2022.03.16 - The SDR Show - Interview with DJ Ashba

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
------------------------------------

This past January, Ashba, who joined Guns N' Roses in March 2009 following the departure of Robin Finck, spoke about his time with the Axl Rose-fronted outfit in an interview with Antihero Magazine. The guitarist said: "I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping that one day Slash would come back, and the reason I took the gig is that, honestly, I was — no disrespect to Buckethead or anybody — but seeing a guy run around with a chicken bucket on his head, it's, like, to me, that took the coolness out of the band that I grew up loving, and that's one of the main reasons I wanted to get in there and try to do whatever I could do to get justice, bring back that reckless rock and roll vibe of what Slash was all about and Guns N' Roses was all about. To me, it was in a sense losing that thing that I loved about the band. And I love Buckethead as a guitarist. No disrespect at all — it's just, in my opinion, he didn't really fit the band."

Two months after Blabbermouth.net and other media outlets reported on Ashba's comments, he appeared on The SDR Show, where he was asked to elaborate on his apparent criticism of his predecessor.

"The media, they twist every headline," DJ said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net). "I didn't mean that in any bad way. Buckethead could play circles around me."

When host Ralph Sutton said that Buckethead is "a phenomenal guitarist" whose "look didn't go with Guns N' Roses," Ashba agreed, saying: "And that's all I was saying. No discrediting him at all. I just, as a fan, that just didn't… that wasn't rock and roll, the reckless rock and roll band that we all grew up on. So, you know, to me, it's, like, I just didn't feel like he personally fit. And that was just my opinion."

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dj-ashba-on-bucketheads-time-with-guns-n-roses-that-wasnt-the-reckless-rock-and-roll-band-that-we-all-grew-up-on/