2004.05.28 - Much More Music - The Story Of... Guns N' Roses

Transcript:
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Bill Welychka (host): Welcome to West Hollywood, California, birthplace for one of the dirtiest, the most sleaziest, the darkest, the most honest hard rocking band that ever was. No other blues-based hard rock band changed the musical landscape as much as Guns N’ Roses did. With ex-Gunners Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum launching Velvet Revolver and Axl Rose planning a new Guns N’ Roses record, we thought we’d give you the history and bring you up to date on the story of Guns N’ Roses.

Text on screen: Velvet Revolver was formed in 2003 by ex-Guns N’ Roses members Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums). They would recruit vocalist Scott Weiland and ex-Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner.

[Clip from Slither music video]

Contemporary interview with Velvet Revolver in 2004:

Host: If you’re gonna get some people listen to the record, you know, they’re gonna compare it to the Gunners, they’re gonna compare it to the Snakepit stuff, maybe even STP, maybe even The Cult. It’s almost like you’re competing with your past.

Slash: You record something, you know, you put everything into it. When you’re doing it, when it’s done, it’s done. You don’t really look back. So I suppose I could get very analytical if I grabbed all the records that I’ve ever done or whatever, and sat there and compared this one to that one, which is something – an objective that other people might have.

Matt: I don’t think we looked back making this record.

Slash: Yeah.

Matt: We didn’t look back, or think about it, or talk about it or anything. It’s just us now moving forward, playing music.

Weiland: I have that same feeling. There’s this intuition that I know this is going to work.

Slash: There’s a lot of similarities about this band and that band back then in the way that… sort of. So that’s sort of cool, because I can relate to that and it’s exciting in that sense. Because I love that whole aloof, fucking go-for-broke kind of attitude of not thinking too far into the future, just do what you have to do now and just make it rock, you know (chuckles).

*

[Snippet from Much Music interview with Slash and Duff, May 1988]

Text on screen: Guns N’ Roses formed in Hollywood in 1985, featuring Slash, Duff, Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (guitar) and Steven Adler (drums). They would sign with Geffen Records in early 1986 and would release their full length debut Appetite For Destruction in 1987.

[Clip from Sweet Child O’ Mine music video]

Text on screen: “Appetite For Destruction is a nasty parade of thugs, cheap women, booze, drugs and crime. It’s a primal, sleazy sound… It’s a powerful record… the best metal record of the late ‘80s.” All Music Guide

[Snippet from Much Music interview with Slash and Duff, May 1988]

Slash (from 1994 interview): And some of the stuff is really shocking, but there’s nothing dishonest about it.

Izzy (from 1992 interview): If you look at GN’R, how we started, it was just, you know, two guitars, bass, drums and vocals. And we played wherever we could, wherever, you know, we could get a gig.

[Snippet from Much Music August 9, 1992 GN’R special]

Text on screen: GN’R would quickly build a following with their numerous live shows in West Hollywood.

[Snippet from Much Music interview with Slash, April 1995]

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Host: The scene that you came out of back then, can that ever happen again here?

Slash: We weren’t part of that scene. We were the antithesis of it. Poison, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, all that, we weren’t part of that scene. We were, like, the anti-scene. What was going on way back in the day couldn’t be recreated. Not with any amount of paint or makeup.

*

Gilby (from 2003 interview): What’s great about the strip is you can go from, you know, The Roxy’s playing something to the Cat Club into the Whisky... They’re all within a block of each other. And you can get, you know, four different styles of music there, but you know you’re gonna get entertained. And then you can go to the Rainbow at the end of the night and find out who you’re taking home (laughs). It’s great, man. It’s great.

Slash (from 1994 interview): We started out opening up for sleaze bands on a fuckin’ Sunday or Monday night in some cheap club, and started there, and then we’d get enough response where we’d open up on a Tuesday, open up on a Wednesday, to keep moving forward. And so we’d just keep, you know, one foot in front of the other.

Text on screen: By 1987, they had opened for The Cult, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith.

[Snippet from Much Music interview with Slash and Duff, May 1988]

[Snippet from Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff, January 2003]

Slash (from 1994 interview): We just, we were completely different and we just were lucky.

[Clip from Welcome to the Jungle music video]

Text on screen: Appetite For Destruction would finally hit No. 1 a year after its release. It would eventually sell over 20 million copies worldwide.

Izzy (from 1992 interview): If you look at Guns N’ Roses, you know, I don’t think anybody had any idea it was gonna explode like it did.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Host: People hold Appetite as this landmark release. Looking back, can you see why?

Slash: The thing was that everything that happened from the time we recorded it - which was an amazing fucking trip just making that record. And then when we went out and we were opening for The Cult, we went out and played the songs, and the actual album, I never realized it was gonna be as iconic as it turned out to be. You know what I’m saying? So now, you know, everybody brings it up and I’m like, wow. I’m just really proud of it, that we did that and it was as genuine as it was. But at the same time I hate dwelling on it.

Matt: That’s probably why Appetite was such a great record. Because those guys came from playing that material live to people and then went right in the studio and recorded it. And that’s what made it so energized and such a great natural record, rock and roll album.

*

[Clip from Paradise City music video]

Gilby (from 2003 interview): Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction at that time was completely different from anything else that was out there. And it really does sum up hard rock.

Slash (from 1995 interview): With Guns N’ Roses we’re like one in a million that actually made it.

[Clip from It’s So Easy Live Era music video]

Text on screen: “We’re not dangerous, but we’re unpredictable and volatile, and that scares people.” Slash, 1991.

Text on screen: Within a year of the release of GN’R’s debut Appetite For Destruction, they had become one of the biggest bands in the world.

[Snippet from interview with Duff and Matt, Much Music July 1991]

Slash (from 1994 interview): We just happened to pop out of a certain time when there was nothing but synth music going on, like the really lame post-punk stuff, and we just were completely different.

[Snippet from Much Music August 9, 1992 GN’R special]

Slash (from 1991 interview): It’s starting to get ridiculous how this, that one record that came out and went like this [big]. And it’s still like, we haven’t lost any popularity.

Text on screen: In 1990, the band fired drummer Steven Adler, citing his drug dependency. He was replaced by The Cult’s Matt Sorum.

[Snippet from interview with Duff and Matt, Much Music July 1991. Additional quote:

Duff: Matt proved to be the drummer for the band just by his presence, you know?]

Text on screen: By the end of 1990, the band began to work on their follow up. During recording, they added Dizzy Reed on keyboards.

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): You know, when I stepped into the thing back then, it was pretty amazing for me, because I was playing the clubs in Hollywood and I joined that band at their peak. And, you know, we had a private jet and I went from loading my gear into a van to that.

Text on screen: The result of the new recording sessions was not one, but two full length albums: Use Your Illusion I & II. GN’R became the first act in rock history to release two new studio albums simultaneously. Use Your Illusion I & II would enter the charts at No. 1 and 2.

Slash (from 2000 interview): The fact that Guns got so big was sort of a fluke. It was the right band at the right time. Just at a point when music was going one way, we were the antithesis to that.

Text on screen: As GN’R’s fame grew bigger, so did their reputation as rock’s premier ‘bad boys’.

[Snippet from interview with Slash and Duff, Much More Music January 2003]

[Snippet from interview with Slash and Duff, Much Music May 1988. Additional quotes:

Duff: We did absolutely nothing ourselves to create any of this as far as PR-wise. People are gonna write what they write.

Slash: Like it was a preconceived thing or something, like we sat out, we got together and said, “Okay, we’ll wear this and we’ll wear that, and we’ll be cool and we’ll be bad and everybody will dig it because it’s different.” You know, that’s not what it’s all about.]

Slash (from 1994 interview): Guns N’ Roses has been around for long enough time that you know that we’re not some sort of like, you know, nice boy institution.

Slash (from 1992 interview): We have such a bad rep.

Slash (from unknown interview): We’re just the assholes.

Slash (from 1994 interview): I mean, we do things from time to time that aren’t necessarily socially acceptable. You know, not that we’re bad guys (laughs).

Text on screen: GN’R’s reputation even spawned a nickname… ‘Lines N’ Noses’.

Interviewer (from 1992 interview with Slash): The whole problem of drugs surrounding the band, is it as bad as we hear?

Slash (from the 1992 interview): It was at one time. I mean, there was a period, thank God, where finally we went, “Okay, this…”, you know. I’m surprised I’m still here. It’s not conducive to doing anything productive as far as the reason we were together in the first place. And that dawned on me. I was like, “This is over.” And I stopped.

[Snippet from interview with Slash and Duff, Much More Music January 2003]

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: The weirdest thing I’ve heard about myself is that I was dead (laughs). A couple of times. “Yeah, I heard you were dead.” I’d get phone calls. This one guy called me up and left me these crazy messages like “I hope you’re okay.” And I called back, I said, “What is up with you?” and he goes, “Man, I heard you were dead yesterday.”

Host: I think it’s like the “live fast, die young” attitude.

Weiland: I think “live fast and live long”.

(Laughter)

Duff: Now it’s “live fast”. Fucking let’s rock until we’re fucking’ 65 or something, you know?

Host: You’ve paced yourself now.

Slash: Well, all things considered, man… I know about not pacing myself. And I really give myself a lot of credit for having gotten this far. You learn after a while what you can’t [do], what your limitations are. A man’s got to know his limitations.

Matt: (Laughs)

*

[Clip from Yesterdays music video]

Text on screen: “We don’t lie – we’re very honest. That’s one of the reasons we’re successful.” Slash, 1991.

[Snippet from interview with Slash and Duff, Much Music May 1988]

[Snippet from May 1992 Musique Plus interview with Slash and Lars Ulrich]

[Clip from Live and Let Die music video]

Text on screen: GN’R would find themselves on a mammoth 2 1/2 year world tour to support the Illusion records.

[Snippet from August 9, 1992 Much Music GN’R special]

[Snippet from April 1995 Much Music interview with Slash]

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff]

[Footage from concert in Paris in 1992]

Slash (from 1994 interview): When you’re touring, really the only time that it’s fun is for the two hours you’re playing. You know, the only kind of redeeming thing that would happen after working your ass off the two hours at gigs really turned out to be just like getting laid. I mean, ask any band and they’ll tell you the same thing.

Text on screen: During the Illusion tour, Axl Rose would often hold the band up from going onstage – resulting in numerous multi-hour delays.

Slash (from 1994 interview): Sometimes you could watch a crowd getting really antsy and, like, ready to go.

Interviewer (from 1994 interview): Do you ever look back and say, “Get on stage, guys!”

Slash (from 1994 interview): We had all kinds of different situations when it comes to that. After the show, and as long as the show is good, then, you know, all that stuff is sort of erased. So if you have a bad show as well, then you walk around pissed off for a little while.

[Snippet from July 1991 Much Music interview with Duff and Matt]

[Clip from Welcome to the Jungle Live Era music video]

Text on screen: The Illusion tour would keep the band in the tabloids on a regular basis. The press had no shortage of stories regarding delayed shows, riots, Axl’s relationship troubles, Axl’s temper tantrums and even member changes.
*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: But everything is always interesting with us. This is true. I mean, all things considered, it’s a very entertaining band outside of the music.

Matt: (Laughs).

*

[Snippet from August 9, 1992 Much Music GN’R special]

Slash (from 1994 interview): I’m a little ticked off because of all the attention being drawn at us.

[Snippet from January 1994 Musique Plus interview with Slash]

Slash: (from 1994 interview): To keep your sanity, it’s better just to concentrate on your music and what you’re all about, and not even deal with what the media has to do with anything.

[Snippet from July 1991 Much Music interview with Duff and Matt]

[Footage from the riot show in St. Louis]

Text on screen: At this St. Louis concert in July 1991, Axl walked offstage after diving into the audience to prevent a fan from taking photographs. A riot ensued, and 40 fans and 20 police officers were injured…

Slash (from 2000 interview): You can’t let people down. Because they go to the ends of the earth to make it happen for you and you have to make sure that it happens for them.

[Footage from the riot show in Montreal]

Text on screen: At this 1992 concert in Montreal, a riot broke out after Axl walked offstage midway through the show – citing throat problems.

[Snippet from January 1994 Musique Plus interview with Slash. Additional quote:

Slash: There’s not really a lot I can say at this point. I mean, as long as Montreal, they let us come back in a two-and-a half-year tour with a volatile band like Guns N’ Roses and you know what we’re all about. You just happen to be one of the unlucky places that happened at (laughs). But, I mean, there’s nothing, there’s no ill means to the people in Montreal or any particular place. It could have been anywhere.]

Text on screen: Although the Illusion tour was very successful, it was also a very volatile period for the band. Original GN’R member Izzy Stradlin would leave, being replaced by Gilby Clarke.

Izzy (from 1992 interview): But, you know, it just always wound up to the point of just snapping. Always. We put out some cool records and I think we broke some good ground, and I think we stirred some shit up, so to speak, at the time. And, I mean, I just look back and say, you know, that was a great thing.

[Snippet from August 9, 1992 Much Music GN’R special]

Text on screen: Guns N’ Roses fast facts: Axl took his stage-name from his Lafayette rock band he fronted in the early ‘80s. Before settling on ‘Guns N’ Roses’, the band also considered the names ‘Heads Of Amazon’ and ‘AIDS’. Axl Rose was named ‘sexiest man in rock’ in a 1989 issue of Playgirl magazine. In 1994, Slash designed a Guns N’ Roses pinball machine for manufacturer Data East. GN’R songs have been covered by Hole, Pat Boone, Quiet Riot & Sheryl Crow.

Text on screen: “We’re like a grenade – and everybody’s struggling to hold the pin in.” Slash, 1991

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Host: On the Illusion tour, was it an “us’ Vs. “him” episode?

Slash: It was us just trying to get through it. I mean, like, because of that kind of bond that Matt, Duff and I have, because, really, we were the only original, more or less original, band members that had been there for a long time. Gilby was new and Axl was on his own trip. So we held that together.

Matt: Yeah, I think we always felt like the foundation, you know, the core. And it was almost like, “Okay, we’re gonna go on no matter what.”

Slash: No matter what was with Axl, we would stick it out and make sure that we still managed to get through it.

[Snippet from September 22, 1993 Much Music interview with Duff]

[Snippet from April 1995 Much Music interview with Slash. Additional quote:

Slash: Guns got so big that it became… it almost became separated from its audience. It was like, sure, we could sell a lot of tickets, but we don’t know any of these people we’re selling the tickets to, you know? So it was great, it’s very gratifying to go out and play in front of 100,000 people. That’s great. But then you don’t even know them.]

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff]
[Clip from Since I Don’t Have You Music video]

Text on screen: After the Use Your Illusion world tour, GN’R quickly released the all-covers album The Spaghetti Incident.

Slash (from 1994 interview): In a nutshell, what we did was we were jamming, like, old songs that we’re familiar with, just sort of to hang out with each other when we were doing the Illusion records. That’s where it started - you know, just to warm up and hang out. We did, like, four songs and they sounded really good and it ended up being a 12-song situation.

Slash (from other 1994 interview): Axl said, “Let’s do this.” I said, “Let’s do this and let’s do this,” and so there was no list of songs that we picked through.

Text on screen: The Spaghetti Incident? features covers of songs by The Skyliners, Nazareth, New York Dolls, The Stooges and more…

[Snippet from January 1994 Musique Plus interview with Slash. Additional quote:

Slash: And there was just songs that different guys in the band liked, you know.]

Slash (from the other 1994 interview): It was very spontaneous, very natural. You know, very sort of a pure rock and roll kind of like, “yeah, what the fuck!”

Text on screen: The volatile period that began on the Illusion tour would continue into 1994. Rumours persisted that Axl Rose wanted to push GN’R into a more industrial direction. After several years of being in limbo, both Slash and Duff resurfaced with solo records…

[Snippet from September 22, 1993 Much Music interview with Duff]

Text on screen: Slash launched his Snake Pit project in 1995.

[Snippet from April 1995 Much Music interview with Slash. Additional quote:

Slash: At one point it was like, it’s not a solo project, it’s a side project. Now it’s like, it’s just another band. But I think I’ve accumulated enough experience over the years that I can get away with doing it.]

Slash (from 1995 interview): We hung out over a case of a beer and we wrote a record (laughs). Basically, that’s it. With Guns N’ Roses, the band got so big. It’s like, where do you go from there? So this is fun just to get back down to, sort of like, a roots kind of thing and just go out and play some clubs, you know?

Text on screen: Slash became in demand to perform on other’s records, including Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Motorhead, Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz…

Lenny Kravitz (from old interview, probably 1991): Slash approached me and said he wanted to do some work with me, and we’d gone to school together.

Lenny Kravitz (from another old interview, unknown year): We didn’t really know each other [at school] though. I used to see him in the hallways, you know, where we’d be most of the time (laughs).

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Host: When people ask you to be on their records, what do you think they’re trying to pull in?

Slash: You know what, I’m the fucking schmuck that doesn’t really realize that. I just do it because I like playing (laughs). But then I find out, you know, people tell me later, and if I actually stop being pigheaded enough to listen to them it’s usually taking advantage of the name, which is all part of the whole Guns N’ Roses thing. And that’s sort of a drag.

*

Slash (from 1994 interview): There’s been a few times where I was completely blown away as far as sessions are concerned, like with Iggy Pop.

Text on screen: Both Slash and Duff appeared on Iggy Pop’s Brick By Brick.

Slash (from 1994 interview): Little Michael calling me…

Text on screen: Slash appeared on Michael Jackson’s 1991 hit ‘Give In To Me’.

Slash (from 1994 interview): He was great to work with. He was great, yeah.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: Playing with Michael, it was definitely… he wanted a rock guitar, so he called me, which was flattering in itself.]

Slash (from other 1995 interview): With Michael Jackson I had to write my own part. Basically they just let me loose in the studio.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: The thing about hard rock, it works in a lot of different types of music, a lot of different genres.  And I think I get a turn on just trying to watch them intermingle.]

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: I got to play with Ray Charles recently. He could give a hot fuck about Guns N’ Roses.

(Matt laughs)

Slash: His producer knew that I could play a certain thing a certain way. And then Ray had me back a few times after that. It’s totally far removed from what you’re used to playing though.

Matt: I think that, once you get past the name Slash, underneath that there’s a great guitar player. You know, it’s like, he can really play the guitar. There’s a reason he’s well known beyond the name and the hairdo. I mean, he fuckin’ rips.

Text on screen: After leaving GN’R in 1991, Izzy Stradlin would release the 1st of several solo albums…

Izzy (from 1992 interview): There’ll be no more Learjets or limos, you know (laughs). Hopefully people’ll like it. And you just got – it’s one of those things you just take it as it comes. You really can never tell.

Text on screen: After Gilby Clarke was fired by Axl in 1994, he too embarked on a solo career…

Gilby (from 2003 interview): Going from Guns N’ Roses was hard, you know? So I just kinda like said, “Well, I’m gonna record my songs.” So I recorded them, and then, as another year went by, I go, “Okay, I’m gonna do it again.” And it just kind of ended up being a solo act. And I don’t really have a problem with Guns N’ Roses. I look back at it with really good memories – from what I can remember (laughs). And I have really good memories. When you’ve been in a band like Guns N’ Roses, it’s really hard to shake that. So it really doesn’t bother me.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Text on screen: With grunge music hitting big in the early ‘9os, GN’R’s rock star excesses were perceived as dated. A rivalry began to form between GN’R and Nirvana…

Slash: I didn’t realize it was its own scene. And so it was interesting that, you know, after all that was over and the dust cleared, to realize what a big scene it all was. I remember Axl took me to The Palace to see Nirvana one night.

Host: Did you get it?

Slash: I thought the record was great.

Matt: As soon as I heard and saw the first video of Teen Spirit, I knew something was up.

Slash: Yeah, it was cool.


*

Slash (from 1995 interview): Axl got pissed off at Kurt, because Axl wanted Nirvana to open for Guns. And Kurt said “No, we don’t want to.” And then Axl got pissed off about that. But that’s about it. As far as the animosity goes, you know, it’s not deep rooted for me. I couldn’t give a shit.

Gilby (from 2003 interview): Grunge was really, really popular. And it’s just like, you know, people didn’t want to hear a band like Guns N’ Roses or whatever that was popular at that time.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Matt: We stopped playing at that point. We got off an airplane and got in our cars, and we went kind of underground.

Slash: When all that was going on, it was like what, ’93, ’94. And we were actually writing and that’s when the huge sort of rift between the band and Axl developed (laughs).

*

Text on screen: By the mid ‘90s, Axl became a recluse, while Slash promoted his solo material.

Slash (from 1995 interview): For me, personally, when I get back, then I’ll see where things are going between Axl and I.

Text on screen: With no plans slated for GN’R material in sight, Slash would eventually leave. One by one, the remaining GN’R members soon followed – leaving Axl GN’R’s only original member.

Slash (from 1995 interview): Guns isn’t doing anything and it’s when you are working hard for no reason and spending a lot of time doing nothing, and thinking about working, that’s when it’s fucking…

[Snippet from August 9, 1992 Much Music GN’R special

Slash: “I quit!”]

Slash (from 2000 interview): You always fight for it every single night. But that sort of mentality didn’t necessarily spread throughout the whole band. But for me it’s like, as soon as that goes, I gotta go. That’s why I quit. That was it. I had it.

Interviewer (from 2000 interview): You had enough?

Slash (from 2000 interview): Yeah. I wasn’t the only one. It was like, the whole band quit (laughs).

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: We systematically all left.]

Slash (from 2000 interview): It’s disappointing. It’s a little bit… One of the few regrets I have in life is having a band get to a certain point and then having a fall apart. But it wasn’t necessarily my fault, you know? (laughs).    

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: The most important thing to me are the fans that we’ve screwed over. And it’s not because of us, and we sort of go along with – you know, they look at all of us. When one guy screws everything up, it’s a whole band, you know? So I felt really bad leaving, because of the fans.]

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: Basically, if you get into something crazy like this, you’d better fuckin’ be prepared to support it. You can’t just walk on for whatever reason. So you hang in there for as long as you can. And then, all of a sudden, I realized there was just no turning, [I was] just not gonna turn it around. You know?

*

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quotes:

Duff: I think as a band you should keep to that family thing that you started out as. And pretty soon, you know, we’re taking different cars to the gig, you know? Or, “Yeah, I’ll meet you there” and you don’t show up, or… Whereas before, we’d do things together, you know, we’d never let the other guy down. The band grew apart. It wasn’t that family thing anymore and it was really sad to watch.

Slash: A lot of people were like, “How could you…? Either you’re stupid or insane.” And I was like, “It’s not the cash or the money. It’s something else altogether.”]

Text on screen: Slash introduced a new Snake Pit in 2000.

Interviewer (from 2000 interview): Does it almost seem like starting over though?

Slash (from 2000 interview): It’s the excitement of putting it together, having everybody really into it. Everybody’s a hundred percent into it. So it is like starting over in a way. Because we had to put the fucking band together, go out and make our own record, put our own this and that together. And then now here we are, we walk out and present it. And that’s sort of like what it was like for me with Guns. That’s what that was all about. That’s the fun of it, man.

Interviewer (from 2000 interview): Is there still contact with at least Duff?

Slash (from 2000 interview): Yeah. The guys in the band, we’ve always been the backbone, so we’ve always been friends, man, you know.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff]

Text on screen: “Our music is very aggressive. There’s always that ‘f*** you’ element to it. That’s all we really know.” Duff McKagan, 2004

[Footage from GN’R at Rock in Rio II, January 2001]

Text on screen: Axl Rose would reportedly begin work on a new GN’R record in 1995. Throughout the last half of the ‘90s, he would recruit new members. Axl would unveil a new Guns N’ Roses on New Year’s Eve 1999 in Las Vegas. A new record, Chinese Democracy was planned for release in 2000. It didn’t materialize. With more member changes, Axl unveiled his new GN’R at Rock in Rio III in 2001. There was still no sign of a new record.

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): If you’re expecting to come see the old band, then don’t come. Because it ain’t it. Yeah, this is what we’ve got.

Tommy (from 2002 interview): We’re Guns N’ Roses. It’s, you know, what it is.

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): You know, I’ve seen the older guys quit on their own, one at a time, and be replaced. I’ve seen the process. It happened gradually. To me, it still feels like Guns N’ Roses. And you put Axl out there singing, they got guitars, they’re playing the old songs. It feels cool.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Host: A lot of people think it’s not fair. Axl’s record, whenever it’s gonna be coming out, is gonna be called a Guns N’ Roses record. To a lot of people that’s not the Gunners.

Slash: Right…

Interviewer: What are your thoughts on that?

Slash: You know, at this point it’s been a while. This has all been going on. I don’t really give a fuck anymore.

Matt: (Laughs).

Slash: At the time when I… you know what, he probably would have done everybody a lot of good if he just named it something else and just left Guns N’ Roses alone. So that way it would still be credible, and he would not sort of drag it through the mud and do all kinds of stuff with it. And I just want him to fucking do it now, just do it and get it out there. And Axl is brilliant. It’s gonna be awesome when he does it. He just needs to do it. So the fact that he calls it Guns N’ Roses at this point, I don’t care. It’s been a long time.

*

Interviewer (from 2002 interview): The perception is this is Axl and a bunch of guys he hired.

Tommy (from 2002 interview): Not at all.

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): No, everybody has contributed something to the record.

Tommy (from 2002 interview): Yeah.

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): Everybody. And it’s a band.

Text on screen: It has been reported Geffen Records has paid $13.5 million into making Chinese Democracy, which has been more than 8 years in the making.

Tommy (from 2002 interview): The reason why it’s taken so long is just it’s a different process than most bands probably do go through. The process Axl does, which is all new to me but it’s kept me around because it’s an interesting process, is he throws the songs around from person to person to see what they’re gonna [do], what stamp they’re gonna put on it and see what kind of spin it’s gonna take. And, you know, you hammer it out, beat it up, you kick it around the room a bit, and it takes a while to finally come up with the gem you end up with. At the end of the day, all will be revealed in time, you know.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: He’s taking a little too long in order to… But it’s just a rock and roll record.

*

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): If it takes this long, it takes this long.

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Slash: Do it and get it out there, you know?

*

Text on screen: Axl and his new Guns N’ Roses showcased new music at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.

Gilby (from 2003 interview): The Video Music Awards performance, it’s just strange. I mean, Axl’s still got it. I think he’s great. I think he sings great, I think he writes great. It just doesn’t look like Guns N’ Roses to me. I mean, that’s my thing. It just doesn’t look like the guts of that band, you know? And I think you lose the guts when you take away someone like Slash which is a big, big part of it.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: Even now people think that we’re still in Guns N’ Roses, some kids are going to a Guns N’ Roses show thinking “We’re seeing the whole band.” It’s not.]

Gilby (from 2003 interview): Yeah, Axl is the voice. And the musicians are fantastic, they’re really good players. But it just doesn’t seem like Guns N’ Roses to me.  

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Duff: I wish Axl nothing but the best of luck. And that’s really all I got to say about that.]

[Footage from the riot in Vancouver in 2002]

Text on screen: GN’R’s 2002 tour was cancelled after Axl failed to show for dates in Vancouver and Philadelphia. Riots ensued following the cancellations.

[Snippet from TV report about the riot in Vancouver:

Female concertgoer: All of a sudden, we got an announcement that one of the band members hadn’t come, and someone was like, “Oh, it’s Axl Rose.” So we’re like, “Oh no, these people are gonna riot.”  

Male concertgoer: I was so ready to party hard.

Female concertgoer: I still love Axl. No, I don’t (laughs).]

Interviewer (from 2002 interview): What happened in Vancouver?

Dizzy (from 2002 interview): We were there.

Tommy (from 2002 interview): We were there. Axl’s in the air. He’s on his way. Like, we had three hours before we even had to go on and they pulled the plug on it. It should have never been cancelled and everyone will hopefully get over it.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quotes:

Duff: It was hard for me to watch that. I was really pulling for him on the whole thing.

Slash: All these years later, he finally gets out there and they had two options: either go and prove us all wrong or screw it up. And he screwed it up. And that’s simple as that. It’s sort of par for the course.

Duff: It’s something that you see coming. I mean, unfortunately.]

[Another snippet from the January 2003 Much More Music with Slash and Duff – Slash talking about the formation of Velvet Revolver. Additional quote:

Duff: Basically to raise money for his [Randy Castillo’s] funeral and stuff. And he was just broke.]

Text on screen: By mid 2002, Slash, Duff and Matt announced they were auditioning singers for a new project. By early 2003, a dozen big names were rumoured to be attached.

[Snippet from January 2003 Much More Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Duff: [We’re looking for a singer that’s] just somebody who’s got balls, a good sense of melody. Who’s real, you know?]

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Matt: Even through this process, which was fairly long to find a singer… I mean, things got tough, you know, we just got frustrated, but we stuck with it. We didn’t give up. We never - we’ve never given up.

Host: The auditioning, I’m thinking you knew what you weren’t looking for more than what you were looking for?

Duff: Yeah, we knew what we didn’t want. Yeah, of course. But when Scott walked in the room, that was like… Everything was just kind of like in the sports car, when you get up over 120 miles an hour and the car settles down, and that’s what it felt like.

*

Text on screen: The band would settle on Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland. They would also add guitarist Dave Kushner. The newly christened Velvet Revolver worked quickly to contribute new material for the soundtracks to “The Italian Job” and “The Hulk”.  

Slash (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk” movie): We all grew up with The Hulk, you know, and in this day and age with them remaking a lot of the old Marvel comics and so on, you just know that The Hulk, especially with Ang Lee directing it, is gonna be phenomenal.

Duff (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk”): We found out Ang Lee was directing and it was like, “Oh my god.”

Matt (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk”): We were invited to see the movie and we were like, “Yes. Let’s go.”

Slash (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk”): We just got a certain energy from watching it and it was just all really exciting and it was firing. So we wanted to do something that would be really appropriate for it.

Weiland (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk”): And he [Ang Lee] had a lot of intensity about the movie and his art form.

[Footage of Velvet Revolver rehearsing “Set Me Free” for “The Hulk” movie soundtrack]

Slash (from 2003 interview about “The Hulk”): All this bottled up tension is what the song is about. It’s a pretty good marriage. Writing songs is really cool, but if you get inspired to do it by a really good movie, the outcome is more fulfilling, you know?

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Duff: After we did those two movies, we decided, “Well, let’s be a band.” And of course now all the labels started coming around and, you know, playing that game, and we couldn’t have been more disinterested with a lot of them. Because we knew their game - we’d been around, man, we’d been around the block. But we finally settled with a company that’s really behind it, really gets it.

Text on screen: Velvet Revolver would sign a worldwide deal with RCA Records.

Weiland: We didn’t have anyone from the label snoop around the studio while we made this record.

Duff: One time [in the] early days of Guns N’ Roses, Tom Zutaut, our A&R guy, said “Why don’t you guys make a change on…” – I forget what song it was - and Izzy happened to have his acoustic guitar, and we were in Tom Zutaut’s office. Izzy took out his acoustic guitar and said, “Here, why won’t you play what you mean?” “I can’t play guitar.” Izzy said, “Exactly. So let us just do our thing.”

*

[Snippet from May 1988 Much Music interview with Slash and Duff. Additional quote:

Slash: It’s like, no one can tell us what to do, because we don’t have to (laughs).]  

*

Back to the contemporary interview in 2004:

Weiland: There wasn’t one comment made regarding any artistic direction at all.

Kushner: You know, if you are thinking about a band that made Appetite and a band that made, you know, his [Weiland’s] first record, it’s like, you’re gonna leave those guys alone to do what they do.

Slash: It was just exciting, the second we all, you know, more or less got together. You know what I’m saying? That was like, “Whoa!” There was a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Matt: To myself, this has been probably the best thing I’ve ever been involved in.

Slash: The chances of us getting together of just the chances of anyone of us getting that kind of a vibe once again in your whole fuckin’ career is really slim. So, all of a sudden, when it happened, it was like, “Wow!” Now that it’s finished, I look back on it and go, “Wow.” You know, it’s very rare that you get a chance to come back around like that.

Matt: And the vibe is right. You know, the vibe is cool and that makes for a great thing to happen, I think, when it feels as good as it feels.

Slash: Yeah.

(Slash and Matt laugh).

Text on screen: Velvet Revolver’s debut is called Contraband. The first single “Slither” was the #1 most added track at three different rock formats.

Host: The word “danger” is being kicked around. And that’s missing from rock radio right now.

Duff: Yeah. Has been for a while.

Weiland: It’s missing from rock right now. In general.

Slash: What is the expression, “dangerous is as dangerous does” or something?

Matt: Yeah.

(Slash and Matt look at each other and laugh).

Host: What is that danger that you’re talking about?

Duff: I would say just not compromising, you know? None of us are angels and we’ve come up through the ranks and, you know the tough way. The way that we release is through our music. The band attacks each song like it’s… like you’re in the ring, you know? So we’re not trying to write a radio hit.

Host: Do you even listen to rock radio anymore?

Slash: Well, yeah. I mean, but having rock radio gets a little bit too limited (laughs).  

Matt: Hey, I heard him [Slash] playing a White Stripes riff one day and that impressed me.

Slash: (Chuckles) Yeah, right?

Matt: Him and Jack hung out.

Host: Well, and he’s making appearances in The Strokes video (?).

Matt: That was me, because I was hanging out with those guys.

Slash: That was cool though. I like The Strokes guys.

Matt: I told Slash about them. He had never really heard them. And then we met them and hung out with them, and they were huge fans of us. So it just seemed like a cool thing to do.

[Clip from Slither music video]

Duff: It’s a really great feeling to be in a band with guys that, number one, you like, number two, you trust.

Host: There’s a friendship going on here, too, as well, which you haven’t had in a long time.

Slash: Well, all things considered, no. I mean, I haven’t been in that kind of a situation where you’re in with a… Having a band is like having this sort of tight family gang kind of thing.

Duff: Yeah. Have fun hanging out, being with your friends.

Host: And you haven’t had that in a while.

Duff: No, no, no… there was a time. But yeah, it’s cool, you know.

Slash: When you can basically have the strength to go through god knows what, and come out at the end together and unscathed, then you got a really good thing going. And that’s what happened with this.

*

Text on screen: There’s still no word on when or even if Axl’s new Guns N’ Roses record Chinese Democracy will be released.

[Snippet from May 1988 Much Music interview with Slash and Duff]

[End titles]

This TV program features a contemporary (2004) interview with Velvet Revolver and many snippets from earlier interviews on Much (More) Music and Musique Plus in Canada, some of which we have and a few that we don't have in our database.

The interviews we have (but there are some additional clips from them in this 2004 program, which I have transcribed):

https://www.a-4-d.com/t3774-1988-05-dd-much-music-interview-with-slash-and-duff
https://www.a-4-d.com/t586-1991-07-dd-much-music-interview-with-duff-and-matt-and-axl-cameo
https://www.a-4-d.com/t4039-1992-05-dd-musique-plus-segments-from-interview-with-slash-and-lars-from-metallica
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3474-1992-08-09-much-music-in-the-ring-with-guns-n-roses-slash-duff-gilby-dizzy
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3464-1993-09-22-much-music-power-30-interview-with-duff
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3467-1994-01-dd-musique-plus-interview-with-slash
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3458-1995-04-dd-much-music-interview-with-slash
https://www.a-4-d.com/t7432-2003-01-dd-the-power-hour-much-more-music-interview-with-slash-and-duff

Interviews on Much (More) Music and Musique Plus that we don't have:

- Interview with Slash from 1991
- Interview with Slash from 1992
- Interview with Izzy from 1992
- Two interviews with Slash from 1994 (Slash is wearing the same clothes, but the setting is different)
- Interview with Slash from 1995 (different from the two Much Music interviews we have from that year)
- Interview with Slash and Rod Jackson from 2000
- Interview with Dizzy and Tommy from 2002
- Interview with Gilby from 2003
- Interview with Velvet Revolver about "The Hulk" movie from 2003