All five of us, plus roadies, were stuffed in the back of that car. It was like something out of a cartoon and we made it as far as Bakersfield [California] when we broke down. We left the car, grabbed our guitars and hitchhiked to Seattle. Then we got a ride from some chick all the way back to Los Angeles. That was what really cemented us together. Your first Donington experience in was both incredible and tragic — when two fans died mid-show.
What do you remember of that? So I remember not being all that into it. The reaction the second we walked out on stage was unbelievable. So we had this amazing 40 -minute set, or whatever it was, and it was really a huge high point.
I ran into our tour manager at the bar and he was crying. There was a bizarre shift from complete euphoria to going to this depressed state. The positive memory of the gig got washed away. It was heavy. Did it take a toll on you? How do you come back from that? How do you handle it? Because it happened on our watch. It took a while to get over that. What was it like the first time you plugged a guitar into an amp?
I roughly started playing when I was 14 , but I was maybe 16 when I had that amp, guitar, distortion box combo. All of a sudden that set me off in this direction. But the thing that excited me musically at that time?
That was mine. Watch the video for Slash ft. Slash Slash Guns N' Roses. Svalbard in The K! He then chose to customise it with a "conch" belt Slash revealed: "I went into this in store on Melrose Place in Los Angeles and saw a top hat, and was like, 'Oh that's looks cool. The rocker concluded: "I wore it for that show and it just became the hat I felt really cool in. So there we have it. One of the most famous hats in rock was borne out of shyness, a propensity for stealing and a penchant for crafts.
See more Guns N' Roses Latest. Latest Videos. Guns N' Roses Songs. What were your first conversations with Axl like? So, I just sort of avoid it. The fun of this has just been playing, not talking to the press. Having Axl and I get back together and sort of work out our differences and start moving forward, was sort of a shock. Your old friend Marc Canter suggested there is some connection between your recent divorce and your ability to reconcile with Axl.
No, it had nothing to do with — neither one had anything to do with the other. Richard has got a great sensibility. So it makes him very, very easy to work with. He needs to find stuff to play that complements what you do, right? He has his own thing. The tempos of the old songs are up. Was that something you and Duff pushed for?
I think it was just high energy, because now things have started to settle down a little bit more. I felt like there was a lot of energy from those, you know, from Coachella through the first U. And I think that was just from a collective high energy from where we were at that time. There might have been a couple songs, you know, because I like to speed everything up anyway, you know. My sense is that maybe Matt Sorum always knew that he was never going to be involved with this reunion.
I never really talked to Matt about it. What can you say about the Izzy situation on this tour? I mean, there was a point there, well before Velvet Revolver started where he was interested in doing something with that. And we were definitely headed into the get-a-front-guy direction. At least on my end. Which is probably a testament to the frame of mind I was in back then. Does that mean some of your memories are gone?. I have clear memories of stuff, and then I have not-so-clear memories of stuff [ laughs ].
Back then, you could play quite well when you were messed up. I was a very functional alcoholic. So, it was just alcohol that I was dealing with. Which is its own demon, but I mean, I was good with it [ laughs ]. Duff was also drinking back then.
I mean, there was some stuff that might have been handled differently, you know, in crucial moments toward the end there, had there not been such a major dependency going on. It was a lot to deal with. I mean, you could look at it both ways. Yeah, a lot of stressing was going on. Do you think, in retrospect, they were right?
It was just stuff that I was writing. In your book, you say you did. No one was particularly excited about doing those songs, so then the rest of the record just was other new stuff that I was writing, and I just sort of went that way. Eric Dover, the singer for that project, was really talented. Eric was great, and I love [bassist] Mike Inez, and it was a cool little unit. And there was a point there, during the tour, um, where I became aware that he really was not; he was out of his comfort zone, having to go up and front the band, so that was sort of that.
What can you say about that? Your mom was African-American and your dad is English. I never really cared to have to identify one way or another. It was always confusing on school questionnaires. Do you have any thoughts on, say, Black Lives Matter? I think racial injustice, across the board, is just ugly and sad. I can totally relate to the black side of it, because I do remember a lot of that from when I was a little kid.
And also how I was raised, there was a certain fear of racial prejudice in my family. Especially right now, this is an ugly little period. How do you feel about guitar becoming less important in music? Punk rock was all guitar with nary a guitar solo. Then the guitar all of a sudden works great.
Like, if the songs are really good and the band dynamic or whatever makes it sound special and the guitar is a part of that, people relate to it.
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