2006.02.10 - Liverpool Daily Post - Interview with Steven

By Stephen Milton, Daily Post

STEVEN ADLER is a busy man. So busy, in fact, that our conversation began in a hotel room in Hamburg and finished after a club gig in Gacchia, Italy.

Sadly, this was not due to my personal invitation to join a leg of the Adler's Appetite European tour. More to the point that he is quite a difficult man to catch, even on the phone.

"Its has been just, non stop, crazy for the last few months but I am loving every minute."

The original drummer for Guns n Roses, Adler played with the band in the late 80s and featured on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction which sold over 25 million copies worldwide and included the classic rock anthems, Paradise City, Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child o' Mine..

Unfortunately, drug addiction and internal feuding brought problems to the band and during the recording of their follow up album, Use Your Illusion, Steven was fired. The official reason was drug addiction but Adler maintains this wasn't the case.

"I didn't get really messed up until after I was kicked out," he explains.

Despite suffering a heart attack and a number of strokes from heavy drug abuse, Adler never stopped expressing his feelings for frontman Axl Rose, who he felt was instrumental in his sacking. In past interviews, he said "he made the best and most exciting times I'll ever experience feel like a complete pain in the ass".

However with the rumours of a reunion of the original line up, Adler's recent attitude has changed considerably.

"That's fabulous news," he says. "To get my friendship back with Axl again would be fabulous. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. He's like a brother to me. I love Axl, he's the greatest and so talented and such a nice, caring guy."

After languishing in rock 'n' roll limbo for nearly a decade, Steven overcame his addictions and put together Adler's Appetite four years ago.

The band play a mixture of Guns n Roses classics and original material and are set to release a follow-up EP to their self titled debut at the end of the year. Currently on a world tour, the group is set to play Liverpool as part of the Rock Off extravaganza , tonight and tomorrow.

"I'm so excited about playing in Liverpool, maybe more excited than anywhere else. The Cavern is rock history. It's the Beatles, which doesn't get more rock and roll than that," he says

Rock Off is a series of gigs and rock music conventions featuring tribute bands and special guests from bands including The Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Its the first in its kind to take place at the Cavern and will run throughout the year.

Playing the Cavern is appropriate for the man often compared to Pete Best.

"Why am I compared to Pete Best?," says Steven, "I got to play on the album, Pete didn't, that's the difference there. I got to play with the band at their most successful and if we got back together, we'd be bigger than Jesus."

* ADLER'S Appetite play tonight at The Cavern, Mathew Street and Guns 2 Roses play tomorrow night with Steven Adler as special guest as part of the Guns n Roses 12 hour convention at The Cavern. Tickets from Ticketmaster, Cavern and Rock Off from Me to You Superstore, Upper Floor, Cavern Walks Shopping Centre. www.rockoff.co.uk