2001.01.22 - Rock & Pop FM Argentina - Interview with Axl

Background of the interview from the Rock & Pop site (via htgth, translated from Spanish):

Axl Rose went fleetingly by Buenos Aires and granted only one phone interview to the Rock & Pop station with Juan Di Natale. Find out what the singer of Guns said.

January 22 2001. - Hardly finished Guns N' Roses's show in Rock In Rio, the rumors said that Axl Rose would travel to Buenos Aires. Although it was said that his intention was to see the Neil Young concert on Thursday. The most reliable sources assured that he had arrived on Saturday. At night, the members of the band Peruvian Libido that crossed with him in the disco Ël Divino. Finally, on Monday afternoon, and hours before their supposed departure to Chile, Axl Rose decided to break the silence. Offering a phone interview with Juan Di Natale of Rock & Pop.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=38



Transcription of the interview directly from the audio (the other texts that have been around, like the one on htgth above, are Spanish transcripts translated back to English).
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[Juan Di Natale, host of the show, talks in Spanish]
 
Laura (translator): Axl, this is Juan, DJ from the Rock & Pop Radio. We appreciate that you want to talk to us, and Juan says hello, hope you’re doing great. How are you doing?
 
Axl: Doing real good, thank you.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, what is the reason you are here? It’s really a surprise for us to know that you’re in our city.
 
Axl: I wanted to play here. I wanted to play here and play Chile, and that didn't work out for us. And since I was in Brazil, in Rio, I still wanted to come to Argentina, because it had been so long since we were here last, and I just wanted to come to feel Argentina.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, how do you feel now being in Argentina? And is it different from the last time that you were here?
 
Axl: Well, the areas where we stayed out and that we went to are built up a lot more. It’s fun, it’s very nice and the people have been great to me. I look forward to being able to bring the new band here next summer.  
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Axl: Or, you know, could be, maybe, even this fall. Fall for us, in November or something.
 
Laura: Okay.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, Juan has watched your show in Rio and you had a long dialogue with the audience, and he thought that was great. What did you feel after playing that show? Was there anything special about that?
 
Axl: The whole show was very special. The crowd was so warm and receptive. Sound and music wise everything went wrong for the band, but it was a very exciting show for us to know that we could do a show that big, and it was very new for everybody. So it was a very big and important thing for our new band.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, it was also great shock, you know, great decision on your part to play such a huge show with the new band. That’s also, you know, really something. Was there anything that took you to make that decision or it was something that came along and you said, “Okay, I’ll play that”?
 
Axl: Well, South America has always had a place in my heart since I first came here, and it’s very emotional for the people, and myself, and my management to play here. So it was, you know, an honor to be able to play Rio. I mean, now there was no new songs, the people didn't know the band, it’s not the old band... And they came anyway and that was very special. And the show brought the new band together.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, along these years that you’ve been away from the road, have you ever thought about coming back as Axl Rose - you know, [your] own project - and not again under the name Guns N’ Roses?
 
Axl: Sometimes. But it’s more important to do the Guns N’ Roses band, and I felt that, you know, Guns N’ Roses has an important place in many fans’ hearts and I personally want to be able to try to live up to that for them. And I’m lucky to find people who wanted to help me do that.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, how was it for you to teach your new band the old songs you used to play?
 
Axl: Well, they are truly Guns N’ Roses in the sense that at first they didn’t want to (laughs).
 
[Translation in Spanish]
 
Axl: They didn't want to play the old songs that much, because they are their own musicians. In other words, they had a punk attitude like old Guns N' Roses.
 
[Translation in Spanish]
 
Axl: But then it became fun for them, and they began to really appreciate the songs and they really enjoy playing them. And the bass player, Tommy Stinson, did really good leading the band through the rehearsals for Vegas and Rock In Rio.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, we got the news that Chinese Democracy will be issued in June, but we want to know what’s the reasons why it took so long for the record to come out?
 
Axl: We were writing and recording for several years, and there were band changes, and the record companies had - many changes in the record companies and, you know, many different people’s opinions. And the record companies also kept wanting to help to make the record better, and so every time we'd think we would have the right songs or the record, then somebody would say that – you  know, someone would think that we could maybe make it better, and so then we would start over again. So we kept collecting songs, and kept recording and recording... And I think that when we do put out the record, we will put out something that we are very proud of and everything that we feel very confident about. And then we we will have a lot of extra songs also.
 
[Translation in Spanish]
 
Axl: Wait, wait. And even now, this band has only fully played together for six weeks before Rio. So it’s still very new for them all playing together as a band, you know, with Robin and Bucket. That was a surprise and that was, obviously, to me, the right decision to make, but it was not something originally planned having three guitar players.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, is your material related more to the industrial side of rock? I mean, we heard that it’s not so much related to your old band, that is something completely new. Is that so?
 
Axl: It’s not industrial. The closest to that was, maybe, Oh My God. But there are some songs that are not on the album now that may have leaned that way, but there will be all types of styles and a lot of influences. There’s still, you know, blues influence mixed into the songs, but it’s not so much with the Aerosmith or AC/DC type of feel that was used on Appetite so much. Even though Buckethead, his first influence was – the reason he picked up a guitar was Angus Young and AC/DC, and both of these guys like to play AC/DC, it’s just that, you know, we wanted to play other styles. When we tried to write songs in the older style of Guns N' Roses, for some reason they just sounded very old, it didn’t sound as lively -you know, we couldn’t quite make that happen. And I think that’s true for even old Guns N' Roses. Any other songs that were written - you know, by the other guys to try to make a record a few years ago -, everything just sounded very dated. And so we tried to explore, so we could stay alive as a band.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, did you know that some of the audience in Brazil thought that Buckethead was actually Slash in disguise?
 
Axl: Yeah, many people have thought that. And I guess on the Internet sometimes, you know, there are polls or questionnaires, and one of the bets has always been that it’s really Slash. I think that’s funny. And that was before I knew Buckethead, people guessed that he might be Slash because of the hair and the look.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, we know that you’re enjoying vacations here, so we want to make this interview as short as possible.  But Juan wants to ask you, how do you see yourself today as a performer compared to years ago? Do you see yourself different? Is there anything new?
 
Axl: Um, well... I feel that Vegas and Rio were very important for us and, as I said, we had hoped to play Buenos Aires and Chile. But I feel that we will not really be a touring type of band until summer, not like another five months, because this is all new for us and, you know, it was important to get the energy and enthusiasm up to do this type of show and to do that again. It was very hard for me, emotionally and mentally, to want to play the older songs, because of the hard times or experiences that I’ve gone through with the old band and playing those songs. But the new guys made it exciting, so it was good to get out there. But we will put together a much bigger show and be more prepared. I feel that we did okay in Rio and it was a lot of fun, but we all want to be much more prepared when we actually do a real tour. This is what’s the band know what it is we have to do.
 
[Translation and question in Spanish]
 
Laura: Axl, we hope you enjoy your vacations right here in Buenos Aires and we really look forward to see your show when you come back. And Juan would like to know if there’s any message you would like to deliver to all those fans out there that are hearing you right now.
 
Axl: I would just like to say, you know, thank you very much for all the love and support, and I feel it when I’m here. I’m just very thankful and appreciative, and I can’t wait to be able to come here and play. It’s just been great to be here. Thank you very much.
 
[Translation in Spanish]
 
Juan: Bye bye Axl, thank you.
 
Axl: Gracias.
 
Laura: Thank you.

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Another video with the parts in Spanish (but also parts of the questions in English) edited out:

Bob Ezrin?

Soulmonster wrote:

We were writing and recording for several years, and there were band changes, and the record companies had - many changes in the record companies and, you know, many different people’s opinions. And the record companies also kept wanting to help to make the record better, and so every time we'd think we would have the right songs or the record, then somebody would say that – you  know, someone would think that we could maybe make it better, and so then we would start over again. So we kept collecting songs, and kept recording and recording... And I think that when we do put out the record, we will put out something that we are very proud of and everything that we feel very confident about. And then we will have a lot of extra songs also.

Rock & Pop FM Argentina, January 22, 2001

Bob Ezrin?

Yes, most likely. Maybe also Roy Thomas Baker and label executives.