2018.08.06 - Appetite For Distortion - Interview with Marcelle Sirkus (early friend of the band)

What's it like going to High School with Slash? ...sharing a crimping-iron with Izzy? ...having Axl read you the lyrics to "Back off Bitch" on Chris Weber's bed? ...being in a band with Tracii Guns before LA Guns? ...having your first slow dance with Hillel Slovak? ...seeing Flea run around naked at house parties? Those are just SOME of the experiences our guest has had in her life. Marcelle Sirkus comes on the AFD show to share her adventures with the GNR guys as well as talk about her new book, "A Shiksa's Guide to Shabbos: Don't blow out the candles!: Helpful Tips for Blending In with Your Jewish Significant Other."
Also joining us is friend/author/LA Guns first manager, Raz Cue. Episode 77 is a fun conversation and you may learn some things about GNR that you never knew!



Transcript:

[...]

Marcelle Sirkus: But going back, like even when I was about 17, I started playing with l friends from school, mostly. And a few of them went on to, you know, do some shows. But at the time, I was playing with Chris Weber. […] So that's when that started. So Chris's parents used to travel a lot. When they did, all the friends moved into the house and it was a beautiful home up above Laurel Canyon in the mountains. And we'd all just move in and start jamming. And I remember Chris taught me Anything Goes and… Chris didn't have issues. Like, our plan was we would have a band and we would gig and record. So I was playing with Chris and Tracii. And then I was in a band with Tracii for a while after that. But the Chris thing was great. And that's how I met Axl. So I met Axl at Chris Weber's house early 80s, way early 80s. And I remember sitting on the bed with Axl in Chris's room showing me Back Off Bitch. And you know, after about three rounds of the song, like in my head, I remember thinking, am I gonna be in a band and play a song Back Off Bitch? I don't think so. And I literally turned my bass over to Izzy and left the room. The funny thing about Izzy, I knew Izzy long before. He used to be in a band called Shire and he played bass, and I used to go see him play at the Troubadour.

Brando: I spoke to Alan Santalesa.

Marcelle: Mmm-hmm.

Brando: Do you remember him? Yeah, from the band Shire. I mean, that's what I...

Marcelle: Shire, yeah.

Brando: I love going back, so take us back to like, what would you consider... Because obviously the Izzy stuff and the Axl stuff, that's the juice. That's exciting. But I want to kind of go back into the family tree to when you finally move there. Like, what was the band that you thought was going to be big? Was it with Shire? Was it working with Tracii? Like, “Hey, this could be my career”. Was it always fun for you? And you were just having fun with your friends?

Marcelle: No, I was definitely career focused. 100%. And with Tracii, you know, part of what happens and what, what always happened with all the bands, and even the band that I ended up getting a recording contract and got a record deal, and made a CD and even Dizzy played on it. And that was back in like ‘95. Once you turn something you really love into a business, it transforms your connection to that. […]

Brando: So when you met Chris Weber, like, what was the first person that, did you have like a partner in crime? How they always said Axl and Izzy were the partners in crime. Did you have someone to kind of, because it was so incestuous that era, and Raz could tell you, you know, how many different players that LA Guns have and all, and that's how Guns N’ Roses formed. So did you have a specific player that you kind of wanted to go through these phases with?

Marcelle: I didn't, no. I didn't see it that way. I mean, I had players that...

Brando: Like, there was no one you connected with, like say, “You know what, I kinda want you to write songs for me” or...

Marcelle: Well, like, be best friends, yeah. I mean, every band, their best friendships form. That is true. For Chris Weber though, Chris to me was like, he wrote his songs and he was kind of independent the way he did that.

Brando: Okay.

Marcelle: I had other bands later on where I did write and the friendships were much more like a family and, you know, those groups went a lot further. They did, and they had a lot more success. And then again, being, you know, 16, 17, it was very fluid. Anyway, people were moving around a lot. I mean, I would be playing with Chris, and then I was playing with Tracii. Tracii had a band right out of high school called Pyrrhus. And then I was in that band, sort of in between Pyrrhus and LA Guns with Tracii. And we used to...

Brando: How was that experience?

Marcelle: Tracii was fantastic, great guitar player, and he brought together a lot of other really great players as well. And it was good. But for me, you know, I think, when I think about my playing as sort of the style where I was leaning toward, which was a little bit more melodic, you know, I mean, I'm just going to be totally candid with you. I can remember very clearly probably my last rehearsal with Tracii. And nothing against Tracy because, you know, he's a good friend. But I remember him saying, “Okay, right here, you just play A and I'm going to solo” and I'm like, “Okay”. And I feel like that went on for about 15 minutes. And then I was like, yeah, I just can't play A for 15 minutes. You know, so it wasn't, you know, musically challenging or fulfilling for me as feeling like a contributing player to that.

Brando: I gotcha.

Marcelle: Because later on, I really enjoyed writing and arranging music and coming up with melodic parts, and… you know. So I sought that out and found other bands that, you know, wanted to do that.

[...]

Brando: You were talking about [playing] with Pyrrhus and Tracii, so how did that end?

Marcelle: So what happened… Okay, so, well, somewhere in the mix - and I had been friends with Izzy for a couple of years before that.

Brando: Should we know that first? Should we know that first, how you became friends with Izzy before? I'm just trying to do the timeline right.

Marcelle: We just met him. Yeah, probably just through the band Shire hanging out at the Troubadour, going to see those guys play.

Brando: Do you remember the first time meeting him? Did you think anything? Did it affect you - because I'm not like you knew he would be Izzy Stradlin?

Marcelle: No. No, no, I mean, I thought he was really cute. He was a lot of fun to hang out with. And he had some great record albums, you know, and sit around listening to New York Dolls or whatever he had going on. And he had this little apartment right above a very popular nightclub off of Sunset called The Coconut Teaser. He had this great little apartment right up the street, right up the road from it. And I think I remember going there kind of after school and hanging out, you know, and... Like I said before, you know, he had this crimping iron and I would go there and crimp my hair, and that was, like, a thing to do. We'd listen to music and sometimes he would come to my house and just hang out. I mean, we were friends.

Brando: That's right, you said that to me off the air that you guys shared custody of a crimping iron.

Marcelle: We shared custody of a crimping iron. Yeah, we used to borrow it back and forth.

Brando: I love it.

Marcelle: So here's the Izzy thing. So going back, when Slash and I worked together - we had an afterschool job together at this place called Business Card Clock. And it was kind of like a mail order business. Customers would send in a picture, you know, they'd send in their business card and then Slash would photograph it, like 24 by 36, mounted onto foam core. I would install the clock movement and then we would ship them. And this was our afterschool job. And it was right when then that he was drawing the picture of Aerosmith. And I think I sent you two versions of it.

Brando: Yeah, they're awesome. They're really cool.

Marcelle: Yeah, in the middle of drawing it. So first he drew Steven Tyler, you know, and Joe Perry. And he took a photograph of it and he mounted it and he framed it for me. So I had that hanging up on my wall, thought it was really cool. And then he finished the drawing and he gave me another printout. He mounted it to the stick cardboard and I hung that up. And Izzy came over one day and said, “Wow, who drew that?” And I was like, “Oh, my friend Saul. He works over at Hollywood Music”. And he's like, “Oh, I gotta meet him”. I'm like, “Okay, well, go to Hollywood Music on Fairfax. He works there”. And so that's what called Izzy to Slash, it was the drawing.

Brando: That's something else. That's really…

Marcelle: Yeah.

Raz Cue: I hadn't heard that one.

Brando: Yeah, no, I…

Marcelle: You know what? I was talking to Slash about it too, not even that long ago, and he's like, “Yeah, it was that drawing, because he saw that thing at your house”. Because I remember that it happened that way, but sometimes, you know, after 20 or 30 years, you start to wonder if it really did.

Brando: “Did I make this up?”

Raz: (?)

Marcelle: Like, did I dream this? Yeah. But no, that is, you know. So that was really cool.

Brando: Yeah, the drawing is really cool. It's like, I mean, it's… I guess if you go out into the street and someone does like kind of like a caricature of yourself, like one of those, but where they kind of like really accentuate your features. It's not as accentuated as that, but in my opinion, it's kind of in the same vein as that style, and I like it. So, I mean, obviously you’ve got the original, so you gotta keep that real safe, but I still kind of want to get mine framed and put it up, because it's just a cool thing to have, especially with that background. I mean, Izzy could have easily said, “Oh, cool drawing.” But like, “Oh, I have to meet this person”? I don't know, something really connected with him clearly.

Marcelle: Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. So they came - you know, they were both kind of these bluesy guitar rock players. I could see how that connected. And then the Duff thing. I met Duff when he was playing with a band from Seattle called the Michael McMahon Band. I saw him at Madame Wong's West. And when I met him, I'm not sure yet if he even, you know, entered the picture, but I remember going to see them at Wong's. And they were fun. You know, he kind of had like this rockabilly punk style.

Brando: Sure.

Marcelle: Bolo ties and raffle shirts. […] You know, they were e a lot of fun.

Brando: You know, sometimes I think about today's fashion, what people wear, you know, tattoos in the face. I'm like, wow, people are morons. Why can't they be like they used to be? And then I just think about bolo ties and just, you know, the 80s. I'm like, is there ever an era where human beings didn't dress like just weirdos? Like, I don't know.

Marcelle: No. I don't think there is.

Brando: So this was all before, because it seems real… That was a really interesting story you hit on briefly before, when you were sitting on Axl's bed and he was showing you Back Off Bitch, and you were like, “This isn't for me”. And you showed Izzy.

Marcelle: Chris Weber’s room.

Brando: Yes. So was that before or after he inquired about meeting Slash?

Marcelle: I gotta say that's probably… oh, that's a really good question. I'm not sure if he knew him yet. He might've already, they might've already met.

Brando: Was Axl showing you that he kind of wanted perhaps to recruit you to play with him or he was showing you as a friend? Like how did that…

Marcelle: I don't know - no, I don't know. It was definitely like, hey, let's have a band and who plays and let's jam out these songs.

Brando: Oh wow.

Marcelle: Yeah, and the conversations didn't get much further than that. And I think that, you know, had I stayed with that… I never felt from Axl any kind of feeling that, because I was a girl, that he would not have wanted to share that with me. Not ever. I mean, he's always been really open about even my opinions about his own stuff. Even during Use Your Illusion, I spent a bit of time with them over at the recording studio. And I was in there a few nights when he was recording, of all things, Back Off Bitch.

Brando: Wow. Life, man.

Marcelle: Very strange irony about that, yeah. But it was like, it was just me, me and my friend, we were driving around and it was, like, a Saturday night or a Friday night and there really wasn't anything going on. And I said, “Oh, I think my friend is recording down the street, should we go pop in?” And she had no idea. And I just, you know, walked in the Record Plant and I'm like, “Yeah, tell Axl Marcelle is here”. And five minutes later, we're listening to vocal recordings of Back Off Bitch. Like, “Is this good or is that good? Did you like that one?” And, you know, it was really fun.

Brando: Wow.

Marcelle: Because he knew I went really way back with the song to begin with, so…

Brando: Yeah. So, you know what, I've asked this before, I forget if it was to Roberta Freeman or who else, but they have some lyrics that could be questionable. Yeah, Back Off Bitch, you know, with It's So Easy… But you were friends with these people also. So how did you look at that, like those kind of lyrics, especially in, like, today's climate, where, you know, the MeToo movement… And I know it was a different era back then, like how did you perceive it? Was it just like, hey, these are my friends, these are just lyrics, were you ever offended by it? I mean, like how did you look at it?

Marcelle: No, I don't think I was. I mean, I might, you know, the very first time hearing it, sitting there with him. I don't know if I thought that it was even a marketable, fun anthem to go on stage and belt out, you know? But I didn't judge it. I wouldn't have judged it. And even now, you know, I don't know.

Raz Cue: It's weird, that song for me. Like I've never assigned the bitch with a gender in that song. It's always this, “back off bitch”. It's not male or female, it's just back off bitch.

Brando: With that particular song, I do agree, but it's with, like, It’s So Easy, “turn around bitch I got a use for you”. When I asked something-

Marcelle: I don't even think he wrote that. Didn't West write that?

Raz Cue: I think that was a West song, too.

Brando: Yeah, I mean, I know it's a West song. I just don't know what the percentage of lyrics. I don't have that particular knowledge.

Raz Cue: I think when back in the 80s and 90s when chicks heard that song, “turn around bitch, I got a use for you”, they were saying, “me too”.

Marcelle: (Laughs) Maybe so.

Brando: Fair enough. Because I asked a similar question along the same kind of thought processes to Ernie C about One in a Million: “You know Axl personally, but what do these lyrics mean to you?” He just said Axl's not that dude. He's just talking about the character. So I just wanted to get the same sense for you. Is it as a character or did any part of that… Like with One in a Million, like we knew at some point it bothered Slash. They still recorded it, so just for someone going back as far with them as you do, I was just curious.

Marcelle: Yeah, no, I mean, you know, on a personal level as friends, I never experienced anything with Axl or Slash that made me think that they were not good people or they were someone that I wouldn't want to be friends with. And I'm pretty... I have a good relationship with my own values, I'll say that. So, you know, to me, it's always been good friendships and kind to each other. And, you know, Axl has never been anything but generous and thoughtful to me and around me. And, you know, maybe I make him a little bit nervous.

Brando: It's your shiksappeal. I don't know.

Marcelle: Maybe it's a shiksappeal, you know? I mean, sometimes, he doesn't know what to say, but we go a long way back and, you know, he doesn't have to say anything. I've always enjoyed the friendship and he's obviously very talented and he's very smart. And I don't mean just smart. Like, there's a level of intelligence that he has that in a lot of ways probably would make it hard to function as a normal person in society. You know, he has a lot more to express and to give, and he comes from a very authentic place. And sometimes that place is in a lot of pain, obviously, and so we see that, right? But it's brilliant the way he's able to share that. And I don't think that he's really sitting there thinking how it's gonna be interpreted or who's going to feel something because of it. I think he's very true to his own authenticity. And at the end, maybe that's why everybody's just so drawn to it.

Brando: I can see that totally, absolutely. I think you described how a lot of people perceive him, but you know him personally. Do you remember the first time you met him? Did you, like, just like with Ratt and other bands, you saw a future for them? Did you see a future for him when you first met him, or was he just like this awesome redheaded dude?

Marcelle: No, he was just this cool, nice Indiana guy named Bill.

Brando: Right.

Marcelle: And who used to hang out, you know, at Chris Weber's house, and then the three of us or whoever was around we used to go to Sunset to this place called Cafe L.A. and eat pizza and garlic balls endlessly. And then, you know, when we weren't sitting there talking about music, we were back up in Laurel Canyon on the phone for three hours trying to get those guys to deliver the pizza and garlic balls, which they did not do. It was very typical, you know, kind of teenage stuff. I remember him at the Rainbow. I remember those guys trying to get into the Rainbow. And they had a policy, girls had to be 18. I was 16, but I was still getting in. And guys had to be 21. So that kept him out of the action for a while. So those guys used to hang out up at the clubs, waiting for last call and for everyone to pile out. And then we would go to afterhours clubs. And there were some great ones, you know, and that's before their band was really big. But you know, I remember even before the shows, before GN’R was really… like I remember seeing Hollywood Rose, of course too. But I remember some of the shows at Scream, like Scream downtown. I don't know Raz, if you would remember, they played downtown and they covered – like, they ripped apart black garbage bags and they taped them all over the floor, I guess to protect the carpeting. And so the promoters used to take out these huge places and run nightclubs. And I remember them playing one of those, and it was just phenomenal. You could just see it really coming together, and it was great. And Steven was great. The same thing, I met Steven. Steven was living in Slash's garage when I met him. I was about 16. I remember because I was driving an Opel Manta, which was my first car. And, like, literally I would be driving around and the guys would be in the street. They would literally jump on the hood of my car, “Hey, can you ride somewhere?” “Hi, here we go”. And so I used to cruise around with Steven because he was living there and that was around the block from my house. But they were just great. They had a vibe. And again, you know, Slash was a great musician. Slash is a great guitar player. I mean, there's no question about that. Early on, really early on. And Izzy had a cool vibe, you know, and Axl had attitude, put a voice to it.

[...]

Marcelle: I used to go to their practices, even before they moved into Gardner Studios, there's this place called Program on Selma and that's where my band was rehearsing. And I'd see GN’R there. And sometimes we would just go watch them practice. And I remember there's a great moment that happens in a musician's life - this is very spiritual now - when you get the instrument of your dreams and that moment that you unveil that instrument. And I remember with Slash one day at a rehearsal studio, the day he opened the guitar case to show us the Gold Top Les Paul. That was a moment I will never forget.

Raz: Howie Huberman.

Marcelle: I mean, he was a Gibson guy, you know, and it was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was Program, so that was like a small studio in Hollywood, but before Raz had his place.

Brando: Okay, I gotcha. So then what was the first GN’R show that you saw when they were officially Guns N' Roses? No more Hollywood Rose, no more LA Guns, now they're officially Guns N' Roses.

Marcelle: Guns N' Roses?

Brando: Yeah.

Marcelle: That's a good question. One of the early shows that I remember clearly was at the Roxy because Duff borrowed a fretless Fender Precision bass of mine. And so I was at soundcheck, my eyes were glued to the bass. You know, I just would not take my eyes off, I followed it around, you know, like a duck hunt. But-

Brando: Good analogy, I like that.

Marchelle: Yeah. I meant literally, like I'm at soundcheck and I'm not seeing or hearing anything. I'm just watching my bass. So that was a big show with the Roxy. But I had seen them play again at some of the smaller clubs and, you know, maybe even at the Cathouse and just sort of that circuit.

Brando: Did you get a vibe from them that you did with some of the other bands?

Marcelle: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Raz Cue: It was hard to miss, wasn't it? Like, they were that good.

Marchelle: I would say they were that good. I mean, the songs were that good. This is the thing. You know, if you can go, you can see... You can go to a show and watch 15 bands at the Roxy or the Whiskey any night of the week, if you could get through it. Because it's always the thing that's missing. And there might be musicianship, but there's just... there are no songs. There's nothing that's going to grab you, and even the way they're arranged and the way they're written. And there's a professionalism and it has nothing to do with musical education whatsoever. It's an innate sense of timing and just the expression overall. And it reaches people, you know, or it doesn't. And they just had it. Great, great songs, great vibe, a lot of attitude and a lot of energy. And not a lot of compromise.

Marcelle Sirkus: And it was a good time to have those things. I mean, they came out in an era, you know, we were coming off of, again, bands like Ratt, you know, a lot of makeup and 45 bandanas tied around their leg and lipstick and all that shit, you know. And GN'R just didn't do it. In fact, there's a story early on of Slash before GN'R was signed, considering an audition for Poison. I remember when Poison first came out. Do you know the story, Raz?

Raz Cue: Yeah, yeah, I heard this. Go ahead.

MS: Well, basically that the guys came out, you know, what they did in Poison when they came out on stage, they would jump out on stage and say, "Hi! I'm Brett!" Hi! I'm CeCe!" and they wanted him to jog out there and go, "Hi! I'm Slash!" That was it. He was done.

RC: What's funny is I heard that story at the time, because Axl was in LA Guns. And Slash was telling him that he was trying out for Poison, or whatever. And supposedly, Slash said right then, he's like, they were like, "Yeah, it's between you and CeCe for the band," for Poison, right? And then, "You've been to a Poison show?" and he's like, "Yeah," and they go, "Anything about our band that," you know, "you have any thoughts?" and he's like, "You know that part where you do that, 'Hi! I'm Bobby!' 'Hi, I'm Ricky!'? like you just said, and Slash says, "I think that's the gayest shit I ever heard in my life."

[laughs]

[...]

Brando: Are you surprised that so many people from your era have kind of survived? I mean, obviously, rest in peace, hello. But I mean, with all the Guns N’ Roses guys, did you expect any of them to be, you know, like did you expect in 2018 all the GN’R guys to be here and the possibility of a full Appetite reunion to be there.

Marcelle: Yeah, I am a little bit surprised. I mean, some stuff that went on with Nikki Sixx and Slash and… you know, you've heard the stories. Some pretty scary stuff. And the Steven thing, I get it. I just want to say, too - and I know fans are upset, obviously, that Steven's not a part of that. And the sense I get is that, you know, Steven's... Okay, let's say it here. This is a long concert to play. This is a heavy commitment and a grueling schedule, and an incredible, physically demanding opportunity, right? And they're doing it, and they're like superhuman doing it. And I really don't - I think more than anything, I believe that the decisions that were made that didn't really facilitate Steven being on the tour had more to do with the physicality, with the physical demands of being able to just do it. And they made decisions that they had to make. And I think that, I mean, personally, I think they are doing a phenomenal job. It is a legendary tour. I can't imagine what could come after it. I mean, forget raising the bar. They've just set the bar. I mean, go to another concert and watch a band play for three and a half hours with that level of energy and precision, and put on a show like they are. I mean, they're giving the fans an incredible experience. It's fantastic. And it's unfortunate that not everybody was up to being able to be a part of that.

Brando: He says… you know, when Steven has spoken publicly, he believes that he is physically able to do it. And I think that's what he's trying to prove now with Adler's Appetite, they did those dates in Australia and we'll see what they do here in America. I mean, he's even put it out there, I think even Frank said, like “if he wants to play the Appetite stuff, I could play the other stuff”. Do you think it was as cut and dry as that? Or they could have been creative with it and maybe have Steven do more than what he did in his guest spots. I mean, do you talk to any of these guys? I mean, I think you did say, like, I mean, like on a regular basis or just every now and then you keep in touch? Because I'm just curious like what you know of their feelings now.

Marcelle: Yeah, more recently than in the past. In past years, you know, there was a gap there. But no, I mean, you know, without saying he said or she said, I can tell you that there's a feeling that the physicality of it would take its toll and that it would leave them, you know, in an awkward situation where he’s not able to perform.

Brando: What are your thoughts on Izzy then? What was the last time you spoke to him? Because he sees obviously the…

Marchelle: Oh my god… It’s really a long time ago. We facebook-friended, I think in 2010, and I don't think we've talked since. Yeah, it's been a really long time. I mean, I remember hearing after he had left that he went back to Indiana and he was driving his go-karts and he was very happy. And that still may be the case. But, you know, if you think about it, anytime you have a partnership or a band or a business of any kind, and let's say you have a business and you and your partner, you both make more money than you could spend. You're happy and everything's great. And then suddenly you want to do a particular kind of music or go in a certain direction and your partner doesn't. So the next likely thing to happen is that you're going to part ways. Because you both have the ability and the resources and the desire and experience to express the music that you want to express. I mean, it's really interesting, you know, because Slash, the whole Guns N' Roses thing is very similar to what happened with Aerosmith. And I remember when Aerosmith was kind of, you know, not together and saying to Slash, “Hey, you want to go to whatever, the Whiskey or do something?” And he'd be like, “No, I'm going to Madam Wong's to see the Joe Perry Project”. Like, “Oh, we'll enjoy sitting in a room by yourself with two other people”, you know? And I was like, “Yeah, Joe Perry”. It's so interesting how they kind of went their ways and then came back together. And GN’R kind of went that same route.

[…]  

Marcelle: I'll tell you what. One of my most memorable - and I saw probably, I don't know, more than half a dozen shows on the Not In This Lifetime. The show that I saw with Slash right before GN’R. So GN’R, the first show I saw on this tour was in Vegas. Right? 2016 in April. So that was, you know, right after Axl broke his foot at the Troubadour, like a week later, they were in Vegas and I saw that Vegas show. And before that in October 2015, I saw Slash play with Myles Kennedy. And I didn't know anything about Myles Kennedy, but it was like, you know, our buddy Slash is playing, you know, we should, we should go support. So I went to see him at the Palladium. Unbelievable, knocked us out. I mean, and it was like, a three hour show and it was phenomenal. And we had no idea at all about a GN’R reunion or anything like that. I mean, GN’R aside, Slash is an incredible, incredible guitar player to watch. No matter who he's playing with or where he's playing, I would go see it. He's one of my favorite guitar players, hands down.

[...]

Brando: I know, Marcelle, you said you saw six on that in this lifetime, but did you get to see Axl Rose with AC/DC? I was lucky enough. I think five rows from the stage here in Madison Square Garden, and I was like, whoa. Like, I did not expect that.

Marcelle: Yeah, I heard some of the live video, and it was amazing.

Raz Cue: That's great, yeah.

Brando: Did not expect that.

Marcelle: Amazing. Did not expect it.

Brando: Not at all.

Marcelle: No.

Raz Cue: Hey, you know what? Back in the day when Axl was in L.A. Guns, I told him one time, I was like, “You know what, when AC/DC needed a new singer after Bon Scott died, they should have got you”. And so it's funny, like 30 years later, just - I didn't put that in my book because it seems so far- fetched. But I actually told him that back then, because it would have been perfect. Can you imagine that back then? But Back in Black is a pretty great album. We didn't lose anything. We got Appetite and Axl in AC/DC.

[...]

Marcelle: You know, Raz will tell you, in 25 years you probably never saw me, you know, even remotely drunk, and that is true. I'm a very kind of controlled person and didn't get into that kind of stuff. But, you know, I have a credit on Use Your Illusion, and I like to say, people say to me, “How come your name's on that record?” And I'm like, “Well, because I'm a voice of reason in chaos.”

Brando: Yeah, so how did that come about? I didn't know that. So what's the… I'll have to go back and look at the notes. You were given a credit because you helped an argument?

Marcelle: Because I am a voice of reason. Just a friendship and, you know, I spent a lot of time and I remember there was some… It was awkward, right? It was very awkward. First of all, Slash and Axl weren't ever recording at the same time during Use Your Illusion. The studio was always kind of weirdly quiet, there'd always be, maybe, one or two people, you know, working at any given time. And I remember one night after recording, I guess Axl was with Dizzy and Dizzy’s wife at the time, Lisa, came by, and the four of us were left and it was, like, 3:00 in the morning. And Axl took us up to his house that he had just bought up in Hollywood Hills. He hadn't moved in yet and everybody was drinking. And after everybody drinking, I became the designated driver to take Axl back home at the end of the night. And we came tearing back down the mountain and he had his road soda in his hand and he was yelling at me, he was yelling at me to take the turns faster. And it's like, you know, freezing out at night, top was down on his BMW. I said, “Okay, okay”. So, you know, I hit the gas and took a turn and his drink just went all over him in the front seat (laughs). No, it was hilarious.

Brando: He asked for it.

Marcelle: Yeah, he did. Yeah.

Brando: It was no one’s fault.

Marcelle: We were laughing about it. We were laughing about it. But yeah, I mean, it was a lot of drinking. And I think he was probably - that was right around the time, too, that he was going through his divorce and we just talked a lot, you know, like friends do, that's all. So that's what it's about.

Brando: Right. Do you still talk?

Marcelle: I only saw him very briefly once at the start of the tour, you know, to say hello, and that was it. Yeah.

Brando: But it's still, you know, every once in a while he - I mean, obviously he remembers you, but you could still say he's still a friend, I guess.

Marcelle: I think you could say that, yeah.

Brando: Okay.

Marcelle: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like when I say “It's Marcelle”, he's like “Marcelle?! Marcelle Marcelle?”, you know, from a long time ago?

Brando: Sure.

Marcelle: Like, yeah, yeah.

[...]

Marcelle: So I used to rent a space with my band. It was around 1986. We had a space at the Hollywood Billiards at Hollywood and Western, and that's where I reconnected with Sid [Riggs] and Dizzy from The Wild.

Brando: Oh, okay.

Marcelle: Because they had a lockout up there.

Raz Cue: Did you go to a lot of Wild shows back then, like when they were over on Gardner and stuff or later?

Marcelle: Oh, yeah. Yeah. A crap ton.

Raz Cue: Yeah, those guys were great.

Marcelle: Yeah. Johnny and the Jaguars. First of all, Johnny and the Jaguars. All the time. In fact, I remember the Duff incident where he borrowed my rig for that Roxy show. And I guess he didn't have a car and I didn't have a car big enough to get my stuff home, and Dizzy came to the rescue. He was the only one that had a truck.

Raz Cue: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Marcelle: All those guys were living at Gardner Studio. That was the funniest thing, you know, during Use Your Illusion that night, Axl and I were driving around the city. And we said, “Hey, let's go to the old studio”. And it was so sad. Like, we parked the car in the lot where Gardner Studios was, but they had already demolished the bungalows that were there. And, you know, we paid homage, like, we stood there silently at 5 in the morning and paid homage to the empty space that was… for the rest of our shenanigans.

Raz Cue: Over there, the Guitar Center parking lot, like, in the what? The north?

Marcelle: Yeah, right behind it. Yeah, in the north, yeah, the northeast corner.

Raz Cue: Oh, no, southwest. I'm backwards. I'm spun around. But, yeah, over there in the far part away from the...

Marcelle: Yeah, yeah, if you go up that little side street, that's been on the right.

Raz Cue: Do you feel the ghost of rock and roll pass right there when you sit there?

Marcelle: I'll tell you what I feel. I feel the ghost of like 10,000 ants crawling around the bathroom. Do you remember that?

Raz Cue: That bathroom, man. Man, that was like… man, that bathroom. […]

Marcelle: But I can't imagine like four bands of guys living in those studios and using that ant-infested bathroom. I mean, that was, seems gross. […]

Listened through this and transcribed the parts that was relevant to the history section.

I have transcribed some more parts that could be useful (added them in the OP).

I think we can delete the posts with the unedited transcript now.

Blackstar wrote:I have transcribed some more parts that could be useful (added them in the OP).

I think we can delete the posts with the unedited transcript now.

Yeah, I deleted them.

I am glad you transcribed more, @Blackstar, because I ended incorporating more of her quotes.

It frustrates me I can't figure out the date of the Roxy show where Duff used a fretless bass. I looked at pics in Marc's book but couldn't figure it out.