1987.05.DD - Hit Parader - GN'R: The Next Big Thing? (Axl, Slash, Izzy)

Guns N’ Roses: The Next Big Thing?
 
By Adrianne Stone
 
Glam/Metal Newcomers Set Their Sights On The Big Time
 
Four years ago, Los Angeles experienced an explosion of new rock and roll bands – Motley Crue, Ratt, WASP, Great White, Quiet Riot, Dokken, and Black ‘N Blue, to name but a few. Each one claimed to be wilder, louder and nastier than the next. Virtually all were signed to record labels, yet only a few remain in the forefront of successful metal bands. In the wake of this fallout, ambitious youths hungering for the spotlight have risen to claim their destiny. They come from the streets. They’re tougher, they’re raunchier, they’re meaner ‘n’ leaner and you better believe they’re out for blood.
Leading the pack, with an independently released EP, Live Like A Suicide, and an album in the works (on Geffen Records), is a five-piece unit of music molesters named Guns N’ Roses. Lead singer Axl Rose and his “partners in crime” – Slash (guitar), Duff (bass), Izzy (guitar) and Steven (drums) – shed some light on their “street rock” music and “rough stuff” image:

Hit Parader: How did the 5 or you get together?

Axl: This lineup has been together for two years. Izzy and I have been playing together for about 12 years. He started out on drums, then switched to bass and finally guitar. At one point he was singing and I was playing keyboards and bass.

Izzy: I couldn't sing, so that didn't work out! (laughs)

Axl: Then, about three years ago, I was in a band called Hollywood Rose and then another one called LA Guns, which is how I got to know the rest of the guys. Eventually we decided that this was the right lineup and that we were gonna stick together.

HP: But isn't LA Guns still around?

Axl: Yeah, but during the time I was in LA Guns, Izzy and I started doing stuff on the side and calling it Guns N' Roses. Meanwhile, the other band I was in got sick of me sitting around saying "Slash would be great for this..." Finally, I got myself kicked out of the band by putting on a pair of ripped up black jeans and a spray-painted pink and black biker jacket, doing my hair, putting full makeup on and running all around the stage and out into the crowd one night. The guitarist freaked out 'cause it was his band and he was used to getting all the attention. So, before I could say "I quit", he kicked me out. I said, "yeeahhh!" It was so great!

Izzy: Some of the songs on our EP were written during that time.

HP: Speaking of Live Like A Suicide, why did you release a 4-song EP on your own when you'd already signed to Geffen for a full-length LP? Why not just put out an album with some of the songs from the EP included?

Slash: Because we wanted an inexpensive dedication to all the kids who helped us get by when we were really low and had no money and were living in abandoned apartments. The kind of record that not everyone will have, because we're only printing 10,000 copies initially.

Izzy: Also, there was some material which won’t be on the Geffen album that people who have being going to our shows from the very beginning like to hear. Some of them are cover tunes – Aerosmith and Rose Tattoo stuff.

HP: Well, what is the truth behind the rumor that Paul Stanley of Kiss was going to produce the EP?

Axl: Well, we worked with Spencer Proffer on our demo tape, then Paul came to us because he was interested in producing. Slash had him come over and I sat down and talked production with him and played him the demo. He wanted to rewrite two of our very favorite songs, so it was over right then and there.

HP: Is it because you don't want anyone tampering with your individual style?

Izzy: We do what we want. We have a raunchy type attitude. I don't wanna say "punk" attitude, but we definetley are raunchy. Now that we've gotten signed, there are all these bands coming out trying to be tough. We've already changed the music scene in LA.

Axl: But we don't do something specifically because we know it will work. We just go out and do what we want. We walk into any place we play and kick ass.

HP: You mentioned that the EP is a tribute to those who helped you when you were broke. How tough was it in the beginning?

Slash: We lived in a one room studio with holes in the ceiling. We got rained on a lot.

Izzy: Which is good 'cause we had no shower.

Axl: We stole wood, we built a loft and slept above the equipment. But, yo know, we almost miss it. Every weekend, the biggest party in LA was down in our place. We'de have 500 people packed in an alley and our old roadie was selling beers for a buck out of his trunk. It was like a bar and everyone had their whiskey. We could get away with whatever we wanted, except when the cops came.

HP: Did things ever get carried away?

Axl: If there was a problem with someone, we'd escort them out. By "escort", I mean we'd drag 'em out by their hair down the alley, naked.

HP: How nice! What about your shows? What was the most outrageous show you’ve done so far?
 
Axl: We played the Los Angeles “Street Scene” concert for 5,000 people in downtown L.A. We only got to do 4 songs before the crowd went crazy on us.
 
Izzy: They knocked the place down and they were climbing up onstage.
 
Axl: We did a song called They’re Out To Get Me and the kids started throwing 60-gallon oil drums at the cops. The crowd went fuckin’ bananas. All these kids – punk rockers, heavy metal kids, everyone – just going nuts. If I could have said, “Tear up downtown!” all of downtown L.A. would have been rubble! But the fire marshals made us stop playing ‘cause all those oil drums were spilling liquid into the electrical system and we were gonna get fried if we stayed onstage. That would have been really heavy!

Updated with the two missing parts.
Thanks to @troccoli for sharing the full interview with us. The original pictures can be found on his site here:
http://www.troccolitm.com/StreetToughPress.html