1992.08.09 - Much Music - In The Ring with Guns N' Roses (Slash, Duff, Gilby, Dizzy)

Transcript:
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Host (George Lagoglanes): Not much of Guns N’ Roses’ history is all that rosy. In fact, in rock ‘n’ roll, their name has been synonymous with trouble; and the last year has been absolutely no exception. It began with last summer’s riot in St. Louis and Axl’s subsequent arrest. Controversy followed Axl’s candid Rolling Stone interview, open relationship trouble between Axl and girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, and then, to top it off, major internal changes saw two new members join the band. All of this, of course, was exploited by relentless rock journalists who’ve always made GN’R an easy target. Amidst all of this, though, the band was able to release Use Your Illusion I and II simultaneously, enter the charts at numbers 1 and 2, and sell out a world tour. It seems that they and the fans are putting the music first. And that’s our plan for this special: to put the music up front. Contest winner Liz Raizer and I will share our experiences with you from the Guns N’ Roses’ tour of Europe this summer. We’ll cover crowds, culture politics and a new GN’R, who’ve opened up, it seems, to the press, the public and the musical community, all for one common goal; and that is to become rock ‘n’ roll legends. Well, enough said. Let’s head off to Lisbon, and get in the ring with Guns N’ Roses.

[Cut to interview with Slash and Duff]

Liz Reiser: We spent the whole day watching things get set up and everything, and checking it all out, and watching the crowd, as the crowd filled in, and checking out the first two – we’re up on stage when the first two bands are playing, and it’s just such a strange sort of reality to be living. How can you deal with that every day and still sort of keep some sort of sanity at all?

Slash: (Laughs) You don’t.

Duff: You don’t. Sanity? (laughs)

Liz Reiser: Is that the only reality then? That’s it?

Slash: We’ve been doing it for a while. It’s, sort of like, this is how we live. So you sort of expect it. It goes with the territory.

Liz Reiser: You’re also kind of opening doors by the kind of opening acts you guys are having. Do you really feel that’s important too?

Slash: They’re just cool bands, you know.

Duff: Yeah, it’s like, if you can’t do something for somebody else, and people have done things for us, you know – if you can’t do things for other people - it’s like, if you’re gonna get, like, Warrant or somebody to open for you, you know, give it up (laughs).

Slash: Nothing against Warrant, but – (laughs)

Duff: No, no. But you know what I mean.

Host: After the Guns N’ Roses tour, Soundgarden were off to San Francisco to hook up with Lollapalooza 2. Now, Madrid was supposed to be the final stop on this tour, but a poor facility there prevented that show from happening. That made Lisbon the final stop on this European tour. And, as you can guess, things just got a little stupid, with a little help from the crew.

[Cut to interview with members of Soundgarden]

Liz Raiser: It got a bit wild on stage tonight. Is that a usual occurrence? Is that because the tour is starting to wrap up now?

Chris Cornell: You never know.

Liz Raiser: It’s just one of those things?

Chris Cornell: Yeah.

Liz Raiser: So how long has this been going on, your tour this time? How long have you guys been on the road?

Chris Cornell: Forever? (laughs)

Liz Raiser: How are you guys keeping it fresh? How are you still enjoying it all?

Chris Cornell: Self-mutilation. (laughs)

Liz Raiser: Back in North America, you really have a big following. How has the audience reacted to you here in Europe?

Chris Cornell: Well, it was good or better than they did in the U.S. when we opened up for Guns.

Liz Raiser: Really?

Ben Shepherd: I think it’s mainly cuz when we hit the stage, that means the whole show has started, and they’re really amped on that, knowing that Guns and Faith are gonna go on too: “Wow, the show is starting. Alright!”

[Live footage – Soundgarden]

[Cut to interview with Gilby and Dizzy]

Liz Raiser: We were talking about having Soundgarden and Faith No More and whatnot on the bill with you. Do you think it’s really important to have younger bands, to have different bands just to introduce them to your audience? Do you think that’s an important thing?

Gilby: I think they were the only two bands that would actually tour with us, or something?

Dizzy: I think they were forced to.

(Laughter)

[Live footage – Faith No More]

Text on screen: Faith No More caused a disturbance in Lisbon when they invited the fans to throw garbage at the stage!

[Cut to interview with Mike “Puffy” Bordin of Faith No More]

Mike “Puffy” Bordin: It’s an incredible opportunity that they’ve given us - just like this tour was fantastic. They’ve been super good to us. I mean, people say what they want, you know, about any band. There’s always controversy, especially with Guns N’ Roses, turbulence and turmoil that people don’t know. You know, they don’t talk to the press a lot, so people make up their own goddamn bullshit stories - and I’m not gonna do that. But the point is, it’s fantastic we’re getting in front of a lot of people. We’re getting respect from those bands, which means a lot, I think, to the people that like those bands. They realize, I think, that we’re getting respect from those bands that they like; and I think that’s really important.  

[Live footage – Faith No More]

[Cut to interview with Christopher, a fan who has a backstage pass]

Liz Raiser: He’s got to show us his pass, George, because you don’t have just an average pass. You have, like, the VIP guest pass, too.

Christopher: Yeah. This gives me access before, during and after the show, backstage – not including the dressing room or on stage, unless invited.

[Break]

Host: Welcome back as we step in the ring with Guns N’ Roses. Coming up on this segment, we will give you just a taste of what it takes to put on a show of this magnitude. We’ll, sort of, discuss the riot, and Duff and Slash on the press and politics.

BEHIND THE SCENES

[Footage from the stage and the backstage area]

Liz Raiser: It’s a beautiful morning here in Estadio – what is it again, George?

George Lagoglanes: It’s Jose Alvalade.

Liz Raiser: Jose Alvalade. Alright. And we’re standing here talking to Pyro Pete. And you do?

Pyro Pete: Pyro. I blow stuff up.

Liz Raiser: Big surprise. The name sort of gives it away, doesn’t it? (laughs)

Pyro Pete: I know. It’s a dead giveaway.

Liz Raiser: When you’re transporting everything, is that difficult? Transporting across different countries and whatnot?

Pyro Pete: Well, I have a – look, the front thrust. Do you see this thing up here? Hold on. See this thing up here? This thing comes, loads in at, like, dawn, right? And on a good day it moves – like, now it’s a little bit after 11:00. This thing will be moving in about another 20 minutes. So, this thing alone, takes, like, ten hours and, like, 100 people working on it, constantly. It’s the lamest thing in rock ‘n’ roll, the front thrust. In the States it’s real easy, in the States and Canada. In Canada you only have the Department of Mines and Resources, and the States have ATF, you know?

(A crew member runs screaming)

Pyro Pete: That’s Axl.

(Laughter)

[Cut to interview with Dale 'Opie' Skjerseth (stage/production manager) and Will Jennings (keyboard tech)]

Liz Raiser: So, how many people does it take to put the whole show together?

Opie: That tour with us or...? Me and Will, we do it all.

Will: Us two.

Liz Raiser: Everything, all of it.

Opie: Yeah, yeah. We do the whole thing.

Will: We came in here early this morning, about an hour ago. We pretty much put all this together, yeah.

Liz Raiser: Perfect. Good job, so far. How long has this tour been going on and how long have you guys been working with it all?

Opie: How about a year-and-a-half?

Will: Right, about a year-and-a-half.

Opie: Yeah, yeah. About a year-and-a-half.

Liz Raiser: So things started to change with the tour in that year-and-a-half? Have you’ve been altering things and changing...

Opie: Our minds?

Liz Raiser: ...as things go along? (laughs)

Opie: We alter our minds every show just to keep going with the thing.

Liz Raiser: The only way to survive?

Will: Well, today is the one year anniversary of the riot in St. Louis.

Liz Raiser: Oh, really?

Will: Yeah. That’s a very important day for us.

Liz Raiser: It’s an interesting show there.

Opie: It’s a very important day for all of us.

Will: There’s gonna be quite a celebration.

Opie: All the people that are still here, we’re all - you know, kind of lived through it.

Liz Raiser: Are you all gonna have, like, a little service? A memorial service?

Opie: No, we’re gonna get drunk and beat each other up with Jagermeister.

Liz Raiser: That’s a pretty good memorial service, I think.

THE RIOT

[Cut back to the interview with Slash and Duff]

Liz Raiser: Do you guys wanna talk about that at all?

Duff: No.

Liz Raiser: No. Okay. (laughs)

Slash: Everybody’s walking around with armbands, black tape around their arms. I said, “What’s that?” “Yeah, well, it’s the anniversary – it’s a commemorative armband for the anniversary of the St. Louis riots.” All we could say was like, “Wow, that was a year ago?” (laughs)

Liz Raiser: Yeah. The tour has been going on that long, I guess, heh?

Slash: It’ll be more than two years after our States-side thing with Metallica.

Liz Raiser: You guys are touring now, as you just mentioned, with Metallica. I was kind of surprised at first when I heard it, because you guys are both big enough names that you could probably tour on your own. Why did you guys decide to do that?

Duff: Well, I think, how it got started is, 1) We’re both good friends, you know. It’s like, when you hang out in L.A., and hang out, like, in the music scene, the only friends you really can keep is guys in other bands; because other people try to, you know, use you or whatever. So, it’s like, the only people you can trust are people in other bands. So, many drunken nights we talked of going out and doing a tour, and it finally came together, basically. That’s about it.

Slash: One of the cool things about it, is that Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, as much as I hate to put a label on it, we’re probably the most against-the-grain bands that have become successful and gotten this big. And, for us, to get together and, sort of, just show the fact that we managed to pull it off, it opens doors for other bands. It makes it so that the rules aren’t as restricting as they seem to be to people trying to make it, or trying to get the foot in the door. It’s like, “just go for it,” which is a good feeling, cuz we really went against all odds and managed to get here, which is cool.

[Cut to back to the interview with Gilby and Dizzy]

Liz Raiser: Sharing the keyboard action with Axl during November Rain, how does that work out?

Dizzy: Well, it works out great, because if I make a mistake, nobody can hear it (laughs).

Gilby: (Laughs) Because, you see, we’re not really in the mix. We’re just kind of up there for image reasons, and stuff like that. (laughs)

Dizzy: Yeah, yeah. No, it’s great, it’s fun. A big jam session, (?). Contrary to popular belief, my main influence was not Liberace, okay? Let’s get that straighten out, right now.

Gilby: (Laughs)

Liz Raiser: (Laughs). Yeah, I was looking for the candelabra.

Dizzy: I don’t know, I think that the cool thing about it is - you know, we all have a lot of bands in common that we liked. But the good thing is that we’re all, like, quite diverse as far as what we listen to, I think.

Gilby: See, I like Liberace (laughs). He was one of my influences.

Dizzy: You always wanted to be his guitar boy, heh?

Gilby: Yes, I did.

THE PRESS

[Cut back to the interview with Slash and Duff]

Duff: The journalists, I would think, they would practice it to more – you know, the rainforest thing that’s going on down there, and Yugoslavia and all that. I think they, sometimes, get their morals or their...

Slash: Focus.

Duff: ... focus a little screwed up. Yeah, focus. Exactly. And we’re not that big of a deal, you know. We’re just a rock ‘n’ roll band. We’re touring and that’s what we’re doing.

Slash: Yeah. One of the things that we’ve been doing is, like, just doing more press - and especially doing it on camera - so that we can actually speak our minds about stuff, instead of letting other people do it for us. Because it just gets out of hand. And it’s just like, the tabloids and stuff kind of attitude, where they’re just feeding off of personality, and it gets to the point where it gets so negative. It’s like, what you’re trying to concentrate on, what you’re trying to communicate with the readers. You know, and the people who are interested in what “entertainers” –as they would call it- are doing, at least they should be told the truth. Otherwise, it’s like, this whole big facade is built up, and when you go out and play in front of people, they have no idea what you’re all about.

POLITICS

Slash: As a group, say, Guns N’ Roses isn’t a politically conscious band, even though as people, as humans, we are.  We try not to advocate our views on politics as a group, because, like he said, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, so we try and concentrate on what our lives are about, and sing about that. And if something comes in from the outside, something major, we might sing about it, but we don’t like to send messages via the press and stuff.

Duff: Right. For the most part, who are we to send a message to a kid? Who are we to advocate some issue to some age group, or sex group, or whatever? You know, that’s too much. We’re just a rock ‘n’ roll band - again, like I said.

[Cut to pre-show interviews with concertgoers in Lisbon]

Liz Raiser: Why Guns N’ Roses?

Concertgoer: Why? Because the energy! The energy - I don’t know. There’s no definition. And the madness. The madness! The madness they want to send us. It’s beautiful. Never seen it in life.

[Break]

Host: Napoleon once said that an army travels on its stomach. Well, this war is no exception. Coming up in this segment, we’ll show you how to feed 150 finicky road warriors three times a day. Liz Reiser gives us an exclusive look at Axl’s wardrobe. And we’ll take you home on this special with a look at the European fan; a rare breed, an intense breed. And that’s a good thing for GN’R, because it’s just this kind of fan that reminds them why they wanted to become rock stars in the first place and why they plan to be in it for the long haul.

FOOD

Liz Reiser: So what time of the day do you have to start cooking for everything?

Chef/caterer: We start, like, 4:00 in the morning because we have to be sure that breakfast is ready by the time the first lot come in, and they come about 5:00 – 6:00 if we’re lucky. And then we cook right through till about – we start (?) about 8:00-8:30 at night and we’ll finish about 11:00. And then the dressing room, people remain at least till 3:00 in the morning.

[Cut back to the interview with Slash and Duff]

Liz Raiser: You guys have great caterers.

Slash: Oh, they’re awesome. For what they have to work with they’re great (chuckles).

Duff: Yeah. That’s all we wait for. It’s like, I don’t eat till I come to a gig, so I haven’t eaten in three days.

(Laughter)

Duff: I swear to God. It’s the truth.

Slash: I haven’t eaten a full meal since we got into, like, Spain and Portugal and all that.

Duff: It’s horrible. It’s really horrible. It’s like, you just throw up anything you might eat.

BACKSTAGE

Liz Reiser: This about as backstage as it gets. We’re heading for the Guns N’ Roses wardrobe changing rooms.

[Footage from the wardrobe changing rooms]

Liz Raiser: Gee, guess whose this is. Look at that hat [Slash’s top hat]. I have to. I’m sorry, I just have to. I know, but I need a shot of me with this hat on. Is it me?

Someone: It’s you.

Liz Raiser: I’m taking it.

Liz Raiser: Okay, George. Let’s snoop through the clothing and see exactly what’s in here [Axl’s changing room]

George Lagoglanes: “P.E.” [Public Enemy]

Liz Raiser: This one?

George Lagoglanes: Very cool.

Liz Raiser: Wow. I haven’t seen him in this one.

George: I haven’t seen that either.

Liz Raiser: I’ve seen him in this one. This is his Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door outfit, isn’t it?

George: Oh, really?

Liz Raiser: I think so. It’s very cowboy-ish. Did you notice that for Civil War he changes three times?

George: Three times? I didn’t know that.

Liz Raiser: Hey, I was watching Axl. I had my eye on him. He changed three times. He had his combat outfit on. Here’s his American flag one, he wore that one. There it is, here’s the “Rebel” one.

THE FANS

Liz Raiser: We’re here waiting in front of the stage with one very special fan here. He’s Christopher Chris, and he’s been – how many shows have you been to?

Christopher: 42 shows, counting today.

Liz Raiser: 42 Guns N’ Roses shows counting today.

Christopher: In Europe, Mexico City and in the United States.

Liz Raiser: What is it about Guns N’ Roses that makes you such a fan?

Christopher: The music, the energy, the wait... I mean, you could wait three hours if you’re gonna get your shows. Whether you spend $10 or $100 you get your show’s worth. They come on up there late because they need to be late for whatever reason that may be, but they give you 150% of the show.

Riz Raiser: What are you looking forward to tonight? What do you wanna hear?

Concertgoer: Today? Energy! I want to get out of here completely tired! I want to get out of here even dead! Even dead! I don’t know! I don’t know!

Other concertgoer: They are the best!

[Cut to back to the interview with Slash and Duff]

Slash: That sort of unbridled energy gets us going. And then you get that friction between the crowd and the band. And the band’s going, “Listen, relax, don’t throw shit,” and eventually they mellow out and they just get into the music. Then it turns into a sort of a magic happening, which is nice. And here it’s been really special, because they don’t get this that often, and so it’s a very sort of purest, innocent kind of energy. I mean, these people come from miles and they’d hitchhike, they’d do... and you have to give them their time and money’s worth. And they’re really into it, they make you feel that way, and so you put that much, kind of, gusto into that.

[Cut to interview with Carlos Gomes (local promoter)]

Carlos Gomes: For years and years we didn’t have this many shows, you know, so every time we promote a concert now, you have all kinds of people, because it’s still the new thing happening in Lisbon. But rock ‘n’ roll is, you know...

Liz Raiser: Rock ‘n’ roll is (?)

Carlos Gomez: Yeah, definitely.

[Cut to interviews with concertgoers]

Concertgoers: Guns N’ Roses! Yeah!

Another concergoer: Axl is the best!

[Cut to the interview with Gilby and Dizzy]

Dizzy: All crowds are great. I think European crowds are more partisan, as far as the songs and whatever. You know, in the States I used to go to concerts to pick up chicks, so it was kinda like, clapping was a little too uncool.

Liz Raiser: So do you still – since you guys went to concerts and stuff when you were kids, like you were just saying, do you still keep that in mind when you put the show together? Is that, like, the driving forces to make it a really good show for everyone in the audience?

Gilby: I think that’s exactly how everybody thinks. It’s like, we always remember what we liked when we were kids and stuff, so we try to do it the same way. Then again, this band is exactly what we wanted to be when we were kids and stuff, so...

[Live footage]

[End titles]

I had archived this as unknown date 1992, but I found out that it was aired on August 9, 1992, so I'm updating the title.