2009.09.01 - DailyBetter Group (Argentina) - Marc Canter: "Axl Was The Master Mind"

Marc Canter: "Axl Was The Master Mind"

Recently DailyBetter Group has made an interview with the author of the book "Reckless Road", Marc Canter. At the same Marc tells us about the early days of Guns N 'Roses, recordings, musicians, Axl and Chinese Democracy. The first interview he has given to Hispanic fans with respect and kindness. And unmissable exclusive statements of who been the photographer of Guns N 'Roses.

DailyBetter Group: What do you tell us about the early GN'R? How was the GN'R formation?

Marc Canter: The book Reckless Road covers Guns N' Roses first fifty gigs on the Sunset Strip. I met Slash in the fifth grade and I saw something special in him, with his art work in school. He created a jungle with dinosaurs and snakes that blew me away. By the seventh grade we were racing BMX bikes and he was doing outrageous tricks for that time and he won most of them. When he started to play guitar, it didn't take long before I could see that this was his thing. In 1982, I began to document all his gigs. I would save the poster or flyer, then record the show and shoot a roll of film. Then in 1984, Slash and I went to see a band called Rose. Slash heard that they had a great singer. Axl and Izzy were real good and put on a great show. Soon after they had a meeting and Slash and Steven Adler joined up with them. That's when they changed the name to Hollywood Rose. Izzy quit after one week. Hollywood Rose played the clubs for about three months before they split up. I was still documenting everything and I recognized that there was great chemistry between Axl and Slash. Axl then joined LA Guns. Six months later Axl was back with Izzy and Tracii Guns, and they formed Guns N' Roses. Soon after, Duff joined the band and they booked a small tour to Seattle. Tracii and the drummer, Rob Gardner, didn't want to go, so they asked Slash and Steven if they wanted in. The first gig they played together was at the Troubadour on June 6, 1985. It was at that gig that I knew this was a great band.There was a groove that fit.

DailyBetter: How was the relationship between members before Appetite? after that?

Marc: They knew that they were a good fit whit the music in 1984 but they didn't stay together until 1985. Is was the trip they took to Seattle that brought them close.

DailyBetter:How was the process of creating Appetite?

Marc: They were the perfect match at the time when Rock N' Roll needed a big kick in the ass. Slash was hard rock/blues Izzy was rock n' roll,Duff was the punk Steven had the right groove and Axl was the master mind he knew what to do with what was on the table.It was very exciting watching all the songs from Appetite For Destruction being put together. It seems like every few gigs there would be a new song. "Welcome To The Jungle," was the first song they wrote with that lineup. All those songs sound the same on the record as they did the first time they played them, even the guitar solo. Slash would rip one out and it worked, so he kept it. Same with the arrangements, not much was changed. I watched five guys change music. At that time music was sort of dead. On that road there were strippers, drugs, alcohol and real good rock n' roll. It was crazy, but exciting to see the birth of something so special. They had the look, sound songwriting, vocal range, guitar tone, and the attitude.

DailyBetter Group:What did meant Appetite to Axl Rose? and the rest of the band? How did they live that?

Marc: The band wanted to make great music and have fun doing it, by playing in front of people. They made music that they wanted to make for them selfs, and it turned out that the world also loved it.

DailyBetter Group: Any anecdote you can tell us from this time?

Marc: As far as on stage, the Street Scene, Sept. 28,1985, was a free outdoor show and Guns N' Roses was opening up for Social Distortion. The whole show was running three hours late. The punks were getting restless, when out come these guys on stage with Les Paul's and dressed like the New York Dolls. The punks were spitting and throwing food at Guns N' Roses! After three songs the crowd was won over, because the group handled the stage like a stadium band. Before that gig they had only played for a hundred people. That night there were around three thousand people in the audience.

DailyBetter Group: How was the process of creating Lies? Any anecdote you can tell us from this time?

Marc: They wrote 4 new songs and added them to the 4 live songs that were from Live like a Suicide. they wanted to give the fans a chance to hear those old songs so they added it to the 4 new songs and put out a EP to tied the fans over while they were working on UYI.

DailyBetter Group: How was the process of creating Use your Illusions? Any anecdote you can tell us from this time or about the Use Your Illusion Tour?

Marc: The Use Your Illusion albums were a big change from Appetite For Destruction. The songs were put together a lot different. The guys no longer were living together and some of them had studios in their homes. Sometime a song would be brought to the band already recorded and then lyrics would later be written. Also Slash was able to put some magic to songs that Axl came up this time like November Rain and Estranged. Now they had some money in their pockets and had a nice place to live,so the tension from living on the streets was gone. They were 5 years older. The songs for Appetite were put together in 1985.

DailyBetter Group: How did they lived their two visits to Argentina?

Marc: They loved to play in Argentina. The people there are great fans.

DailyBetter Group: What did meant the Izzy departure? How lived that Axl? and the rest of the band?

Marc: There was a lot going on with Izzy. He was paranoid of all the law suits that were coming in form the riots. He was sober and didn't want to hang out with Duff and Slash who were not. Plus it didn't help that they were getting drunk all night while they were waiting to go on late. Also Slash was still using heroin. Izzy was not happy about the late fees the band was paying for from the venues, he didn't want to spend a ton of money for the videos. He called me right before he quit to see if I would make him a video of all the times they played "Don't Cry" from the old days. I guess he thought that they could use the footage for the MTV one. It was just no longer his scene. There could be a few more reasons I never asked him about it. The things that I just said are things that I have put together myself.

DailyBetter Group: What do you think about the reason why the band broke up?

Marc: They wanted different things. I don't blame Axl or Slash for the split. I think they wanted different things at the time. I wished that Axl would have put out a solo record in 1996 like Slash did and then they may have been ready to work together again. The problem is if you ask them why they split both of them will give to a one word answer,each other's names.

DailyBetter Group: What do you think about the GN'R today? and about Chinese Democracy?

Marc: I love the new stuff and it didn't take as long to make as people think. Some people think that it took too long to make. It took 2 years to put a band together. Most of the record was done in about 3 years but there were many things to work out with the record Co and management and while that was going on he added some things to it.

There were like 24 people interviewed for the book. My goal was to have all the band members look at the book and see what they might remember from the gigs. Jason,my co-author, wanted to interview the band to add more story to the project.I started thinking that everyone who was around and had something to do with the band should have something interesting to say. So, I made a list of people. Ex-girlfriends, roadies, strippers, record company people, the producers and mixers that worked on the record, friends and old band members from all the bands before GN'R. Jason interviewed them and threaded their stories throughout the book, where they would best fit. The things that I added were mixed in with all the gigs and Jason pulled them out and mixed them in with all the others' interviews. Between the gigs there are quotes about different subjects. Also, because I recorded all the gigs, the transcriptions from the shows are all in the book. I think what's great about this book is that it's enhanced. That means, when you buy the book there is a code on the first page, you go to https://www.facebook.com/l/;enhancedbooks.com and you use that code to see the whole book online. There, readers will be able to listen to audio clips from the gigs. You can hear clips during the time when they played the songs for the first time. There are also over 200 extra photos that didn't make it into the book, as well as video interviews from the band and people that helped make the book.

Marc, thank very much to you for accepting the interview and taking the time to answer these questions for DailyBetter Project. We try to tell a story and you are among the most entitled to do so. You are a great person. Your name will always be linked to the best band of all time.

Marc Canter: FaceBook Reckless Road
Translate:Natalia Salaberry
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