1992.05.16 - L'Unità - "Don't call us bad boys" (Slash, Duff)

Translation from Italian:
--------------------------------

"Don't call us bad boys"

Guns N’ Roses’ European tour kicks off tonight with the mega-show "Get in the ring motherfucker" in front of 50,000 people in Dublin. Three hours of blazing hard rock, offered by one of the most controversial and popular bands on the planet. A day before the show, we met guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan. Guns N’ Roses are coming to Italy on June 27, for a unique show at the Delle Alpi in Turin.

By our correspondent
ALBA SOLARO

DUBLIN. They are the rock 'n' roll band with the "worst" reputation around the planet. In the five years of their overpowering rise, the media have described them, on occasion, as racist, sexist, homophobic, violent, reactionary, childish, riotous, punks... "We're just a rock 'n' roll band," is Guns N’ Roses’ answer. A band that has dusted off and restored a myth as old as rock itself, that of a rebellious negative hero; a socially subversive hero, but one with an indestructible romantic charm and an alibi to do anything – every excess is affordable as long as you’re a rock star.

This is the band’s image, an image of success: 14 million copies sold with Appetite For Destruction, released in '87; 6 million with the EP Lies; 16 million, so far, with the two albums Use your Illusion 1 and 2, released last September. This is the image, but the reality is somewhat different. When met in person, sat comfortably in their hotel suite while indulging in the interview routine (all except Axl Rose - the moody and antisocial Axl Rose), the guys in the band don’t quite seem like the “bad boy” types the press has made them to be.

Duff, the blond bassist born in Seattle ("The same city Jimi Hendrix was from; and I went to the same high school as him, only twenty years later!") may have had a little bit too much to drink, but he’s friendly, and when he hears about Italy, he starts talking about an uncle of his, who had ended up in our country as a soldier during World War 2, then married an Italian woman and never returned home; he still lives somewhere in Italy.

Slash (who is half-black and was born in England, real name Saul Hudson), with his long dark curls, tattooed arms and a t-shirt with the Black Death Vodka logo, also allows himself to chat while waiting for the time to go for sound check at Slane Castle, the location outside Dublin where Guns will bring their mega-show tonight in front of 50,000 people: it’s the first European stop of the "Get in the ring motherfucker tour," which has already been attended by 1.600,000 people, and promises to be nothing short of spectacular, with fireworks, inflatable puppets, a stage that requires four days to set up, sixty mics every night (to replace the ones smashed by Axl Rose) and a set of 25 songs for an endless three-hour show, opened by Faith No More and an Irish band, My Little Fun House, just signed with Geffen.

"We’re nobody’s keepers,” protests Duff, when asked if the bad reputation attributed to the group today is more convenient for the industry than for the group itself, “but I don't like being called a ‘bad boy,’ because we aren’t kids anymore. I've said it a million times; when five guys get together, form a band and go on the road, no matter who they are, they certainly won't act like good kids. But people like to sensationalize everything we do, even the stupidest things. They sensationalize everything.” In Slash’s opinion,"The reason we became so popular is basically because we’re honest; we’re not ashamed to say what we think. Does this make me a rebel? Fine. I've never liked conforming to social stereotypes, because I've never believed in them. "

Duff agrees: "In our songs we only talk about reality, the reality that we know; about the life of our generation, anguish, love, misfortune, the things that happen to all of us.” Things happen even within the band, and relationships aren’t all roses. After drummer Steven Adler’s departure, second guitarist Izzy Stradlin also left a few months ago. "The reasons were very different,” clarifies Slash. “Steven didn’t leave only because of his drug problem, but also because he couldn’t handle the pressure. And I hate to say it, but I miss him much more than Izzy, who thought that being in the band was just a question of ‘sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll’; he didn't accept the other aspects of this job. As for my relationship with Axl, we’re friends but we’re two very different people. I've never been able to express myself and show my feelings since I was a kid, and I'm still like that, while Axl kind of succeeds in that."

As happens with rock bands at a later stage of their career, the internal balance of the band is resolved also by engaging in other projects. Duff is working on a solo album, Believe in me, which also features  Lenny Kravitz, who sings on a song, some members of Skid Row, as well as Slash. Slash himself, who has already collaborated with Michael Jackson, will take advantage of the tour breaks to play on the new Stevie Wonder album. And then? "Then,” he concludes before leaving, “I'll think about fixing my new home. I just moved out of Los Angeles, and I can't wait to get everything in place."

This quote sounds strange:

After drummer Steven Adler’s departure, second guitarist Izzy Stradlin also left a few months ago; "The reasons were very different,” clarifies Slash. “Steven didn’t leave only because of his drug problem, but also because he couldn’t handle the pressure. And I hate to say it, but I miss him much more than Izzy, who thought that being in the band was just a question of ‘sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll’; he didn't accept the other aspects of this job.

Maybe something was lost in translation from English to Italian.

Blackstar wrote:This quote sounds strange:

After drummer Steven Adler’s departure, second guitarist Izzy Stradlin also left a few months ago; "The reasons were very different,” clarifies Slash. “Steven didn’t leave only because of his drug problem, but also because he couldn’t handle the pressure. And I hate to say it, but I miss him much more than Izzy, who thought that being in the band was just a question of ‘sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll’; he didn't accept the other aspects of this job.

Maybe something was lost in translation from English to Italian.

I am not surprised Slash would say he missed Steven more than Izzy, but suggesting that Izzy was all about "sex drugs, and rock n' roll" -- that doesn't sound like Izzy to me.