1991.05.24/25 - MTV - News Report and interview clips from East Troy, WI (Duff, Matt, Dizzy)

MTV did interviews with Axl, Slash, Duff, Matt and Dizzy at the Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI. show. From those interviews only the ones with Axl and Slash are available in full:
1991.05.25 – MTV – Interview with Slash
1991.05.25 – MTV – Interview with Axl
Of the other three interviews only edited parts that were used in various programs can be found.

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TRANSCRIPTION:
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Kurt Loder: Hi, I’m Kurt Loder with MTV News. Guns N’ Roses finally kicked off their long-awaited 1991 world tour here at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin on Friday night. And without any further ado, here’s a look at how it went.

[Footage from outside and inside the venue]

[cut to the Axl interview from May 25, 1991]

Axl: ... ever since we started we’ve been aiming at, you know, being... We wanted, on our second major album, we wanted a headlining tour and to do it right. And it feels great.

[Live footage from the concert]

[cut to interview with Matt]

Loder: You were originally employed when they approached you to join this group. Did they just ring you up to say “Hey, come over here”?

Matt: Originally I was just going to go in and do the record, and then go back to The Cult. And then, as soon as a couple weeks of rehearsals went by, I went to a barbecue at Slash’s and he proposed the question to me. “Do you want to join Guns N’ Roses?”

[cut to the Slash interview from May 25, 1991]

Slash: We got used to working with Matt like that, then Dizzy came in and it was just piano, which I’m used to listening anyway.  

[cut to interview with Dizzy]

Dizzy: My first live show with Guns N’ Roses was Rock in Rio (laughs).

Loder: What was that like?

Dizzy: It was like a blur, it was like, no, I can’t believe this.

[Live footage from the concert]

[cut to interview with Duff]

Loder: How do you go through your shows every night with no setlist? I guess it keeps you on your toes.

Duff: It keeps the lighting guys and the sound guys on their toes too. You know, our shows, we’ve never had, like, a perfect show. You know, like a lot of bands I was in the 80s or whatever. They have, like, the setlist and say the same thing between songs every night. This is equivalent to a 9-to-5 job to me.

[cut to Kurt Loder’s report]

Loder: This is Guns N’ Roses’ first tour in three years, as their first ever as headlining act. 40,000 people turned out to see them here at Alpine Valley, even though most of their show is made up of previously unheard material off their two new albums, which won’t even be out until August.

[Live footage from the concert]

[cut to the Slash interview from May 25, 1991]

Slash: If we can entertain 40,000 people without any kind of material for them to recognize, which isn’t really fair, but at the same time it’s really good for us and it’s making us work hard. And we’re still gonna give you a good show. And if I remember correctly, that’s how we started out in clubs.

[cut to interviews with concertgoers]

Concertgoer : It was just great. The new music was amazing.

Concertgoer : Oh, I love hearing new material. It’s great. It’s something new, it’s something different...

Concertgoer : People weren’t really familiar with it, but I think once they get accustomed to it, get used to it, I think they’ll like it a lot.

[Live footage from the concert]

[cut to the Axl interview from May 25, 1991]

Loder: What exactly happened, how did you do this to your foot?

Axl: ... about a week ago, we played the Ritz in New York and I got really excited, I was just jumping off everything ... and landed on my heel on a cement floor with no cushioning in my boots. ... But the doctors seem to think it’ll be fine. ... without this, it’s definitely limping. But we didn’t want to call off the show.

[cut to interviews with concertgoers]

Concertgoer: Axl, I touched Axl, man.

Concertgoer: I peed in my pants.

[Live footage from the concert]

[cut to Kurt Loder’s report]

Loder: Guns N’ Roses is back on the road at last, and coming soon to a town near you. Do try to catch them, this is an amazing show. That’s the news for now, we’ll be back with more later, here on MTV.



TRANSCRIPTION:
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Voice-over: Pumped up by the Rock in Rio experience, Guns N’ Roses committed themselves to launch a tour on May 24th, by which time the group’s long delayed follow-up to the four-year-old Appetite album was expected to be ready for release. As that date drew near, the band mounted a trio of surprise warm-up dates at rock clubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

[cut to interview with Duff]

Duff: New York was the best. San Francisco was a bit wild – I’m about to read a review on it - because, you know, it was the first time Axl sang with us in... two years, maybe? And L.A. was rocking. And New York was the best.

[cut to interview with Dizzy]

Loder: Is it easy for a keyboard player to fit into this? I mean, everybody think of Guns N’ Roses as a real guitar band so is it really slipping to do what you do?

Dizzy: I'm lucky enough that Axl has a really good... You know, he wrote a lot of the songs on piano and stuff, so he has a really good concept of keyboards in music and whatnot. And to me it’s just as anything else. I just looked at it as another challenge. And it’s like, if I can pull this off, I could definitely do anything (chuckles).

Loder: (Laughs) Were you Dizzy before you joined Guns N’ Roses or was it necessary that everyone had a name like “Axl”, “Slash”...

Dizzy: No, no, not at all. I’ve always been Dizzy.

Loder: You’ve always (?) this name, “Dizzy”.

Dizzy: Yeah. Well, I think it’s a little of both, probably (laughs). Dizzy and... Dizzy.

Loder: So your first live date with them was Rock in Rio?

Dizzy: My first live show with Guns N’ Roses was Rock in Rio (laughs).

Loder: What was that like?

Dizzy: It was like a blur, it was like, no, I can’t believe this. You know, I mean, I would be, like, completely lying and ridiculous if I said I wasn’t nervous for that. Actually it’s weird, after doing it I looked back at it and, like, we did that little show in LA and, like, 500 people were there that I knew, at least, you know. And that was, like, a lot scarier than doing Rock in Rio, because Rock in Rio is just... you just get kind of numb, cuz there’s so many people. You’re just kind of numb. It’s like doing novocaine over your whole body, you just play.

[cut to interview with Matt]

Loder: ... a band that has only released, like, one actual album, and then there was GN’R Lies. And it has the most rabid following, people really identify with this band. Why do you think that is?

Matt: You know, because I was on the outside before and I got in the band, I would say it’s probably for the sincerity of the band. I mean, it’s like real true from the heart stuff, I guess. It’s not some producer breathing down our neck and telling us, you know, what you got to do, what kind of songs you have to write. This band writes the kind of songs that it wants to write. I mean, you know, our A&R guy is cool and he works with us, but he’s not, like, saying, “Hey, you gotta do this and do this”. It’s mainly what we feel, you know. And Axl has cool lyrics. I mean, he isn't... obviously from some of his lyrics. You know, it's like, someone’s not going, “Hey, you can’t do that”.

[cut to interviews with concertgoers]

Concertgoer: They are artistic, you know. They’re their own world.

Concertgoer: They don’t care what anyone thinks. They don’t care about anyone, they’re doing their own thing.

Concertgoer: They’re kind of rebels, so, you know, we kind of dig them pretty much.

Concertgoer: We totally idolize Slash as a guitarist.

Concertgoer: I love their attitude, I love Axl Rose, he’s my idol. I want to grow up to be Axl Rose.

Concertgoer: Why is Axl Rose awesome? Look at the guy. Just look at the guy.

Concertgoer: The most notorious band in the world! Number 1!

Concertgoer: In the world! Worldwide!

[cut to interview with Matt]

Matt: We do have some, like, epic tunes, you know, eight-minute, nine-minute songs. We have one song that’s about ten-minutes-long. But we kind of went into it not thinking like “Oh we’re gonna get a bunch of radio play”. I mean, who cares. This band doesn’t think that way, really. It’s kind of whatever feels good, you know. And, you know, bands back in the 70s with Bohemian Rhapsody, I mean, that song was 7-minutes-long and it was number 1. You know, these days people are so formulized, “Oh it’s got to be 3-and-a-half minutes”. I mean, Stairway to Heaven, that wasn’t any short little number, you know? So I think people have to remember that and take a song for what it is. I think radio is probably a lot more expensive these days, you know, as far as the commercials and everything, so they have to cut a minute.
..............

Matt: There’s a lot of different types of music, which I didn’t have a problem with, because I come from, like, a lot of different musical backgrounds. I played with R&B artists and I played with a lot...

Loder: Like who?

Matt: Gladys Knight & the Pips I played with...

Loder: Really?

Matt: Yeah. I played with them about two years ago, I did one of their albums. I got one track with them. And then I worked with Belinda Carlisle, who is a pop star, so I have all kinds of different, like, stuff just to make ends meet. It’s what I did in the studios in LA. If someone called me up, you know, I wouldn’t argue. I’d play with anyone.
...............

Matt: Axl said we have a tune that is sort of like a Nigel Olsson type drum style, like, Elton John’s (?) drummer. You know, that’s a no problem because I have all these Elton John’s albums. So I knew right what to do with it. So it wasn’t really a problem for me.

[cut to interview with Dizzy]

Dizzy: I started going down to pre-production and we were kind of listening through (?). We listened to, you know, all the songs. And I was there and, like, if I had an idea I got up and I played it, and if they liked it, we worked on it. If they didn’t want keyboards on that song, we just threw it out. And then I went in, they did all the basic tracks and I went in, like, a couple of weeks and just did (?) keyboard stuff on the new album.

[cut to interview with Duff]

Loder: How do you go through your shows every night with no setlist? I guess it keeps you on your toes.

Duff: It keeps the lighting guys and the sound guys on their toes too. You know, our shows, we’ve never had, like, a perfect show. You know, like a lot of bands I was in the 80s or whatever. They have, like, the setlist and say the same thing between songs every night. This is equivalent to a 9-to-5 job to me. And rock ‘n’ roll, it’s erratic, it’s spontaneous, it’s honest and it’s violent, you know? And if you become stale, you know, with the setlist, it becomes just like... So it keeps us on our toes and keeps everybody on their toes, so there’s a lot of energy every night.

[cut to Loder's report]

Loder: Guns N’ Roses are getting a very, very enthusiastic welcome back after off the road. This is the beginning of their 1991 world tour. And these people are really glad to have them back.