2011.05.19 - The Post Crescent - Q&A: Steven Adler of GN'R

Q&A: Steven Adler of GN'R

By Mike Thiel

The first time I met Steven Adler, he was roaming the streets of College Avenue outside his Adler’s Appetite tour bus.

It was well past midnight and Adler had just finished a show with his band at Mill Creek in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin. There were fans asking for photos and autographs, while a local reporter (me) also requested a short video clip. Adler took the extra time to meet everyone’s request. He cared not about meet and greet passes and the extra cash that comes with it – he just wanted anyone who wanted anything from him to get it. He was just happy to have a second chance. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth.

For those who’ve never heard of Steven Adler, he was the original drummer for mega-band Guns N’ Roses during the time of their multi-platinum debut “Appetite for Destruction.” However, life in the fast lane wasn’t kind to Adler as he was eventually booted from the band for his flagrant drug abuse.

Adler said he would use $300 worth of drugs in one night, though he wasn’t getting $300 worth of drugs (he said his dealer was ripping him off).

Even so, Adler’s been in and out of rehab centers throughout his 46 years and continued to have problems with addiction even after a heart attack, 30 overdoses and a stroke by age 31. Adler said it wasn’t until his time on VH 1’s “Celebrity Rehab” with Dr. Drew Pinsky and his time on VH 1’s “Sober House” that he finally kindled a now or never moment. A second stint of Adler on “Celebrity Rehab” season 5 will air this summer – that particular treatment has lifted Adler to his highest level of newfound sobriety to date.

He’s turned back to his music, taking the first drum lesson of his life 18 months ago, while creating new songs with his latest hard rock project, Adler’s Appetite. Currently, Adler and his band are on tour (with a stop at Waverly Beach on May 26) until July 4 before Adler’s Appetite heads back into the studio. For the first time since the ‘80s, Adler said his music career feels like the old days.

“It reminds me of when I was playing back for Slash and Duff and Izzy and Axl (of Guns N’ Roses) back in the day, when we were playing the clubs in Hollywood,” Adler said. “That’s the whole vibe of our show. It’s just an anything goes, kick ass rock and roll show.”

For a while, it didn’t appear that Adler would outlive Guns N’ Roses. However, in 2011 the drummer is in the most control of his life – clean and confident – indulging only in his latest reincarnation of rock and roll.

MT: Adler’s Appetite shows blend original music with Guns ‘N Roses songs. Why do you still play GNR?

Adler: Because those are my songs. My name’s on there. I had a part of writing those songs so I’m always gonna play ‘em. Out of all my musician friends I have, that have made records for the last 30 years, none of them listen to any of their music! I love my records! I still listen to my music! I asked Sebastian (Bach), you listen to Skid Row? He said, no! I asked Fred Coury, you ever listen to your Cinderella records? He goes, no! The only person who listens to their records that I know is Steven Tyler. He feels the same way. He goes, man I love my music! I always listen to it (laughs).

MT: Have you mended everything with the members of GNR?

Adler: Yes and all it took was for me to accept responsibility and make my amends to those guys. I got to apologize to those guys and make amends to each one of them, separately. As far as I know, I’m still friends with ‘em. I mean, they are four major league @$$%, but we were five major league @$$%, so you never know. And I say it with love! (laughs)

MT: And you’re clean right now?

Adler: Of course. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.

MT: How long have you been clean?

Adler: I got off the heroin and the crack and the pills in 2008 when I first started working with Dr. Drew. And then I went on a marijuana maintenance program and that was working for a little while, but like all things, it started bringing me down and it kept me from getting to the next level. So I talked to Dr. Drew and he had me come work with him again on the new “Celebrity Rehab” that comes out June 29 to get off of marijuana and Jagermeister. I was drinking the loud mouth soup and smoking the herb. I was able to get to a certain level in my life and my career but the pot and Jager were holding me back, so I worked with him and it was very successful… It was just a blessing to be able to work with Dr. Drew and Bob Forrest again. In 2008, I feel like I made a 170-degree turn and now, this recent stint I’ve been working with Dr. Drew, I made a whole 180-degree turn in my life.

MT: You’ve been in and out of rehab many times. Is this the absolute last time for Steven Adler? No more relapses?

Adler: You know, I pray every day that it is. That was such a waste of time and waste of money. I pray everyday, all day that I don’t ever have to go back and do that again. I’m much stronger of a person and I believe much more in myself. Basically I realized that my addiction is something I have for life and just because I’m not doing it now doesn’t mean the addiction isn’t doing anything either. ‘Cause I know damn well addiction is just doing push-ups and working out and waiting for that one moment for me to slip. And I still have bad dreams! I still have these crazy drug dreams! I can’t even get away from it in my sleep. It’s not everyday, but it happens. I went in the ring with Muhammad Ali and Manny Pacquiao for 35 years. Coming out of it as healthy as I did, I’m pretty lucky.

MT: Steven Tyler was quoted in his new memoir, saying some things about you and “Celebrity Rehab.” Here’s one part: “It didn’t seem to me all that ethical using actual %$#@-up people like Steven Adler in a reality show… They then sensationalize on a melo-%$#@-dramatic reality show, which so traumatizes them they end up in worse shape than ever – from the drugs they bought with the money from the show.”

Adler: He’s right in a way and he’s wrong in a way… To make a couple bucks is a good thing, plus all of us that did the show have hit rock bottom, so we didn’t have the money to survive, but the people could either take in the money, take an opportunity to get sober like I did and start my life again – or I could’ve taken the money and went and bought drugs with it, which most of the people who did the show did do. But Dr. Drew gave everybody an opportunity to get their lives together and doing it for me, personally, doing it on camera helped me so much. I say to anybody out there who has somebody in their life that’s an addict or an alcoholic, videotape them when they’re high or drunk. You know how people have those blackouts and their friends say, look, you did this and you did that? And the person goes, no I didn’t, you’re crazy. You videotape them and they see how terrible they act, I’m telling you, it will change their whole world on what they’re doing to themselves. When I did “Sober House” after “Celebrity Rehab,” I showed up with a bag of heroin and syringes and aluminum foil, wasted, and they videotaped me. I have to speak for myself, but I would do drugs ‘cause it made me feel more comfortable around people. It’d make me feel like I was better looking. I felt like I was taller. I was funnier. But I saw myself high on heroin and I was not funnier. I was not taller and I was not better looking. So seeing that really opened my eyes… I didn’t want to be like that, anymore.

The interview with Steven Tyler commenting on Steven's participation in Celebrity Rehab; Reuters, May 4, 2011:
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Aerosmith's Steven Tyler rips "Celebrity Rehab"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler has been in and out of rehab countless times, but don’t expect him to appear on “Celebrity Rehab,” the reality TV show about the addiction battles of the vaguely rich and famous.

In his new book, “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?,” Tyler rips both the VH1 show and its host, addiction-medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky, who formerly worked at one of the hospitals where he sought treatment.

Tyler recounted that he was at the Los Angeles-area hospital, Las Encinas in 2008, at the same time as Steven Adler, the former drummer for Guns ‘N Roses. Adler, who was kicked out of the band in 1990 because his antics were too wild even by the standards of his hedonistic colleagues, was told to fake his drug stupor for the “Celebrity Rehab” cameras, Tyler alleged.

“They wanted him to act out his own messed-up state when he entered rehab. It was ghoulish and unreal. They gave him 30 grand for the episode, he snorted it all, crashed his car, and he ended up in jail detox,” Tyler wrote.

“It didn’t seem to me all that ethical using actual f---ed-up people like Steven Adler in a reality show, but who am I to say? Not to mention getting trashed celebrities to mime their own self-destructive nosedives which they then sensationalize on a melo-f----ing-dramatic reality show, which so traumatizes them they end up in worse shape than ever -- from the drugs they bought with the money from the show.”

A spokeswoman for Pinsky declined comment, suggesting that queries be directed to Tyler himself. Emails to spokesmen for VH1 and Adler were not immediately answered.

Tyler went on to describe the addiction theories of Pinsky, a board-certified physician, as “psychopharmalogical dogma.”

“It’s interesting that Dr. Pinsky never came up to me, never made any advances,” Tyler wrote. “He certainly didn’t ask me to be on his celebrity rehab (sic) because -- at best -- I would have gone, “Are you f---ing kidding me?”

Pinsky, a bestselling author who rose to fame as co-host of the syndicated radio call-in show “Loveline,” is no longer associated with Las Encinas, the object of a series of complaints about care at the facility.

Pinsky comes off relatively lightly compared to others in Tyler’s book, particularly his own bandmates. Tyler describes them as “pricks” -- hypocritical, henpecked husbands, some of whom have lingering drug problems.

https://www.reuters.com/article/television-us-steventyler-idUKTRE74305Q20110504