1992.11.26 - Televen (Venezuela) - Guns N' Roses Special (Duff)

Transcript:
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Interviewer: How do you feel in Venezuela?

Duff: How do I feel?

Interviewer: Yeah. How do you feel?

Duff: I feel clean right now. We haven’t got a chance to see much of anything yet. We’re going to Caracas tonight, and we’re gonna sound check and then we’re gonna go out. I mean, we just flew in yesterday morning, so we have to kind of get used to jetlag and everything. We’ll find out tonight.

[Translation – Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: In this tour that you’re gonna do throughout South America, which country do you think will be the most difficult one?

Duff: Well, I would think some place like Colombia, but this is just me and what I’ve heard from people that have been there, like our crew that’s been there like a week or so. Colombia is probably the least used to having a big show like this. But, I mean, we’re looking forward to every country. I don’t look at any one country as being the most difficult, you know. We’re gonna do the best we can anywhere that we go in the world, you know, as far as that goes.

[Translation]

Duff (chuckling): No problema.

Interviewer: No problema.

[Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: Guns N’ Roses has been such a big band, and, going throughout South America, have you had any stories about what possibilities you have or how could that be? Do you understand?

Duff: (inaudible)

Interpreter: Have you learned anything about South America? Because you’ve never been touring here again and we haven’t had such big bands like Guns N’ Roses. So, when we think about you, we think about, like, something like Queen that was very big. And we want to know if you before coming here you kind of studied the situation. You know, how it was gonna be, what benefits will you get from it?

Interviewer: You have business in here.

Duff: Yeah, well, yeah, we did do Rock in Rio, so we’re – and we’ve been to South America before. I mean, we hadn’t stopped in Venezuela. But we were there for two and a half weeks, we kind of got somewhat of a little bit of culture, as much as we could, at least. But yeah, I mean, the promoters down here sent us the whole booklet of, like, each country – what to kind of expect. But you have to live it to really, like – you can’t read what actually a country is gonna be like; so, for us to study it, as you say, it doesn’t have any worth like to actually being here, the real thing.

[Translation – Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: We understand that you like to go fishing, but we also heard that you don’t like seafood. How do you explain that?

Duff: Oh, you got the last day dinner. Yeah, I mean, I have a place on a lake, in California, and I love to fish. I caught – I mean, I kept one and it was this big (laughs). But, the rest, I just fish, like sports fish, and I throw them back, you know? No, I don’t like fish, but – I grew up in Seattle where it’s all just fish, so I grew up on fish; I’m burnt out on fish. I still like to catch them, but I throw them back.

[Translation – Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: Do you think it’s unfair that you have this reputation about being such a hard – and having so many problems, when we have to understand that you have only had two problems, one in St. Louis and the other one we don’t know.

Interviewer: Montreal.

Interpreter: Montreal, right. And everywhere you go, they will say, “Oh, Guns N’ Roses is coming and they’re gonna have problems,” and “it’s dangerous for the country” or the place that you’re gonna be at, when you have only two problems. I think that’s unfair.

Duff: Well, yeah. I mean, especially personally - you know, once one problem happens, St. Louis being the one big problem, which wasn’t even really our fault at all. And, like you said, every city or every country we go to now, we’re plagued with this. And if there’s not a problem, someone’s gonna try to cause one. I mean, a lot of times kids – they come to the shows now to see if a riot is gonna happen or something, and they realize everything is cool once they get there, you know? So, we don’t wanna create that circus type of environment, you know? That’s not why we’re here for. We’re here to play rock ‘n’ roll. So, that’s more of a media build-up and also, like, the local governments or whatever being scared shitless, basically.

[Translation – Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: Did you ever expect when you were little to have such a big success, to be in a big band like this, to play in front of so many thousands?

Duff: It’s not something you expect. I mean, I started playing – when you play growing up you don’t expect anything. I mean, you just go out, you just play a club and have a few people in front of you; and usually it’s, like, your mom, your best friend and your dog or something, you know? So, no – I mean, every day I’m surprised by something new. It’s like, “Wow” - you know, coming to South America and selling out all these places... It’s bizarre. And you wake up in the middle of the night sometimes going, “What the hell am I doing?” (laughs) But we’re here, you know?

[Translation – Question in Spanish]

Interpreter: How long of a life do you give this band of yours, thinking that everything that goes up has to come down? Do you think you’ll last long?

Duff: Well, I’ve never thought that way, everything that’s gonna go up has got to come down. You know, the band has been together almost eight years now. People didn’t think it’d last; they thought we’d break up before we made our first record, and that was seven years ago. So, you know, we’ve proven the odds quite wrong. And for me to think about one year from now or two years from now, I’ve got enough problems to think about that are more outward, like a few hours soundcheck; I’m just going, okay, I hope everything is okay. So, I don’t think pessimistic like that. I don’t think that, you know? I don’t have the time to.

[Translation]

Interviewer: I would like to hear from you a message to the people of Venezuela.

Duff: A message? (chuckles)

Interviewer: Yeah, any kind of message.
Duff: Well, I understand that this is like the biggest show that’s ever happened here, or something?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Duff: I’m really proud to be a part of this and I hope everything goes great. I’m bad at this, I’m sorry (laughs).

(Laughter)

[Translation]

Interviewer: Thank you, Duff.

[Footage from soundcheck in Caracas]

[Footage from the concert in Caracas]