phone, you really pissed him off.' And I'm like, 'Oh, dude, why did I pick up the phone?' And then they're like, 'Yeah, he's really pissed. He'll fire you. Just don't come to work tomorrow and he'll forget all about it.' And maybe I did get fired, maybe I didn't, I don't think I'll ever find out because I'm very certain he does not remember.' Axl fired me, and I still put his name in the title of my book."

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/gnr_roadie_recalls_how_really_pissed_axl_rose_fired_him_talks_how_scott_weiland_treated_him_when_he_worked_for_stp.html

Another interview with Joel Miller on the "Weekdays with Tracey Donaldson" radio show in New Zealand, August 19, 2020:



https://web.archive.org/web/20201124095325/https://www.hauraki.co.nz/shows/weekdays-with-tracey-donaldson/tracey-donaldson-interviews-joel-miller-the-former-roadie-for-gnr/