2009.05.20 - Beat - Interview with Steven

STEVEN ADLER

by KOSTA LINARDOS

Date: 20 May 2009
Issue: Beat #1167

Guns N’ Roses, Appetite For Destruction, Steven Adler. The original drummer from what was once the world’s most dangerous band. The skinsman behind one of the greatest albums of all time, and a man whose forced departure from his band, while at their ‘world’s biggest band’ peak has been shrouded in lies, controversy, myths, legends and pity. Here, Steve Adler tells us what has been and what is coming.

Speaking to Steven from his L.A. home today, he doesn’t sound like a broken drug addict who’s bitter with his past; more like a man finally dealing with his past and enthralled with the future. His voice is so full of enthusiasm and energy I'm waiting for him to jump through the phone at any second; he is warm, bright and his much publicised speech impediment (due to a drug-induced stroke) is almost non-apparent as he lets us in on what's new in his life.

“It’s just been so wonderful to have my best friend Slash back in my life, and me being a part of his life and he being a part of mine,” Adler gushes. “He says he has one song, ‘cause he’s working on a solo record and he has the one song that he says is specifically for me. All I ask is that one opportunity to get in there because I wanna be his drummer! I mean that’s how we started out.

“You know, we’re both more level headed and still alive and better players than we were, we’re in a better place then we ever were. I WANNA BE HIS MAIN DRUMMER!! My main goal, I got my best friend back, now I just wanna finish what we started. I mean it’s a shame I missed out on all the other records and all the people he’s played with. Because of my drug addiction I missed out on so many things, I’m grateful to be alive and to have the opportunity to be able to get back together with him.”

Appetite For Destruction has a sound that no other GN’R album after it had, what do you bring that down to?

“I grew up learning how to play drums not with a bass player, but with a guitar player; with Slash. Usually it was just me and him practicing. So in the songs I would play what he was playing instead of just keeping a simple 4/4 pattern; like all rock is 4/4 but instead of the boom-cha, you know bass-snare-bass-snare, he would be doing like k-ka-k-ka-k-ka’s on his guitar and I would do that on the drums.”

“When we got together with Duff… See, Duff is a natural guitar player, he didn’t start off playing bass - he started playing bass guitar two weeks before he got hooked up with me and Slash. Which obviously worked out, and worked for me, because his style of bass playing is more of the style of a guitar player, so it worked perfect.

So, we just worked so well together. It was the biggest drag of my life (getting kicked out of G’N’R). I did write and record the demo tapes for Use Your Illusion. I’ll never forget telling everybody I knew, ‘this was going to be even bigger than Appetite’ and it would have been… if it had been recorded the way Appetite was; the way it was supposed to be - with five guys. It would be even bigger! It was supposed to happen. Axl took the name and I’m the only one out of the five of us still doing the songs from Appetite.”

Did you enjoy Chinese Democracy?

“Not one bit. I didn’t recognise Axl’s voice on it. There’s occasional parts where he does his loud scream but I didn’t even know it was him. “

What about Duff and Izzy, do you still speak to those guys?

“Izzy is like the hardest person to find because he’s a jet setter, everywhere, anywhere. And Duff I’m going to be running into next week for the Vh1 Rock Camp.”

How are you going with sobriety?

“Great! I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if I wasn’t doing great! And I wouldn’t be friends with Slash ‘cause he’s gone almost four years sober and he’s been the biggest influence on me to stay sober, he quit smoking (cigarettes) three weeks ago, he’s like ‘I’ve got the patches and everything’.”

I hear you have a book coming out?

“It’s almost completed, it should be out by late January of next year. Basically it takes Slash’s book, Nikki Sixx’s book and puts everything together as one. Because we were all together – we’ve known Nikki forever – so if you read his book and you read Slash’s book and when you read mine, everything, all the pieces of the puzzle will be put together. That’s how it works, and yeah, it’s very exciting.”

If the original five members ever toured it would be one of the biggest tours to ever happen in music. Could you guys ever do it?

“Do you know how much that drives me crazy? It’s driving me crazy; it’s driving me nuts! I hear it consistently throughout everyday of my life, and more than anything I wanna say ‘Yeah, we’re starting it tomorrow or tonight’. It’s so ridiculous not to do it. “

Did you ever wanna put another band together, a whole new band with all original music and do something new?

“Yes I would like to do me, Slash, John Sykes, Chips Z'nuff (from Enuff' Z'Nuff) and Steven Tyler singing would be great…” (laughs)”

Lastly do you ever wake up in the morning and think “I’m guy that played the drums on Rocket Queen” and smile?

“In the morning and in the afternoon and at night (laughs) I’m so proud of it!”

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