2013.05.21 - Rock Show FMX 94.5 - Interview with DJ

Transcript:

Interviewer: DJ Ashba, on the hour, man, what's going on, DJ?

DJ: How are you, guys?

I: I'm doing good, man. And how you doing?

DJ: I'm doing great, doing great. A little sad with what's going on on over there in Oklahoma, but... you know, just been watching the news for the last few days. It's pretty incredible what's going on.

I: And you guys play at Rocklahoma this weekend, too?

DJ: Yeah, we do. We do. So I, you know, I just wanted to throw this out there. I want to urge all the fans and listeners to, you know, do whatever. Let's all come together, go to Red Cross. You know, I know Guns N' Roses, we're gonna donate a bunch of memorabilia and stuff to try to really help raise money to build some of these homes back. Yeah, it's a really sad thing that's going on.

I: Yeah, man, everybody's just basically been locked into the TV here the last day or so, haven't they, man?

DJ: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it just, it shows you the power of nature. It's pretty, pretty unreal.

i: Dude, you're one crazy busy dude, man.

DJ: Right.

I: I mean-

DJ: I know.

I: - it is nuts what you do. I mean, you're a writer, producer, guitarist, of course. You got started in Fairbury, IL, back in the day. And you've come a long way from Fairbury, IL.

DJ: A lot of long, long working hours. I just don't stop working.

I: Let me ask you this, this lineup that you guys have, the ensemble of players in this band is just it's crazy. And how cool is it to get up on stage and play with these cats every night?

DJ: It's an honor, man. Every, I mean, Axl handpicked every guy in this band. It's just it's, you know, I mean, they're the best at what they do and it's an honor to get on that stage with everybody is just so talented and it's just awesome.

I: Now, your pops took you to a Mötley Crüe gig, the Girls, Girls, Girls tour. That was your first tour, right? Your first show?

DJ: It was, yeah, my first concert ever. And it changed my life. It just made me realize, you know, that it can be done, you know, because before that it was, you know, kind of watching.... And I grew up without a TV, but I'd go to my friend's houses and I would see MTV and the, you know, so up until I actually was in the same room watching it happen, it became a reality at that point, like, "Wow! If they can do it, I can do it." And I just knew right then that's what I was gonna do, you know.

I:  And, you know, life is crazy, man, then, what, 10-15 years later you're actually [?] the dudes from Motley Crue, right?

DJ: Yeah, yeah, I co-produced the last album and co-wrote 11 of the 13 songs with them. And, yeah, you know, started up SIXX:AM. That's Sixx dash for Michaels [?] is what it stands for. A lot of people know that. But yeah, it's just been awesome, you know.

I: And you've worked with everybody. [?] Motley Crue and even Mr. Neil Diamond.

DJ: Yes.

I: How'd that come about with Neil Diamond, bro?

DJ: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I didn't know, but, you know, I got a call from his manager who's been a long time friend of mine, she used to be my manager, and she's to this day, Katie McNeil [?] and will always be, one of my closest friends, she gave me the call and and wanted to know if I wanted to work with him and I was just like, "Absolutely," you know, "it'd be an honor." And I went up to Neil's house and we sat in his kitchen, played acoustics for weeks on end and wrote a bunch of great stuff and made a really great Christmas album called A Very Cherry Christmas.

I: That is just so cool, isn't it, man?

DJ: Yeah.

I: Is that one of the things? I mean, you've done some very cool things, but is that like at the top of your list of cool things you've done?

DJ: Well yeah, I mean, and then what was even cooler was he had his 70th birthday party up at his other house in Beverly Hills, I got a phone call from him. He goes, “It'd be an honor to have you come”. He goes. “I saw you play the Star Spangled... the national anthem at the Kansas City Chiefs NFL game," you know, on the 50 yard line, you know, and he goes, “I was so impressed. I'd love you to come up and play at my birthday party.” And so I went up to his house, we set up some amps, and I played the national anthem and jets flew over and they wrote, "Happy birthday, Neil Diamond," in the sky. And then I went in an played a little Sweet Caroline and Happy Birthday on the guitar for him. His mom, his whole family was there. And ever since he's invited me to every single holiday dinner at his house, so, you know, we've become really close friends. [?]

I: That is a cool story, man. Now, tell us all about... you know, it's hard to believe that Guns N' Roses has never been to west Texas. I'm talking [?] Amarillo, Midland, Odessa, El Paso. This will be the first time ever. What can we expect from from you guys, man?

DJ: Well, you can expect 3 hours of, you know, just the songs we all grew up on, you know, just, you know, everything from Appetite to Chinese. And, you know, we've been doing anywhere from, you know, 2.5 to 3 hours shows and it's just nuts, high energy, nonstop. You know, just rockets and bombs, and it's just going to be the best night of rock and roll, you know.

I: Now, you've never seen Guns N' Roses, the first time you played with these guys live was in Taiwan. I'm sure you all rehearse and everything, but the first time you got up in Taiwan, how crazy was that, man?

DJ: It was surreal, you know, because we'd been rehearsing for a few months and the first time I ever stepped to the... you know, I mean, I'd met.... Sharon Osborne introduced me to Axl, God, like 15 years ago when I was doing the Beautiful Creatures album and Guns was working on Chinese right next to us in the next studio over. So Sharon walked me over and Axl, I mean, we met [?] from Indiana. He couldn't have been nicer, you know? And 15 years go by and I've never seen him again, and when I joined the band he had been following my career, like, he knew every thing about what I've done. And it was cool the respect he had for my playing and, you know, and it obviously goes both ways, but we just have an incredible amount of respect for each other. It was awesome. He walked out on stage in Japan and it was just on.

I: Is your mom still with us? Is she getting to enjoy all your success, man?

DJ: She is, but she is very religious. I grew up in a family that, you know, without TV's and almost Amish but not. So she's only been to one concert in my whole life and... but she's really proud, you know? It's, you know, rock and roll is... she got me into Elvis when I was really young. And he's been a huge influence on me army, but others-

I: But she planted a seed for you-

DJ: Absolutely she did, you know, I mean, every day we had music playing in the house. She was a classical piano player. So she had me up on the piano when I was three. And I started guitar when I was nine. And I've always.... I was kind of just born into the music thing.

I: That's very cool, man. What's up with SIXX: AM, you got plans to hook up with those guys and get something going with them or you just gonna-

DJ: Yeah, yeah, we've been writing the next record. We're almost done with it and it's one of our best records so far. So yeah, we're really excited to get that thing out soon.

I: We can't wait to see you. Now, let me ask you one more thing. You've got the Ashba Media Inc. What is AMI, man, I know you do some stuff with Virgin Megastores, how cool is that? You just go all over the world and do this-

DJ: Yeah, like we've been doing all of... we were Virgin Megastores worldwide, we did all the marketing and branding for five years. We beat out 106 agencies to become the agency of record for them and that was the first time I ever pitched a media company ever. And since then we started a clothing line called AshbaSwag. And it's doing great. We just opened up two stores, one on And Forgotten Saints on Melrose and one at Harley Davidson, Henderson, in Las Vegas. And yeah, it's going great. We just picked up all Cirque De Soleil accounts. So we are now doing tons of work for them and, you know, designing and dressing all the street teams to building life-size figures for all the shows and dressing them and doing all the wardrobe for that. So it's great, you know, I got.... we designed the [?] limited edition Ashba Challenger so I have my own car coming out with West Coast Customs. They're doing all the build outs of them and they're just incredible. Just the most insane hot rod. So yeah, we got a lot of good things in the fire and we've been working hard.

I: See, I wasn't lying when I said, "This cat's got a lot of things going on," man.

DJ: I'm an entrepreneur, you know, it's like I just, it's kind of in the blood and you know my aunt and uncle were, you know, they helped invent the technology for aerosol cans and they came out with a butter spray called Pam [?] with a couple other people. And so it's kind of always been in my blood that, you know, if you can dream it, you can build it type thing. And I've just always been inspired to plant a seed and watch it grow and turn into something and I get more joy out of that than any amount of money that it could bring.

I: Dude, that is so... They invented the... What was that? What was the jingle, man? Put some Pam on? Spray some Pam?

DJ: I don't think they wrote the jingle. They had something to do with the Pam butter spray and, you know, invented something for the aerosols and make the aerosol cans that... I don't know. It's pretty incredible.

I: That is very cool. It's a long way from the cornfield, right?

DJ: Yeah, yeah.

I: It's stuff like that that makes you appreciate what you have, though.

DJ: Yeah, and it's cool because to this day, you know, I moved out when I was 16, you know, to this day, mom called and said, you know, "You're the only kid that's never called home for a dime." I mean, I ate ramen noodles and struggled for 15 years solid out in LA before I really got my first big break, you know. So, I mean, it definitely wasn't an overnight thing and, you know, I'm very grateful for for what I've achieved and have, you know, for sure.

I: [?]

DJ: Thank you, thank you.

I: Brother, listen, we're going to see you here, and what have we got about 10-11 days-

DJ: Yeah, yeah.

I: - and, man, have a great time in Oklahoma this week, and I know Rocklahoma is a big deal and this should be a very special weekend with everything that's going on.

DJ: Thank you. I'm excited about the Lone Star too. It's going to be a great time. We're going to start a massive party there and I can't wait to meet everybody. So definitely come out and again go to Red Cross, you know, and do whatever you can to help, you know, the Oklahoma Tornado disasters.

I: Are you gonna have something on your web page or you just wanted to go to the Red Cross-

DJ: Yeah, just... I urge everybody go to the Red Cross and help. I'm gonna donate guitar and some things and I know Guns.... We're all pulling together and going to donate some memorabilia and try to help raise money for them.

I: Now, are you still hooked up with [?]? With [?]

DJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have the Domenic collection, all four guitars or signature guitars and we also have... they're put.... Gibson Les Paul is coming out with the signature DJ Ashba Les Paul in June, which will actually match the car that's coming out with West Coast and Dodge so-

I: That's very cool.

DJ: Yeah, they're going to look just alike. So it'll be fun.

I: That's cool. Very cool. Listen bro, we look forward to seeing you here in about 11 days. Lone Star Center-

DJ: Thank you.

I: -first time in west Texas. It's DJ Ashba from Guns N' Roses, we can't wait to see you, brother.

DJ: Thank you, guys. I'll see you out there.

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DJ: Hey, this is DJ Ashba from Guns N' Roses and you're listening to the Rock Show 94.5 FMX. Hey, this is DJ Ashba from Guns N' Roses and you're listening to 94.5 FMX.

Guns N’ Roses Guitarist DJ Ashba Talks Life, Music And Cooking Spray [AUDIO]

The last time I saw Guns N' Roses was way back in 1992 with Metallica at Texas Stadium; since then, the band has obviously had a serious makeover, yet I think the coolest member of the band definitely has to be guitarist DJ Ashba. Click through to check out an interview I did with him earlier today.

Ashba and I discussed everything from the carnage in Moore from yesterday's EF-5 tornado to Guns N' Roses to Pam cooking spray, yes...Pam.

The interview which hits the 13-minute mark, was easily one of the coolest I've ever done due to the fact that Ashba is humble, has no problems in telling you success takes actual work, and his overall sense of professionalism. I fully respect Ashba, especially because of his work ethic and desire to succeed.

Kids, take note: to become a self-made man or woman, you have to dig in the trenches for a while. Ashba recalls eating ramen noodles and saving every penny he could, though he says he never asked for money. He earned it through work. That's what it takes, and now more than ever, you have to work extremely hard to be successful.

Ashba will join his bandmates in Guns N' Roses on Saturday, June 1 at the Lone Star Amphitheater. Be sure to grab your tickets and come out and see this once-in-a-lifetime kind of show.

Check out the unedited interview...

Finished transcribing this.