1995.03.DD - Conspiracy Fan Club Newsletter Volume One Issue One

Many thanks to @troccoli for sharing this with us, and for the amazing collection of GN'R memorabilia he has made available on his site. The original images of the newsletter can be found on his site here:
http://www.troccolitm.com/IntlFnClb.html

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Transcript
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CONSPIRACY
 
THE OFFICIAL GUNS N’ ROSES NEWSLETTER
 
Volume One                                  Issue One
 
 
Slash
INTERVIEW
 
"Guns N' Roses," the pinball machine that you designed and developed with Data East, has been a big hit at game arcades since its debut this summer. What made you pursue the pro­duction of this game from your original plans that you first wrote down on nap­kins?
 
A few years ago, I spent a couple of weeks in the suburbs of Chicago one winter. After a couple days of just sitting there watching TV. I got pretty bored. I was at my uncle-in-­law’s house. In Chicago they have base­ments, and in his basement he had three or four pinball machines that sort of cut the boredom a little bit. I’d never ever been into pinball when I was a kid, never was interested. Finally, I broke down and I was like, well this is something to do, and I got into pinball. I bought my wife one for the following Christmas. And then one turned into about 20. And the whole house was completely — I mean, the living room, the upstairs bar, everywhere there’s pinball machines. Anyway, the band was off the road, finally, and I started thinkin' Guns could probably do a pinball machine. We haven't had a rock n' roll machine in 15 years that was based on a particular band. So, I just started jotting ideas on scraps of papers and napkins - that’s how I always come up with ideas - doodling. And I came up with the basic framework for what I’d consider to be a really different kind of pinball machine. The next thing was which company to go with and who would be interested. I didn't want to go with Barry and Williams because I would have given them the idea and then that would have been the last I would have seen of it until it came out. I wanted to have — you know, more or less creative input through the whole making of the game. And a couple of the machines that I have at home which are the most original and the most, like, on- the-edge machines - you know that take chances - are the Data East machines. So, I went to Chicago and I met with them, showed them my basic designs and stuff and I said, like, "Can you do this? Can you do that?" And they said, "We can fuckin’ do anything." You know, that’s more of the attitude where I come from. We hooked up. And those people at Data East are wonder­ful. They’re really great people. I’d bring a bottle of Jack and we’d all hang out in the drawing room with a big sheet of paper and draw things out into the middle of the night. So, we basically came up with a game and the design team that I worked with — I can’t give you all their names, but there was a guy named Lymon and there was a guy named John Borg who - if you see the machine, it’s designed by John Borg and me. Then, they were serious. They got into it. And before you know it. I'm flying back and forth to Chicago, like, shit, once every couple of weeks, and going over details and so-on and so-forth. So, to actually see it finished and working right now - I'm really proud of it. But it's the loudest game ever made, it’s the only time that real gui­tars and real vocals have ever been used on a pinball machine. So, it’s real Innova­tive. At least at present. God knows what the next pinball machine’s gonna be like. I got to go into the studio and take the origi­nal Guns N' Roses masters from the record and strip them back down to the individual tracks and that was sort of nostalgic. And then we went in and did some voice overs for it. You know, "jackpot" and this and that - little things that the pinball machine says. And that's basically it. It's out and you can find it in arcades. And I have one here at home and it drives me crazy 'cause it plays "Welcome to the Jungle" as the main song and I'm sick of hearing it. And you can crank it as loud as you want - we keep all the machines pretty loud. Everybody who comes over plays it. It’s a good game though. I mean gamewise and also strategically.
 
Do you have any plans to do another one any time soon?
 
(Slash laughs) I have an idea for one which I'm gonna pursue which is something that's never been done before. 'Cause now I’m sort of like a pinball consultant over there. You know, if I have an idea or if they have an idea, we talk to each other - which is cool - you know, it's not like I work there or anything.
 
When you were first coming up with ideas for the game, how did you want it to be different from other pinball games that are out there?
 
Well, obviously it's got to have great sound because it's a rock band. It plays nine dif­ferent Guns N’ Roses songs. So, it has to sound good. That was our first and fore­most priority and then I came up with the idea of a "G" ramp and an "R” ramp -I really wanted to pursue that. The whole idea of the game — the whole premise of the game, right from the get-go is to get the whole band on the stage; so, it's a six ball machine. There's a mode for every band member. So, when you go into, say, Axl's, you've got the "Mystery Ball;" Dizzy’s got the "Dizzy Ball" which has magnets that can turn on - when the balls coming down the playing field, the magnet will shoot it off somewhere else so it’s, like, out of control. There’s “Riot Ball" when all six balls come out - it gets real crazy. There’s "Coma Ball" that plays "Coma." There’s “Nightrain." There's "Matt Ball" where all the targets turn into drumheads. There’s "Gilby Rolls" which is on the dot matrix, and that's on the backboard where you have, from a heli­copter's view, a motorcycle that you can control with the flippers - with the buttons for the flippers. All you have to do is avoid traffic and hit pedestrians. There's the "Death Mode" which plays "It's So Easy." Anyway, there’s "Slash Solo," there’s "Snakepit" which is — see, it’s a two lane game so there’s a gun on one side - there’s a plunger and there’s a rose on the other side of the machine that's got a lane where the ball goes into a snake. So, there’s a lot going on. You can play it for four or five hours and you’ll never get close to how much information this game’s got. Those people over there at Data East, they call 'each other "pinheads." As fanatical as I am about guitars, that's how they are about pinball machines. They get up in the morn­ing and they play until midnight. They get other people's machines and fuckin', you know, scrutinize them and figure them out. It's a whole different world over there. But, they’re all really great people to hang out with.
 
So they were really into your game.
 
Yeah. I had what you call my own produc­tion team to make this. So, we would all get together. We got to be good friends. There was just no end to the ideas that we could come up with.
 
We hear you had your acting debut on "Tales From the Crypt.”
 
Yeah, I did a “Tales." It’s not really acting - I play me. Well, my name’s — what the fuck’s my name? I don’t have the script with me. I forgot what my name was. So, I look like me: I got my top hat, my leather jacket. And it's a cool part, but I only did it because "Tales From the Crypt" is my favorite TV show. When they asked me if I wanted to do it, I was like, "Fuck, yeah!"
 
Was it a large role?
 
I'm only in two scenes, which is fine because it was very uncomfortable being an actor. But the cast and crew were great and we had fun doing it. You should have seen me fucking getting up at 8 o’clock in the morning to be on call (laughs).
 
You're probably not used to that.
 
Yeah, definitely not.
 
Can you talk a little bit about how Guns N’ Roses ended up recording the Rolling Stones’ "Sympathy For the Devil" for the film Interview With the Vampire?
 
Well, it’s a Geffen release for one. We got a phone call from David Geffen asking if we'd be interested in doing it. And I was sort of, ehh, you know. I went and saw a screening of it just to make the effort, just to see what was going on. The scene where the song is featured, it had the Stones’ ver­sion there and as far as I was concerned, the coolest scene was the closing scene - and I thought, well, the Stones' version sounds fine. But, they really wanted us to do it, so basically, me, Matt and Duff just went in and got the basics down. Axl went in later and did the vocals. That was it. But, it's nice because it’s totally featured as opposed to being on a - you know in movies, instead being on a stereo in the background of a party with people talking over it or off a boom box or something like that - it goes all the way up to the credits. You don't hear any dialogue or anything like that. It should sound good. I haven't seen the movie with our version in it. My wife's going to go check it out at the screening - I'm not going to go. I can't be bothered to go. You know, "The Premier." Waving to the people and stuff. Tom Cruise there — no. But, she's going to go and I just said, well tell me how it sounds.
 
Will there be a video release for that, too?
 
No, there is no video. We didn't shoot a video. We were the last thing in production of the movie. We were the last considera­tion and they really had to rush it out. The timing wasn't right to get a video done. As long as we got the song done, you know?
 
What’s going on with Guns N’ Roses right now? Are you guys writing or getting ready to record?
 
We did some writing at one point up at my house. Between now and Christmas, Duff, Matt and I are just gonna start some stuff and try to get some sort of pre-production thing happening.
 
Is that how you guys often write? You guys just jam?
 
There are so many different ways. We just chose to do it this way this time. It's differ­ent every time around.
 
What music have you been listening to and what do think of it?
 
For me personally, it’s been the Stones’ new record... I still like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains. I'm not real fond of everything that's coming out. I think it’s getting a little bit too lightweight for my particular taste.
 
Have you seen any concerts recently and what did you think of them?
 
I just went to the Stones a couple of times. I've been doing a lot of jamming recently more than going to see anybody. So, that's the latest one that I've gone to. I went to Pink Floyd which has got to be one of the most boring things I’ve been to. I left half way in the middle of it - it was like seeing a bad movie.
 
So, a new Guns album coming out soon?
 
At some point, yeah. The thing with Guns is the material has got to be really sponta­neous. When we're totally inspired collec­tively to make the right record then we do it at the time that inspiration comes. We're just now starting to put that together.
 
***
 
[Duff interview]
 
HOW did you get started in mountain bike racing?
 
What happened was I stopped drinking. I bought a mountain bike in '88 and l'd ride a lot. I’d ride every day but not seriously. Kind of just get on and ride up this hill that was right by my house. Me and Adam - Slash's guitar tech - I'd ride with him. Every day he’d come over and we’d ride. And then Slash and I would ride mountain bikes to rehearsal. That was kind of our way to get healthy and cut down on drink­ing. We'd each strap a jug of wine to our bike and ride to rehearsal. That was our exercise and cut down on drinking plan.
But then we went on the Illusions tour and shit and then I went on my own tour and by the time that was over I gained like 40 pounds. I was drinking way too much. So, I just stopped and bought a mountain bike and just started riding hard and taking it seriously. I ride every day and I ride between - depending on what kind of workload day I want for riding - It’s between 6 and 20 miles. So, I cruise. I love it. That’s what I do. Except when I get a flat — like today.
 
You're competing now, right?
 
I’ve been in two races and I got another one coming up. I went to Nationals - the Big Bear. I didn't know it was the fucking Nationals. At the bike shop, I bought the bike and filled out the application for the race. Cross-country is pretty gnarly, man. It's like 15 miles. Fifteen miles of uphill and shit. So, that was kind of my goal: I’m gonna buy this bike and work and then go up and do this race and finish it. I get up there, and there’s fuckin’ 30,000 people up there. And I rode my bike at least once a day, if not sometimes twice up these fuckin' hills and shit. And I went up and i finished the race and it turned out it was the Nationals. I was just in the beginning amateur part. I met some pros and really got into it and got a better bike. So, then I was in the Fall Classic, which is the state championships or something and I did bet­ter. You know, I'm just getting better and better. With anything, if you do it every day, you're going to get better.
 
What types or circuits are there?
 
There’s pro, expert, sport and beginner. I'm beginner. I’m gonna race next season, which starts in Spring: I’m gonna race as a sport Hey dude, there’s guys who are Olympic athletes. And here I am, just off the booze-fuckin’-wagon. I’m racing against some of these guys. Like at the Fall Classic. I was racing against whoever, you know, pros, experts, guys who have been riding for 20 years. I got a taste for competition at the Fall Classic. I was 11th on top of the hill out of, like, 80 dudes. See, I’ve only really been riding since July so my technical - I can fucking hammer with the best of them, I find out, but my downhill technical is just sucky, so like 17 guys passed me on the downhill.
 
What is the downhill technical like?
 
This is an 18 mile race - the Fall Classic. You’re going up a moun­tain, man. You’re going up a moun­tain. Part of it was rolling single track - meaning just a trail, a sin­gle-track trail. Part of It was real steep - I'm talking about coming down. I mean, going up, it’s just grinding for about 13 miles. Grind. Grind. Grind. Guys just dropping out. But the downhill on this particular race is like - it's called the "fall line" on this particular mountain and it’s jagged rocks. Pros just fuckin' dance from rock to rock and they're just cruisin' down. Me, I’m not that good yet. I'm just kind of holding on for dear life, feeling every bump. Guys just fall off, roll over their handlebars. I mean, it’s just straight down - internal bleed­ing and shit, broken necks, broken col­lar bones.
 
What's the worse spill you've taken or seen someone else take?
 
The first race, coming down the downhill, I was like yeah, I fuckin' did it! I bought the bike, I entered the race, I'm finishing, man! I'm coming down the downhill and this girl with a bell jumps out of nowhere - biddle-liddle-liddle-ling! Fuckin' scared the shit out of me. I'm probably going 20 to 27 miles an hour - boosh! - my front tire hit a rock or something. I went over the fuckin' handlebars.
 
Were you all right?
 
I was scraped up. My bike was fucked up. I straightened it out, got back on and fin­ished. Yeah, you see guys failin' all the time. That's part of it.
 
Do you ever have any GN’R fans out there watching you?
 
No. I try to keep it kind of low. Not until I get good, man. I go up there to get away. So, last thing I want to do is say, "Hey, I'm the guy from Guns N' Roses." I want to be a rider. I don't want to be getting any step-up or handout because I'm in the band, I want to do it on my own.
 
Anyway, changing gears here a little bit — and there's not really any pun intend­ed there —
 
Yeaaah.
 
What new music have you been listening to and what do you think of it?
 
I love the new Soundgarden. But, I live In Seattle, too. You gotta realize that. I'm in L.A. 'cause we're going to start rehearsing on Monday – I got my pad here. But, I'm from and I now also live in Seattle. I love Soundgarden. You know, we're about to start writ­ing our record. So, at times like this, I don’t like to listen to a lot of new shit. You might start getting influenced by what’s going on today.
 
What do you think of the new music coming out today?
 
It's punk rock. It's just commercialized punk rock, you know? Which is great. One of the guys I go riding with is Steve Jones from the Pistols. He’s like, “God damn it. I already did this shit.” But I like it, myself. It's kind of commercialized punk rock. You know, any kind of punk rock is fine with me. If you're talking about the grunge thing... is that what you're talk­ing about?
 
No, not necessarily. There's lots of new stuff coming out.
 
I like the fact that the barriers have kind of come down. We first started by playing the clubs, man. It was weird 'cause we were like a punk rock band in Hollywood. It's was like. "Hey, you can't do that shit.” We had to break down a lot of barriers just to get a fuckin' record deal. Just to start play­ing the Troubadour. I like that it's now eas­ier, more accessible for a band like Pearl Jam and people don't say, like, “Oh, fuck, that guy's got short hair,” or something like that.
 
Have you seen any concerts lately? And what did you think?
 
What have I seen lately? I went and saw Aerosmith. They're great as always. That was the night before my second race. So it got me pumped up.
 
On "The Spaghetti Incident?" you brought in Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory." Can you talk a little bit about why you chose that song for the album?
 
Well, I recorded it for my record. It's not like I was even making a record. I just recorded a bunch of tunes. “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory" has always been one of my favorite songs. I mean, I had recorded that a while before "The Spaghetti Incident?" — like a year and a half, two years. So, then the idea came to do “The Spaghetti Incident?" and the guys knew I had that tune already done. So they were like, “Hey, man, can we put this on Spaghetti instead of putting it on your record?" I was like, fine, of course.
 
What's going on with GN'R? Are you guys writing now, getting ready to record?
 
We're getting ready to record.
 
And fans can expect an album in the coming year?
 
That usually happens when you record.
 
How about a tour?
 
Well, you know, that usually happens after a record. With this band, you take it a day at a time. You take it a day at a time. I mean, yeah, we're gonna tour, man. Of course.
 
***
 
Guns N’ Roses
Pen Pals
 
Want to be in direct contact with other Conspiracy members? Send us a postcard with your name, address, city, state, zip, sex and age (print legibly) to:
 
Guns N' Roses International Fan Club
Dept. P
P.O. Box 884088
San Francisco CA 94188
 
No phone numbers or photos will be printed in this section. In 25 words or less, tell us a little about yourself and what kind of person you would like to correspond with. Cards submitted will be printed in the Pen Pal section of the newsletter as space allows. This is your chance to hook up with other crazed GN'R fanatics just like you.
 
***
 
GUN COLLECTION
 
[Merchandise]
 
***
 
[MERCHANDISE ORDER FORM]

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Welcome to the GN’R family!
 
One thing you’ll notice right away is that things work a little different around here. Being a loyal GN’R fan, we realize you deserve the best fan club services you can get! To officially welcome you aboard, we’ve sent along a kickin’ membership kit that includes your membership card, group photo, biography/discography and the latest newsletter.
 
We make it a point to hook you up with great concert tickets when Guns N’ Roses comes to your town – a single phone call puts them rights in your hands. Our preferred tickets program ends the frustration of getting screwed by scalpers or waiting in lines.
 
Check out the exclusive fan club merchandise in upcoming issues of the GN’R newsletter. These items can’t be found anywhere else on the planet!
 
Our twisted travel packages will be roaring your way soon. You’ll get down n’ dirty with other hard-core fans as you hit the road with GN’R for a few shows. We’ll handle the tickets, hotel accommodations and ground transportation. You just gotta up for hittin’ the road GN’R style.
 
Also, blazing to you in 1995 will be the GN’R phone hotline, for members of the fan club only. This is where you’ll find all the up-to-the-minute info on what the band’s doing, get weekly updates on their latest chart positions and new releases, listen to reports from the road, hear latest tour dates and personal messages from the band.
 
Thanks for becoming a part of it all. We’re sure you’ll enjoy the ride!
 
Guns N’ Roses Fan Club

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GUNS N’ ROSES
 
Guns N’ Roses formed in Hollywood in 1985 with singer W. Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff “Rose” McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Taking the L.A. club circuit by storm, in August 1986 GN’R was signed to Geffen Records by A&R executive Tom Zutaut and that fall the band produced and released a four-song EP, Live ?!@ Like A Suicide, on its own Uzi Suicide label.
 
Appetite For Destruction, the band’s first full-length album, was released in July 1987 and broke into the Top 100 of the pop charts to months later. The album peaked at #1 for five weeks and would become the best-selling album on the Geffen label, residing on the Billboard charts for 147 weeks – nearly three years.
 
Three singles released from the album reached top 10 status, with the certified-gold “Sweet Child O’ Mine” topping the charts at the #1 position. “Paradise City” hit #5 and “Welcome To The Jungle” reached #7. Guns N’ Roses also won the 1988 MTV Award for Best New Artist with their “Welcome To The Jungle” video.
 
In November 1988, Geffen released the GN’R Lies EP, which included songs from the earlier EP as well as new acoustic material, including the single “Patience” which reached #4 and went gold. GN’R Lies went to #2 on the charts and received a grammy nomination. Guns N’ Roses was lauded in Rolling Stone’s Reader’s Poll as “Best New American Band” and in the Critic’s Poll as “Best Heavy Metal Band” and “Best Male Singer.”
 
In 1989, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” won an American Music Award for “Favorite Single, Pop/Rock” and the MTV award for “Best Metal/Hard Rock Video.”
 
To date, Appetite For Destruction has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide and GN’R Lies more than six million. The band contributed to two albums in 1990: the soundtrack to film Days Of Thunder with a cover of Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and Nobody’s Child, the project to benefit Romanian orphans, with the original “Civil War.” In April 1990, GN’R performed at Farm Aid IV and won two American Music Awards. “Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist” and “Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album.”
 
Individually, Slash and McKagan played on Iggy Pop’s Brick By Brick album and Slash recorded with Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, and on the tribute album for Les Paul.
 
In July 1990, the band reluctantly fired Adler after repeatedly trying to the help him resolve the drug problems that hindered his drumming. A month later, Matt Sorum joined Guns N’ Roses after touring with the Cult for a year. He performed in concert with the band for the first time in January 1991 before 260,000 fans at the Rock in Rio II festival in Brazil. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed, a friend from the early days, had been added the previous year to give some additional color to the GN’R sound.
 
On May 24, 1991, GN’R kicked off a two-year tour, the band’s first time as headliners on a world tour.
 
On September 17, 1991, Geffen released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, marking the first time a major contemporary artist released two separate albums on the same day. UYI I and UYI II debuted at #2 and #1 respectively on the Billboard charts. “Don’t Cry,” the first single from UYI I, went gold. Earlier that summer “You Could Be Mine” (on UYI II) was released as a single and featured in the block-buster film Terminator 2: Judgement Day. In the first 30 days, worldwide sales of the CD single exceeded 1.5 million copies.
 
Together, combined sales of the two albums have reached 27 million copies worldwide.
 
In November, Stradlin resigned and was replaced on tour by Gilby Clarke, formerly of the band Kills For Thrills. When GN’R was developing in its early days. Clarke was in bands that played many of the same gritty Hollywood clubs.
 
Supported by a performance video, “Live and Let Die,” was released as the third single from the Illusion albums on December 3, 1991.
 
The second U.S. leg of the GN’R tour was launched December 5, running through February 1, 1992, including 25 predominantly sold-out shows. It was followed by a tour of Japan, plus shows in Mexico City and a couple of U.S. cities before GN’R appeared as featured guests at “The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness” at Wembley Stadium in London on April 20. The all-star show was shown live around the world via satellite, garnering the largest audience for a music concert in history. GN’R then toured Europe again logging 19 shows between May 16 and July 4.
 
Following the European stint, the three GN’R albums and EP were all charting in Norway and Germany (where more than a million Illusion albums have been sold). Led by the single “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” GN’R was entrenched in the upper reaches of the charts in England, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland and Hong King. In the U.K., the royalties form the “Knockin’ ” single have been pledged to organizations fighting AIDS.
 
On June 16, 1992, “November Rain” was released as the next single. It was supposed by an epic concert video that reached the #1 position on MTV’s Top 20 Countdown. At the 1992 MTV Awards, the band received the prestigious Vanguard Award and “November Rain” won for “Best Cinematography.” As the band returned to the U.S. for stadium dates, “November Rain” was certified gold.
 
GN’R marked its entry into home video with Use your Illusion World Tour – 1992 in Tokyo (Geffen Home Video), presented in two separate packages, I and II. The band then embarked on tour legs that included South America, Japan, Australia and the Far East, extending the tour into early 1993. The Use Your Illusion world tour became the longest in rock history: 28 months, 192 concerts, 28 countries.
 
In the summer of 1993, Geffen Home video released two more long-form music videos, Makin’ F@*!ing Videos Part 1: “Don’t Cry” and Makin’ F@*!ing Videos Part 2: “November Rain.” In November 1993, Guns N’ Roses unveiled its fifth album – “The Spaghetti Incident?” – encompassing covers of favorite songs from favorite bands who had influenced GN’R over the years.

DISCOGRAPHY
 
Album Title                                            Billboard                 Billboard                     RIAA
     Single Title                                      Debut Date           Peak Position              Certification
 
Appetite For Destruction                           8/29/87                        1                         10 million
     Sweet Child O’ Mine                            6/25/88                        1                         500,000
     Paradise City                                     1/14/89                        5                               -
     Welcome To The Jungle                      10/22/88                        7                               -
     Nightrain                                           7/29/89                       93                              -
GN’R Lies                                              12/17/88                        2                          4 million
     Patience                                             4/8/89                        4                          500,000
Use Your Illusion II                                   10/5/91                        1                          4 million
     You Could Be Mine                               7/18/91                       29                         500,000
     Yesterdays                                       11/21/92                       72                             -
Use Your Illusion I                                     10/5/91                        2                          4 million
      November Rain                                   6/27/92                        3                           500,000
      Don’t Cry                                           9/21/91                      10                          500,000
      Live and Let Die                                 12/21/91                      33                              -
“The Spaghetti Incident?”                          12/11/93                       4                          1 million
      Since I Don’t Have You                           3/5/94                      69                              -
 
Information compiled November 1994

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[Band members' photos]

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[Discount coupon expiring March 15, 1995]

It's difficult to figure out the dates of these, since, apparently, when someone became a member they were sent previous newsletters as well.
For this one I went with the expiration date of the discount coupon. Judging from the content of the interviews included, they were done around November 1994.

With the sales numbers being compiled in November 1994, I assume that is close to the release date of the newsletter.