39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
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39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
CHAPTER INDEX
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2018: SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS RELEASE LIVING THE DREAM
- NOVEMBER 3-21, 2018: THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART I
- NOVEMBER 28-31, 2018: GOLDSTEIN ACCUSES NIVEN OF SPELL CASTING; NIVEN ACCUSES GOLDSTEIN OF ROAMING IN A MOBILE HOME FULL OF WEAPONS
- NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 8, 2018: THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART II
- LOOKING BACK AT THREE YEARS OF TOURING
- LATE 2018: END OF TOURING, START OF RECORDING?
- 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018- : RICHARD RESURRECTS PALE DIVINE FOR ISOLATED SHOWS
- DECEMBER 4-11, 2018: RUMORS ABOUT GN'R RECORDING A COVER OF CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
- STAYING FIT FOR THE LONG SHOWS
- DECEMBER 25, 2018: LOONEY TUNES RELEASES AN EPISODE FEATURING AXL AND THE SONG ROCK AGAINST ROCK
- THE COMPETENCE OF TEAM BRAZIL
- EARLY 2019: "THERE MIGHT BE STUFF STARTED" [ON NEW MUSIC]
- WHAT WOULD AXL EVEN WRITE LYRICS ABOUT?
- NOT NEW MUSIC BUT REWORKED CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA SONGS?
- JANUARY 20, 2019: THE NITL TOUR RECEIVES AWARDS AT THE 2019 TOUR LINK PRO CONFERENCE AWARD
- 2017-TODAY: GUNS N' ROSES IN THE #METOO ERA
- WORK ON A NEW RECORD TO START WHEN SLASH COMES BACK FROM TOURING IN AUGUST?
- APRIL 2019: SLASH ADDS GUITARS TO OLD CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA UNRELEASED MUSIC
- PRACTISING THEIR INSTRUMENTS
- APRIL-JUNE 2019: A SMALL TOUR IS ANNOUNCED STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 2019
- MAY-AUGUST 2019: GUNS N' ROSES SUES OSKAR BLUES BREWERY AND SETTLES
- WORK ON NEW MUSIC TO START AFTER THE GN'R TOURING IN NOVEMBER?
- MAY 31, 2019 DUFF RELEASES TENDERNESS
- JULY-OCTOBER, 2019: THE LOCKER LEAKS
- MORE TOURING GETS SCHEDULED FOR 2020
- SEPTEMBER 2019 A NEW ALBUM "WITHIN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS"
- SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 13, 2019: THE 2019 FALL TOUR STARTS
- OCTOBER 15, 2019: SWEET CHILD O' MINE HITS 1 BN VIEWS ON YOUTUBE
- OCTOBER 15-NOVEMBER 2, 2019: THE 2019 FALL TOUR ENDS
- FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE NOT IN THIS LIFE TIME TOURING IN 2016-2019
- NOVEMBER 3-21, 2018: THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART I
- NOVEMBER 28-31, 2018: GOLDSTEIN ACCUSES NIVEN OF SPELL CASTING; NIVEN ACCUSES GOLDSTEIN OF ROAMING IN A MOBILE HOME FULL OF WEAPONS
- NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 8, 2018: THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART II
- LOOKING BACK AT THREE YEARS OF TOURING
- LATE 2018: END OF TOURING, START OF RECORDING?
- 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018- : RICHARD RESURRECTS PALE DIVINE FOR ISOLATED SHOWS
- DECEMBER 4-11, 2018: RUMORS ABOUT GN'R RECORDING A COVER OF CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
- STAYING FIT FOR THE LONG SHOWS
- DECEMBER 25, 2018: LOONEY TUNES RELEASES AN EPISODE FEATURING AXL AND THE SONG ROCK AGAINST ROCK
- THE COMPETENCE OF TEAM BRAZIL
- EARLY 2019: "THERE MIGHT BE STUFF STARTED" [ON NEW MUSIC]
- WHAT WOULD AXL EVEN WRITE LYRICS ABOUT?
- NOT NEW MUSIC BUT REWORKED CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA SONGS?
- JANUARY 20, 2019: THE NITL TOUR RECEIVES AWARDS AT THE 2019 TOUR LINK PRO CONFERENCE AWARD
- 2017-TODAY: GUNS N' ROSES IN THE #METOO ERA
- WORK ON A NEW RECORD TO START WHEN SLASH COMES BACK FROM TOURING IN AUGUST?
- APRIL 2019: SLASH ADDS GUITARS TO OLD CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA UNRELEASED MUSIC
- PRACTISING THEIR INSTRUMENTS
- APRIL-JUNE 2019: A SMALL TOUR IS ANNOUNCED STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 2019
- MAY-AUGUST 2019: GUNS N' ROSES SUES OSKAR BLUES BREWERY AND SETTLES
- WORK ON NEW MUSIC TO START AFTER THE GN'R TOURING IN NOVEMBER?
- MAY 31, 2019 DUFF RELEASES TENDERNESS
- JULY-OCTOBER, 2019: THE LOCKER LEAKS
- MORE TOURING GETS SCHEDULED FOR 2020
- SEPTEMBER 2019 A NEW ALBUM "WITHIN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS"
- SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 13, 2019: THE 2019 FALL TOUR STARTS
- OCTOBER 15, 2019: SWEET CHILD O' MINE HITS 1 BN VIEWS ON YOUTUBE
- OCTOBER 15-NOVEMBER 2, 2019: THE 2019 FALL TOUR ENDS
- FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE NOT IN THIS LIFE TIME TOURING IN 2016-2019
Last edited by Soulmonster on Mon Oct 14, 2024 2:45 pm; edited 7 times in total
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS RELEASE LIVING THE DREAMThe Conspirators is primarily a road band. We only use the studio as a means to get back out there again.
2016: A NEW RECORD IS DELAYED BY THE GUNS N' ROSES REUNION
The third album from Slash with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators had been in the works for a long time. Slash would first start about working on this record in 2015:
I’ve already started working on the new stuff… On the road is the platform that I find is the easiest for me to work on new material. It's easier here than it is for me to do when I'm at home. So I just get going. I take my phone and I record ideas on the phone and then we jam stuff at soundchecks; when we have soundchecks. So we compile a bunch of ideas, and then when the tour is over, we go home and, sort of, hash them out.
We're working on new material now, for another record, and so I think that what it is that I'm into is just trying to do what's the most inspiring thing, and picking up some new stuff along the way. There's always that element of new discovery that ends up on the next record. But the one thing they can always expect, it's going to be really sort of from the heart, hard-rock material, whatever it is that I end up putting out. I'm always true to the school.
We’re working on new material for the next record. When this tour’s over we’ll start going in and doing some pre-production and probably go into the studio some time in mid to late spring and record.
Talking about the song ideas he is working on:
They sound very rhythmic and that’s definitely something that, for me personally, I’m going for. We’ll see what that turns into. It changes. It sort of evolves; you start out with one idea and that sort of morphs into another idea. At this point it sounds like it’s going to be really awesome, so I’m excited about it.
By August 2015, the band had started pre-production and planned to have the album out in 2016:
We're in pre-production now, so we'll have the record out next year.
The plan was to start recording in the spring of 2016:
The stuff for the next record is really great. One of the cool things about this band is that instead of peaking early and burning out is we’ve started at one place and escalated in terms of our creative inspiration. [...] It keeps getting better from record to record which is a really nice thing to have happen so yeah, we just seem to get more in a groove the longer we stay together and the harder we work on the road and so on. It just seems to come out in the new material. [...] Next is finishing pre-production on the next album and going into the studio in the spring. I’ve also got ‘The Hell Within’ to shoot sometime in the beginning of the new year so that’s the immediate stuff.
Then came Slash's reunion with Guns N' Roses in 2016 and further work on the record was put on hold:
[...] we were on the road somewhere in the U.S. and I’d spent some time with Axl and I told the guys straight up, “I’ve been talking to Axl and we’re talking about doing some shows and I don’t know what that’s gonna lead to. I’ll keep you posted.” Everybody’s feedback was very supportive because it was such an unprecedented event that those guys being fans of the whole Guns thing wanted to see it to happen. “But then what did that mean for the future?” They don’t know what I’m thinking (laughs).
Slash managed to continue working on the record when there was a break in the GN'R touring:
But I had been waiting for a moment where I could step out of Guns, for a second, and just focus on doing this record. Pretty much after we’d been doing this for a year I was like, “Okay, I need to find a moment.” So it came and it was good.
In March 2018, rumors had it the record would be released in the fall [Blabbermouth, March 7, 2018].
I'm excited about the new stuff we put together for this next record; it's got some cool songs and it's got a great live feel. I've been working with Myles, Brent and Todd for about eight years now. It's been an amazing ride so far; as a band we continue to get better which is great. With the addition of Frank since the ‘World on Fire’ tour, I feel we have hit a great, creative stride which I definitely think shows on this next record.
In May 2018, Myles Kennedy would state that he had finished laying down vocals for the album and that the record "would probably come out this year" [WRIF 101.1 via Blabbermouth, May 2, 2015].
The album was finished mastered and ready to be released in early May, but held on till after the Guns N' Roses touring ended:
That was definitely a weird feeling. I've never done a record where I've had to wait four or five months for it to come out after we recorded it. [laughs] Now I understand what actors feel like after they finish shooting a movie…
In June the album title was disclosed: Living The Dream, with a release date of September 21 [Blabbermouth, June 18, 2018]. Slash would promote the album on a tour of Canada and the U.S. in September and October of 2018, as Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators [Blabbermouth, June 18, 2018].
Living The DreamSeptember 21, 2018
Discussing the album title:
Well, you know, the album title is actually meant to be a sarcastic statement about the world we're living in at the moment. I never wax political on records, but it was just something that came to mind — this tongue-in-cheek thing directed at social political events across the globe.
Slash, who was touring with Guns N' Roses at the time, would send out a press release stating that he had always planned to get back out with the Conspirators as soon as possible:
I always planned on getting back together with The Conspirators as soon as possible, and continuing on with what we started.
We're going to do the U.S. this fall, and then I'll be out with Guns N' Roses in in November and December. Then we'll get together and do Europe, and after that it'll be South America, Australia… we'll try to hit as many places as we can. Because as much as I enjoy the writing and recording process, when I'm creating music it's always with the intent that it should be played in front of an audience. For me, that's always the endgame — to get out there with the band and perform the music live. That's what I love the most.
And for the tour he expected to play less Guns N' Roses songs than in previous tours:
It’s, well, I mean, I certainly got the Guns N’ Roses thing out of my chest now, because I’ve been, you know, I got it out of my system, because I was missing playing a lot of those songs. And when I first hooked up with Myles the intent was that we were gonna play some of the songs off the solo record, and then we would do some Velvet Revolver and some Guns N’ Roses and some Snakepit and do like all my catalog. And then, you know, some of the songs came off really good, the Guns N’ Roses songs, so we kept doing them, and so on. But at this point I just want to focus like probably 90% of the set just on Conspirators stuff and then have your odd cover and then maybe 1-2 Guns songs, maybe one Velvet song.
Talking about the album:
It's a natural progression from 'World On Fire', for sure. I think it has a little more diversity — some of the ideas are not really what I would consider to be predictable. The record is also a bit more structured, with songs that are shorter and more to the point than last time."
I don't know that there are as many of those sort of 'epic sonic journeys' that we took on the last record. Although there are songs that take you on a trip, like 'Lost Inside The Girl'. But overall, a lot of these songs — things like 'My Antidote', 'Read Between The Lines', 'Slow Grind' — they're pretty precise statements, and they definitely fall in line with the type of sound we're known for. There's a certain type of sonic calling card that we've developed over the years, and you can hear it front and center on this record.
WORKING AROUND THE GN'R SCHEDULE
Kennedy and Slash would also discuss how it was to have to work around GN'R's touring schedule:
There had always been talk that there would be something in the future, and I think it was just a matter of waiting for that window to open. Because of the magnitude of that entity, which has been extremely successful, I think that finding time when we would have the opportunity to record again and tour again was, for lack of a better word, challenging. When it finally looked like things were going to open up and there'd be a window of opportunity to record, it was good news, certainly, because I felt like there was unfinished business. There were songs that we started working on together years ago, back toward the end of 'World On Fire', so knowing that we'd be able to document that was a good thing.
Yeah, it’s, you know, like when the Guns thing happened it was right at the end of the last Conspirators tour. And at that point we had already started gearing up to go into the next cycle. So, you know, as the Guns thing started rolling, and looking like it didn’t have any (?), it was always my intention to come back and we’d already written some of the songs, you know, some of the riffs and stuff were already written at that point. And so we just put everything on ice until there was a sizeable enough break which we had in -when was that- December, early January, to make, so that’s when we put the record together.
Balancing GN'R and other projects:
I wanna see what Guns N' Roses is gonna do. And so that's sort of something I'm paying attention to. And then, you know, sort of playing it by ear, schedule wise and you sort of just work it all out, you know, there's always points when Guns isn't working that the Conspirators can be working and vice versa. So we'll figure it out. We've done so thus far so.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
NOVEMBER 3-21, 2018
THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART IAt the start of the world tour of 2018, Live Nation sent out a press report praising the Not In This Lifetime Tour:
Since the kickoff of the "Not In This Lifetime" tour in 2016, Guns N' Roses has performed an astounding 140-plus shows for over five million fans to date in stadiums, arenas, and as part of festivals worldwide. This year alone the band has played at 13 stadiums as part of their epic run along with five summer festival headlining slots across Europe. The European dates in 2018 have thrilled over 750,000 fans. Produced and promoted by Live Nation, the outing featuring one of the most legendary bands has become one of the most successful tours of all time.
The first show of the 2018 World Tour took place at Parque Fundidora in Monterrey, Mexico, on November 11. The band then travelled all the way to Indonesia for a show at GBK Stadium in Jakarta on November 8 followed by a show at Phillippine Arena in Bulacan, Phillippines, on November 11 and a show at Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 14.
November 3, 2018Arian Buhler
November 8, 2018A. J. Fichera
November 11, 2018A. J. Fichera
November 14, 2018Crap/Bergeron
For Melissa, who is half Filipina, playing in the Philippines was a homecoming of sorts:
We still have an ancestral home there. We were born and raised in Seattle. Our maternal grandparents came to the US to help raise us so that’s how we know of Filipino culture. I was raised primarily by my lolo and lola.
The hospitality, the culture, a really beautiful sort of happiness. I really get where my mom’s sunshine comes from. That vibe — I never knew that before. But it’s really cool. Real talk: I have no sleep, but it’s fine. Everything has just been so pleasant. It’s awesome! I shall return.
It’s funny because one of the executives at Gibson Guitars texted me, is your DNA buzzing? You know, I feel like, if anything, I’m learning and going, this should be something I should know about, identify with and be proud of.
It’s funny because one of the executives at Gibson Guitars texted me, is your DNA buzzing? You know, I feel like, if anything, I’m learning and going, this should be something I should know about, identify with and be proud of.
Frank, Duff and Dizzy in MonterreyNovember 3, 2018
Fans in JakartaNovember 8, 2018
Axl in BulacanNovember 11, 2018
The band in Kuala LumpurNovember 14, 2018
The tour continued with a show at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 17 and then two shows at Asia World Expo Arena in Hong Kong, China, on November 20 and 21.
November 17, 2018Arian Buhler
November 17, 2018Dawud West
November 20, 2018Glenn Wolk
November 21, 2018Arian Buhler
Before the show in Hong Kong, Slash would talk about the tour:
Man, I can't believe it. This tour has spanned two whole years, and now we only have five more gigs. It's crazy! It all started out with us agreeing to do just one show, then turned into this whole huge thing. [...] What can I tell you, man? It's been a gas. I was the last person you'd expect to rejoin this band if you'd talked to me a couple years ago, but it's been one of the most amazing experiences I ever had. Just so much f…ing fun, you know?
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
NOVEMBER 28-31, 2018
GOLDSTEIN ACCUSES NIVEN OF SPELL CASTING; NIVEN ACCUSES GOLDSTEIN OF ROAMING IN A MOBILE HOME FULL OF WEAPONSIn November 2018, and in a truly bizarre turn in the drama between Doug Goldstein and Alan Niven, Goldstein accused Niven of having hired a "Satan specialist" to cast spells on himself and Axl [Twitter, November 28, 2018]. Goldstein's accusation came after he learnt that Niven had been thanked in the Locked N' Loaded boxset and not himself [Twitter, November 28, 2018].
TwitterNovember 28, 2018
This resulted in a damning letter from Niven against Goldstein where he among other things claimed that Goldstein was "roaming the Southwest in a mobile home full of weapons":
The former tour manager of Guns n Roses has an integrity that matches his math; my contract with Guns n Roses was finally signed October 1986. I had started working with the band in August. Mr. Rose walked away from his obligations to the extended contract in March of 1991.
To my eternal regret I backed Mr. Rose in recording ‘One In A Million’. At that point I still believed he was not a gratuitous artist in his composing. I still believed him to be an artist, for that matter. He did not wear Manson T.shirts under my watch. He did not wear T. shirts denigrating Christ.
Furthermore Mr. Goldstein had absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which I brought David Geffen to the renegotiation table. I did not participate in those re-negotiations, or sign off on their content, since, dismissed, I no longer had responsibility for such negotiations. In that period I also supervised the renegotiation of the Artemis and Brockum contracts and directed Bill Elson of ICM to contract the initial dates of the upcoming tour.
Without doubt we can all say that Mr Goldstein presided over the rapid disintegration of the band. I, myself, have no doubt my exit was designed to allow Mr. Rose, to take over name, copyrights, etc. depriving the rest of the band.
The only people casting spells were Sharon Maynard, of whom I was unaware, and Mr. Goldstein, who directed her as to whom he wanted out of the picture. Yoda obliged by dismissing certain people’s images to Rose, and Goldstein, who by his own admission, in a bizarre letter that was posted on the internet, paid her. In the end one usually finds that evil is actually more banal than we fear, and based in greed and ego.
Didn’t get an awful lot done after 1991, now did they? By contrast I took an unwanted band to Wembley Stadium, my last act being putting that London show on sale.
I am long married to a light worker, renown in this area, my friends know my spirituality and that our home is full of positive spiritual talismen. By contrast, just last month I was warned that Mr. Goldstein was roaming the Southwest in a mobile home full of weapons. Do I think Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Rose are banal? You might ask that but I could not possibly comment, beyond saying …
“his statement is just crazy pants.”
To my eternal regret I backed Mr. Rose in recording ‘One In A Million’. At that point I still believed he was not a gratuitous artist in his composing. I still believed him to be an artist, for that matter. He did not wear Manson T.shirts under my watch. He did not wear T. shirts denigrating Christ.
Furthermore Mr. Goldstein had absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which I brought David Geffen to the renegotiation table. I did not participate in those re-negotiations, or sign off on their content, since, dismissed, I no longer had responsibility for such negotiations. In that period I also supervised the renegotiation of the Artemis and Brockum contracts and directed Bill Elson of ICM to contract the initial dates of the upcoming tour.
Without doubt we can all say that Mr Goldstein presided over the rapid disintegration of the band. I, myself, have no doubt my exit was designed to allow Mr. Rose, to take over name, copyrights, etc. depriving the rest of the band.
The only people casting spells were Sharon Maynard, of whom I was unaware, and Mr. Goldstein, who directed her as to whom he wanted out of the picture. Yoda obliged by dismissing certain people’s images to Rose, and Goldstein, who by his own admission, in a bizarre letter that was posted on the internet, paid her. In the end one usually finds that evil is actually more banal than we fear, and based in greed and ego.
Didn’t get an awful lot done after 1991, now did they? By contrast I took an unwanted band to Wembley Stadium, my last act being putting that London show on sale.
I am long married to a light worker, renown in this area, my friends know my spirituality and that our home is full of positive spiritual talismen. By contrast, just last month I was warned that Mr. Goldstein was roaming the Southwest in a mobile home full of weapons. Do I think Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Rose are banal? You might ask that but I could not possibly comment, beyond saying …
“his statement is just crazy pants.”
This was not the first time Niven's dabbling with the occult had been made public, it was also discussed by Mick Wall in his book Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses. In the book, Wall would quote Niven's previous assistant, Stephanie Fanning speaking about Niven's hard time after being ousted from Guns N' Roses and how she perceived him to go to occult war against Axl:
‘I think he dabbled in some things when the band was gone,’ [Fanning] says. ‘He was kind of talking to a couple of interesting people that I think were dabbling in that as well. But Axl was doing the same thing. I felt like they were duelling each other with a little bit of their whatever you want to call that – black magic, whatever. I think they were duelling each other. One would hear like, “I hear Axl’s doing this to me, I’m gonna do . . .” I feel like it was kind of going on between the two of them. I don’t know how much credence I place in that but, yeah, he was. He was. He definitely was. A little bit, for sure. I don’t know exactly if Alan was wishing Axl ill or hoping maybe to bring clarity between the two of them, cos to be honest as soon as I heard about it I kind of shut my ears off. I was like, I don’t want to get mixed up in any of that. I don’t know what that is. Maybe it scared me, I don’t know. I don’t know whether it was black or white, evil or good. Bring us back together; tear him apart . . . But I know he was talking to people who dealt in that world.
Mick Wall, Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses, July 2017
Stephanie Fanning would leave Niven to work for Goldstein and when Goldstein was interviewed for the Wall's book he provided his own perspective, including things Fanning had told him like Niven using the services of a "black-magic specialist" to cast spells at Axl and Goldstein:
I already knew that [Niven] was into the Crowley, Jimmy Page, that whole kind of thing,’ says Doug Goldstein. ‘Him and Izzy used to go into New Orleans quite a bit.’ When Steph [Fanning] went back to work with Doug, she felt obliged to tell Doug of some of Alan’s strange behaviour. ‘She said, “He hired a black-magic specialist from New Orleans and every single day after work before he would go home he would go over there and they would put on black robes, and the candles and the incense, and they would cast evil spells on you and Axl.’ I was like, what a rat bastard, man! I mean, a) what a waste of fucking money. But b) what an evil bastard.’
Mick Wall, Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses, July 2017
Niven was also interviewed for the book and would confirm seeking out occult help while in New Orleans with Izzy and eventually engaging the services of a person who claimed he could "ceremonially get rid of the negatives that are attacking you":
With his marriage in tatters and his career being held back by what he was convinced were ‘psychic’ forces, he recalled a place in New Orleans he’d once visited with Izzy called Barrington’s: ‘A retail mausoleum of ritualistic cornucopia. That covered all kinds of spiritual expression, from elephants’ feet with weird things buried in them packed with mud, to drinking skulls . . . I still have a couple of items from there’, including a large wooden rosary, a cross made from the staff of a bishop... ‘I’m a fucking atheist. I’m managing a rock’n’roll band. I have very little knowledge but I’m curious... I have two Coptic Ethiopian healing scrolls. One of them is intact, about seven feet long. It’s very rare to find a whole one because they’re concertinaed. They’re stunningly beautiful. I bought two Coptic bibles there that were about 400 years old. The pages are like bark. All hand-constructed and handwritten...’
He stresses, though: ‘I’m curious but I’m always going towards the light. So when things were going bat shit and I couldn’t figure anything out . . . I got to this point of: “This is ridiculous. There’s something to all this. Maybe I’ve been hexed. Maybe someone’s put a fucking curse on me.” So I called the guy at Barrington’s...’
Niven was put in touch with someone who offered help – at a price. ‘I’d walked through the door. Whatever scepticism I had, I’d knocked on the door and it had been opened so I walked through it.’ For several months, he studied under ‘a mad monk – he was huge and looked like he’d been picked out of a medieval monastery. To this day I still don’t know how much of a bullshitter he was. I do know how much of a manipulator he was because I had to fly him here. I had to fly him there. I had to take care of him at this point. But he introduced me to a whole area of reading that I’d been oblivious to. Which was basically occult reading . . . the secret knowledge. I learned that the simple truth is that truth is simple. That you simply find the truth by simply being truthful.
‘At this point in my life I have a real clarity of darkness and light. But at that point I was just in pain. Isolated and confused. And this guy said, “I can ceremonially get rid of the negatives that are attacking you.” And I was being psychologically attacked and I was in a psychological and spiritual warfare. There was a lot of negativity being put my way. Goldstein is just one of the people who was putting out that energy in my direction. Axl was another who was putting out that energy in my direction. Yoda was probably another one that was putting out that energy because she wanted to exploit him.
‘I was his guard. Once I was out of the way they could feed off him like fucking maggots. So I had to go and have these special knives made, crudely, out of a particular copper. And there was going to be some ceremony of putting the knives in a certain way. And the fact that a water pipe broke was supposed to be symbolic. And I started to go, I think I’m being fucking had here. And I eventually cut myself off from this guy. But, yeah, my open mind, at that moment, to such as hexing and hoodoo was an act of defensive desperation... nothing was working and all felt unpleasant... I couldn’t figure what the hell was going on... and not going on...’
He stresses, though: ‘I’m curious but I’m always going towards the light. So when things were going bat shit and I couldn’t figure anything out . . . I got to this point of: “This is ridiculous. There’s something to all this. Maybe I’ve been hexed. Maybe someone’s put a fucking curse on me.” So I called the guy at Barrington’s...’
Niven was put in touch with someone who offered help – at a price. ‘I’d walked through the door. Whatever scepticism I had, I’d knocked on the door and it had been opened so I walked through it.’ For several months, he studied under ‘a mad monk – he was huge and looked like he’d been picked out of a medieval monastery. To this day I still don’t know how much of a bullshitter he was. I do know how much of a manipulator he was because I had to fly him here. I had to fly him there. I had to take care of him at this point. But he introduced me to a whole area of reading that I’d been oblivious to. Which was basically occult reading . . . the secret knowledge. I learned that the simple truth is that truth is simple. That you simply find the truth by simply being truthful.
‘At this point in my life I have a real clarity of darkness and light. But at that point I was just in pain. Isolated and confused. And this guy said, “I can ceremonially get rid of the negatives that are attacking you.” And I was being psychologically attacked and I was in a psychological and spiritual warfare. There was a lot of negativity being put my way. Goldstein is just one of the people who was putting out that energy in my direction. Axl was another who was putting out that energy in my direction. Yoda was probably another one that was putting out that energy because she wanted to exploit him.
‘I was his guard. Once I was out of the way they could feed off him like fucking maggots. So I had to go and have these special knives made, crudely, out of a particular copper. And there was going to be some ceremony of putting the knives in a certain way. And the fact that a water pipe broke was supposed to be symbolic. And I started to go, I think I’m being fucking had here. And I eventually cut myself off from this guy. But, yeah, my open mind, at that moment, to such as hexing and hoodoo was an act of defensive desperation... nothing was working and all felt unpleasant... I couldn’t figure what the hell was going on... and not going on...’
Mick Wall, Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses, July 2017
In early 2019, Niven would talk about how being fired from GN'R, as well as other events in his life that happened not long after, had affected his mental health and made him go "totally over the edge":
And when I got the phone call from Axl and he said he was going to breach contract and he didn't want to work with me anymore. That had an impact on me that I didn't anticipate. Because for me what I was doing was not a job, it was a way of life, and I felt a much stronger connection to the people I was working with than people in a job situation. You know, I'd worked at Virgin, Green World, and it was a different kind of relationship. And whereas when you have a job, you can clock out at 5 or 6, when you're working with a band that you care about, it's a way of life, it's 24/ 365. And it is misguidedly perhaps a temptation to use the word "family." So when your family fires you, that hits you a little harder than than perhaps you think it's going to. Well, you know, you think, "That's fucked up. We'll move on. We'll get by." It was not something I was expecting. And I will put it bluntly, you know, Axl may have been an asshole, but he was my asshole. I went out there and I fought for him as I fought for the entire band. You know, I signed a contract with five individuals collectively known as GN'R, I didn't have a working contract with one individual. And we'd been on an extraordinary journey. It's well known that no one wanted to manage the band. Zutaut came and begged me to pretend to manage the band so he could get them in the studio. And I said, "Tom, I'm not gonna do that, but I will go and talk to them and see if anything comes of it". So we went from an entity that was within weeks of being thrown off Geffen, which is what Eddie Rosenblatt wanted to do. He wanted to dispense with them because he thought they were just unmanageable and a waste of time and money. We went from that to selling out Wembley Arena. It was an amazing journey and when that goes away from you, you don't perhaps realize it, or I didn't perhaps realize it at the time, but that affected me more than I thought it would. And then there's the fact that, you know, Doug Goldstein was, in Tom Zutaut's words, he whispered in my ear one day at a dinner, "Doug Goldstein is not your friend," he had just come from a meeting with Goldstein and Axl. And that was just a little bit before I got the phone call from Axl. When you feel that you've been betrayed, and then when the band got you into the process in the first place, I mean, Jack Russel said, "We want you to manage us." And I said, "You're out of your mind. I don't know anything about management." And Jack looked at me and he said, "You'll learn." And that was an extraordinary relationship. So when that one went away too, and from 1995 until just last year, if you'd put me and Jack in the same room, you might just as well bring a pine box as well, because I'd have fucking killed him, you know? [...] But even so, when that band went away, again, you know, after 13 years, that was an impact. And then when you finally get to the point where you find out that when the woman you're married to finally says something of profound honesty to you and she says, "Your problem is that you just did not understand that for me our marriage was a matter of convenient opportunities." [...] Well now you're well, you're not just on the slippery slope, now you're over the cliff edge, emotionally and spiritually. Now you're at a point of going, what the fuck? Everything I valued, everything I put my energy into, everything I put my intelligence into, everything I put my love into, has turned out to be false and not what I thought it was. And that's the moment where the soil under your feet liquefies and you sink. In a nutshell, that's what took me over the edge and I went totally over the edge for quite a while.
For more on this and how Niven coped with being fired, see an earlier chapter.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 8, 2018
THE 2018 WORLD TOUR, PART IIThe tour continued with a show a show at Du Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on November 25 before coming to FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 29.
November 25, 2018Jose Maria Campoy
November 29, 2018Jose Maria Campoy
Before the show in Abu Dhabi, Slash, who had played in United Arab Emirates twice before with Velvet Revolver and Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, would talk about returning to the country:
It has been great. The first time I been here was with Velvet Revolver and I had absolutely no idea what to expect and I didn’t know what kind of fans we had or whatever, but it was amazing and it has always been like that ever since. It was great straight rock and roll crowd.
And Axl would talk about watching Formula One racing while in Abu Dhabi:
We were in the middle of a tour of Brazil and Mercedes invited us to come and watch the São Paulo GP. We didn’t need much convincing. Myself and Slash are total petrol heads. [...] Of course I do [remember who won] – Lewis Hamilton won it. He’s done some great things in the sport and he’s one to watch in Abu Dhabi. [...] I have so much respect for those guys and what they do. I love watching it – I’ve been to the Brazilian, Malaysian, and British Grands Prix and now we’re all looking forward to Abu Dhabi.
And before the show in Johannesburg:
[...] we just arrived and it is great to be back in South Africa! The food here is amazing and what really stood out for us last time with Kings of Chaos was the energetic audience. I really look forward to seeing the crowd’s reaction now that we are playing for the first time as Guns N’ Roses … I think it is just going to be one amazing night!
While in South Africa, Slash would take a few days off:
I am very fond of the snakes found in South Africa and Africa as a whole. I am, in fact, heading into the bush in a couple of days and I look forward to seeing what I can find … and what finds me!
Dizzy in Abu DhabiNovember 25, 2018
Fans in JohannesburgNovember 29, 2018
The show in Abu Dhabi ended early, after only 14 songs, when Axl was feeling ill. Slash would talk about the show and how they endured but that Axl was feeling fine again for their show in Johannesburg:
Axl really got a serious case of stomach flu that day. There is little you can do when you get it that bad. It was hard on him, and I really felt for him, but we managed to get though as much of the set as we could. He is, however, feeling much better now, so we will be in top form tonight.
Naturally, some fans would complain about this shortened set:
Guns N' Roses Cuts Abu Dhabi Concert Short After Axl Rose Becomes 'Severely Ill'
Guns N' Roses played an abbreviated in the United Arab Emirates Sunday night (November 25) after frontman Axl Rose became "severely ill."
Rose and his bandmates performed almost 20 songs in Abu Dhabi before cutting the show short.
The singer addressed his medical condition at one point during the concert, telling the crowd (see video below): "They've got me on IVs and a bunch of injections, 'cause I got sick today, I've been throwing up for about the last five hours. So, instead of canceling, I'm gonna do the best show we can for you."
Bassist Duff McKagan later tweeted: "Thank you Abu Dhabi! @axlrose pulled a damn miracle…the man was beyond ill, and pulled off something I've never seen in my 40 yrs of playing. You all pulled him thru. Til next time!"
Guitarist Slash wrote on his Twitter account: "Abu Dhabi, you guys were fucking great tonight! Axl was severely ill. But you all were hugely supportive. Thanks for that. We'll see again next time! Cheers!"
Not everybody was satisfied with Axl's explanation, with one fan responding to McKagan's tweet: "Shame you only played about 10 songs, disgrace."
Another fan wrote: "Shouldve stayed in his sick bed! How many hits!? and 1 1/2 hours to play Sweet Child & then Eric Clapton!! Glad I didn't pay otherwise I'd be asking for a refund!! @gunsnroses."
A third fan said: "So that's how you end a tour @Slash @DuffMcKagan @axlrose @gunsnroses ? No patience, night train or paradise city? Disappointed! And you played so well!" [...]
Guns N' Roses played an abbreviated in the United Arab Emirates Sunday night (November 25) after frontman Axl Rose became "severely ill."
Rose and his bandmates performed almost 20 songs in Abu Dhabi before cutting the show short.
The singer addressed his medical condition at one point during the concert, telling the crowd (see video below): "They've got me on IVs and a bunch of injections, 'cause I got sick today, I've been throwing up for about the last five hours. So, instead of canceling, I'm gonna do the best show we can for you."
Bassist Duff McKagan later tweeted: "Thank you Abu Dhabi! @axlrose pulled a damn miracle…the man was beyond ill, and pulled off something I've never seen in my 40 yrs of playing. You all pulled him thru. Til next time!"
Guitarist Slash wrote on his Twitter account: "Abu Dhabi, you guys were fucking great tonight! Axl was severely ill. But you all were hugely supportive. Thanks for that. We'll see again next time! Cheers!"
Not everybody was satisfied with Axl's explanation, with one fan responding to McKagan's tweet: "Shame you only played about 10 songs, disgrace."
Another fan wrote: "Shouldve stayed in his sick bed! How many hits!? and 1 1/2 hours to play Sweet Child & then Eric Clapton!! Glad I didn't pay otherwise I'd be asking for a refund!! @gunsnroses."
A third fan said: "So that's how you end a tour @Slash @DuffMcKagan @axlrose @gunsnroses ? No patience, night train or paradise city? Disappointed! And you played so well!" [...]
This resulted in Fernando Lebeis turning to Twitter:
Landed in Johannesburg, what a crazy 12hrs. It’s strange to think a 2hour set is considered a “short” set. Love the people we have sharing the stage, coming up to help and protect one of their own.
Twitter, November 26, 2018
Richard talking about having played in Johannesburg:
We also did South Africa for the first time in this tour, which was insane. That was like a 90,000 seat stadium. That was huge. Second biggest stadium in the world.
Then came the tacked-on show at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, on December 8. A portion of the proceeds of this show would be donated to the Andy Irons Foundation [Press Release, December 3, 2018]. The Andy Irons Foundation was created to "raise awareness and institute programs for young people pertaining to mental health, drug recovery, and learning disabilities" [Press Release, December 3, 2018].
December 8, 2018Arian Buhler
December 8, 2018Arian Buhler
Duff in HonoluluDecember 8, 2018
The band in HonoluluDecember 8, 2018
At the show in Honolulu, Axl would thank the crowds and crew for two years of touring and indicate that more was to come but that they had to do this touring first:
Okay now, we have a bit more to do here. I want to thank you, I want to thank the fans all around the world for making the last couple of years fucking awesome. I want to thank the band that I’m sure hates me. I want to thank Opie and our crew. I want to thank Jeremy and all of our sound [crew], and all of our security, and all of our business and management teams. Thank you very much for the last couple of years, and we hope to keep this thing running, so we’ll see what happens next. We had to get through this first, and you helped us do that. We can’t do what’s next until we finish this, right, see?
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
LOOKING BACK AT THREE YEARS OF TOURING
FacebookJuly 26, 2018Arian Buhler
Official band photoOctober 2018
Having finally come down from the recent GNR Euro tour, I want to give a massive thanks to all the GNR fans across Europe; thank you for such an amazing reception from Berlin to Reykjavik & everywhere in between; you're all fucking awesome! Cheers! iiii]; )'
Twitter, August 1, 2018
We just had a fucking insane blast doing [Coachella], that, you know, one thing led to another and the next thing you know we had booked a leg of a tour, and it just kept adding up and adding up. It’s been quite a fucking positive experience.
The Not in this Lifetime Tour was just an epic fun thing. Trying to pick one particular highlight out of that whole tour is really hard. I would say the whole tour was just an amazing experience and it isn't finished yet.
And it was probably one of the most fantastic experiences of my professional career was doing this Guns N' Roses Not In This Lifetime tour. And, you know, I would have been the last person to ever see that coming, you know, go back three or four years ago. [...] I mean, it's been on stage as well as personally, I mean, just the whole thing, you know, on a personal level to looking over, you know, on stage right and seeing Axl over there and just that feeling of a camaraderie that goes back 30 years. And just all that stuff. It was all such a positive and just really fun kind of a thing. There was just so many, on so many different levels, on emotional levels, on professional levels as far as just that chemistry that has always existed with us ever since, you know, day one back in 1985 or whatever. So, you know, all those things sort of come into a head at one time and it was very explosive.
Sitting on the outside, the Guns tour, it wasn't ever about it being whatever it ended up being, looking at it from a dollars and cents [or] a status thing or whatever other people look at it for. The actual experience of doing it and having these amazing fucking crowds and this response to the band, and the band itself, just that whole thing was amazing. It was so cool and it was such, in a way, a validating thing for that lineup. That was that was about — that's why it was so much fun, and that's why we did it for so long. It wasn't because, 'Oh yeah, we're going to make a lot of money on it,' but as a player, that's what I was getting off on.
The whole big-numbers thing, that's not the thing that turns me on about it. What is great about it was that it happened, and it was a positive thing. For us as individuals or as a a group, it was something that I had no idea was even possible, because there was so much bad blood lingering for so long, and when we got together to do the Troubadour and Coachella, there was such a great vibe going on. That extended through the entire tour with no hitches, no matter what different obstacles came up against us like we've had in the past. Nothing derailed us, so that in itself was great, and then on top of that, the response that we got... we didn't have to get that response. All that shit is really humbling. That is really the magic of it for me, and the fact that it was successful monetarily and all those sort of accolades, it's cool and I appreciate it, but it's not the thing that makes it what is really great about it.
The whole big-numbers thing, that's not the thing that turns me on about it. What is great about it was that it happened, and it was a positive thing. For us as individuals or as a a group, it was something that I had no idea was even possible, because there was so much bad blood lingering for so long, and when we got together to do the Troubadour and Coachella, there was such a great vibe going on. That extended through the entire tour with no hitches, no matter what different obstacles came up against us like we've had in the past. Nothing derailed us, so that in itself was great, and then on top of that, the response that we got... we didn't have to get that response. All that shit is really humbling. That is really the magic of it for me, and the fact that it was successful monetarily and all those sort of accolades, it's cool and I appreciate it, but it's not the thing that makes it what is really great about it.
And then, you know, the tour, the ensuing tour, was just one of the best professional experiences of my, you know, lifetime. So, you know, all things considered, two years later looking back on it I'm really, really happy that it all came together and I'm really relieved that, you know, it didn't go by way of of just having that black cloud forever, you know, and nothing ever coming out of it and again.
And that first series of shows that we did around Coachella back in April of 2016, I guess it was such a huge thing for the guys in the band, for myself to be on stage with Duff and Axl and just have that chemistry. It was so powerful. I sort of – you know, you forget, because it’d been a lot of years since I’d really jammed with both those guys, and it was really powerful. Then one thing just led to another, and we just ended up having this amazing tour that you couldn’t possibly dream of. It was a really great tour, and it lasted a really long time. I think it was the longest tour that we ever did, because it was about two and a half years. [...] No, we really had a great, great time. I mean, there was no bullshit, like one of those situations that a lot of people like to show an appearance, you know, saying “It’s great,” and this and that and the other, but the reality is something else. But for us this whole thing was really a magical experience. The band was great, the fuckin’ entourage, the crew, the whole production was just like this really great marriage of people, and we just all had a really great time. And the fans were amazing, so it was really epic, you know? So I’m really happy that it happened.
Seriously, the last tour was the most fun I had with Guns N' Roses since the 80's. Not in this lifetime would I have thought to have so much fun with them again. For the first time, I felt something like intimacy at the stadium shows. The big Open Airs of the 90's made me feel disconnected from the massive audiences. I can't really explain my different perception, though. There were definitely totally different vibes from the audiences this time.
I actually didn’t have any expectations. My biggest concern was the band itself. Obviously, having patched things up with Axl was a huge thing. I mean that was like a way bigger priority then how successful the tour was going to be. And then we got into it initially with like four or five shows in mind, and see if we could survive that. So then it started to snowball — no one knew what the anticipation level of those first five shows was gonna be until we did them. And it just went from there.
So, I didn’t have a lot of lofty ideas of how successful it was going to be, and it didn’t really matter. Really, what it came down to, it was more fun just to be with the guys and just to do it, and the fans were unreal. That was really what it was all about for me. Now, at this time, in hindsight, to say that it was one of the most successful tours [of all time] — that’s obviously very humbling, and you feel very grateful to have been appreciated to that extent.
So, I didn’t have a lot of lofty ideas of how successful it was going to be, and it didn’t really matter. Really, what it came down to, it was more fun just to be with the guys and just to do it, and the fans were unreal. That was really what it was all about for me. Now, at this time, in hindsight, to say that it was one of the most successful tours [of all time] — that’s obviously very humbling, and you feel very grateful to have been appreciated to that extent.
Slash would be asked why he was playing "faster than ever" on the Not In This Lifetime tour:
What’s funny is that when we were doing rehearsals, I didn’t really do anything. I didn’t have my solos mapped out because I try to stick with the live improvisations for each show. There’s a lot of stuff that’s not set in stone, so I would just play whatever. But it all came into place after that first show, where I almost had to fly by the seat of my pants and make something up while stood in front of all these people. And actually there’s an amazing amount of energy feeding back to you from audiences 80,000 strong. That’s what fuels a lot of the energy in my playing. [...] Maybe it’s the in-ears as well, because I can hear everything very fuckin’ clearly. I don’t have any effects for my in-ears, so it’s all really dry and there’s not as much sustain without live cabinets pushing air and ambience. With all that clarity, I end up playing faster than I normally would, I guess! I still play the blues stuff and the slow stuff fine… but there’s something about the energy that’s been making me just fuckin’ go for it and see what happens.
Slash would also point out that the real success was the friend he made on the way:
The real success of it was to get back in a room together after so much time apart. That black cloud of animosity that had perpetuated through the entire time that we were apart… to get past all that and get in a room together and play and have that magic instantaneously come back, and to realise that the reason that the band was ever considered great by anybody was the fact that there was actually a genuine chemistry that made some good fucking music was the success. And then to go out and play and to be so well received by so many people across the globe, that was a major thing that I will never, ever take for granted.
In 2019, Frank would talk about the Slash, Duff, Axl trio being iconic and how that drew crowds:
Axl and I have been together since like 2006, through the whole Chinese Democracy time era, you know, but yeah, when Slash and Duff came back it blew everything wide open. [...] they're icons, I'm playing with icons, you know, the three of them, Duff, Slash and Axl, they're icons, I mean, I can't put it into words, you know, especially coming from the humble beginnings that I came from, you know. I've always dreamt of playing big places, Madison Square Garden, I grew up in New York City, but we play in front of 80,000 people or hundred thousand people all over the world. I mean, we played to 80,000 people here in Joburg in November, you know. I mean, it's something I never dreamt of, you know. [...] When you have those icons on that stage you have to come and see it, you have to see it. I mean, the band is better than ever, you know, we have really great musicians in the band besides the main three, you know. Dizzy Reed is still in the band, who played on Use Your Illusions, who played all the piano on it, so it's just so iconic, you have to come and see it, plus the band is pretty slamming, too, the music is pretty good, you know.
Dizzy was not surprised by the success:
I had no doubt that it was going to be as big and as massive as it was. And I think, you know, we eliminated any uncertainty because everybody works really hard. And you know, we put in the time to put on the best show that we possibly could for everybody. When you do that, you can't... As long as you're prepared, then... If you do everything you can through preparation, then anything else that happens is just gonna be an act of God or whatever, you know? The fans came out like I knew they would, and it was... Yeah, I don't think it was anything less than I thought it would be.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
LATE 2018
END OF TOURING, START OF RECORDING?With the Not In The Lifetime tour being over at the end of 2018, speculations arose that the band would now focus on a new album. These speculations were further strengthened when Axl cryptically said from the stage in Honolulu (December 8) that more was to come but that they had to do this touring first:
Thank you very much for the last couple of years, and we hope to keep this thing running, so we’ll see what happens next. We had to get through this first, and you helped us do that. We can’t do what’s next until we finish this, right, see?
Fernando Lebeis would also posted a cryptic image to Instagram after the final show, suggesting this could be the end to something:
InstagramDecember 8, 2018
In November 2018, Melissa had answered professionally when asked if new music could be expected:
Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say. I hope for the best. Anything that allows me to spend more time with my big bros, I embrace a thousand, million, billion percent. But I hope. I hope.
Around the same time Slash said they would discuss a new album after the end of touring in 2018 and that they were "all talking about" a new record:
Guns is doing its final run on the Not in This Lifetime… Tour next month in Asia and South Africa and Dubai, and then that’s it until we can hunker down and do a record. [...] We’ll see [if a new record is in the works] [laughs]. Right now, it’s just something that we’re all talking about.
Before the end of the year, Slash would be asked what he had in store for 2019:
And then whatever Guns N' Roses stuff we have. I'm not really sure what that is, but hopefully in between there'll be some of that.
When the interviewer responded "I’ve got £10 in my pocket. Should I go down to the bookies and put it on there being a new Guns N’ Roses album next year?" Slash replied:
[Laughing] I would never make a bet like that on Guns N’ Roses.
Richard would further fuel the flames of new music by expressing optimism that the band would now turn their focus to a new album and that it wouldn't take long until it was out:
We're gonna try and do another record getting out soon. [...] I think will happen faster than you think. [...] I sure hope it happens faster than you think.
And as for whether a new song could come before the end of 2019:
It could definitely happen.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
2008, 2009, 2013, 2018-
RICHARD RESURRECTS PALE DIVINE FOR ISOLATED SHOWSFrom 2008, Richard would do occasional one-off shows with his former band Pale Divine. In July 2008, it was reported that Richard was reuniting with Pale Divine on December 29, 2008, at the Pageant in St Louis, MI, USA [GN'R Daily, July 12, 2008].
Talking about how the one-show reunion came to be:
We'd always kept in touch and I was in town a couple years ago. We've been talking about it for a while, but I'm never around, I'm always busy at that time of year, like the end of the year. We wanted to do it, like, at a holiday time when people would be home. Basically, what happened this year was, I have two little girls and we were going to take them to see the grandparents. So we figured, “Well, that's a perfect time to do this” – you know, kill two birds with one stone. [...] So I thought it would be a good opportunity and we ended up getting, like, the 29th of December. I guess the rest of the holiday season is tied up by the Pink Floyd tribute.
Before a show in 2013, Richard would look back at the band's songs:
Some of the songs, I’m like ‘This is crap, what we were thinking?’ On other ones, it’s ‘This is a great song, why wasn’t this band huge?’ There’re moments of both. But that’s art, in general. … The later Pale stuff, some of the demos ... the recordings aren’t so good, they’re just rough demos. But ‘Together Alone,’ ‘My Only You,’ ‘Love Song,’ ‘Island,” all are really strong songs. They far exceed what we did on ‘Straight to Goodbye,’ though I think ‘Straight to Goodbye’ and ‘Sorrow’ are great songs. Lyrically, there are some embarrassing moments, for both Michael and me. But I can hear us finding our way, song structure-wise, harmonically. I can see that we were growing. My own playing was sometimes ... not juvenile, but a little undeveloped. Ambitious, but not quite restrained enough.
And comment on whether fans would remember them:
The first one was amazing. “I really remember talking to Michael beforehand and saying, ‘do you think anyone cares? Does anyone remember?’ He said, ‘totally.’ But to see a sold-out house, everyone singing along, that really hit me hard. That was overwhelming. It’s so cool to think that you’ve impacted lives like that. I hear from people on my website and on Facebook, about what the songs meant to them. It’s interesting. That stuff was important to me, that time affected me. But it’s different when you’re onstage, performing and playing. You’re going for that place where you’re lost in yourself. You’re there, but your memories aren’t the same.
Talking about doing more shows:
Man, we would love to do it. You know, Michael and I are together a lot. We speak all the time and I would love to do it. It's just a matter of figuring out schedules, you know.
On December 15, Pale Divine played another show at Pageant in St. Louis. The show came a few months after a private show they had also played in St. Louis:
I said, "If we're gonna get together and rehearse and relearn all these songs, let's just do a show. And I was looking at the calendar. I'm like, 'Well, I'm back...' [?] So we're trying to find something around Christmas time because I know I'm going to be here around Christmas because I'm always off that time. So I thought, 'That's safe. Let's just book a show then.' And so here we are.
Richard would compare playing with Pale Divine to playing with Guns N' Roses and describing the former as more "fatiguing":
It's way more fatiguing [laughs]. [...] It's sort of because everybody's looking at me, you know. I don't know. It feels like a lot more pressure on me. [...] But it's also vey exciting, these are my boys. I mean, these are the guys I grew up with, you know.
Being asked if this would become an annual thing:
I think no because it's so difficult for me to know my schedule far enough in advance. But man, I love doing. Pale Divine was like... and it's so cool because that audience is so hardcore. Like our audience from back in the day really have been incredibly supportive and it's a nostalgic trip-
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
DECEMBER 4-11, 2018
RUMORS ABOUT GN'R RECORDING A COVER OF CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTIONOn December 4, music journalist Mitch Lafon would post an "unsubstantiated" rumor that Guns N' Roses had recorded a cover version of T-Rex' Children of the Revolution to be included on an upcoming tribute album:
TwitterDecember 4, 2018
The rumor would be picked up by other news outlets [Classic Rock, December 6, 2018].
A few days later, Lafon would share that he had been contacted by Hal Wilner, the producer of the tribute album, who had denied the rumor:
Hal Willner - producer for the upcoming T-Rex tribute has sent me the following note about the unsubstantiated report of GUNS N’ ROSES involvement:
"Hi Mitch - just wanted to clear up a rumor you wrote about re. Guns N’ Roses recording “Children of the Revolution “ for BMG and my Bolan project . They are NOT on the record . In fact “children of the revolution “ is done by Kesha with a live orchestra that features Wayne KRAMER and LA’s Jack Shit band that has members of Elvis C and Jackson B’s bands . There is a rumor that Axl Rose recorded that song for a different Bolan project without G & R but again it is not ours . Our project is done and BMG is putting it out in March or April. It is called “Angelheaded Hipster - Another Look at Marc Bolan”. The title comes from Allen Ginsberg “Howl” poem . Some of the featured artists are Marc Almond, Nick Cave, Perry Farrell , Foo Fighters , Emily Haines , Joan Jett, Father John Misty, Todd Rundgren , Peaches , Bjorns , Nena and more - 27 tracks over 2 CDs , vinyl and all the other ways .... so just wanted to give you the real info .... much love , Hal Willner
Oh and U2 with Elton John too"
"Hi Mitch - just wanted to clear up a rumor you wrote about re. Guns N’ Roses recording “Children of the Revolution “ for BMG and my Bolan project . They are NOT on the record . In fact “children of the revolution “ is done by Kesha with a live orchestra that features Wayne KRAMER and LA’s Jack Shit band that has members of Elvis C and Jackson B’s bands . There is a rumor that Axl Rose recorded that song for a different Bolan project without G & R but again it is not ours . Our project is done and BMG is putting it out in March or April. It is called “Angelheaded Hipster - Another Look at Marc Bolan”. The title comes from Allen Ginsberg “Howl” poem . Some of the featured artists are Marc Almond, Nick Cave, Perry Farrell , Foo Fighters , Emily Haines , Joan Jett, Father John Misty, Todd Rundgren , Peaches , Bjorns , Nena and more - 27 tracks over 2 CDs , vinyl and all the other ways .... so just wanted to give you the real info .... much love , Hal Willner
Oh and U2 with Elton John too"
Wilmer's comment that there is a rumor that Axl recorded the songs for another project, turned out to be true and more about this in a later chapter.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
STAYING FIT FOR THE LONG SHOWS
In 2011, Axl would talk about trying to be in shape for the touring and the long sets:
Well, everybody in this band has their own different physical regimen that they go through. I do a lot of cardio, you know, when I can and... or when I can force myself to [laughs] But yeah, you got to get your wind up and you got to get your head in the right place to go out and do it.
When DJ suggested Axl was "super disciplined" about exercising, Axl promptly responded:
No. I mean, absolutely not. Noooooo, no.
After Slash rejoined the band in 2016, he too would talk about working out for the shows:
I try to hit the gym at least every other day if I can, and I’m not hardcore about it. I hate the gym. I do it to keep my stamina up for these two- and three-hour shows you do every night. You have to be prepared for that.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
DECEMBER 25, 2018
LOONEY TUNES RELEASES AN EPISODE FEATURING AXL AND THE SONG ROCK AGAINST ROCKA new Axl Rose song, the first in 10 years, appears to have debuted on the Looney Tunes TV series. An episode of New Looney Tunes, which aired in the US on Christmas Day, features a cameo from the rocker in cartoon form, turning up to ask Bugs Bunny and his friends for directions to the Civic Centre, where he's due to perform with his band, Steel Underpants. When he's told a giant asteroid is heading towards Earth, Rose says that his new speakers can "shake mountains to the ground". "Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bugs says, to which Rose jokingly replies: “That I should go back to wearing a mesh jersey and kilt again?” The cartoon rabbit then suggests he should play his music loud enough to blow up the asteroid, with the Looney Tunes themselves serving as his backing band. They then launch into a song titled "Rock the Rock".
Still from Looney TunesDecember 26, 2018
On the Appetite for Distortion podcast, the writers of the Looney Tunes episode, Rob Janas and Kevin Fleming would discuss the episode and how it came to be [Appetite for Distortion, June 13, 2019]. Fleming got the idea after having attending a couple of GN'R shows at the Not In This Lifetime tour where the band walked on stage to the classic Looney Tunes theme [Appetite for Distortion, June 13, 2019].
The next part was trying to figure out an idea for [Axl]. We had a whiteboard in our office and we would always scribble up different ideas on the board, and I think one that had been living up there for a while that we hadn't written -- we just hadn't figured it out -- was the Looney Tunes gang has to destroy an asteroid.
Ultimate Classic Rock would summarize:
As part of the brainstorming process, Janas continued, they hit upon the notion of Rose rocking "so hard that he literally saves the world." Fleming mockingly added, "The only thing more powerful than a laser beam is rock and roll!"
Fleming added that Rose's reclusive public persona made them skeptical that their plan would come to fruition. It took "pretty tenacious" work by a producer to reel in the singer, largely because Guns N' Roses' highly successful reunion tour kept adding dates, which pushed back their planned recording dates. It got to the point where the writers considered scrapping Rose and going with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler instead.
Meanwhile, Rose's team were hands on throughout, asking to see in advance how the singer was going to be drawn. They came back with very specific tweaks, such as which bandanas to use and where the dog collars he wears should be placed, that they wanted incorporated into his design. These discussions continued in baby steps, with the show's creators remaining unsure that the appearance would happen until Rose actually set foot in the studio.
Rose's reputation as one of the definitive bad boys of '80s rock ("That's why he's the only one who can stop an asteroid," Janas said, "Because he's that powerful.") also meant that Janas and Fleming didn't know what to expect. But, he added, Axl "couldn't have been nicer," coming into the studio wearing a Wile E. Coyote t-shirt and introducing himself to everybody.
They were also originally scared to give Rose direction for fear of how he would react, even giving him leeway to change a line about the days when he wore a mesh jersey and kilt onstage. "But he was able to laugh at himself and that was the coolest thing about it," Fleming added. "and that's why you think, 'No wonder this dude is so successful and so cool.'"
After Rose recorded his dialogue, it was time to record "Rock the Rock," which Janas wrote, and it was then that they noticed a change in the singer. Where previously Rose had been deferential to the staff to get the right feel for the lines, the song was his territory. Janas said that Rose could tell from the arrangement that they were looking for an AC/DC vibe, and he did one take in his high register. After playback, he said he had an idea to record additional parts in his low and mid-ranges.
"Everybody in the room is kind of just letting him run the show," Janas said. "and can't believe it's happening and is just not saying a word."
The whole session took about two or three hours, and would have taken even less time if Rose hadn't gotten hungry. Late in the session, he suddenly got in the mood for a taco. "So one of his people went off and they got tacos," Janas recalled, "and he came back and he was like, 'OK, I'm gonna have a taco, and then I'll come back and I'll finish up." The crew expected a 10-minute break, but Rose went into the hallway, took a few bites and walked back into the booth.
"He stands there with his headphones on," Janas laughed. "[He's] not saying anything, but, like, he's ready. OK, he's done. The break's over. ... Get out of the bathroom. He took, literally, like a 30-second break and then he started singing again."
Fleming added that Rose's reclusive public persona made them skeptical that their plan would come to fruition. It took "pretty tenacious" work by a producer to reel in the singer, largely because Guns N' Roses' highly successful reunion tour kept adding dates, which pushed back their planned recording dates. It got to the point where the writers considered scrapping Rose and going with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler instead.
Meanwhile, Rose's team were hands on throughout, asking to see in advance how the singer was going to be drawn. They came back with very specific tweaks, such as which bandanas to use and where the dog collars he wears should be placed, that they wanted incorporated into his design. These discussions continued in baby steps, with the show's creators remaining unsure that the appearance would happen until Rose actually set foot in the studio.
Rose's reputation as one of the definitive bad boys of '80s rock ("That's why he's the only one who can stop an asteroid," Janas said, "Because he's that powerful.") also meant that Janas and Fleming didn't know what to expect. But, he added, Axl "couldn't have been nicer," coming into the studio wearing a Wile E. Coyote t-shirt and introducing himself to everybody.
They were also originally scared to give Rose direction for fear of how he would react, even giving him leeway to change a line about the days when he wore a mesh jersey and kilt onstage. "But he was able to laugh at himself and that was the coolest thing about it," Fleming added. "and that's why you think, 'No wonder this dude is so successful and so cool.'"
After Rose recorded his dialogue, it was time to record "Rock the Rock," which Janas wrote, and it was then that they noticed a change in the singer. Where previously Rose had been deferential to the staff to get the right feel for the lines, the song was his territory. Janas said that Rose could tell from the arrangement that they were looking for an AC/DC vibe, and he did one take in his high register. After playback, he said he had an idea to record additional parts in his low and mid-ranges.
"Everybody in the room is kind of just letting him run the show," Janas said. "and can't believe it's happening and is just not saying a word."
The whole session took about two or three hours, and would have taken even less time if Rose hadn't gotten hungry. Late in the session, he suddenly got in the mood for a taco. "So one of his people went off and they got tacos," Janas recalled, "and he came back and he was like, 'OK, I'm gonna have a taco, and then I'll come back and I'll finish up." The crew expected a 10-minute break, but Rose went into the hallway, took a few bites and walked back into the booth.
"He stands there with his headphones on," Janas laughed. "[He's] not saying anything, but, like, he's ready. OK, he's done. The break's over. ... Get out of the bathroom. He took, literally, like a 30-second break and then he started singing again."
Doug Goldstein would be asked if he was surprised that Axl would lend his phone to a Looney Tunes episode:
No, you know what? He's always, always, always loved kids. I mean, his famous Halloween parties that he used to do, I don't know whether he's doing them anymore, but it didn't surprise me at all. I loved it. I mean, I loved that if he was gonna do anything, it was great format to come back in. I mean, I don't know that I would do a GN'R song that way, but for an Axl deal, yeah, I thought it was great, I thought it was really cool.
Goldstein would also appreciate how this reflected a humorous side to Axl that is not well known in the public:
The thing that I love about it, Brando, is, I know a personal side of Axl that a lot of people don't, and that is he's hilarious. He's a really funny guy. I mean, they only see kind of the guy who comes out on stage. And he's smiling now, which I think is great. It looks like he's having a blast touring with the guys. But usually it was all about angst and they didn't realize that he's hilarious. So I liked that he's showing kind of that humorous side of him.
Alan Niven would sip into his infinite jar of bitterness when he in a comment was trying to argue for Axl's avarice:
History, however, has shown that Axl and Goldstein had material motives – Axl, Mr Fifty Per-Cent, was fine with cutting both Steven and Izzy out of the tour. I’d hazard a bet Bugs Bunny ain’t been paid for the Cock Up The Rock video yet – or if he was, he merely got a quarter of a carrot, while Axl took the salad.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
THE COMPETENCE OF TEAM BRAZIL
Team Brazil would receive a fair amount of criticism, from fans [see earlier chapter] but also from industry people. The typical criticism was that their positions were the outcome of nepotism and not merit. Still, as Alan Niven would point out, it was easy to point to successes with them managing the band, especially the successful Not In The Lifetime tour:
Well, they're very busy, aren't they? I mean, there's a curly-head friend of mine who pointed out recently it takes eight of them to keep Axl happy and moving. But I would make the observation that he's just done two years of very substantial touring. So you have to tip your hat to Team Brazil for getting that done. Well done. [...] Most of the people on the crew didn't think it would get past Coachella. [...] Not that I would know, but as a mildly curious observer, I look at Axl and if I were asked to identify what has helped him most, I would look at it and I would say, "You know, I don't really consider Team Brazil to be brilliant managers - I mean, good God, you know, the mistakes they've made, I mean the boxset, give me a break - but this is what I always think, they have been a family for him". And we were talking earlier about people forming bands to form their perfect family, I don't know if he's got a perfect family and every family has it's problems, but I think he's got one and I think that's what he needed and that's what he wanted and he's finally got one.
Goldstein would criticize the lack of communication with Team Brazil as managers:
I've said this to you, the reality is that I don't manage the band anymore since 2004. But I would've probably handled things a little differently. The one frustrating thing for me is: there's not a whole lot of communication from either management to the band, to the fans in general... "Taking it back all the way to when they started the announcement for the original reunion tour, 'Not in This lifetime,' it was like one paragraph, 'Hey, by the way, we're out, be out there.' And then I saw the ticket sales in Toronto, and I thought, 'Well sure, because nobody is out there really marketing this whole project.' It was a little frustrating when, as the ex-manager, we certainly used to get in front of that stuff.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
EARLY 2019
"THERE MIGHT BE STUFF STARTED" [ON NEW MUSIC]In late 2018, Richard would indicate that work had already started on new music:
There might be stuff started.
And in February 2019, Slash would also state that they had started working on a new album:
I mean, with Guns, everybody’s mentioned - Axl, Duff, myself, even Richard, we all talked about it. There’s material and stuff going on already for a new record. So it’s just, with Guns N’ Roses, you don’t go, “Oh, there’s a plan, and it’s gonna be like this,” because that’s not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we’re hoping to put a new record out and we’ll just see what happens, when it happens.
It is not clear what Richard and Slash would refer to in these quotes. Axl would start looking at old material and choosing songs to be reworked by Duff and Slash already back in 2018, and Slash (and Duff) would at least have started adding their parts to all or some of these songs by April 2019. Perhaps Slash and Duff started adding tracks earlier and it was to this work that Richard and Slash alluded.
Last edited by Soulmonster on Mon Oct 14, 2024 2:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
WHAT WOULD AXL EVEN WRITE LYRICS ABOUT?
When on the topic of new music from Guns N' Roses, and interviewer would ponder if Axl had much to write about these days, to which Richard responded, probably with current politics in mind [also see the earlier chapter on Guns N' Roses and Trump]:
Oh, I think Axl's got a lot to write about [laughs].
When the interviewer suggested Axl had changed substantially and that his life has changed from the days of "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" when their lifestyle influenced their lyrics, Richard wouldn't necessarily agree:
Has it? [laughs] How sure are you about this? [...] [laughs] But no, his life, I don't know how different it is. I mean, he's a different cat for sure. You know, he's definitely... I mean, I didn't, I didn't know him back then, but man, he's a solid dude now.
Doug Goldstein would also disagree with the notion that a happier and more content Axl would result in poorer lyrics:
God forbid, being this happy, you don’t have that angst to write from, so it could end up being a Sesame Street record if you’re not careful I think. I’m joking, obviously it wouldn’t be, because Axl is a phenomenal lyric writer.
In early 2019, Slash would again indicate the band was about to start working on new music:
I have to be very careful of what I say, because, when I’m quoted, it’s not always my words. We get along well with Guns, we work well together. Axl and I never got along so well. As soon as our tour ends (note: in 2019), we will want to get together again. This is the next step. It’s something we all want. It will please people, but we’ll do it for ourselves first.
And Richard would echo this:
And then also I got this record with the Guns N' Roses guys that we will hopefully will get out soon. [...] That's a good question, "How soon?"
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
NOT NEW MUSIC BUT REWORKED CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA SONGS?
As discussed in previous chapters, during the Chinese Democracy era, from at least 1996 until 2008, a lot of material had been recorded with Axl not working on one record but at least two. What would be the fate of this material with Slash and Duff back in the band?
Yeah, I think they have them all. I think, you know, there's enough to probably put out two or three more albums. I think it's just a matter of like, who or when. And now it's like, you know, Slash is back in the band and Duff and they're like, you know, they're in the original band I think they're just part of it is Axl so now three people have to make, you know, it's not even Slash's or Duff's music, you know, it was Axl's, ours.
When asked if it is true Axl has a "zillion songs":
In February 2019, Duff would again confirm that work had started on a new record, but also suggest it could consist of old material from Axl that would be reworked:
I heard some new material and there's been some jams going around, and that's the next step for us, for the GN'R thing. [...] Oh, [the potential for a new album] it's real. But the fun part and the cool part about Guns N' Roses is we don't really talk about it, and what happens next just happens. It's never been that band that there's a direct schedule of how we do things. I've heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has — really cool stuff he'd been working on. So I'm excited about the possibilities with that, of course. I don't mean to get anybody rabid. [A new Guns N' Roses album] will happen when it happens, that's for sure.
This had also been suggested by Slash already back in August 2018:
I mean, Axl’s got a ton of shit that he recorded already, so we’re just going to get in there and just start getting into that thing, and then if we do a record and then do a tour, I could see that cycle going on endlessly.
Then in March 2019, Niven would claim the band was indeed working on unreleased music from the Chinese Democracy sessions, and that Slash was not thrilled about it:
Well, it isn’t so much ‘my take’, it’s what Curly [=Slash] said to me the last time that I saw him which was when he came through Phoenix here just a few months ago. He told me that basically Axl was in isolation, going through stuff that was recorded, but not used, on Chinese Democracy. You know, if I’d been making the comment, the next record might as well be called Chinese Leftovers.
I’m not just trying to be cynical, taking a poke at him, though obviously I am in a way, but out of Slash’s mouth that is what’s going on, and he didn’t seem too thrilled about it. Also, you know, Duff, love him to death, is this Duff the accountant we’re listening to, Duff the PR guy, or Duff the rock and roll bassist? Can he contribute to something new and wonderful?
I’m not just trying to be cynical, taking a poke at him, though obviously I am in a way, but out of Slash’s mouth that is what’s going on, and he didn’t seem too thrilled about it. Also, you know, Duff, love him to death, is this Duff the accountant we’re listening to, Duff the PR guy, or Duff the rock and roll bassist? Can he contribute to something new and wonderful?
The last time Slash "came through" Phoenix was in September 2018 when he played with the Conspirators, suggesting that the decision to focus on old, unreleased songs was made earlier than that.
With Richard's quote about work on a new album having started (from December 13, 2018), Slash's quote about material already existing and "stuff going on" (February 2, 2019), and Duff's quote about "hearing some material" and jamming (February 22, 2019), it suggests that Axl had finished choosing songs and that the rest of the band had started working on these.
A few days later Slash would limit himself to say there was a lot of focus on making a new record [Die Welt, March 3, 2019]. And when explained what he meant by that:
The focus clearly lies on it. Most definitely. A lot of energy is put towards the idea of making a new album possible. We will see.
Around the same time he would say that he hadn't started working on the new record:
When I get back home I'll sit down with the guys from Guns N' Roses and we'll focus on a new album together. [...] No [I haven't worked on it yet], but I know that everyone involved really wants to make this record. We're talking about it, and Axl already has a bunch of material that he's produced on his own. I think we're in great shape to get started.
Later in March Duff would be asked for an update but refuse to lift the mystique:
Do I have an update on it? No. I will say things are very positive in that world. I did say something about it in an interview. People are super interested in that, and I understand why. I do like the mystique factor of the band, and I shall keep it there. But things are positive… Things are great.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
JANUARY 20, 2019
THE NITL TOUR RECEIVES AWARDS AT THE 2019 TOUR LINK PRO CONFERENCE AWARDAt the 2019 Tour Link Pro Conference in Palm Springs, CA, USA, the production of the Not In This Lifetime tour received four awards: Production manager of the Year (Dale "Opie" Skjersheth), Production Coordinator/Assistant of the Year (Debbie Taylor), Drum Tech of the Year (Imy James) and Tour Manager of the Year (Angie Warner).
Fernando Lebeis would comment on Instagram that Del James and Luis Soto should have been awarded as well, in what appeared as a lackluster congratulations to Warner:
And wouldn’t of been possible without @itsluissoto and @deljamesgang that also truly put in the hard work above and beyond to make our tour as smooth as it’s been. Strange only one of the TM’s got nominated. Congrats Angie.
When someone pointed out that he should just congratulate Angie Warner:
lol. I hired all of them, and know the team we have, all i am saying is that there are a total of three tour managers on the GNR team. They are all part of the bigger picture of the success we have had. So instead of throwing stones from behind the crowd, you should take a breather and chill. Mr. Just created my account to say something irrelevant.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
2017-TODAY
GUNS N' ROSES IN THE #METOO ERAGuns N' Roses band members had previously been accused of sexism and misogyny [see earlier chapter] and as the #MeToo movement for awareness against sexual abuse and harassment spread across the globe in 2017, band members would be asked about their past behavior and current opinions.
In 2018, Slash would be asked how the #MeToo movement had affected the music business:
It’s a good question. I think the Me Too Movement is definitely justified – it’s actually way overdue. [Obviously, it’s complicated] in the context of being in a fucking rock and roll band. Fortunately, I’m taken, so I’m not dealing with all that, but I have to admit there were times I looked into my past and [as if he’s talking to himself]: ‘Well, that was consensual.’
I never had a working relationship with anybody that I was, you know, trying to pressure into having sex or anything. The problem is that you could be falsely accused of something, but it almost doesn’t matter – it’s out there. Even if you were to get your name cleared, the damage is already done. And that’s pretty sad.
Hopefully the plus side of it is that women will be treated more respectfully, especially in positions where they’re working under people who are tremendously powerful. Because I know how that one used to work: rich guys with a lot of money and a lot of power felt completely enabled to get whatever they wanted, you know? So hopefully this first wave will sort of even out and people will just start to treat each other a little bit more respectfully.
I never had a working relationship with anybody that I was, you know, trying to pressure into having sex or anything. The problem is that you could be falsely accused of something, but it almost doesn’t matter – it’s out there. Even if you were to get your name cleared, the damage is already done. And that’s pretty sad.
Hopefully the plus side of it is that women will be treated more respectfully, especially in positions where they’re working under people who are tremendously powerful. Because I know how that one used to work: rich guys with a lot of money and a lot of power felt completely enabled to get whatever they wanted, you know? So hopefully this first wave will sort of even out and people will just start to treat each other a little bit more respectfully.
And asked to look at GN'R's songs in the perspective of the #MeToo movement:
I’ve never thought of that. It’s never crossed my mind. I mean, I think when the #MeToo thing really blew up, the thought crossed my mind of a bunch of musicians, not particular ones, but just musicians [who might be implicated]. But for the most part, as far as all the ones I know, it wasn’t like that. We didn’t have that particular [predatory] relationship with girls. It was a lot more the other way around, in some cases! Anyway, so some of the songs and all that were sort of sexist in their own way, but not to be taken that seriously. I don’t think they were malicious or anything.
In one interview, Duff would be asked about the lyrics 'Turn around bitch I've got a use for you' from It's So Easy:
It’s So Easy is a fucking pisstake. There was a sense of humour to the ’80s and there was a sense of humour to Guns N’ Roses. It’s So Easy was written at a time when we had, like, three fans. One of those was my next-door neighbour, and one of those was someone’s girlfriend. And it was this grandiose song about how ‘we make the fire but miss the firefight’. It was basically a pisstake.
It was a piss-take. Our audience was, like, three people when we wrote it. It was a joke on how it was really the opposite of that. And when we played it, with the people there around us, it was fun.
And specifically using the word "bitch":
I mean... [long pause] I guess it can be used in the right way, in the way that my daughters use it. Also, I’ve never used it in the wrong context. I’ve never called my wife that, for example, or my girls.
And treatment of women in general:
Now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I’d compare the ‘80s to what I’ve read about 1920s Berlin, that it was this kind of free and open approach to sex. Women were just as aggressive as men. Make no mistake about that. I remember moving to LA and going, ‘Holy fuck, you want to do what to me? Okay! I’m in!’ And we never objectified women.
On his 2019 album Tenderness, Duff would talk about workplace predators in the song Last September and claim their opinions towards women hasn't changed since the 80s:
I'm sure stuff was going on, Harvey Weinstein stuff and all that, but we hated that! If we saw that stuff going on around us, we didn't allow it to happen around us. We were still good dudes. None of our friends said, ‘Grab her by the p***y.’ You know what I mean? Who would say something like that? And I don't mean to be political against the dude who said that; it's just an idiotic, stupid thing to say, for any man. And that's the way I've always thought. So '80s, or now — I could've written ‘Last September’ in the '80s.
In an open letter posted on his website, Raz Cue would comment on this quote from Duff:
C’mon man, seriously? You can’t utter such absurdities and expect to go unchallenged. The hypocrisy coming from someone that is a member in good standing of your cesspool of an industry means I am compelled to call “radishes” on this one.
You had a heroin dealer in your band. Still consider that the profession of a “good dude?”
Remember that song your band did, about killing one’s girlfriend to shut her up? According to the lyrics, we were told to “take it for what it is.” A joke. Is it okay to make light of domestic abuse, but not to poke fun at a certain type of women who has so little self-respect that she’ll let a famous rich dude do whatever he wants? You ever meet any women who fit that description? More than one? A thousand?
What about all the credible allegations of abuse - mental, physical and sexual - leveled against your singer, by several women in his life?
You had a heroin dealer in your band. Still consider that the profession of a “good dude?”
Remember that song your band did, about killing one’s girlfriend to shut her up? According to the lyrics, we were told to “take it for what it is.” A joke. Is it okay to make light of domestic abuse, but not to poke fun at a certain type of women who has so little self-respect that she’ll let a famous rich dude do whatever he wants? You ever meet any women who fit that description? More than one? A thousand?
What about all the credible allegations of abuse - mental, physical and sexual - leveled against your singer, by several women in his life?
In August 2019, Duff would be asked if he is optimistic for men "in the light of Me Too, mental health issues, suicide rates":
I am optimistic for men. I think the reality is different to the social media picture that is out there. I think there are problems for men, like incels, for instance, which is like an internet club for misogynists or whatever. But I choose not to surround myself with men like that. For instance, by best friend from when I was three years old is still my best friend. And the guys I choose to hang around with, play music with, be friends with, they are all good dudes. I do think young men are struggling a little bit. I think political correctness has maybe gotten out of hand to the point where younger men do struggle with what masculinity means. The adage I like and that I have included in one of my books is simply this: “Gentlemen, seriously, don’t be a dick.” That’s it. When you are going on a date, get ready, get dressed, check yourself in the mirror and then say to yourself, “Don’t be a dick.” It’s that simple.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
WORK ON A NEW RECORD TO START WHEN SLASH COMES BACK FROM TOURING IN AUGUST?
In February 2019, Richard would state that they intended to do "more recording" when Slash was back from touring his latest album with the Conspirators:
Slash is on tour right now. Once he gets back from that, we’re gonna get some more recording done and hopefully get an album out soon. And then we’ll get back to touring.
Whether Richard was thinking about "more recording" in addition to the Chinese Democracy era sessions or in addition to recordings done by Slash and Duff more recently, is not clear. We know that Slash at least added parts to old songs in April 2019, but it is quite possible he had started much earlier (Axl had picked through old songs before September 2018) and that it was this Richard had in mind.
In May 2019, this tentative plan of recording after August would be confirmed by Slash:
When this [Conspirator] tour ends [in August] and I return to Los Angeles we will hopefully begin to work on the new Guns album.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
APRIL 2019
SLASH ADDS GUITARS TO OLD CHINESE DEMOCRACY ERA UNRELASED MUSICOn April 26, Kruse Kontrol Amplification would post on Facebook that they had an amplifier in for service that had been delivered by Caram Constanza and was intended to be used when Slash would record guitar tracks on new material at Axl's home studio in Malibu [Facebook, April 26, 2019]. The recording was to take place the following day, on Saturday April 27, 2019, before Slash was to head out on tour with the Conspirators starting on May 3 in Mexico City.
Kruse Kontrol Amplification on FacebookApril 26, 2019
It is not clear whether this Saturday of recording was an isolated session or if Slash had been recording also earlier in April or March after he returned from tour with the Conspirators in Europe in mid-March.
Based on comments made in the press [see earlier chapter], the most likely scenario was that Slash was laying down guitar tracks to existing, unreleased songs form the Chinese Democracy sessions, and not working on entirely new songs.
Around the same time that these recordings were taking place, Slash would talk about a new album:
[...] we're actually into it now, but at the same time everybody's still busy with a million other things. We haven't been able to sit down and completely focus on just the one thing, but we have been toying around with stuff. [...] I don't think anything has been worked up to the point of ... well, let's put it this way. Ideas are coming in.
"Toying around with" could refer to him adding guitar to old tracks while the band hadn't still sat down to work on new music together.
Duff would be explicitly asked if it was true that the band had recorded new music at Axl's home studio:
In classic GN'R vernacular, I'm not gonna say anything. We'll keep the mystique.
I will tell you this: Things are very positive in our camp and they started that way and they remain so, if not more. But in classic Guns N' Roses fashion, I will tell you nothing.
And Slash would also be asked about the rumors:
It’s funny because there was a rumor that I was over there, yeah. And [it was] before I'd even been there. [...] So I was like, Jesus Christ. And that’s just a pain in the ass and annoying. But I am excited about what we’ve got going on and everything, so it’s gonna be cool. It’s awesome.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
PRACTISING THEIR INSTRUMENTS
FRANK
In April 2019, Frank would talk about taking drumming lessons with Dave Elitch:
Dave has been fantastic. He is such a smart and thoughtful teacher. He's had been so attentive to my needs as a drummer and specifically in this band. We are averaging almost 3.5 hours a night on tour. Drumming for that long on such a high level takes a special skill set. He has been working with me on how to get the most out of my energy. We have worked on changing my physical approach to drumming. Playing in different "Gears", relaxing more. In turn my pocket has become deeper, I'm not leaning forward musically, I'm leaning further back and the band feels it. Dave is part master drummer, part spiritual guru and part physical therapist. [...] Been working with Elitch on changing "Gears" during a show. I'm picking my spots to let loose and/or preserve energy without affecting the music. Still rock out but not the whole time.
And practicing at his home studio:
It's hard to practice when on tour. At home I try to at least do two hours a day. But yeah, practice is a must. The older I get the more I find myself practicing more. Making sure everything still works. Hahahaha. I'll do about 5 days a week.
DUFF
Like Frank, Duff had also taken lessons [see earlier chapter].
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
APRIL-JUNE 2019
A SMALL TOUR IS ANNOUNCED STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 2019Band members had previously suggested that work on new music would commence when Slash returned from touring with the Conspirators in August 2019 [see earlier chapter], but this seems to have been abandoned, or shortened, in favor of more touring because in early April the band announced they would play at Louder Than Life festival in Louiseville, KY, USA, on September 28th.
GN'R just announced their first performance for 2019 will be at the Louder than Life Festival at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center in Lousiville, KY! GN'R will be performing on Saturday, September 28th.
For this show, Alan Niven would speculate that Izzy would show up [Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, April 6, 2019]. Duff, on the other hand, would imply it wouldn't happen:
That is something that we tried to make happen at the beginning. It just didn't work out.
Not long after the announcement of the Louder than Life Festival show, Slash would state they intended to do a "small tour" in October of 2019, after he had toured with the Conspirators:
Then, after that, I’m gonna hook up with Guns N’ Roses. Guns N’ Roses has a small tour in October.
There’s a handful of gigs that are happening at the very end of September and through October, so [Louder Than Life is] just one of them. And then it’s really just focusing on getting a new record done.
On April 30, it was announced that the band would also play on Austin City Limits Festival on October 4-6 and October 11-13 [GunsNRoses.com, April 30, 2019].
When Duff was asked if they would play more than the three shows announced thus far (Louder Than Life, Austin City Limits and Exit 111):
There's nothing else I can tell you… Things are super, super, super positive in that camp. We are having the best times of our lives right now, I think. Things are going well. So you'll hear more from us.
On May 31, an October 18 show at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, was announced [GunsNRoses.com, May 31, 2019] and in early June it was announced the band would also headline the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on October 25-27 [Press Release, June 4, 2019].
Austin City Limits FestivalApril 2019
Voodoo Music + Arts ExperienceJune 2019
Tour posterJune 17, 2019
In June the dates for the tour would be announced, totaling 15 shows when the festival shows were included and also that it was a continuation of the Not In The Lifetime tour [Press Release, June 17, 2019]. The final show would be on November 2 [Press Release, June 17, 2019]
OPENERS FOR THE 2019 TOUR
In September the following openers were announced: Bishop Gunn, Blackberry Smoke, Dirty Honey, Shooter Jennings, and Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown [GunsNRoses.com, September 5, 2019]:
Sep. 25 - Charlotte, NC - Spectrum Center - Shooter Jennings
Sep. 28 - Louisville, KY - Louder Than Life Festival - Ice Cube *
Oct. 01 - Jacksonville, FL - VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena - Shooter Jennings
Oct. 04 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits - The Raconteurs *
Oct. 07 - Wichita, KS - INTRUST Bank Arena - Bishop Gunn
Oct. 11 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits - The Raconteurs *
Oct. 13 - Manchester, TN - Exit 111 Festival - Deftones *
Oct. 15 - Lincoln, NE - Pinnacle Bank Arena - Blackberry Smoke
Oct. 18 - Guadalajara, MX - Estadio Jalisco
Oct. 20 - Tijuana, MX - Estadio Caliente
Oct. 23 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy Arena - Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown
Oct. 25 - New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Festival - Brandi Carlile*
Oct. 29 - Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena - Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown
Nov. 01 - Las Vegas, NV - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Dirty Honey
Nov. 02 - Las Vegas, NV - The Colosseum At Caesars Palace - Dirty Honey
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
MAY-AUGUST 2019
GUNS N' ROSES SUES OSKAR BLUES BREWERY AND SETTLESOn May 9, 2019, Guns N' Roses sued Oskar Blues craft brewery (a.k.a. Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective) for various IP infringements, including selling a better named "Guns 'N' Rosé" [Lawsuit documents, May 9, 2019]. Oskar Blues had previously tried to trademark the name but abandoned this after the band objected [Lawsuit documents, May 9, 2019].
Label from "Guns 'N' Rose" craft beer
In their defense, Oskar Blues would claim that the band did not enjoy sufficiently wide trademark rights to object to a beer with a name reminiscent of the band name and its brand [Westworld, May 14, 2019].
In August 2019, it was reported that the band and brewery had settled the lawsuit [Reuters, August 13, 2019]
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
WORK ON NEW MUSIC TO START AFTER THE GN'R TOURING IN NOVEMBER?
Previously, it had been suggested that the band would work on new material when Slash returned after touring with the Conspirators in August 2019 [see earlier chapter], but in early April, after it was known Guns N' Roses would tour in September/October, Slash said that he didn't expect work to be done until the band had toured in October, abandoning the idea of getting work done in August:
And then [after the tour in October], you know, there’s been so much talk about the Guns N’ Roses record, which we haven’t actually done anything with (laughs); so we’re gonna sort of focus on that. And the Conspirators will be some time coming up, depending on what Guns N’ Roses is doing, but I’ve already started putting together material for the new Conspirators record.
That they seem to have abandoned getting any work done in August/September before the touring is perhaps not so surprising, with Slash having just returned from overseas touring and with just a few weeks before the GN'R shows were to start.
This suggests that despite Axl having started looking at old songs to rework for a potential album already before September of 2018 [see earlier chapter], Slash did not expect any actual recording to be started until November 2019, at the earliest.
Later in April, Slash would again state that they hadn't started any sessions working on new material and reiterate that it had been delayed till after the tour in September/October:
I wouldn’t say we’ve really sat down and had those sessions yet. [...] The Conspirators are finishing up in mid-August and then Guns is going out in late September/October so in the Fall. But at the same time we’re focused on working towards this new record that everybody’s been asking about. So start focusing on that in earnest. And that’s it. I’m not thinking about anything else while that is going on. [...] That’s really the main focus. By the time the Conspirators tour is done I will have written enough material for the next Conspirators record that whenever that break comes up with Guns N’ Roses we can go on to do that. We’ll just juggle all this stuff, schedules permitting.
And when asked what a new GN'R album could sound like:
I have no f*****g idea, I really couldn’t tell you. It’s like anything else, you don’t know what it is until it’s done.
And Dizzy would be asked if he would be featured on a new album:
I've contributed ideas here and there over the years.
Later in May, Slash would again state that they intended to start working after the fall touring.
After those Guns dates, the festival dates, we'll be working on the record [...]. [...] when we finish the tour in the fall, then we will commit on working on what will end up being the next Guns record.
The interviewer would then conclude that things were now "pretty much set in stone" since he had spoken to Slash or Duff last "a few months back" when the message had been "never say never," to which Slash replied:
Yeah, the thing is we hadn't really done anything yet and I don't like to say anything like, “Oh yeah,” you know how people usually promote shit and lie through their teeth. [...] So I just wanted to be honest about it, and so there was really no telling what we were going to do at that point. But at this point, I do know that we're going to do this one, and we've already started working on stuff. So, there you go.
"Hadn't really done anything yet" would imply that a new record had become more tangible after Slash had started laying down guitar tracks to old songs in April [see previous chapter].
Richard, though, would refuse to say anything when asked if a new album would happen:
I can't talk about that. I hope so.
When asked if they would jam on new ideas when they practice while touring, Richard would mention that they would jam on new ideas at soundchecks and often record these for future reference:
Sure. [...] ...because we soundcheck every day for a long time. We'll jam on different ideas that people come in with and we'll start playing something and we record all that just to have for a reference. [...] we're just constantly making music. I mean, it's what we do. So when were sound checking, we'll just make music... [...] and kick around ideas. [...] the band is too good for us not to do a record, right? It's really, it's just such a magical thing to play with those guys. It's just too good to not record it.
But Duff would suggest it was likely and that "things were happening":
You never know with this band. That’s where I’ve landed on this thing. But the stuff s cookin'. Everybody’s on top of their game at this point, musicianship-wise, songwriting-wise et cetera. We have this tour under our belts where we played a ton together. We know our strengths. We’re now looking forward to what’s next, for sure, with GN’R. And after making this solo record, which is kind of mellow, I look forward to getting back to rocking the fuck out. So there’s my answer.
There’s things happening, some of it positive. Everything is moving in a great direction. So I am really looking forward to phase two of this thing. I’d hate to say something in the press to fuck it up, so I just have to say, ‘It’s going great.’ In true Guns N’ Roses fashion, people are in the dark, and that’s kind of cool. It’ll happen when it happens.
Around the same time, in May-June when Slash was touring with the Conspirators in Brazil, he confirmed they had started working on new material and that the intended to continue working on this when the fall touring was over:
We finally started working toward getting some material recorded. We get back together in October and go out on the road, and then as soon as that's over, we'll hunker down and start moving toward getting a record done.[...] I have no idea at what pace that will happen. [laughs] With Guns N' Roses it's best not to speculate. You just do it when it's gotta be done.
Duff would also mention that he had written 70 songs before the release of Tenderness and that Axl has "some really kick ass shit":
There’s a lot of songs bouncing around, I’ll tell you that. These 11 songs that are on this record were in a group of, I’m not even s—ing you, like 70 that I wrote. Axl has some really kick ass s–t that he had coming into it. We’ve never been at a loss for material. So the next step on that, as far as just everything Guns N’ Roses goes, I’ll just say we’re in a really f—ing positive place. It’ll come when it comes.
Around the same time, Slash would be confronted by a journalist who said Slash had said they probably had enough songs for a new GN'R album, to which Slash responded:
No, you know, by the time it gets to the place where anybody’s read it, it’s morphed into something more than what I directly said. There is material that Axl’s been working on for a while. It could be enough for a record if we put it all together. The whole thing of Guns N’ Roses getting in the studio and getting this record done — with myself and with Duff (McKagan) and all that — it’s really just getting started. So it’s really hard to say. Everybody’s got demos, and everybody’s got material, and this that and the other, for whatever it could be. It’s just a matter of us focusing on it. So it’s really hard to answer questions on the next Guns thing.
So in similar vein to Duff quote above, it didn't seem to be a lack of material to work on. It would also seem that one idea was to focus on Axl's material, which "could be enough for a record".
On June 14, Slash would again indicate that they might work on something already in August/September, when the Conspirators tour was over, but possibly he meant the GN'R tour:
When the Conspirators tour is over, I can actually say, the plan is to get together and work on some Guns stuff. So that’s the plan at the moment. I would say there’s something [in the] studios in the not too distant future.
When tour dates were announced in June, the final date was November 2, indicating that work could at the earliest start in November.
In late June, Duff was again asked about new music but kept his cards closely:
We know how to create music together and play music together. There’s this thing about the chemistry of the three of us that I just can’t explain. I can’t comment much further than that. I like to keep things about this band on the down-low, and in true Guns fashion, you’ll know when you know.
In August, he would express optimism when the interviewer asked about new music:
Uh, I can only say that things are very positive in that camp. And in classic Guns fashion I won’t tell you anything more!
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
MAY 31, 2019
DUFF RELEASES TENDERNESSThis record is all about trying to heal. I use of lot of ‘We’ in the song lyrics, because it doesn’t matter what I think. These songs are my observations about everything from homelessness, to the Oxycontin ravages in certain parts of the USA, to the talking heads on TV that everybody watches.
Look at history and how it repeats itself. We’re all still getting fooled by The Man; they’ve found a really good way to keep us down - by separating us. But we’re better, and smarter, than that, and my record is trying to highlight that. We’re all in this together.
Look at history and how it repeats itself. We’re all still getting fooled by The Man; they’ve found a really good way to keep us down - by separating us. But we’re better, and smarter, than that, and my record is trying to highlight that. We’re all in this together.
_______________________
In the second half of 2018, Duff would collaborate with Shooter Jennings on what was intended as a future album:
[...] I just got done recording for eight days with Shooter Jennings. [...] [Working with Jennings is] really good. Yeah. Yeah. I've had some songs that, you know, instead of writing a book, like at about this point, I'd be writing my third book and on this two and a half year tour that I've been on with Guns, I observe a lot when I travel. I learned to do that by being a columnist for Seattle Weekly and I observe a lot of stuff. [...] So instead of writing a book about my observations, traveling in this really kind of particular weird time on the planet that we're all experiencing in one way or another, I wrote a bunch of songs. I wrote lyrics as opposed to a book and wrote songs to it and Shooter is like the perfect guy to bring it into life. Kind of ELO-ish.
My manager, Brian Klein, knows me well. He knows my influences. Working with Shooter Jennings was originally his idea. I've known Shooter since 2001; some of his first gigs with his band Stargunn were with my band Loaded. Shooter's been living this great life making and producing great records... and he also knew my influences and what I was trying to do.
Jennings was intended to be the album's producer:
He's producing it, yeah, yeah, he's my producer. He's such a cool guy. [...] He understands the material, you know, that it's where, I don't know, in my musical career, that you really, like a producer is a producer. I've experienced it, you know, maybe once in my whole career where it's like that producer you see, that George Martin type of producer. [...] I mean, Mike Clink for Guns, he was just a great recorder, a great engineer. And the band was the whole kind of thing, just captured that sound. But Shooter is a real producer and he has a vision for the songs and...
At the end of the year, on December 5, a press release was published where it was clear this would end up as a new Duff solo album, and where it was explained that it had started off as a book idea:
DUFF MCKAGAN ANNOUNCES 2019 SOLO ALBUM WITH PRODUCER SHOOTER JENNINGS
New York Times bestselling author and Guns N’ Roses bassist DUFF McKAGAN is putting the finishing touches on a solo album that’s coming in 2019.
McKagan began recording the album back in March with producer Shooter Jennings. The two worked out of Station House studios, located in Echo Park, CA, writing and recording in-between McKagan’s tour with seminal rock band Guns N’ Roses and the release of Jennings’ eponymous album, Shooter.
The album will be McKagan’s musical follow-up to 2015’s bestselling book, How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions).
“I wrote a couple of articles about historical places I passed through on this last tour and people kept asking if that was going to be the focus of my next book,” says McKagan. “But an unseen and irrepressible force guided me to write little vignettes of reflective prose… little instant-reactions. The heartbreak, anger, fear, confusion and divide I have experienced over the last two and a half years of traveling this globe of ours coerced these words into songs that tell my truth, and one that I hope will spread and help us all. I do this for my daughters… I do this for my love of where I grew up… I do this, because I truly feel it must be done and said right now.”
“From the first night we sat together at my piano hashing out arrangements of his songs, before going into the studio to record them, I felt it was a really important record that had to be heard,” says Jennings. “The songs have so much heart and are so musical that I could just hear all the arrangements immediately and I could really feel them.”
About his connection to McKagan, Jennings says, “I met Duff right after I moved to Los Angeles nearly twenty years ago. I was such a massive Guns N' Roses fan when I was younger. I'd say that they had a lot to do with me even moving to LA. But there was some kind of magnetic force I guess that kept us orbiting each other over the years. When the idea of collaborating with him on this album came up, I was very eager to get the job as producer. I felt like the music this man made was part of the fabric of my own musical identity and that I would really love building a record with him. Once we sat down and started going over the songs he had, I instantly knew that the two of us were going to be a great fit together.”
New York Times bestselling author and Guns N’ Roses bassist DUFF McKAGAN is putting the finishing touches on a solo album that’s coming in 2019.
McKagan began recording the album back in March with producer Shooter Jennings. The two worked out of Station House studios, located in Echo Park, CA, writing and recording in-between McKagan’s tour with seminal rock band Guns N’ Roses and the release of Jennings’ eponymous album, Shooter.
The album will be McKagan’s musical follow-up to 2015’s bestselling book, How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions).
“I wrote a couple of articles about historical places I passed through on this last tour and people kept asking if that was going to be the focus of my next book,” says McKagan. “But an unseen and irrepressible force guided me to write little vignettes of reflective prose… little instant-reactions. The heartbreak, anger, fear, confusion and divide I have experienced over the last two and a half years of traveling this globe of ours coerced these words into songs that tell my truth, and one that I hope will spread and help us all. I do this for my daughters… I do this for my love of where I grew up… I do this, because I truly feel it must be done and said right now.”
“From the first night we sat together at my piano hashing out arrangements of his songs, before going into the studio to record them, I felt it was a really important record that had to be heard,” says Jennings. “The songs have so much heart and are so musical that I could just hear all the arrangements immediately and I could really feel them.”
About his connection to McKagan, Jennings says, “I met Duff right after I moved to Los Angeles nearly twenty years ago. I was such a massive Guns N' Roses fan when I was younger. I'd say that they had a lot to do with me even moving to LA. But there was some kind of magnetic force I guess that kept us orbiting each other over the years. When the idea of collaborating with him on this album came up, I was very eager to get the job as producer. I felt like the music this man made was part of the fabric of my own musical identity and that I would really love building a record with him. Once we sat down and started going over the songs he had, I instantly knew that the two of us were going to be a great fit together.”
Duff would later talk more about how it started off with ideas for a new book:
I've written a couple of books. And this last tour that I was just on was two and a half years [long], and we traveled around the world, like, four times. And it was a very interesting time. The last two and a half years has been interesting in England, interesting in America [and] interesting in the rest of the rest of the world as well. And I'm a history reader. All I do, really, is just read every night. I like being informed, I like traveling, talking to people and knowing what the lay of the land is wherever I go. And it's evolved over the 30 years that I've been traveling. It interests me. Instead of writing a book about that, which is what I was thinking of doing, especially the climate that we've evolved into — sort of more divided… This has happened many times before. History repeats itself, but people get pretty [worked] up not realizing this has happened before.
So I wrote these little vignettes that were gonna be starts of stories I was gonna write about, but they became songs," he continued. "[They're] kind of observational songs… And I'm really proud of it. It's like another book for me. It's a launching of a book as opposed to… It's not a rock record, so I don't know if people will be surprised or not. But I thought it was important for me now as a father and a citizen…
I've read so many goddamn books on history, and I still do, that I thought maybe it's time for me to just point out some things that I've observed. Not pointing fingers at anybody, 'cause that does no good. I feel like I have a voice that I can kind of say, 'This has happened before. Here's what happened then. It's happening again. Let's not fall for it again.'
So I wrote these little vignettes that were gonna be starts of stories I was gonna write about, but they became songs," he continued. "[They're] kind of observational songs… And I'm really proud of it. It's like another book for me. It's a launching of a book as opposed to… It's not a rock record, so I don't know if people will be surprised or not. But I thought it was important for me now as a father and a citizen…
I've read so many goddamn books on history, and I still do, that I thought maybe it's time for me to just point out some things that I've observed. Not pointing fingers at anybody, 'cause that does no good. I feel like I have a voice that I can kind of say, 'This has happened before. Here's what happened then. It's happening again. Let's not fall for it again.'
I went everywhere on that tour [=the Not In This Lifetime tour] and saw a lot of places and talked to a lot of people. I went to the beaches of Normandy and I went to Auschwitz and the Anne Frank house. I’ve been to some of these places before, but traveling and talking to people these last two years has been a different thing. And I don’t want to point fingers either way, because it’s worldwide. It’s not just in America. There’s a lot of things happening; there’s Brexit happening and how that’s impacting the U.K. In Poland, we played there three weeks after 100,000 Neo Nazis had gathered. You look around and think, what the fuck is going on? I read a lot of history and a lot of contemporary books, so I keep myself pretty aware, and all these songs came out from these observations. I don’t want my daughters asking me in ten years what did I do during this time.
The ideas for these songs were originally ideas for things I was gonna write for possibly a third book — observations I made while traveling. Not observations of Guns N' Roses, but of the actual things I was seeing. A very interesting time — inarguably — in all of our history, the two and a half years we were on tour. Without comment, really — just observing. Writing columns for Seattle Weekly for five years, I really became an observationalist more than, 'Oh, look at that.' I would stand back and look. A lot of times, I didn't get the cable news you see in America. And I don't check Twitter when I'm on tour; I just post something [like], 'Soundcheck.' And, man, I've gotta tell you, life is a lot cooler that way. I'd get back to where the news station, they're just screaming and yelling, and it's like three different things, and panels on there and all of this. It makes you feel like there's a divide. And me traveling without that stuff and talking to people and going places, I really realized there's not that divide and there's kind of two different things going on, and I wrote about it. And this record, Shooter was so great at kind of getting that whole method of the record and the lyric writing. I used his band, and one of my most favorite musical experiences was recording this record with Shooter.
We're becoming divided at a time when we need each other most. When huge industries get replaced because of modernization, it's time to retrain and bolster up those who get swept aside. Homelessness and drug addiction are avoidable in this country if we come together and get private and public cogs turning together in a positive direction. We can at least try to tackle mental illness while we're at it. But alas, we stump and lie, point fingers and divide. We're way better than this. As a father, I must say and do something now because I love my girls and my wife, and I love my country, and I feel I must be strong and use my voice now, do it while I'm able or perhaps never get a chance ever again.
Discussing the style of the album:
I've dabbled in this type of music before with "Wasted Heart," a Loaded song. There was a song I did on Beautiful Disease. I was really into [Mark] Lanegan's solo work and I kind of dabbled there. But being on this Guns tour that we did for two and a half years there was this new sense of ease I had playing with the guys I came up with and we were in a really cool place with each other. And that whole period that we were apart was suddenly gone. We talked about things, we straightened some stuff out.
This kind of more austere, restrained sort of music is something I've wanted to do. I've made little fits and starts at it over the last 20 years, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, since the mid-'90s. I just keep trying to grow as a musician and push boundaries. It helps me be a better band member for Guns, for whatever else I do, just because I've not sat in one place musically. This record is really something I'm proud of. It is different, but the message, I think, and the attitude is still sort of the same. I can't lose that; I can't shake that. [...] For some reason, people are surprised that I can articulate words. I try to broaden myself as a musician constantly. I know that I'm lucky and blessed that I have that in me — that I'm still curious and mystified by music. I take lessons; I do all kinds of strange stuff and listen to different music. This record was an exercise in me taking a left turn on really austere kind of music, something I've wanted to do for over 20 years and finally kind of sat down and got Shooter Jennings to produce the record. He really believed in the songs, and he knows how to take it that direction I want to go. We were referencing things like ELO and Paul McCartney and Elton John and one Willie Nelson record from '77... we weren't trying to copy any of it, but we were just kind of referencing the sounds and concepts of those artists.
And whether he was anxious about how people would react to the new more quiet sound:
I’m on a musical journey. And I have been since I was 11,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d be at this point when I was about 41, not 55. So I feel like I’m behind a little bit. And I hope to do things that are more challenging to me. Because the only way you’re going to grow as an artist… It makes me a better player in Guns N’ Roses doing all of this stuff, it intermeshes and makes you a fuller player. Some fans will appreciate that, perhaps some will be like, “This isn’t loud enough!” No record I’ve ever made, have I thought about, “we gotta write a hit song”. So this is another in that same train of thought. We didn’t write anything to be a hit record. I hope people will hear topics, so that’s why I kind of purposely made it a very quiet record. Like a good lecture… It’s like someone at a book signing, where they’re talking about the book, and you can’t really hear them, so everybody in the audience quietens down so you can hear what they’re saying. I hope this record has that same effect.
The first single off the record would be Tenderness, released on February 22, 2019:
The real point of this record, and the lyrics for 'Tenderness', is not for me to be some damn politician or some other voice to add to what is already way too much noise. This is a song of unity and peace… and I want this record to be a meditation and to bring maybe some healing, if that is not too high-handed or lofty of a goal. I can use what marginal voice I have as an artist, to hopefully help arrest what seems like a fall. As a father, I must say and do something now… because I love my girls and my wife, and I love my country, and I feel I must be strong and use my voice now, do it while I am able, or perhaps never get a chance ever again.
Tenderness, singleFebruary 22, 2019
The second single from the album was Chip Away and was released in March 2019:
'Chip Away' is somewhat of a rail against cable news and divisive agendas… all for the almighty dollar. The song also highlights the fact that history repeats itself over and over, and that we will all get past this, together.
The song Parkland deals with school shootings:
It’s beyond heartbreaking to look at the list [of school shootings over the years], and this thing's going on, on the TV. And that song just came out of me… I was trying to pay respect and be earnest about a very serious situation, especially as an American, this particularly American thing. I have daughters. ….When you’re fearful of your kids going to school, something's f***ed up. When you see your school’s got armed guards when you walk your kids to school — we walk to school — something's f***ed up. This is a school. And as a dad, as a human, just a f***ing human, anybody. [...]
I don't know what the answer is, but I sure would love to explore an answer. I don't care if you're in the deepest, darkest corners of the NRA, or the most progressive whatever; something's gotta be done. I don't know what it is, but I hope with [Tenderness], I can get involved with some organizations and [use] what minimal platform I have do something. The record's about healing. It's about togetherness. But within that, I have to expose some darkness. And I expose, I think, more of fair share of darkness on the record. But there is hope at the beginning, and there's hope at the end.
I don't know what the answer is, but I sure would love to explore an answer. I don't care if you're in the deepest, darkest corners of the NRA, or the most progressive whatever; something's gotta be done. I don't know what it is, but I hope with [Tenderness], I can get involved with some organizations and [use] what minimal platform I have do something. The record's about healing. It's about togetherness. But within that, I have to expose some darkness. And I expose, I think, more of fair share of darkness on the record. But there is hope at the beginning, and there's hope at the end.
That song is really trying to pay respect, but it’s a funeral dirge. And I don’t come to a conclusion in the song, if you notice. I privately have my own solutions; there’s too many voices out there right now saying what is what. But you could be the hardest-core gun advocate or Second Amendment advocate or NRA member — nobody like school shootings across the board. So instead of saying ‘Here’s my solution, ban all guns forever,’ there is no solution. It’s a prayer. It’s just meditation. If somebody hears that song and reaches out to a Columbine foundation or family, it would be good. There are no macro answers right now; there are one-on-one answers.
The song Feel would be about friends he had lost:
I was still dealing with the aftermath of Scott Weiland passing away. I didn't really know how to deal with that. I didn't accept it, I guess. Unfortunately, I've lost a lot of friends before that as well. When [GN'R] started the tour, Prince passed away. Prince is one of my all-time [favorites]. One of his records really saved me back when I was 18. Then Chris Cornell, and then Chester [Bennington]... I wrote this song called 'Feel'. I don't name any of those people in the song, but it's just a remembrance song, and maybe how we all feel about lost loved ones.
The song is a memorial for Chris and Scott [Weiland] and also Prince and Chester [Bennington]. I was trying to highlight a bigger subject, which is suicide and depression and drug addiction, in sort of a poetic way. Chris and I were close in the last ten years of his life. My youngest daughter and his eldest daughter were born two weeks apart, so we were together a lot when the girls were small. And I'd known him since we were kids back in Seattle. The same age, same place, grew up in that punk rock scene...
The album would also deal with Duff's thoughts on how to be a man, like his latest book:
I think ‘P.C.’ [=political correct] is an overused word itself. Just come correct at all times. I don't remember anybody I hung out with using the N-word, or using the C-word. Just come correct at all times, then you don't gotta worry about, ‘Oh, s***, was I politically correct here?’ …If you're a dude, be a f***ing man. Just be a human being. Use common sense. Don't be a dick.
I gotta be a man for my daughters and for my wife, and I don't mean a ‘macho’ man — a man of thought, and a man of understanding, and a man of action. And I hope to take some action with this record, and it's positive, healing action for what's transpired, especially in the last few years here in America.
I gotta be a man for my daughters and for my wife, and I don't mean a ‘macho’ man — a man of thought, and a man of understanding, and a man of action. And I hope to take some action with this record, and it's positive, healing action for what's transpired, especially in the last few years here in America.
The fourth single was Last September and it was released on May 17 [Press Release, May 17, 2019]. The topic of this song was a sexual attack and was topical with the #MeToo movement happening at the time [see earlier chapter]:
I have two girls, and the #MeToo Movement has had an affect on the way I see things. I was hearing some pretty awful stories, and these songs came out as a knee-jerk reaction to what I’ve been taking in.
I wanted to make the man in the song as awful as possible. I wanted to make him a warning. We hear stories of people showing signs beforehand...and we hear also, that something could have been done. I don't have an answer, and the song doesn't either. The hope is to simply raise awareness of distressing signals that some may display.
The album, Tenderness, was released on May 31, 2019. A music video to the song Don't Look Behind You was released in August 13, 2019, and a music video to the sog Cold Outside was released on December 13, 2019.
TendernessMay 31, 2019
Slash and Richard commenting on the album and songs:
Oh yeah, Duff's new record. Yeah, yeah, it's good. He did it with Shooter, who is somebody who he usually jammed with back in - I remember, really, in the early Velvet Revolver days (?). And they put some great material together.
They're so good. They're really great.
After the release of the album on May 31, Duff began an 11 gig tour of the US [Press Release, March 20, 2019] which was followed up with a 12-show tour of Europe in August and September [Press Release, April 23, 2019].
With Guns we rehearse hard for a tour – four weeks, six days a week, six to eight hours a day. With Shooter’s guys we had one rehearsal for four hours – and that was like two hours too much! I guess you could say my songs are kind of simple.
[My GN'R bandmates are] behind me for sure. Slash got me this really nice acoustic guitar for the tour. Axl’s been supportive. They know what I’m doing.
Well, we just got done with the US run. It seemed to be really well received. I had two things I wanted to achieve with the record. Firstly, I wanted to do something with Shooter [Jennings] and the band. And the second thing was to get some messages across with the lyrical content, if that isn’t too lofty an idea. There were also some non-profit organisations that I work with that I wanted to support, so the whole thing seemed to work out well. I wanted to express something about togetherness, to get America to turn off the cable news and take a break, and I think the music is pretty good too. If you get a chance to listen to the band, you really should. We’re playing in London soon and if you only come to see Shooter’s band, I definitely recommend that you do. For me to play with these guys is a really special event.
Thank you after the tourSeptember 10, 2019
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
JULY-OCTOBER, 2019
THE LOCKER LEAKSOn July 25, 2019, the contents of a collection of CDs containing Guns N' Roses tracks recorded in 2001 and earlier started to leak out to the public. The CDs has ended up in the hands of leakers after they were auctioned from a luggage locker rented by Tom Zutaut.
In the end 19 CDs of content would make itself into the public. In addition to containing different version of songs that ended up on Chinese Democracy, the leaks contained version of unreleased songs, many of which were unknown to the public. Most of the unreleased tracks of songs not to be released in Chinese Democracy were instrumentals, but some contained vocals, either assumingly finalized vocal tracks or scratch vocals (Atlas Shrugged, Hardschool, Perhaps, Eye on You, Nothing, Silkworms, Quick Song, Tommy Demo #1 and #2 (with Tommy on vocals; the former being "10 %er" and the latter being "Goin' Down" which had already leaked in a different, and later, version back in 2013, see earlier chapter)).
A lot of the tracks from 2001 contained new drum tracks from Brain or guitar tracks from Buckethead, indicating that the focus in this period was to add these new band members to the existing songs. One of the CDs also contained versions of Knockin' On Heaven's Door and Welcome to the Jungle, presumably from sessions where the band was rehearsing for the upcoming 2001 fall tour.
Although most of the songs that would end up on Chinese Democracy were featured in the leaks, either in finalized or close to finalized form (Chinese Democracy, If The World, Catcher in The Rye, Riad N' The Bedouins, I.R.S., Street of Dreams (named "The Blues"), There Was A Time (named "T.W.A.T."), Madagascar and Prostitute), some only existed in early versions without vocals (Better (named "3 Dollar Pyramid), Shackler's Revenge (named "Shankler's Revenge") and Sorry (named "I'm Sorry")) and some were absent (This I Love and Scraped).
In summary, the leaks are an interesting snapshot of the state of the music in 2000-2001 with hints at what the band was currently focused on, although it is not given that the contents of the leaker was a full representation of the material the band had (for instance were Oh My God and This I Love not included on any of the CDs, nor the entire re-recorded Appetite for Destruction, or any of the wealth of isolated riffs and melodies we know existed on DATs, nor were any tracks named Ides of March or Down By The Ocean there) or that the CDs that eventually were leaked were the complete amount of material in the locker. Still, the leaks provided fans with a tantalizing glimpse into unreleased music, a lot of which had been unknown for 20 years since the recordings took place only to become public through a surreal accident.
List of music leaked
in July-October 2019
One person rumored to be connected to the leaks was superfan Rick Dunsford. Dunsford himself would explain how the leak had happened and claim that although he had been part of a team that had bought the CDs, he had not been responsible for the leaking into public domain:
About two and a half months ago, I drove to Virginia, and there was a storage locker that belonged to Tom Zutaut [former GN'R A&R Rep]. He didn't pay his bills or something and it was auctioned off. The individual that bought the locker, there was about 20 CDs in this locker of unreleased Guns N' Roses music from around '99 to 2000 or 2001. [...] I know the seller that I bought them from was continuing to sell to other individuals, and there was a massive leak. So pretty much, I've been blamed for this.
Fernando Lebeis of Team Brazil did not believe Dunsford was innocent of the leaks and would mention Dunsford in a Reddit post in late September:
Rick has dug himself into a very deep hole. Can’t wait to cross paths. [...] All I know is what I have been told, researches and information which was sent to me through a number of concerned fans, or it could also be manipulative information to deviate from other persons of interest. It’s quite a lot of hearsay’s and finger pointing, am I mad? Yeah, sucks to go after people that have helped the band in so many ways. But fuck them, some say the people leaking or sharing leaks are entitled fucks, sure I can see that. But whatever, some just want to create chaos and kindness is usually the best way to combat their stupidity.
So, Mr. Bird I still selling? How do you know? Is there a recent transaction that can be validated? I would take any and all information to add on to the pile and forward it to the right persons in my camp.
So, Mr. Bird I still selling? How do you know? Is there a recent transaction that can be validated? I would take any and all information to add on to the pile and forward it to the right persons in my camp.
The Mr. Bird that Fernando mentions in the quote above was Robert Bird, the man allegedly selling the locker contents which ended up in Dunsford's hands, which eventually ended up publicly available on the Internet.
In October, Dunsford stated that the band had banned him from attending future Guns N' Roses concerts [Loudwire, October 10, 2019].
In January 2020 it was reported that Dunsford had received a cease and desist letter from Universal Music Group (UMG) which claimed that Dunsford was violating a previous agreement where he had been paid $ 15,000 to hand over the unreleased music [TMZ, January 2, 2020]. According to TMZ, $15,000 was the same amount Dunsford had paid for the music from the locker auction [TMZ, January 2, 2020]. In the cease and desist letter it was claimed that Dunsford had leaked the music after the initial agreement with UMG, thus violation the agreement [TMZ, January 2, 2020]. Dunsford would deny his involvement in the leaks and claim that the seller of the music haf continued selling to other parties who were now leaking the music [Blabbermouth, January 2, 2020].
Around the same time, a "representative of the band" would comment on Zutaut's involvement:
It is tremendously disappointing, sad, and unfortunate that a record executive involved with the band in their early years found it appropriate to auction off the unreleased materials owned by his former employer.
From the quote above it seems like the band thought Zutaut had deliberately auctioned the contents of the locker and that it wasn't the action of the owner of the locker after Zutaut had defaulted on rent payment.
Also in January 2020, Robert Bird would talk about the incident on his podcast The Storage Diaries, but the episode would later be deleted [The Storage Diaries, April, 2020].
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
MORE TOURING GETS SCHEDULED FOR 2020
In September 2019, Slash would confirm the touring planned for 2019 would end in November but that he anticipated that the band could continue touring in March 2020:
We're just doing this one run [of shows] in the States and a couple of dates in Mexico end of this month into November. And so that's it for Guns for now. And I think we have something coming up in March as far as touring is concerned.
Official announcement of this tour came in October 2019-January 2020 with scattered festival shows in Latin America planned for March and April 2020 [Press Release (Live Nation), October 10, 2019; GunsNRoses.com, December 6, 2019).
In December 2019, a European sommer tour scheduled for May and June was announced [Press Release, December 12, 2019].
Artwork for the planned 2020 European tour
I'm excited to go back to South America in March, then we'll be in Europe in the summer. And doing the festivals in Europe is always a lot of fun because you get to see lots of great bands and friends that you don't normally see.
In February 2020, the tour was now a global world tour with dates in North America for July and August having been added [Press Release (Live Nation), February 3, 2020]. The tour was branded as the "Guns N' Roses 2020 Tour", indicating that Not In This Lifetime was over. In total, 44 shows in 2020 had by now been announced [Press Release (Live Nation), February 3, 2020].
Of these shows, only the first at Vive Latino Festival in Mexico on March 15 took place, with the rest being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
SEPTEMBER 2019
A NEW ALBUM "WITHIN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS"In September, Slash would confirm they were working on new music:
Obviously, everybody knows that we're working on new material, which is really exciting, and so, that's really primarily what the focus is.
As for whether it would end up in single releases or a complete album:
I think at the end of the day, everybody wants to have a full album released. I don't think that's really changed all that much. But there's a different way of putting stuff out initially nowadays more so than… I mean, there's always been the single, but now you sort of look at that preliminary release a little bit differently now. All things considered, it's like the Wild West out there; there is no formula for any of it. [Laughs] I haven't seen any routine kind of thing that works. I mean, you can do any one of a million different things to releasing a record. But at the end of the day, I think that we will ultimately release a full album.
Then Fernando Lebeis of Team Brazil dropped a bombshell when he announced that a new album would be out within the next six months:
Don’t know the title, even if I did I couldn’t share it until the guys did. Within the next 6 months.
In late 2019, Richard would express hope that new music would arrive within the year:
I hope that we have new music out this coming year.
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 13, 2019
THE 2019 FALL TOUR STARTSOn September 21, a warm-up show for the band's 2019 fall tour started with a show at Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA, USA. This was the first show since December 8, 2018. The first proper show of the tour took place at Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC, USA, on September 25 before the band headed to the Louder Than Life Festival, Louisville, KY, USA, for a show on September 28; and Vystar Arena, Jacksonville, FL, USA, October 1.
For this tour, Creative Works London had been hired to create visual graphics for the shows, including the show walk-in opening sequence [CGW, March 18, 2020].
September 21, 2019Ben Brown
September 25, 2019Arian Buhler
September 28, 2019Ulrich Planer
October 1, 2019Kiersten Weiss
#Charlotte !!! You all were amazing I love you That was a sicc amt of fun and an amazing way to kick of this leg of the tour ???????????? Thank you so much for showing us *that* much love - what a night!!!! Here are some show bts / day off pix - more to come - LOVE THIS CITY - u all are so kind and warm. Sending all my love and deepest thanks to erryone who rolled thru, and erryone who took part in making my days brighter .... That means you - Axl for being the most silly and fun *thorn in my side* that I also happen to *love* to effing death (it may be 1-0 now, but I *will* have my revenge ~ oh yess ????????????), my bandmates / *band party* (aka family) and crew - who work tirelessly and inspire me everyday to be better and radder like them ????, ppl who gave me the most fire bbq ever eaten (my mouth waters longingly for these things called hush puppies and the ribs and the Mac and cheese ???????????? I SHALL RETURN), you - delicious ice cream makers, you - nice hotel ppl who made our stay happppi and beautiful, annnnnd of courrrrrrse, YOU - the fans, without which any of this would be poss!!!!!!!! P.S. - I ate “greens” while I was here, which I *hear* are a super food?!?!?!!? Balance is in the works I love you????I love you
#gnr #gunsnroses #notinthislifetimetour #nitl #melissareese #tourlife #showstyle #tour #happiness #bestband #concertphoto #bestmusicshots #livemusic #musicians #musicislife #musiclife #musiclover #gratitude #gigphotography #concertphotography #talent_locker #themusicexplorer #vocals #ootd #outfitdiaries #fashionstyle #fashiondiaries #highvibes #manifestyourdreams
#gnr #gunsnroses #notinthislifetimetour #nitl #melissareese #tourlife #showstyle #tour #happiness #bestband #concertphoto #bestmusicshots #livemusic #musicians #musicislife #musiclife #musiclover #gratitude #gigphotography #concertphotography #talent_locker #themusicexplorer #vocals #ootd #outfitdiaries #fashionstyle #fashiondiaries #highvibes #manifestyourdreams
Instagram, September 26, 2019
Excerpt of review from Louder Than Life:
To say the crowd got a little restless during the forty or so minutes between GODSMACK and headliners GUNS N’ ROSES would be putting it mildly. As the band’s animated intro video played on a seemingly endless loop, I heard plenty of boos and more than a few snide remarks. But once the opening throb of “It’s So Easy” rang out through the Festival Grounds, it seemed all was immediately forgiven and forgotten. In the three years since the “Not In This Lifetime” tour kicked off, GNR has honed and sharpened their act into a near-monolith of super hits and deep cuts from every era, with a healthy smattering of covers and oddities thrown in for good measure. Yes, there was a little delay coming on, and no, Izzy Stradlin did not make an appearance, but after a jam-packed three-hour set, those were minor quibbles, at best. GUNS N’ ROSES played the songs of your youth real loud and real well, and what better way is there to spend a Saturday night?
Hollywood PalladiumSeptember 19, 2019
Slash in CharlotteSeptember 25, 2019
Melissa in LouisvilleSeptember 28, 2019
Dizzy in JacksonvilleOctober 1, 2019
The band then continued to their first show ay Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA, for a show on October 4; Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, KS, USA , for a show on October 7; then back to Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA, for a show on October 11; and then onto Exit 111 Festival, Manchester, TN, USA, for a show on October 13.
October 3, 2019Arian Buhler
October 7, 2019Bruce McPeters
September 28, 2019Ulrich Planer
October 11, 2019Danny Mota
October 13, 2019Scott Sandler
Richard would talk about their first show at Austin City Limits and playing at the same time as Tame Impala:
We just did ACL and Billie Eilish and Tame Impala were on that bill and those were two people I was excited to see. Yeah unfortunately Tame Impala was on the same time as us. I was actually watching them during our set (laughs). I love that band. I could vaguely make out the songs they were playing, but they were playing a mile away. I could see the big screen and hear them cause they were on during our show. It was interesting. I was bummed cause that was one band I really wanted to see.
On the show in Wichita, Locomotive was played for the first time since February 20, 1992.
This last tour we did "Locomotive" a few times and that was really cool. I love that song. And it was fun to finally do that.
The band would also release videos from the shows in Wichita and Manchester:
Slash and Duff in AustinOctober 4, 2019
Axl in WichitaOctober 7, 2019
Melissa in LouisvilleSeptember 28, 2019
Frank and Duff in AustinOctober 11, 2019
Frank and Richard in ManchesterOctober 13, 2019
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
OCTOBER 15, 2019
SWEET CHILD O' MINE HITS 1 BN VIEWS ON YOUTUBEOn October 15, 2019, the music video to Sweet Child O' Mine reached 1 billion views on YouTube [Press Release (Universal Music), October 15, 2019]. This was the first music video form the 1980s to reach this number [Press Release (Universal Music), October 15, 2019]. This wasn't the first music video to reach the 1 billion mark, November Rain had reached it back in July 2018 [see earlier chapter].
Top Five Music Videos by Decade [1980s and 1990s]
1980s
Guns N’ Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine" - 1B
A-Ha - "Take On Me" - 943M
Cyndi Lauper - "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" - 786M
The Police - "Every Breath You Take" - 699M
Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean" - 694M
1990s
Guns N’ Roses - "November Rain" - 1.2B
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - 968M
The Cranberries - "Zombie" - 962M
Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" - 859M
4 Non Blondes - "What's Up" - 765M [Press Release (Universal Music), October 15, 2019].
Soulmonster- Band Lawyer
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Re: 39. AUGUST 2018-DECEMBER 2019: MORE TOURING AND RUMOURS ABOUT MUSIC TO COME
OCTOBER 15-NOVEMBER 2, 2019
THE 2019 FALL TOUR ENDSThe 2019 fall tour continued with shows at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, NE, USA, October 15; Estadio Jalisco, Guadajalara, Mexico, October 18; Fronterizo Fest, Tijuana, Mexico, October 20; and then to Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, on October 23.
October 15, 2019Chad Copeland
October 18, 2019Jessica Minnis
October 20, 2019Arian Buhler
October 23, 2019Sam Hariss
Review of show in Lincoln by L. Kent Wolgamott printed in Lincoln Journal-Star on October 15, 2019:
Guns N' Roses improves as show goes on, rocks Lincoln in debut
Four songs in, the nearly 12,000 people who filled Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday got what they’d come for — W. Axl Rose, Slash and the rest of Guns N’ Roses on stage in Lincoln doing “Welcome to the Jungle.”
And they hung on for another two-plus hours as the reunited '80/'90s rock colossus made its Lincoln debut, playing a variation on the set that carried it around the world the last two years.
Scattering hits amid deep tracks with a few covers thrown in here and there, the band, in classic guitar-rock fashion, stretched the songs to six or seven minutes, letting the top-hatted Slash cut loose on guitar on nearly every song.
As for Rose, his vocals were rough on the ballads, especially early on, but they got better the closer he came to screaming — a contrast easily heard on the cover of Wings’ “Live and Let Die.” He does, however, remain the reigning mic stand-tossing champ.
Among the highlights of the show — an anthemic “Civil War,” bassist Duff McKagan’s turn at the mic on the Misfits’ “Attitude” and, of course, the big hits at the end starting with the classic riff of "Sweet Child O Mine,” the other song that the crowd that had waited decades to see Guns N’ Roses had to hear.
That sprint to the finish included a nine-minute “November Rain,” with Rose at the piano; a long, squealing guitar singalong of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan (who’ll be at PBA on Saturday), the roaring set closer “Night Train” and the ballad-rocker encore of “Patience,” with Rose whistling the intro; and “Paradise City.”
Rose didn’t say much during the 2 1/2-hour show. But by the end it was clear he and the band had connected and thrilled the fans, many of whom were seeing Guns N’ Roses for the first time.
Four songs in, the nearly 12,000 people who filled Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday got what they’d come for — W. Axl Rose, Slash and the rest of Guns N’ Roses on stage in Lincoln doing “Welcome to the Jungle.”
And they hung on for another two-plus hours as the reunited '80/'90s rock colossus made its Lincoln debut, playing a variation on the set that carried it around the world the last two years.
Scattering hits amid deep tracks with a few covers thrown in here and there, the band, in classic guitar-rock fashion, stretched the songs to six or seven minutes, letting the top-hatted Slash cut loose on guitar on nearly every song.
As for Rose, his vocals were rough on the ballads, especially early on, but they got better the closer he came to screaming — a contrast easily heard on the cover of Wings’ “Live and Let Die.” He does, however, remain the reigning mic stand-tossing champ.
Among the highlights of the show — an anthemic “Civil War,” bassist Duff McKagan’s turn at the mic on the Misfits’ “Attitude” and, of course, the big hits at the end starting with the classic riff of "Sweet Child O Mine,” the other song that the crowd that had waited decades to see Guns N’ Roses had to hear.
That sprint to the finish included a nine-minute “November Rain,” with Rose at the piano; a long, squealing guitar singalong of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan (who’ll be at PBA on Saturday), the roaring set closer “Night Train” and the ballad-rocker encore of “Patience,” with Rose whistling the intro; and “Paradise City.”
Rose didn’t say much during the 2 1/2-hour show. But by the end it was clear he and the band had connected and thrilled the fans, many of whom were seeing Guns N’ Roses for the first time.
Melissa commenting on the the show in Tijuana:
#Tijuana #mexico !!! Probably one of, if not THE craziest show we’ve played!!! It was so amazing to see and hear you all singing to us until they could get the power going again!!! That was heart I love you That was love I love you That was getting lifted!!! I love you We are all more the same than different - and #music is such a powerful reminder of that.... Muchas gracias por todo el amor que dieron, estoy profundamente agradecido de haber compartido esta noche especial con cada uno de ustedes ... ¡Me siento tan afortunado y bendecido!
#gnr #gunsnroses #notinthislifetimetour #nitl #melissareese #tourlife #showstyle #tour #happiness #band #thankyou #bts #livemusic #bts #musiclife #musiclover #gratitude #happiness #concertphotography #keyboards #vocals #ootd #outfitdiaries #fashionstyle #fashiondiaries #highvibes #manifestyourdreams
#gnr #gunsnroses #notinthislifetimetour #nitl #melissareese #tourlife #showstyle #tour #happiness #band #thankyou #bts #livemusic #bts #musiclife #musiclover #gratitude #happiness #concertphotography #keyboards #vocals #ootd #outfitdiaries #fashionstyle #fashiondiaries #highvibes #manifestyourdreams
Instagram, October 20, 2019
At the show in Oklahoma City, Dead Horse was played for the first time since 1993.
Axl in LincolnOctober 15, 2019
Richard in GuadajalaraOctober 18, 2019
Fans in TijuanaOctober 20, 2019
Frank in Oklahoma CityOctober 23, 2019
The final four shows of the fall tour of 2019 took place at Voodoo Festival, New Orleans, LA, USA, October 25; Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UT, USA, October 29; and finally two shows at Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV, USA, November 1 and 2.
October 25, 2019Nicholas Petronella
October 29, 2019Geoff May
November 1, 2019Arian Buhler
November 2, 2019Arian Buhler
Footage from the show in Salt Lake City would be posted on the band's YouTube channel:
During the show in Las Vegas on November1, Axl had a fall:
Thank you for all the best wishes and, if I hadn’t had the boots, the straps n’ everything I do for my ankles it would’ve been worse.
X, November 3, 2019
Carrie Underwood also attended this show:
I rank tonight as one of the top 5 nights of my entire life! After the last show of our tour last night me and the band flew out to Vegas @caesarspalace for a @gunsnroses show. It. Was. Incredible. I'm talking 3 hours worth of incredible! I know I'm going to be hurting tomorrow because I rocked out so hard, but it was worth it. [...]
Instagram, November 1, 2019
Axl in New OrleansOctober 25, 2019
Axl in Salt Lake CityOctober 29, 2019
Ceasar's Palace, Las VegasNovember 1, 2019
Looking back at the touring:
The Guns N’ Roses shows have been great – really long shows, and it’s been a lot of fun.
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