2019.05.09 - Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon - Interview with Dizzy

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-jeremy-white-show-514662/episodes/guns-n-roses-dizzy-reed-record-39508887

Transcript:

Mitch Lafon: Welcome to this very special edition of Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon. Joining me on the phone today is from Guns N' Roses, Dizzy Reed. Now it is May 9th, 2019, and I'm recording this at about five o'clock, and I had Dizzy on the phone from 4.30 to five. And normally when I do an interview, it goes in the pile of interviews and we get a co-host and we do some talk ups and some wrap ups and all kinds of stuff. And it usually comes out about two or three weeks later. But this time I said, you know what? I'm independent. I don't have to wait anymore. I don't have a schedule anymore. I can put these up whenever I want. And so basically recording this about five minutes later after the interview ended, I am just going to do this quick intro. I'm going to throw Dizzy Reed on, you get about 27 minutes with Dizzy and this is going to be the episode. It's going to be hit and run, in and out, and so I'm going to stop talking and without further ado, recorded about well, half an hour ago, here is my conversation with the one, the only, and as Steve Brown from Trickster likes to say, the mighty Dizzy Reed.

Mitch Lafon: We're speaking with Guns N' Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Of course, the last album is Rock N' Roll Ain't Easy. Like I was saying before, that is such a fun album, Dizzy. Talk to me a little bit about where do we go with the solo album in terms of further promoting it and doing some shows and other stuff, more videos, and start thinking about the next new solo album?

Dizzy: You know, we're always going to play those songs in a live set. I'll probably do some shows on my own, but I'm also, you know, I'm going to do some shows with Hookers & Blow, playing some of those songs. And as far as a new record, I'm actually sitting at my computer now looking at waveforms of guitar parts for a song that I'm working on for my next record.

ML: And of course we're talking solo record. We're not going to get the fans all excited on those Guns N' Roses boards or anything, right? We're talking solo music.

Dizzy: We're talking solo record, yes, that is correct.

ML: Okay, because I think we all know how Alternative Nation and the message boards turn little nooks and drips into all kinds of big stories, but okay.

Dizzy: They do that? I didn't know, really, they do that?

ML: Oh, it's something terrible, yeah, no, I know. So that's why we sort of got to mind our P's and Q's on this one, but okay. Just quickly, talk to me a little bit about the motivation to having made the album, because you know, you've been in Guns since the early 90s. You've had plenty of opportunity to be, you know, during the off times to get out there and do a solo record. You didn't. What was it about sort of 2018 and Golden Robot Records coming to you and saying, "Okay, it's time. I need to do this."

Dizzy: I had those songs recorded and ready to mix and eventually mixed for a really long time. It was, you know, it was over a period of years that I put that album together. And we were looking for a home for it for quite some time. And strangely, it was hard to find a label that wanted to put it out. We did shop it around a little bit. Golden Robot was the first label that kind of said, "Yeah, we really like this and we want to put it out." And they did a great job down in Australia and New Zealand. And so we switched it over to the rest of the world and they're doing a great job for me still.

ML: Why do you think it was so difficult to find a home for it? Because if I had a record label and I could attach sort of the Guns N' Roses thing to it and say, hey, Dizzy Reed of Guns N' Roses, I would assume I'm going to sell a bunch. Why do you think it was difficult to find a home? Were the songs just not ready to be presented? Was it just bad timing? Is the industry in such a mess that a rock album like yours just couldn't find a home? What was sort of the complication?

Dizzy: It was ready to put out. I just needed a home for it. I don't know why people passed on it. I did get a couple times, "We don't know how to market it." My answer was, "How about to Guns N' Roses fans? I'm just saying." [laughs] I don't know. That's the business. You just never know what people are going to... If you don't have the power, you have to rely on other people's decisions sometimes, and that's what happened in this case.

ML: It really did. So I want to ask you one Guns N' Roses question, not about new albums and stuff, but when you originally joined and you went and did the Use Your Illusion tours, what was sort of the understanding? Was it, "Hey, you're just going to come in and do keyboards for a couple of years for this tour and sayonara?" Or were you, when you first joined, "Hey, you're a new member, so get comfortable. It's going to be a bumpy ride"?

Dizzy: You know, I just wanted to contribute as much as I could. My job was initially and still is to play Axl's piano parts, which I enjoy doing. I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to be given a shot at adding what else I could to the music. If people didn't want me around, if it was just going to be a temporary thing, I wasn't going to go anywhere. That was my thing. I'm very, very happy with the gig and very fortunate. I was in it for the long haul, and I'm still here. I'm still doing it.

ML: You're still here. I assume that the understanding was you're sort of coming into the fold and you'll stick around then. There wasn't a contract that said on December 25, 1992, you're gone? So you were there for the...

Dizzy: There was no termination date.

ML: Okay, good. Well, it worked out.

Dizzy: There's [?] now.

ML: Now of course we'll talk Golden Robot. Now Golden Robot Records for those folks who don't know is out in Australia. They've signed Hookers & Blow, they've signed Dizzy, they've signed John Sykes, they've signed... I'm trying to think some of the other bands but a ton of bands. Talk to me now about this signing with Hookers & Blow. So what do we see? Because this band has been sort of touring, you know, North America, America primarily, for the last what 15 years and so and you've had members come in and out and it's sort of been more of "Dizzy and friends" rather than a real band. Does it turn into a real band now with Robbie Crane and the other guys? What can we expect from this first Hookers & Blow album?

Dizzy: It's kind of a whoever's available, you know, come and do it. And Alex and I are kind of the main guys. It's been our thing. But honestly, if there's some gigs booked and I can't do them then I'm cool with them doing it with somebody else. And vice versa, that's what it is. When we set out to do this, we tried to do everything opposite of what we had known to do in the music business. We weren't going to write songs, we weren't going to get a record deal, we didn't care. And over time, it sort of turned into a viable thing. It's weird how that works sometimes. And I think of just the time was right finally to put out a record. It's all just cover songs. We didn't write anything. And it's actually turned out really good. So yeah, we're pretty excited about it.

ML: Okay, good. So first of all, so what are some of the covers that you tackled? And the second question to that would be, are they sort of true versions of, you know, whatever, Kiss Rock and Roll Night and you do it like Kiss does it, or have you somehow stylized them to the Hookers & Blow sound?

Dizzy: We've definitely stylized them, I guess. I don't know if I'd use that term. We've sort of just -

ML: -Made them your own.

Dizzy: We play to our own strengths and without sort of sacrificing anything that I think is important to the song as it was originally recorded, originally done. So I like to you know, take on all little details and stuff. So I think we've done a good job of honoring the music and doing a good representation of how we do it.

ML: So what are some of the songs you've chosen or is that still a trade secret?

Dizzy: You know, I don't wanna give that away.

ML: Can you give me one band you've covered? Like have you covered a Kiss song, for example? Have you covered a Guns song, for example?

Dizzy: We did not cover a Guns song. We did not cover a Kiss song, I can tell you that.

ML: That is shameful.

Dizzy: There might be a Rolling Stones song on there, but it won't be the ones that you think.

ML: Ah, interesting. Okay, I'm down for that. How can I put this? Because I know you want to keep some secrets, but I'm going to try anyway. Are we looking at bands that, you know, had their heyday in the 70s and 80s and 90s? Or will there be a song from like maybe the last 10 years where you'll go, "Oh, he covered that? Really?" Is there something surprising like that?

Dizzy: We were definitely looking at some bands that had their heyday in the 70s, 80s and 90s. And some of them never had a heyday possibly.

ML: Ah, that's great. Okay, I like that. I'm gonna ask you a couple of Guns N' Roses questions. Chinese Democracy, I love that album, I think it got raw deal just because I think the internet decided that it was going to give it a raw deal. But songs like Better and If The World, There Was A Time, blah blah blah. Looking back on that album, how do you think it holds up and are you starting to sense that some of the fans, now that the tour went on and stuff, they're starting to turn and say, "Hey, you know what, I went to the show and I saw Sweet Child and I saw Welcome and then they played Chinese Democracy and you know what, it kind of fit. Maybe I should go back..." Are you seeing folks sort of turning to Chinese Democracy now going, "All right, it's pretty good"?

Dizzy: I kind of get that feeling. Yeah, actually I do. And I think that I never really heard anything negative about it when it came out. I just read some weird, which I never read reviews, I don't, but in this case, for some reason I did and they might have been negative. I just got the feeling that those people that said it actually didn't even really listen to the record for some reason. But all my musician friends and people that whose opinion I trust, they loved it. They had great things to say about it. And I think that it's just, yeah, it didn't get the push that it probably should have. And I do think that now people are probably readdressing it. And that's great because I think, personally, it is a great record. And I'm very proud to have been a part of that. And so, yeah, I think it is.

ML: Listen, I'm gonna say this on record. I think this song, the actual song, Chinese Democracy, is as good as anything that the band's ever done. I have a Guns N' Roses playlist on my phone and CD is the first song. You know, it's not buried at track 100, you know. It's the first song. That's how I like it.

Dizzy: It's a good opening number.

ML: It's a great opening number. And even on a playlist, it's a great opening number. Am I okay to ask a couple of other sort of historical Guns N' Roses questions or are you sort of tentative about answering those?

Dizzy: Man, go for it.

ML: Okay. We'll go for it. And if you don't answer, we'll get it. What was the recording process for that, like, for you on CD? Cause it did stretch out for many years. There were a lot of revisions to the song. Well, okay. The rumors were there were a lot of revisions to the song. I mean, obviously I wasn't in the room, so I don't know what actually happened. But did the songs turn out, you know what I'm saying? In the sense of the final product, did it meet your expectations? Were you happy with it? Or did you think maybe we should have put this out in 2004 and not have done all these different ruminations and explorations and just sort of record it and get it out?

Dizzy: It is what it is. I added what I could to it. And I think that it came out when it came out. It was meant to come out at that time, I don't know. It's still a great record and that's pretty much it. You can't look back and go, "This should have happened, we should have done that." It is what it is, it's been out now for a while. That recording process was long and it was a learning experience for me for sure. There's a lot of great musicians who got to contribute on it and I think it's just a great record.

ML: I agree and so I'll ask you a couple more and then maybe we'll go back to the solo stuff. The tour was phenomenal, Not In This Lifetime. I saw three shows as you know, absolutely spectacular. Talk to me a little bit if you can, sort of a post tour wrap up, did it exceed expectations or were you like, "Nah, you know what, Guns N' Roses was Slash and Duff, it's going to sell." How do you sort of look back on, you know, at the end of a football game, we sort of look at the tape and we go, "Well, we should have," how do you sort of look at the tour and take stock of it now that it's over?

Dizzy: I mean, I had no doubt that it was going to be as big and as massive as it was. And I think, you know, we eliminated any uncertainty because everybody works really hard. And you know, we put in the time to put on the best show that we possibly could for everybody. When you do that, you can't... As long as you're prepared, then... If you do everything you can through preparation, then anything else that happens is just gonna be an act of God or whatever, you know? The fans came out like I knew they would, and it was... Yeah, I don't think it was anything less than I thought it would be.

ML: And it was absolutely spectacular. Now you do these three and a half hour shows. I think one of the shows I saw in Ottawa might have hit like four hours. Talk to me a little bit about the physicality that it takes on you. Is it since, you know, sort of easy because you've sort of done that for the last 20 years with Axl when you've toured or is it physically demanding on you where you're just like, "Hey man, maybe we should just consider doing a 90 minute set and just, you know, move along"?

Dizzy: If you ask for a 90 minute set then it will be four and a half hours. But honestly, it's not that tough for me. I'm sitting down a lot playing the piano. But the main thing for me, and I've said this before, is I got to hit the toilet before I go on, man. [laughs] I'm not going to be able to use the toilet for another four hours. So that's the main thing. It goes by too. I don't really think about it. A lot of times I think we maybe could have played more songs. So we'll see.

ML: Well, I won't disagree with that. Now, of course, moving forward with Hookers & Blow, when does the album actually come out and what is sort of the plan behind it? Let's say it comes out in September. Are you on the road in October or is it, it'll come out and if you're doing Guns, well, too bad it'll just have to wait. What's sort of the long term on the Hookers & Blow, I guess, tribute album, right? Is that the proper word for it?

Dizzy: I think it's just a Hookers & Blow record. I don't know if it's really a tribute. We're currently mixing right now, so we'd like to get it out sooner than later. And we'll do some shows to promote it. It's something I think over the long term we can have for people to enjoy.

ML: On the Rock and Roll Ain't Easy, you had Ricky Warwick, you had Richard Fortus, you had a whole bunch of guests. Who's on the Hookers & Blow album? Is it sort of the guys that we saw on stage earlier this year in Montreal or is it a whole bunch of people that have come in? And please say Ricky Warwick's there because he's the greatest vocalist I think I know on the face of the earth.

Dizzy: Well, you know, just for the record I just actually just played one of Ricky's songs he's doing a new record.

ML: Oh god bless your soul. Yeah, he's doing that record with the guys from Buckcherry, Keith Nelson and Xavier Muriel.

Dizzy: Yes. That was last week, they gave me a ring and I shot over there and played a little keys. But the funny thing is we when we tracked the Hookers & Blow record we had Johnny Kelly, who's been playing drums with us now for a while, Alex and myself and my lovely wife, Nadia, who sings in the band as well. And Robbie couldn't make it to the session because he was with Black Star Riders recording their records. So we had to bring in somebody else to play bass. But Scott Griffin and he's alumnus of Hookers & Blow. He was in LA Guns for a while and he did a great job.

ML: Well, he was in LA Guns this weekend at the M3 Rock Festival. I got a chance to say hello to him. So that's kind of cool to hear. Yeah, and it's too bad that Robbie isn't there. And by the way, as far as your wife is concerned, you know, when I saw the band in Montreal and I saw her on stage, I thought, "Well, okay, this is gonna be interesting." And she bloody well steals the show. I mean, she is absolutely terrific. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I'm not trying just to blow smoke. She is fantastic on stage. So much fun to watch and to hear. And anyway, so she's involved in the-

Dizzy: A lot of pressure off me. It makes me very happy.

ML: Oh, it's terrific. So is she singing at all on the album?

Dizzy: She might be singing on a song, yeah. We might be singing a couple songs together, even two, possibly.

ML: Oh, did you do I Got You, Babe? Is that what you're trying to tell us? You did a Cher song?

Dizzy: No, but it might have that sort of Stoney and Cher feel.

ML: That's kind of great. Okay, so there's no sort of plan as to when the album might actually arrive.

Dizzy: We do not have a concrete, definite release date, but it's going to be out very soon.

ML: Okay, so then let me follow up with this then. You've got these deals with Golden Robot for Dizzy stuff and for Hookers & Blow stuff. Are they like multiple album deals where there'll be two, three Dizzy ones and then two, three Hookers & Blow ones? Or are they both sort of one-offs where you've delivered these albums and we'll see what happens?

Dizzy: That's, you know, I think the door is open to do more stuff, let's put it that way.

ML: Oh, hey, see, I'm loving this. Now, I know that we can't, of course, talk about anything GN'R, but I want to ask you this in a very sort of delicate way, but if the band, if the band were to make a new record, how involved do you think you would be?

Dizzy: You know, you would know before I do, I guess. [laughs]

ML: No, but, okay, so, all right. This is sort of a cat and mouse thing. I like this. But I mean, obviously you'd play keyboards if they made a new one. But would you be involved in the writing process?

Dizzy: I've contributed ideas here and there over the years. And if those come up, then I would say, "Yes, it would be."

ML: That is so very exciting. Okay. Do you think you will be back in Montreal at any point, whether it's with Guns or with Hookers & Blow or Dizzy alone or I don't know contributing keys to Quiet Riot with Alex. I mean, what do you, right? I mean, where do you sort of self you see yourself going in terms of touring and coming up to the great white north?

Dizzy: If there's touring going on, then, you know, Montreal is a place that we always want to get to and it's an important place to go play. So I think there's a pretty good chance that we'll be up there really soon. I'll be up there soon with one lineup or another.

ML: Oh, that is great. I'm gonna ask you this. No, it wasn't this year, it was last year. Last year when you played in Montreal, we had that whole thing with the Olympic Stadium. When the band sort of rolled in, was there a nervousness? I know you and Axl came back and played the Metropolis and played the Bell Center and had Sebastian Bach opening us up, but the lineup with Slash and Duff hadn't been here in, well, since when was that? '91 or '92. Was there a nervousness or an energy of like, "Hey man, we've got something to go prove"? Was the show just another show or was there a special significance to it?

Dizzy: I think there might've been a little bit of a special significance to it, but I gotta say, you know, the fans up there, when they've made it known that, you know, they've always wanted us to come back and always wanted us to play there. And that's the most important thing because that's who it's for and that's why we do it. And we love Montreal, we love the people of Montreal. And as long as I got two legs and can make music, I'm gonna get up there and play for you guys. So that's how we feel.

ML: That was a great, yeah, and it was an epic, epic show. I mean, I really enjoyed it. And I have to say that show at the Metropolis, and for fans who are listening who live in another city, it's essentially a 2,200-seater. That was by far my favorite Guns N' Roses show. It was absolutely spectacular. It was hot, it was sweaty, and I think you played for like four hours. Something completely nutty, like from 11 o'clock at night to three in the morning. It was insane, but it was great to see Axl and you in such a small stage, in such a small venue, heavenly. Absolutely heavenly.

Dizzy: I love doing those club shows. That's really a treat for everybody involved. I think it'd be great to get back into that. But oh wait, no, I play clubs all the time with my band. [laughs] Okay, never mind.

ML: Do you think that as part of a promotional cycle that GN'R might do some? I mean, you know, Kiss, when they put out the Revenge album, they went and did that. And of course, Guns did that, I guess. When was that? 2013, 2014, those club dates. Do you think as a promotional show you might end up somewhere, you know, at the Whisky a Go Go doing a special show like that? Is that something that we might see down the road?

Dizzy: Oh, gosh, I don't know. I mean, it would be special, but I think there's just such a high demand for tickets. I mean, we did play the Troubadour, the very first show to kick off this whole thing a couple of years ago. So you never know.

ML: And I'm sure that Troubadour show must've scared you cause Axl breaks his foot and you must've thought, "Oh really? We just do our first show and now it's over." Did you have that feeling of by the way of, "Really? Now it's over? One show in, really?" Did you get that?

Dizzy: You know, I didn't really know that he actually broke it. I mean, it's a, until later and I gotta hand it to Axl, man. He's amazing. And he's amazing on two legs, and he pulled it off with one leg, man. He did it. And I can't say enough about him and his work ethic and how incredibly amazing he is on stage, man. It's, you know, so, yeah.

ML: Yeah, he's great. And I'll finish on this, because I know that we only had a cut 20 minutes, but what's the one GN'R song that hasn't made the set list yet that you think, "Yeah, we really need to pull that one out and get it in there"?

Dizzy: You know, there's a couple maybe like Pretty Tied Up would be fun or like Bad Obsession, but we'd need a harp[?] player so, um, maybe those two, I really liked those songs. I liked, you know, they're fun to play for me.

ML: Yeah. Bad obsession. Actually, well, as a keyboard player, couldn't you sort of, I don't want to say fake the parts, but couldn't you fill in the parts through the keyboard and then still make it sound legitimate? Or that's the wrong word. Make it sound the way it's supposed to sound?

Dizzy: You know, I could do whatever. I mean, if someone put me up to the challenge, I'll figure out a way to do it. But we'll see.

ML: All right. There you go. There we go.

Dizzy: There could be a substitute for that part. Yes, I could be.

ML: All right. So we'll have to throw that in there. And I promise you I'll finish on this one. Just what was it like for you to actually get behind the keyboard and look out the first time, the first week, the first month and just actually see Slash and Duff standing there? There had to be some kind of pride or some kind of like, "Yeah man, that's what it's all about." What was it like just seeing the top hat and Duff and just go, "Yeah man, it's 1991 all over again"?

Dizzy: It felt right, it felt normal, and it felt like we hadn't skipped a beat. And so we're forging on, man. I hope I get to see that some more.

ML: Well, as we speak today, you will see that at least a couple of times, because I know you have a few shows booked coming up, some festival stuff, but Dizzy, always a pleasure. And I love the Hookers & Blow stuff. The shows are phenomenal. The fans haven't seen it. First of all, what the hell's wrong with you? And second of all, get out there and see it. And if you haven't picked up Rock and Roll Ain't Easy, same thing. A, what the hell's wrong with you? And B, do it now and don't stream it. Buy it. It's nice to hold something physical. And it's a great fun album, right? I mean, right? Physical is the way to go.

Dizzy: That's right. It's available on vinyl too.

ML: And the vinyl is absolutely great. And of course, Del James, the one, the only, Del James, had a chance to produce that. Alex is on there. Richard is on there. Mike Duka's on there, Frankie Benelli is on there, Frank Ferrer, it's just, Chuck Wright. I mean, it's all of Quiet Riot with Dizzy. It's fantastic.

Dizzy: It's everybody.

ML: Yeah. And I'm looking forward to a second one. I hope it happens soon. And as we say in Marderial, merci beaucoup and I hope I didn't annoy you with the Guns N' Roses questions, but sometimes you just have to, right?

Dizzy: Never. That's what I do.

ML: Yeah, and you do it well and someday, someday I'm gonna hopefully get to do like an hour and get nothing but Guns questions, but I know that you can't be revealing stuff and so it's perfect. And I just want to shout out to Golden Robot Records for those people in Australia. Thank you by the way, I guess Mike, thank you Mike for doing this label because the Dizzy stuff and the Hookers-

Dizzy: It's Mark.

ML: Did I say Mike? Sorry, Mark. Sorry, I was looking at... But Mark, thank you for doing the label because this and the John Sykes stuff is just great news for a rock fan like myself. So thank you so much. And Dizzy, we will see you on the road and merci beaucoup.

Dizzy: Okay, well thank you, Mitch.

ML: Yeah, always a pleasure.

Dizzy: Right on, man.

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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Guns N' Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed has told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" in a new interview that the band's recently completed "Not In This Lifetime" tour more than lived up to his expectations. "I had no doubt that it was gonna be as big and as massive as it was," he said. "And I think we eliminated any uncertainty, because everybody worked really hard. And we put in the time to put on the best show that we possibly could for everybody. If you do everything you can through preparation, then anything else that happens is just gonna be an act of god or whatever. The fans came out, like I knew they would, and I don't think it was anything less than I thought it would be."

Reed also spoke about the physical challenge of playing three-and-a-half-hour shows with Guns N' Roses, saying: "Honestly, it's not that tough for me. I'm sitting down a lot, playing the piano. The main thing for me — and I've said this before — is I've gotta hit the toilet before I go on, man, 'cause I'm not gonna be able to use the toilet for another four hours. So that's the main thing. It goes by [fast], too. I don't really think about it. A lot of times I think we maybe could have played more songs."

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-keyboardist-dizzy-reed-had-no-doubt-not-in-this-lifetime-tour-was-going-to-be-as-massive-as-it-was/

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