2015.05.06 - Ultimate Guitar - Interview with Sean Beavan [excerpt]

by **Blackstar** Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:49 am

[...]

You worked with Axl Rose and Guns on "Oh, My God" from the "End of Days" soundtrack and then the "Chinese Democracy" record?

Sean Beavan: He was really cool. I was there for two years and did 35 songs, haha. I was approached by Billy Howerdel from A Perfect Circle. He was doing some programming there with Axl and running one of the computers for it. Robin Finck was playing lead guitar and so the two of 'em kind of approached me to come in and help out and do some production for it. I brought in my friend Critter the engineer who had started engineering for them. Around that time, Chris Vrenna but Josh Freese started there who was a friend of mine.

A lot of people going in and out.

Sean Beavan: It was fun. I knew lots of people there and they knew me. Axl was really, really interested in working with me and doing some stuff together, which was really fun. Axl and I are the same age so we get along really well. We have similar influences.

What are those?

Sean Beavan: We're both big Alice Cooper and Queen fans. That was really fun. Then I got to become really, really, really good friends with Tommy Stinson who was playing bass. Tommy and I have become really, really close and he's part of my first LA family and made me feel good being here.

You have a good time doing the sessions for "Chinese Democracy" though they seemed to have lasted a while?

Sean Beavan: [Laughs] Oh, yeah. Totally. Axl is an incredible talent obviously. He was the only singer I've ever worked with where he came in and in order to warm up, he'd do a 45-minute stand-up routine, hahaha. The dude is amazing. Any joke he hears, he remembers perfectly and he's got a great delivery. He would just get in the vocal booth and then just start killin' it with jokes.

[...]

Interview by Steven Rosen
Ultimate-Guitar.com (C) 2015

https://web.archive.org/web/20150514060937/https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/sean_beavan_on_recording_slayer_you_have_to_do_it_right_or_the_fans_will_kill_you.html