2001.MM.DD - Rolling Stone Argentina - Axl Rose: Fifteen Days In The Life

Translation from Spanish:
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AXL ROSE
FIFTEEN DAYS IN THE LIFE

BY MIGUEL MORA

Axl has appeared! After eight years and tons of ink with gossip and speculation, Axl finally showed his face. And his belly. In the fifteen days of his South American journey, more was known about W. Axl Rose than during the last few years, when the world's most bad-tempered rock singer preferred keeping to himself. Axl decided it was time to stop playing the eccentric recluse and, for a while, he was back in the spotlight.

During those two weeks of January, Axl Rose played a concert, showed that he's not fond of abdominal exercises, introduced his new bandmates, debuted new songs, drank tequila, mingled with some fans, went sightseeing and gave a single interview (by phone) to a radio station in Buenos Aires. But, almost worse than in his glory days, he brought out his diva-like and excessive rock star antics. At every step, in every word, in every act. Brave guy, that Axl.

He arrived in Rio de Janeiro at noon on Thursday 11, three days before his show, on a flight from Los Angeles. He boarded a helicopter and flew to the elegant Intercontinental Hotel, in the São Corrado neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, the same place where Sting, Foo Fighters and Papa Roach, among others, also stayed, and where Rock in Rio's headquarters was located. But, as soon as he entered, Axl said that the band's rooms were not to his liking and decided to rent a complete apartment, paying for it out of his own pocket. He stayed in the presidential suite: 185 square meters, 17th floor, jacuzzi, $1,000 per night. His entourage consisted of Doug Goldstein (manager), Elizabeth Beta Lebeis (secretary, 45 years old, Brazilian with tattooed arms), Del James (best friend, bearded, chubby, wearing a woolen cap under the Rio sun) and Earl (huge black bodyguard). The rest of the band ended up on the 16th floor. Taking advantage of the anonymity they still enjoy despite being members of Guns N' Roses, Robin Finck (get a coiffeur over there!) and Paul Tobias wandered around the lobby without being harassed. Guitarist Buckethead, on the other hand, was easily recognizable because he never takes off his mask - as if Slipknot wasn't enough.

For the rehearsals, Guns booked a studio in the Tijuca area. The band rehearsed the songs without Axl, until, only on Saturday 13th, Mr. Rose dropped by. On his way back, two Argentinian fans ran into him in the elevator and managed to take a souvenir photo.

Early in the morning of Sunday, the 14th, he went for a walk on the beach. On his return, he met more fans in the lobby and, once again, took pictures and signed autographs. Around show time, he got on the helicopter and left for Barra da Tijuca, but first he went to the Corcovado to visit the statue of Christ (he would later confess to friends that, as he stood in front of the huge statue, he feared that Christ would wrap his arms around him and crush him "like a mosquito").

The day before the show, when he went to sound check, he visited the dressing rooms and, unsurprisingly, complained about the decoration of his own room. He asked for it to be totally revamped... but he never used it. Nevertheless, he ordered for a cordon to be placed in the backstage area, so that no one could enter without credentials. And, of course, he didn't want TV cameras either.

A few hours before the most anticipated show of Rock in Rio III, the organizers announced that Guns N' Roses would not allow photos to be taken during the show. That was the first and only time during the entire festival that an artist restricted the work of photographers. An hour before the show, the threat became even more severe: not only was it strictly forbidden to sneak into the audience to take pictures; the band's security personnel would go out to check that the order was being followed, and if they found any photographer taking pictures... they would smash their camera.

Axl never got tired of talking throughout the two and a half hours of the concert. He introduced Paul Tobias, his old friend and now guitar player, saying: "Without him there would have been no Guns N' Roses". Was it Paul who wrote Appetite For Destruction and we didn't know? No one really understood. Rose also didn't spare praise for the rest of his new lineup: "I want you to know that these guys worked really hard to play here tonight."

And the headband? Towards the end, during "Paradise City," Axl appeared for the first time with the characteristic bandana on his head, as if to make clear that this big-bellied red-haired man in satin sweatpants - and now without his Versace-type shirt - was the same as he had been eight years ago. Inexplicably accompanied by a samba school ensemble and shirtless, Axl began to say goodbye. Then he came out once again, this time alone, to introduce the voice that had acted as his interpreter every time he addressed the audience, the person who, according to him, saved his life: his personal assistant for the last seven years, namely Beta. Tears in stereo and final salute, arm raised and fingers forming the "V" for Victory. "Peace!" he shouted, and left the stage.

After the show, which ended at 4:20 in the morning, he went back to the hotel. He arrived around 6:00 and by 9:15 he was by the pool with his friend Del James. Past noon, he let in a dozen fans - many of whom were staying at the same hotel at a cost of $200 a night - and, like the Dalai Dalai Lama preaching to his disciples, he told them his side of the story: "I'm very happy that I can talk to you about things I've been holding back for the last eight years". And he lashed out at his former bandmates. So, according to Axl the bigmouth:

a) Slash overdosed in 1992 and had to be resuscitated with an injection like in the movie Pulp Fiction: "Everything about happiness and love was meaningless to Slash. He hated Sweet Child O' Mine; he just wanted to write songs about drugs and gloom..."

b) the original drummer, Steven Adler, was on so much drugs and getting so high that he would fall off the drum stool during the recording sessions of Civil War.

c) Duff McKagan suffered from panic attacks and Izzy Stradlin had his amp turned off because he would forget the songs.

He admitted he wasn't happy with last night's show and gave some details about the new album: he already has 36 songs that are almost finished (one dedicated to John Lennon, another one about child abuse), and there is a possibility that the album will be a two-part album, in the style of Use Your Illusion. One of the albums would be called Chinese Democracy and the other one would be called P.R.L. (?).

As he described with horror how deep Slash had sunk with his abuses, Axl drank a bottle of tequila, which he diluted with Cointreau and lime, in an Aztec version of the Carioca Caipirinha. At 18:30, after more than an hour of lecturing the fans, the singer retired to rest. According to the hotel managers, Axl's bill for the evening amounted to about 1,700 dollars.

Nothing more was heard from him until Friday the 19th. That day he left Rio de Janeiro and headed to Buenos Aires. Those responsible for the production of Rock in Rio contacted their colleagues of the Argentinean company Pop Art, so that they would be in charge of receiving the artist, who stepped on Argentinean soil for the third time, although this time it was for vacation. On the 23rd of Tuesday afternoon, he told them to schedule a brief interview by phone with some rock radio station in Buenos Aires, and Pop Art arranged an interview with Juan Di Natale, whose program is broadcast on the radio station of... oops! Pop Art's commercial rivals: Rock & Pop. He was well disposed, speaking very slowly and choosing his words carefully, he talked for 20 minutes and stated that he had intended to play not only in Rio, but also in Chile and Buenos Aires, but that he didn't have enough time to get the tour organized. But don't lose hope, because Axl is committed to return to South America in November.

[Quotes from the interview with Rock & Pop Argentina]

That same Tuesday afternoon, Axl left for Santiago, Chile. There Beta announced that the musician wouldn't make any statements to the press, since he only wanted to relax. Axl traveled to Chile accompanied by one of the main people in charge of the Pop Art production company, who took care of all the necessary arrangements for him to have the best time possible. He stayed there until Friday, before heading back to his home in Malibu. Will he go back into seclusion? Chinese Democracy is finally scheduled for release in June. Perhaps then, the man who has the faces of Slash, Izzy, Steven and Duff tattooed on his right arm will have a better idea for the return of this new band that he insists on calling Guns N' Roses.

I suppose RS stands for Rolling Stone, but I haven't confirmed it yet.

This article is interesting for the mention of "P.R.L." as the title of the second part of Chinese Democracy. Supposedly the information came from Axl during the chat with fans at poolside in Rio.

Ah, this is great!

Regarding P.R.L., it is written with a question mark afterwards, so not unlikely that this was misheard.

Soulmonster wrote:Regarding P.R.L., it is written with a question mark afterwards, so not unlikely that this was misheard.

I think the writer of the article wasn't sure if he (or someone else who he got the information from) had heard correctly, so he put a question mark. But it turns out that they had heard correctly, since "P.R.L." was among the titles on the Village discs. It can't be a coincidence.

Blackstar wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:Regarding P.R.L., it is written with a question mark afterwards, so not unlikely that this was misheard.

I think the writer of the article wasn't sure if he (or someone else who he got the information from) had heard correctly, so he put a question mark. But it turns out that they had heard correctly, since "P.R.L." was among the titles on the Village discs. It can't be a coincidence.

Ah, that's true. No, that's too unlikely.

Listening to P.R.L. now. It is found on Rough Mixes CD 2, the first song. It has the note "no gtrs" which of course suggests the band had been working on guitar tracks for it by the time it was recorded in November 2000.

The song must have meant something to Axl since he considered naming the twin album after it. I also think that this would imply that by January 2001 (when he mentioned that the other album might be called P.R.L.) they had worked more on the song, and Axl might have written vocals for it or just vocal melodies.

It also fits with his comment from 1999 that the second album "leans probably a little more to aggressive electronica with full guitars". I can certainly agree that P.R.L. is kinda aggressive electronica and I can also imagine that you could add some guitars to it.