Zutaut: "Damn, this is like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young! There are four writers in the band, you never find that"

Nice interview with Tom Zutaut where he tells the story of how he wanted to sign Guns n' Roses initially because of Axl Rose and then later how he was stunned to find that the band had four guys who could write good songs!

"Damn, this is like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young! There are four writers in the band, you never find that"

GN'R part starts around 19 minutes

Thanks for sharing! I'll add it to our interview database, too, later.



Interesting that he gave this interview now, though, because Brando asked him for an interview, too, and...



https://twitter.com/TheAFDPodcast/status/1776060350275686902

Blackstar wrote:Thanks for sharing! I'll add it to our interview database, too, later.



Interesting that he gave this interview now, though, because Brando asked him for an interview, too, and...



https://twitter.com/TheAFDPodcast/status/1776060350275686902

Wow, that's unexpected

Zutaut probably doesn't need the money?

Maybe he decided to charge so he doesn't have to say "yes" to every "Guns n' Roses podcaster" interview request out there?

Paid or not, he seems to be in a good position, an old guy telling "war stories" and enjoying himself while he does that!

Changing the subject, I don't know what to think about this Brando fella

He seems to be a bit too clueless about Guns n' Roses?

Example: he is completely clueless about Izzy's role in the band, he seems to treat Izzy as a minor figure at times (hysterical laughs)

Another example: he seems to ignore that Doug Goldstein was the main enabler of our lovely friend W. Axl Rose during the long-arc "Destruction-Era" (roughly 1990-1996, from Niven's firing to Slash/Duff leaving the band). I think I have heard him saying in one of his podcasts that he is writing a book with (or for, or about) Doug Goldstein -- or something like that.

What?

That's a bit too clueless if you ask me!

ludurigan wrote:
Zutaut probably doesn't need the money?

Maybe he decided to charge so he doesn't have to say "yes" to every "Guns n' Roses podcaster" interview request out there?

Paid or not, he seems to be in a good position, an old guy telling "war stories" and enjoying himself while he does that!

As far as I know, his current occupation is selling cars. He also has a radio show.

ludurigan wrote:Changing the subject, I don't know what to think about this Brando fella

He seems to be a bit too clueless about Guns n' Roses?

Example: he is completely clueless about Izzy's role in the band, he seems to treat Izzy as a minor figure at times (hysterical laughs)

What makes you think that?

I don't think that's the case. He's also working with the fan who has made the "Dust N' Bones" documentary about Izzy.

ludurigan wrote:Another example: he seems to ignore that Doug Goldstein was the main enabler of our lovely friend W. Axl Rose during the long-arc "Destruction-Era" (roughly 1990-1996, from Niven's firing to Slash/Duff leaving the band). I think I have heard him saying in one of his podcasts that he is writing a book with (or for, or about) Doug Goldstein -- or something like that.

What?

That's a bit too clueless if you ask me!

He has had both Alan Niven and Doug Goldstein a few times on his show.

Yes, he was ghostwriting Goldstein's book and then Doug bailed on him. Now they are seemingly talking again, but I don't know what the current deal with the book is.

Blackstar wrote:
As far as I know, his current occupation is selling cars. He also has a radio show.

Ha! Maybe he need the money then!

Blackstar wrote:
What makes you think that?

I think that based on what I saw/heard. I have watched about 20 or 30 of his podcasts, specially the early ones. Maybe he changed his mind after talking to so many people but that has really annoyed me.

Also he has had access to soooo many people and I always felt that he "wasted" so many of his interviews by not doing some questions (well, a lot of questions) that were begging to be made.

But hey, he is the one doing something and I ain't doing nothing so...

Blackstar wrote:
He has had both Alan Niven and Doug Goldstein a few times on his show.

Yes, he was ghostwriting Goldstein's book and then Doug bailed on him. Now they are seemingly talking again, but I don't know what the current deal with the book is.

Yes, I think I saw all the Niven and Goldstein episodes

Kudos for him for having all these people, including Doug, on his show. As far as I can tell from the distance, Doug was an utter and complete disgrace to GN'R and actively contributed to its destruction -- mostly by NEVER doing what Niven did to keep the band together plus ENABLING mostly Axl and Slash to take over the band and destroy it. A manager job is precisely not to allow that! My problem with Brando is that he never ever went any close to addressing this central, key matter with Goldstein.

I kind of understand why Brando avoids the really hard-hitting questions. If he did ask all the tough questions people would say no to being interviewed by him. They would simply not be part of it any more. If he was a big player, like a Howard Stern, with millions of listeners, they might still go on and accept hard-hitting questions, because it's such a large audience to which they can promote their projects. But with Brando? Nah, they would have no reason to endure questions they don't want want to answer.

If Brando becomes a Stern, then I am sure he will get tougher, but right now he just needs to build his audience and that means not pushing away interesting interviewees. Which is also crucial if he ever wants to get someone really great on the show, like Izzy or Axl.

As for Goldstein, he does come across as a slimeball. If I was Brando I would not get involved with that guy. But Brando knows him better than me, I just have to accept that he probably knows what he is doing.

Soulmonster wrote:I kind of understand why Brando avoids the really hard-hitting questions. If he did ask all the tough questions people would say no to being interviewed by him. They would simply not be part of it any more. If he was a big player, like a Howard Stern, with millions of listeners, they might still go on and accept hard-hitting questions, because it's such a large audience to which they can promote their projects. But with Brando? Nah, they would have no reason to endure questions they don't want want to answer.

If Brando becomes a Stern, then I am sure he will get tougher, but right now he just needs to build his audience and that means not pushing away interesting interviewees. Which is also crucial if he ever wants to get someone really great on the show, like Izzy or Axl.

As for Goldstein, he does come across as a slimeball. If I was Brando I would not get involved with that guy. But Brando knows him better than me, I just have to accept that he probably knows what he is doing.

I see your point and it seems logical and it seems to make sense on the surface but I fully disagree with it

You can ask all the questions including the hard ones if you ask them properly and respectfully and even charmingly, without being rude and making sure that the guest doesn't need to reply if he doesn't want to

For example, on this particular subject, he could ask Doug these questions:

- What was your take on Izzy leaving Guns n' Roses?

- Did the band lose anything when Izzy left?

- In the Illusion Tour you had James Hetfield making fun of Axl, you had Mike Patton giving interviews making fun of Axl, you have Axl being late for 2 or 3 hours and this and that and the other. Was Axl spoiled?

- Was there any power play inside the band? Did you interfere?

and a zillion other questions like that

You can be even simpler than that and say something like "what is your take on Izzy Stradlin"

Or "what is your take on the general perception that Axl was spoiled and that Axl was surrounded by yes-men -- and in that case it would include you!"

Depending on the tone of your voice, on the way you phrase it, you can get away with asking pretty much ANYTHING

and that is precisely what great interviewers -- like Stern -- do

(or did at some point in their careers)

I think Brando did the hardest thing -- which is having all these people in his show -- and he didn't take advantage of it. He didn't reach 30% of the potential that his interviews could have had