2016.03.01 - Wall Street Journal - Yes, That Is Guns N’ Roses Co-founder Izzy Stradlin on Twitter

Yes, That Is Guns N’ Roses Co-founder Izzy Stradlin on Twitter

By Neil Shah

When Guns N’ Roses announced in January that lead singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan were reuniting for Coachella next month, fans everywhere wondered one thing: “Where’s Izzy?” Turns out Izzy — Izzy Stradlin, Guns N’ Roses’s rhythm guitarist, considered by many the heart and soul of the group — is on Twitter.

It's an odd development considering Stradlin has largely avoided the press for decades. “Informed the Twitter is legit,” said a person in the music industry who has known Stradlin for years. “Not 99%, but 100%.”

“It’s definitely him,” another person close to Stradlin said.

In a voicemail left for Rolling Stone after a week of social-media intrigue, Stradlin said: “It’s me. I opened the Twitter account. There was just so much speculation going on regarding my involvement and studio recording. There’s so much misinformation, so I wanted to clarify that I’m not in the studio recording with any of the Guns N’ Roses guys. At this point in time, I’m not involved in the actual shows."

No other original member of Guns N’ Roses has publicly commented on the upcoming shows. Aside from Coachella, Guns N’ Roses is booked to play two dates in Las Vegas in early April, along with two shows in Mexico City.

Why all the fuss? Stradlin was a guiding force in Guns N’ Roses whose diverse musical interests — Aerosmith, the Ramones, the Rolling Stones, Hanoi Rocks — informed the band's sound and look, most notably on 1987’s “Appetite for Destruction,” the best-selling debut album of all time.

One of the band’s chief songwriters, having penned “Patience” and “Mr. Brownstone” and played a major role in “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Stradlin gave up drinking and drugs in the early 1990s — and his sobriety made it difficult to stay with the band. While Rose, Slash and Duff flew around on a private jet during the band’s “Use Your Illusion” tour, Izzy traveled in his own tour bus.

Fed up with the band’s antics — especially Rose’s lateness to shows — Stradlin quit in November 1991 just as Guns N’ Roses were nearing their commercial peak. Many fans feel his departure upset the balance of power in the group, indirectly leading to its implosion in the mid-1990s. He went on to quietly release about a dozen solo albums, including 1992's "Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds."

Questions about Stradlin’s involvement in the partial reunion of Guns N’ Roses — only Axl, Slash and Duff have been announced — prompted him to take to social media. Through @IzzyStradlin999, Stradlin tweeted several times, including at Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen; sometimes the tweets seemed a little peculiar, as if Stradlin were figuring out how to use the medium. He later erased many of the tweets.

The social-media frenzy deepened. In the online Guns N' Roses community, doubts about the account’s authenticity grew. A Twitter account called @chopaway — which has long had some level of access to Stradlin — insisted @IzzyStradlin999 was the real deal. Stradlin posted a rare recording from 2004 — a cover of “Do You Love Me” featuring Stradlin and former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler. Yet an online poll found that the majority of respondents thought the account a fake. Fans repeatedly asked Stradlin to post a video as proof. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene, whom Stradlin had tweeted at initially to spread the news, said he was in touch with the person claiming to be Izzy, but this “Izzy” was refusing to take steps to verify his identity.

A person close to Stradlin says he was just trying to figure out how to use Twitter on his own—and it was taking time. On Monday night, two people said the account was definitely Stradlin, but direct confirmation was still lacking. A few hours later, Stradlin posted a 20 second video of himself playing a cover of the 1971 song “Sunshine” by Jonathan Edwards.

Stradlin’s surfacing is a big surprise for long-time Guns N’ Roses fans. Like his childhood buddy and one-time songwriting partner Rose, Stradlin has long been wary of journalists and frustrated by rumors. He has even sung about it: On “14 Years," a Guns N’ Roses song from 1991 that he co-wrote, Stradlin sings: “Bullsh*t and contemplation / Gossip’s their trade / If they knew half the real truth, what would they say.”

Despite co-founding one of the biggest bands in rock history, Stradlin — whom people close to the artist call intensely private — has remained a mystery, even as Rose toured the globe sporadically with his version of Guns N’ Roses, Slash released albums and McKagan wrote two books. Only Stradlin among the original five members of Guns N’ Roses has not written a memoir. In many ways, he is the band’s untold story.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-93820

Earlier on the same day, "Downliner" (Chopaway) posted a timeline of Izzy's twitter account on GN'R Evolution (all Izzy's tweets have since been deleted):

Downliner wrote:A summary of the Izzy Stradlin news from this week

This is a recap of everything which has gone down for those fans who haven't been able to keep up izzy

The initial statement:-

Hi there!
At this point in time I`m not involved in the upcoming 2016 gigs . I`ve been writing new material but I have not been writing or recording anything with the GNR guys . I`m starting a twitter account @IzzyStradlin999 to drop a bit of info here and there as needed . Big "thank you" to all the people who have asked about my involvement in April shows !
If anything changes I`ll contact you
spread the word
Cheers
Izzy

One week ago today Izzy Stradlin sent me an email saying he would NOT be involved in the Guns N Roses shows taking place in April 2016. I have a 10+ year track record of providing correct Izzy news which has been shared by the likes of Rolling Stone, MTV, Blabbermouth, Metal Sucks and many more.

Just like I had always done previously, when Izzy emailed me I shared his news (here at Evo) and thought nothing more of it. He had attached an unreleased "selfie" to his email which I was able to use as proof.

In just 7 days Izzys news has managed to generate over 1800 replies at mygnrforum.com alone, which is more than the thread officially confirming the "Axl/Slash/Duff Coachella Reunion" has gathered in 2 months. All of this without a single music news website sharing his statement, aside from one site - thanks for helping to "spread the word" ultimate-guitar.com!

All week I've been wondering what is really going on here. There have been a lot of rumors and fan conspiracies floating around, some of which have been absolutely hilarious, and in no small part fuelled by the tweets Izzy was posting, so I just wanted to lay out all of the facts and proof, as well as all of the doubts by others, for anyone who is only just finding out about this now and doesn't want to trudge through the thousands of fan comments that have been left in the wake of this story unfolding, on the message boards and social media.

FACTS/PROOF

1) Never before seen selfie of Izzy.



2) Proof of my 10 years+ track record as far as Izzy news goes. (Source)

3) I've confirmed Izzy hasn't been "hacked" as he answered 2 security questions through email and later phoned me.

4) Izzy asked his friend Paul how his career was going on Twitter, and Paul replied. No fans would have known this person.

5) Izzy asked Bernard Fowler to share a photo of them backstage. The photo was shared on Twitter, but fans had already seen the photo months ago and claimed it verified nothing.

6) The partner of Rick Richards (Georgia Satellites/Izzy Stradlin) has said on Facebook "IzzyStradlin999 is legitimately on Twitter.".

FANS DOUBTS ABOUT AUTHENTICITY

1) Izzy tweeted a Youtube video entitled "YO SOL AXL ROSE" which was a GNR cover band. Fans questioned why Izzy would choose to post such a video.



2) Izzy tweeted an Abraham Lincoln meme questioning the authenticity of "quotes on the internet". [Original tweet now deleted but along these lines...]



3) Izzy tweeted to Rick Nielsen that he'd bought a computer, opened a Twitter account, and had quit avocado farming...WTF? Izzys an avacado farmer now? Now deleted, but it lead to some funny fanart on social media:




4) Izzys tweets were disappearing almost immediately after fans started talking about them on the message boards.

5) The always media shy Izzy has sent multiple tweets to Rolling Stone, Ultimate Classic Rock and Loudwire but none have run his original statement about not being involved in the Guns N Roses shows in April 2016.



6) The associate editor of Rolling Stone, Andy Greene, has been unable to verify that the account is genuine. His "bullshit detector" was at 99.5% but the following day he was "much less skeptical". Izzy has since deleted all tweets to Andy Greene.



7) Izzy doesn't follow a single member of Guns N Roses on Twitter.

8) No GNR band members past or present follow Izzy on Twitter.

9) Izzy claims to have started the "verification" process on Twitter, but their is still no blue tick.

10) Izzy tweeted the below "Stradlin Identity" meme which originated from mygnrforum.com. Izzy said it should settle the real/fake debate once and for all.



11) Izzy tweeted his and Steven Adlers recording of "Do You Love Me"



12) All of the "proof" is debatable.

--------------------

A 24 hour poll by @chopaway (Izzy fanpage) on Twitter asked fans whether they thought the account genuinely did belong to Izzy. The results after 229 votes were as follows:-



Where do we go now?!

I'd suggest you go and follow @IzzyStradlin999 on Twitter because no-one really knows what the hell is going on but it has been great fun.

EDIT: A few hours after posting this Izzy provided video proof!

This topic is closed for comments as we don't need two. Just thought this would help for anyone who has missed out and isn't really sure what's going on.

http://www.gnrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=13720

Screenshot from the (now deleted) video shared by Izzy on twitter: