Axl Rose

by **Soulmonster** Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:02 pm

AXL ROSE

Pseudonyms/former names:
William Bruce Rose, Jr.; William Bruce Bailey; Bill Bailey; W. Axl Rose.

Date of birth:
February 6, 1962.

Band position:
Founding member. Lead vocalist and composer. Plays piano (November Rain) and guitar (Dead Horse) live on selected songs.

Time with Guns N' Roses:
1985-present.

Shows with the band:
{AXLSHOWS}

by **Soulmonster** Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:26 am

Quotes:

Recounting the first meeting: I remember, the first day at school there was this big fucking commotion. I heard all these books hit the ground, yelling, and then [Axl] went running past. A bunch of fucking teachers chasing him down the hallway...[Classic Rock, 2001]

I remember the first day of school I heard this fucking commotion out in the hallway, books flying everywhere and this guy ran past the door with teachers chasing him. I found out later that was Bill, Axl. I ended up with him in driver’s education class – he’s a fucking horrible driver – but that’s how I remember meeting him. So I figured this guy would probably be a good singer, he doesn’t care, he’s obviously a fucking nut, so he seemed like the perfect singer [bol.com, March 2001]

I thought, well, here's a guy who's completely crazy, he'd be a fucking great singer. We had to coax him a bit [and] it didn't go so well in the early days. Sometimes he would just come over and stand around, like he was embarrassed. Or he'd start to sing and then he'd just leave. Walk out and I wouldn't see him again for like three days! Some things didn't change, huh? [Classic Rock, 2001]

[Axl] was like a serious lunatic when I met him. He was just really fucking bent on fighting and destroying things. Somebody'd look at him wrong, and he'd just, like, start a fight [Rolling Stone, November 1988]

I met Axl in drivers' ed. We were long-haired guys in high school. You were either a jock or a stoner. We weren't jocks, so we ended up hanging out together. We'd play covers in the garage. There were no clubs to play at, so we never made it out of the garage. Axl was really shy about singing back then. But I always knew he was a singer [117 Degrees, biography and info, 1998]

Axl and I have known each other for 15 years. We grew up together back in the Midwest. We had a couple garage bands that never went out and did anything. We came out here and played every club in the city off and on over the years. We still go back and play there once in a while too(...) I wrote pretty much right away with Axl. He would come over with a lot of lyrics. It was basic stuff but it got us going and it was fun. [Guitar For The Practising Musician, 1988]

I was living in Huntington Beach, and Axl came out with a backpack. He stayed for about a week. But he came back a year later and we started a band called Hollywood Rose [117 Degrees, biography and info, 1998]

Axl moved out here, and was staying...I think he was staying with Izzy. And Izzy kept telling me about this guy, who was like his best friend back home, and he's really cool. I'm gonna try and make him sing, you know? And so they put Hollywood Rose together, you know -- or Rose ... I think it was called Rose. First it was called A-X-L -- that was the original name of their band, A-X-L ... and whatever that meant. But, anyway, Axl ended up using that as his name. And then they did Rose, and Hollywood Rose, and they had different people in that band.

So then we moved to this house, and Axl decided that: Well, you know, I don't know what's really going on with me, and I know that L.A. Guns is doing it's thing. So, you know, why don't we just continue writing songs together, since we live together and everything? And I was like: Yeah, of course -- you know, do whatever we want. And then we came up with the name Guns N' Roses -- you know, it just made sense. You know, it was like: Hey, you know? I'm Tracii Guns and you're Axl Rose. Let's just, you know, kinda put it together. Yeah, so we'll put out singles and we'll call it Guns N' Roses [Spin Magazine, Outtakes for Axl Rose Issue, 1999]

Izzy was playing with my singer’s brother’s band called, Shire. He was the bass player, and I met him at a Shire show. We became best friends right away, and he moved into my mom’s house, where I was living. Axl came out a few times before he actually stayed in LA. Axl lived at my mom’s house on and off for a while till Izzy moved on, and in with his girlfriend, Desi. Then Axl and I were attached at the hip for a couple years. We were all very close [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

Talking about Axl's name when he met him: [Axl] was still Bill! It’s weird to call him Bill. Axl just suited him so well. When people would get mad at him they would call him Bill, but Bill was a very uncomfortable thing to call him once he was Axl. [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

Talking about Axl when he was singing in L.A. Guns before the formation of Guns N' Roses: [Axl] was very easy to get along with. He was excited to play live music, and excited to write music. He was a good friend, and we all had each other’s back. Axl at that point in time was a real gentleman. He was a very smart and funny guy. The kind of guy you would want as a best friend. [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

Talking about Axl's fight with Nadir D'Priest, the singer of 'London': When Izzy joined London, we started doing a lot of shows together, as we were all supposedly friends. I am still friends with Nadir, which is weird. But Axl had seen Nadir detune my guitars before we went on, or so he claimed. But, sure enough, when I went to put my guitar on that night it was out of tune. I put the next guitar on – it was out of tune as well. So when we went on stage, Axl ripped up a London poster. There is a photo of this in Marc Canter’s book. That was the beginning of all hell breaking loose between those two. Axl and Izzy were kind of humble guys, but growing up they had their share of street fights. So just because they were on the quiet side, didn’t mean that they wouldn’t whip somebody’s butt. On the flip side, Nadir was a really tough guy. He had been in and out of jail, and was a pretty tough kid. A lot of the time I would pick up Axl from work at Tower Video, and a few times Nadir was waiting for Axl outside. They would have these quick little battles, then Nadir would run off. One day, Nadir was waiting outside with a gun! Axl is a tough motherfucker, man. He picked up a broken street sign and just whacked Nadir with it! As far as I know, that was the last time they tangled. [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

Axl ended up singing for LA Guns until he got in a fight with our manager. But Axl decided we should continue writing songs together since we lived together. Then we came up with the name Guns N' Roses - it was like: 'I'm Tracii Guns and you're Axl Rose' [The Days of Wine and Roses, Classic Rock, April 2005]

Talking about Axl getting fired from L.A. Guns and the formation of Guns N' Roses: I don’t even remember. It was probably over something ridiculous. We were all teenagers. It was after a gig, and we were all driving home in the same car. And Raz, our manager, just turned to Axl and said, “You’re fired. You’re not going to be in L.A. Guns anymore.” When we got home, Raz went into his room and Axl and I sat on the couch. We both looked at each other and said, “How in the hell can he fire anybody?” By the end of the conversation, we had constructed Guns N’ Roses. Also, Izzy wasn’t playing in London any longer, so that was kind of the catalyst to start a new band. [...] There was only one Rose, but Guns N’ Roses sounded better. It was just a coincidence that Duff was going by Duff Rose when he joined the band, so Guns N’ Roses made more sense at that point. [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

Since I knew Izzy and he had a new band I had to check it out. This was before Guns when they were called Hollywood Rose. When I first saw them and heard Axl singing I said "that's one damned talented singer." It was so obvious that he had something special [Heavy Mental, 1992]

Telling about leaving the band London: Axl came back. He showed up at my apartment saying he wanted to start [Hollywood Rose] up again. It seemed like a good idea [117 Degrees, biography and info, 1998]

Hearing Axl for the first time from a demo tape: But through the static din, way in the background, I heard something intriguing, that I believed to be their singer's voice. It was hard to make out and his squeal was so high-pitched that I thought it might be a technical flaw in the tape. It sounded like the squeak that a cassette makes just before the tape snaps - except it was in key [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

[...] then, all of a sudden, I noticed that Axl was like talking a lot in between songs. You know like we'd play, and then he'd talk to the crowd for like five minutes in between a couple of songs. And that kind of evolved to the point where me and Izzy, you know, really provided a lot of direction, and, you know trying to like keep this thing right, and just rock'n'roll, and just fun, you know? And he was like: No, the people need to -- you know, they like it, you know? So like: Okay -- whatever, you know? But it kept getting worse and worse and worse. And then he started hanging out with Michelle Young, And that's what that song "My Michelle"'s about, is about this girl. The two last shows that I did, we do sound check, and Axl shows up kinda late -- and he flips out. He's like: Tracii, motherfucker. You know, Michelle -- you know, Michelle Young's name isn't on the guest list. I'm like: Oh, well, I put it on there. And I did, you know? I was just like: What's this guy's trip? But he really, you know, fucked up the gig for me, 'cause I was like not into it. You know, I was like: Oh, this sucks. You know, this guy's all pissed off, and now he's dictating to the 150 people that are here, you know [Spin Magazine, Outtakes for Axl Rose Issue, 1999]

Talking about leaving Guns N' Roses: Axl kind of disappeared for a week in between two weekends of shows. I don’t know what he was doing. Maybe I thought I knew what he was doing, but I’m not going to assume what he was doing. He had called Izzy before sound check on the first night of two shows, and he told Izzy, “Tell Tracii to make sure that Michelle Young is on the guest list.” She was a friend of ours. So he showed up at sound check at 4:00 pm, and there was no guest list turned in. He went bananas on everybody. We were all like, “Jesus Christ, who is this guy?” It certainly wasn’t like Axl. It was a different person. I remember that we had a really good show that night – the place was packed. I remember Izzy and I starring across the stage at each other thinking, “What the fuck?” The vibe was just all dark and weird. The next night was the first time that Axl ever showed up late! (laughs). He really didn’t show up late, he just showed up at the last minute. After the show, I remember driving home with Duff. We were talking about how all of the fighting within the band wasn’t fun for anybody. The next week, I just stopped going to rehearsal. Axl would call me screaming and yelling, and then Izzy would get on the phone in a more calm voice and try to reason with me. I just wanted to have a good time. I was only 18 or 19 at the time. The band had turned into the podium for Axl to speak on stage, which is a great place to speak your mind, but the other four guys on stage wanted to play our songs. We were to the point where we were playing six songs a night rather than 12. We were definitely a tight knit unit. Nobody fucked with us when we were L.A. Guns, or Guns N’ Roses. It was like, “Fuck you, this is our way. This is how we do it.” Eventually we had the “Fuck you, it’s my way” attitude within the band. (laughs). That is when I left and Slash came in. [Tales From The Stage, February 2013]

First meeting: Steven and I went to see Hollywood Rose at Gazzari's and it was the first time that I beheld, hands down, the best singer in Hollywood at the time: W. Axl Rose. Much like the tape, the show was nothing more than an amateur garage band doing their best, but they had an amazing sense of reckless abandon and energy. At least two of them did: apart from Izzy and Axl, the band was pretty nondescript, but those two friends from Lafayette, Indiana, had an ominous presence about them. Izzy kept doing knee slides all over the stage and Axl screamed his fucking heart out-their performance was blistering. Axl's voice drew me in immediately; it was so versatile, and underneath his impossibly high-pitched shrieking, the bluesy natural rhythm he had was riveting [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Our friend Michelle was getting ecstasy long before it became a popular drug. Axl is bipolar and he was doing it, it made him mean. The guy I was living with for the past two years was now crazy. [Glitzine, November 2005]

When I showed up at my first GN'R rehearsal in late March, 1985, Axl and I said hi to each other and started joking around about this and that. I liked him right away. Whoever was running the sound then asked Axl to test out the microphone. Axl let out one of his screams, and it was like nothing I had ever heard. There was two voices coming out at once! There's a name for that in musicology, but all I knew in that instant was that this dude was different and powerful and fucking serious. He hadn't yet entirely harnessed his voice - he was more unique than great at that point - but it was clear he hadn't moved out to Hollywood from Indiana for the weather. He was there to stake a claim and show the whole fucking world what he had [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p 58]

It was at a Black Sheep gig that I started talking to Axl. He told me he had a falling out with Tracii Guns and asked if I wanted to join the band [Guitar World, July 2007]

I remember when we first met Axl. Slash and I went to see Axl and Izzy's band Rose at Gazzarri's. I met Axl and he didn't have the make-up or the hair all done up so I didn't recognize him, I said, 'Dude, weren't you the singer from that band last night? Well, you're fucking great." He then introduced me to Izzy [Reckless Road, 2010]

Once, as I was leaving Izzy's place, I bumped into this skinny, pale-as-a-ghost rock n' roll dude with long orange hair. He was wearing a light blue, unbuttoned dress shirt, completely exposing his ribs, which were sticking out like a starving dog's. We met in the middle of the street, and I didn't recognize him at first, but when we said hey to each other, I realized who he was. "Dude, you're that kick-ass singer I saw play Gazzarri's. I thought you were great." He smiled and said, "Thanks." He seemed very humble and gracious. That was the first time I ever spoke to Axl Rose ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

Axl and I instantly hit it off [Guitar For The Practising Musician, April 1992]

To me, Axl when we first got together, I was like, ‘He’s good, but I don’t know’. But that’s when we had these other two cats in the band [guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner] and the band was not clicking. But by the time Slash and Steven had joined the band and we were starting to really click. Axl all of the sudden clicked too. It took something for him to click, and it took something for Slash to click. But when it happened, it was somethin’ to see. I’m telling ya [Kerrang, March 1990]

One thing I soon learned about Axl: if he saw something in a person, he would do everything possible to ensure that person remained part of his vision [Duff's Autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 59]

Axl impressed me [during their first times together] the way he always has: no matter what anyone might say about him, Axl Rose is brutally honest. His version of events might not be singular, to say the least, but the truth is, he believes in what he says with more heart than anyone else I've ever met [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Axl sometimes slept on the street back then [Duff's Autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 59]

Without missing a beat [Axl] grabbed the mike in the middle of the song and just started running up and down the walls, screaming and wailing like someone had his pants on fire. I had never heard such a sound in my life. It was like some otherwordly banshee cry. I was stoked. I remember my eyes bugged a bit and my pulse shot up; I was thinking this dude was insane, so original ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

[...] Axl appeared both more punk and more metal than the whole L.A. scene put together [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 88]

Recounting a confrontation with Axl from the early days while in a driving car: I hadn't known Axl long, but I already knew him well enough to understand that he was a sensitive, introspective person who endured serious mood swings, so I chose my words carefully and presented the issue in a very nonjudgemental, objective tone. Axl stared out the window as I spoke, then he started rocking back and forth in the passenger seat. (...) when suddenly, he opened the car door and jumped out without a word. He stumbled, kind of hopped, and made it onto the sidewalk without falling (...). It was pretty clear to me from that point forward that Axl had a few personality traits that set him very far apart from every other person I'd ever known [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Axl was a loner who wrote killer lyrics about who we were and how we lived and what we were experiencing at the time (...) ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

Talking about meeting and opening for Johnny Thunders at Fender's Ballroom in December 1986: ...Unfortunately, one of the first things that happened when we got down to Fender's for the show was that Johnny started to chat up Axl's girlfriend Erin while we were onstage doing sound check. [...] Axl flipped out when he got wind that Johnny had hit on Erin, and began a tirade back-stage. Axl could be intimidating when he started yelling and carrying on. Johnny spent the rest of the night hiding in his dressing room, jonesing for a fix [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p 58]

Axl was into Nazareth, Queen, and the Ramones [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 96]

Talking about the early days: Axl is punk rock without that true hardcore guy. He was just born that way [Youngstown News, April 2012]

by **Soulmonster** Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:33 pm

He's a good singer, man. He's cool. He's temperamentally, he's pain in the ass, but we love him too. [...] He's been great since we've been in Japan. He's been really cool. [...] When Axl's like, easy to be around, he's great. When he's hard to be around, he's a pain in the fucking ass [Interview with Slash and Duff, 1988]

Axl's a real temperamental guy. He is hard to get along with [Rolling Stone, November 1988]

[...] sometimes, the situation was grotesque: Axl left the stage after the second song, and I said to myself: "Pfff...We look like idiots! [Hard Rock Interview, June 2001]

[Axl]'s personal issues were beginning to affect the band in a way that drug habits were not (at least not yet). Axl had intense emotional swings marked by periods of incredible energy followed by days on end when he would be overtaken by black moods and disappear - and miss rehearsals. Since I have suffered from panic attacks since I was seventeen, I knew all too well how crippling things like that could be. Axl and I talked together about it once in a while, and I told him about my panic attacks. I quickly realized that while each of us in the band had his own things to deal with, Axl's was closest to mine - a sort of chemical imbalance that he had no more control over than I did over my panic attacks. After that, we had an understanding [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 95-96]

Axl's unpredictable mood swings also electrified him - a sense of impending danger hung in the air around him. I loved that trait in him. Artists are always trying to create a spark, but Axl was totally punk rock in my eyes because his fire could not be controlled. One minute the audience might be comfortably watching him light up the stage; the next instant he became a terrifying wildfire threatening to burn down not just the venue but the entire city. He was brazen and unapologetic and his edge helped sharpen the band's identity and separate us from the pack [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 96]

Axl continued to drop out of sight for days on end as a result of his erratic moods. Sometimes it was as if he was on speed, bouncing off the walls; then he would sleep for three days. When he was around, he was a bundle of energy: we're going to do this and that, and, oh, yeah, let's write some lyrics. And we were like, yeah, we're going to do those things but we can't do them all at the same time, Axl. I was always aware of what a fundamentally different type of person he was from me - what a spectacle., I thought, what a figure - but we continued to get along great, and I loved his sense of conviction about the band [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 116-117]

We picked up another Fender's gig at the end of July [...]. In hindsight, we might have seen the seeds of later trouble being sown at this show: Axl turned up so late we had to start without him. [...] The night of the Alice Cooper gig, Axl showed up late again and then was unable to get into the venue. Izzy and I sang. At the time it was almost funny - though we were definitely pissed, too, and we absolutely trashed the dressing room. We traded some words with Axl when we found him in the parking lot afterward, but at the end of the day the situation lacked much in the way of consequences [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 119-120]

Axl and I got in a fight the day we moved out from Vicky [Hamilton's] and destroyed her apartment, her furniture and the hallway. Axl threw me against this glass coffee table and a fire extinguisher and destroyed the apartment [Reckless Road, 2010]

Ever since the band had started, there had been some vague animosity between Axl and Steven. This happens in all bands. All bands. I could never quite figure out what these two guys had against each other [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 151-152]

If it weren't for this band I would just hate to think what [Axl] would have done [Rolling Stone, November 1988]

[Axl] does a lot of weird shit that nobody of us understands, but I love the guy. I mean, he's a real sweetheart [Rolling Stone, November 1988]

Comparing their music to Heavy Metal: And while Axl sang in a high voice much of the time, he wasn't operatic. His howl was pure, unadulterated rage and anguish, not a vocal exercise; clearly, the first time that sound came out of him, it had come from the pit of his stomach [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 133]

[Axl] can still be a tyrant, but then he can turn around and be the nicest guy in the world [Rolling Stone, November 1988]

The band can always perform [without Axl], it is just not the same without him. [Interview with Steven and Duff, December 1988]

[Axl] doesn't go out to party with us, if that's hat you are saying. He takes care of himself. [Interview with Steven and Duff, December 1988]

Responding to the interviewer saying Axl told in a previous interview that he had to take care of you guys, and to keep you guys in order: As far as he knows! [laughter] [Steven: He said that?? Yeah riiiight, he's just there eeeevery day taking care of us!] [Interviewer continued paraphrasing Axl, "If I don't keep these guys busy 24 hours a day they'll go out and be on drugs all the time."] Oh man, funny man! [laughter] [Steven: Don't get us wrong, we love Axl and we always will, but this is just the way he is; we are all big boys, we can take care of ourselves] FUCK! That's a crock of shit. He's a big ol' crock of shit. He wasn't laughing when he said that or anything? [Interviewer responding that he thought Axl was facetious and "that what he thought he meant was that he was sort of, that he had a vision, you know, when you guys [cut off by laughter and mocking from Steven and Duff]. When you guys were recording Appetite for Destruction, he says [...] you were listening to the tapes and one of you said to him, 'Hey Axl, I can see what you meant now, what you had in mind for us all the time.'"] No, no, no. [laughter]. No comment. Oh my. [Interviewer: Okay maybe he was being less facetious than I thought]. [Interview with Steven and Duff, December 1988]

At the same time [in 1989, off tour] word was coming back to me that people were whispering in Axl's ear, saying all the ass-kissing clichés: 'You're the guy, you're the basis of the band's success.' That's cancer for any band [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 148]

Axl will tell you, he doesn’t know what’s gonna happen in the next five minutes in his head. I wouldn’t even like to guess, you know? I consider myself pretty stable in the band. I try to make things work musically. I kind of consider myself the musical director of the band, trying to keep everything together. Axl is the word master and the melody maker [Kerrang!, March 1990]

[Axl]'s very crazy, y'know. Like, sometimes he can be very rational and other times he's just deep left-field. It's always up and down, up and down with Axl. He just has a very hard time relating to other people. Sometimes he just goes off the deep end and if anyone can make sense to him in those states, I think it's me. Because we still relate as friends coming from "bumfuck" Indiana. The rest doesn't mean much. I can kinda talk him down when he freaks out and locks himself in his room and we've got to play a gig or record [The Face, 1990]

[...] A week ago I flew with Axl from New York to Lafayette, Indiana, with one lay-over flight and by the time we hit Lafayette there were people just milling around the fuckin' airport. Mainly for him. Axl really brings out the fuckin' crazies, man. They relate to him particularly in this very weird, intense way [The Face, 1990]

Axl is a dramatic kind of individual. Everything he says or does has a meaning, a theatrical place in his mind, in a blown-out-of-proportion kind of way. Little things become greatly exaggerated, so that interactions with people can become magnified into major issues (...). There were such dramatic highs and lows and extreme mood swings that being close to him always felt like a roller-coaster ride [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Before, he used to be one of those guys who, if he even thought someone was looking at him weird, would just haul of and smack 'em. And sometimes, y'know, the people he went for weren't even looking at him [Vox, 1991]

I'm not sure exactly which gig it was when Axl first showed up late to the venue, but it was very early in the [Use Your Illusion] tour [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 183-184]

I guess I hoped management would handle the lateness so we could avoid intraband strife. That's what I thought managers did, the very reason we paid them. But Axl had become a dictator before whom everyone - crew, promoters, even management now that Axl had switched us from Alan Niven to Doug Goldstein - quivered in fear. Doug seemed more concerned with the short-term goal of placating Axl than with making things run well for the long term [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 185]

Talking about all the problems Axl get into: Well, they're a pain in the ass, and they keep things from getting done. I'm the most uptight about all of this. It's just my nature-Axl thinks I'm this sort of sick-minded workaholic. And it's true-in some ways, I do get uptight. I can get very negative about it. But there are moments when it [Axl's troubles] really gets in the way of what I think is productive, and we end up spending a lot of money. Sometimes I think Axl has no idea, or has a very slight ideas, of what the financial reality is. I mean, to me $400,000 or whatever to make a record is ludicrous. Of course, if I was to say that to Axl outright, he'd say I don't know what he's going through, and there'd be a fight right there. That's the way we've always been-there's something I can't relate to or vice versa, and that's where we butt heads. So I just sit there with my head between my knees, freaking out...But Axl's craziness drives me crazier than it does Axl, unbeknownst to him. And that's the truth [Rolling Stone, January 1991]

Nobody ever stated to Axl how much we resented going on late or having him stop shows [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 186]

Axl is like a magnet for problems. I've never met anybody like him. He's the kind of guy that would get a toothbrush stuck down his throat because that particular toothbrush happened to be defective. I mean, shit goes on with that guy, and if you talked to him, he'd tell you the same thing [Rolling Stone, January 1991]

I don't want to talk about Axl, because everybody is constantly trying to pit us against each other. You know, they're trying to put two fucking Japanese fighting fish in the same bowl. We've always been the same. We have our ups and downs, and we butt heads. As long as I've known Axl, we've had so many differences that have been like the end of the line as far as we were concerned. I think that happens with most singers and guitar players, or whatever that cliché is. IT might look a little intense on the outside, seeing all this shit that we're going through, but it makes for a tension that's-in a morbid kind of way-really conducive to the music we collaborate on. But as far as Axl goes, he is the best singer-lyricist around [Rolling Stone, January 1991]

I always thought Axl as a totally cool asshole. I knew that he was a fucking star, a truly great performer. But I was also aware that at times, he could be an insecure prick ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

Axl always chose to patch things up with grand gestures [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

After returning from jail: When I found out later that Axl was the one who scraped together the bail money; I was touched. That was pretty cool of him [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

While other bands were singing about dungeons, wizards, and black magic or partying in the backseat of Daddy's car, Axl was writing lyrics about life, his life and our lives. We had all lived through some pretty dark, twisted shit, but it was real, and the kids sensed it and responded. Axl excelled at capturing the mood, and whether it was 'Nightrain' or 'November Rain," there wasn't a soul in the audience who couldn't feel what we were shouting about or living through. (...) And nobody in the world sang with more intensity, more honesty, than Axl ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

Axl could always take a simple Izzy melody and turn it into something fantastic (...) [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Axl has the kind of presence and star power that threatens authority figures [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Of all of us, Axl seemed to be the most straitlaced. He'd drink and smoke, but I never saw him get out of control with any hard drugs ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

Axl and I got along in so many ways but we had innate personality differences. We were attracted to each other and worked together tremendously well yet we were a study in polar opposites [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Recounting an episode that occurred when the band had a very important meeting with Geffen: It was a sunny day, and everyone was together walking toward the Geffen building except Axl, who was nowhere to be found. We looked for him for over an hour nd finally someone, probably Vicky [Hamilton], spotted Axl. He was on the roof of the Whisky! He was sitting in the lotus position, as if he was meditating. Classic Axl: "Look at me, look at me, watch me different, watch me bust your balls by making us all late for the biggest moment in our lives" ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

When Axl gets into a conversation, there's no stopping him. In Guns, we used to call it a Twain wreck: when Axl started telling a story, he was as long-winded as Mark Twain [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

(...) Axl is a good talker [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York]

Dougie [Goldstein; tour manager at first trip to England in 1987] was with us all the time. He really made good of his pledge to take care of us. He had proved to be a real asset, particularly with his most important task: making sure that Axl got on stage on time ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, pp. 133]

Duff, Izzy and I were gutter rats, but Axl was more sophisticated, and always brought a different edge to the proceedings. At the very least, he usually wasn't passing out like we were [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, pp174-175]

You gotta understand that with us, excess in best and all that shit. Axl has to keep from smoking and drinking or doing drugs to maintain his voice. He doesn't hang out that much because the atmosphere that is created by the other four members is pretty, uh...["conducive to deterioration" is suggested by Izzy] Axl just hangs out by himself. He takes it pretty seriously. He's doing well to maintain a certain sanity level, seeing as he can't go out coz of his position in the band. If he were doing what we are doing, he wouldn't be able to sing at all! [As told to Paul Elliott in August 1988 and reprinted in 20 Years Of Appetite, Classic Rock Magazine, July 2007]

by **Soulmonster** Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:58 am

Axl didn't think it was fair to split royalties [from Appetite for Destruction] evenly five ways on our songs. He believed he was entitled to more than the rest of us ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

We didn't knew Axl had a medical condition, manic depression, at the time. We just knew that dealing with Axl was tricky, that he was a moody motherfucker, and that you had to be prepared for craziness. One day he would be hugging you and the next day kicking you in the balls. But Axl did some loving things for me that surpass anything the other guys did for me, so who am I to praise or condemn? I love the guy to this day, I honestly do ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

About crowd throwing things onstage: I am less sensitive to it than Axl. He takes it very personally; I just duck [Slash - The Hands Behind the Hype, December 1991]

When Axl was ridiculously late for a recording session or blew off an important gig, I felt I had to call him out on it. The other guys knew better than to draw the wrath of Axl, I guess. They would just look the other way and stove their feelings. But there were times when Axl treated me with more respect than anyone else in the band did, and I think it was because I was real with him. Somewhere in the depths of that tortured soul, he appreciated that ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010]

We got to the gig [October 23, 1986]; Axl was nowhere to be found (...). It came time to take the stage - No Axl - so Izzy and Duff and Steve and I got out there and started playing without him. (...). We were opening for Alice Cooper but basically that set was a drunken jam fir for a bar - except we were in an arena. It got so bad that at one poitn we asked the audience to sing lead and then asked if there was a lead singer in the house. (...) Izzy and I talked about the fucked-up show and what we were going to do about it. It wasn't the first time we'd have these talks; I'd say that the subject of firing Axl came up six times, very seriously, in the life cycle of the band [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, pp217]

There are certain protocols that Axl just didn't heed; since he's not in the same mind space as other people, the accepted norms just don't occur to him. Explaining those norms might not make a difference; you'd never know. Axl is superintelligent, yet at the same he lives in a place where the logic that governs other people does not apply. He doesn't ever realize what an inconvenience his choices might be for others. He means no harm; it's just the way he is. It's very hard to try to even explain it. He is as sincere as someone can possibly be, but it comes down to the fact that Axl, regardless of the world around him, insists on existing according to rules that hold true only in the universe that he has created around himself [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, pp217-218]

I'm all ready to go [on stage for show in 1988 taped by MTV], and fucking Axl is holding us up. Of all the times for him to do this. MTV was there, and this was huge, but eventually the MTV guys were like, "We gotta go, we gotta get this going, guys." Axl's like, "Fuck it. I'm not going on unless I have my bandanna!" (...) Of course the rest of the band was avoiding eye contact with Axl, preferring to wander off, out of earshot, to do their grumbling. (...) Axl finally found a fucking scarf, some powder-blue, girly-looking thing, and the show began. He put it on, and he got this Little Rascals Alfalfa look going, because his hair was pushed up, like a ridiculous cowlick, on the back of his head. I'm sitting there playing and just laughing. "You dick, look at you (...)" ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, pp. 157]

After waking up at the hospital after his first OD: I blinked. I blinked again. It was Axl. Axl got up and was now standing over me. He smiled. He looked genuinely relieved. He said, "Man, that was close, Stevie." He was the only one there. Later, a nurse told me he had sat by my bed the whole time. The other guys went ahead to do the movie but Axl stayed at the hospital. What Axl did was so noble, so selfless and surprising, that I cried, and they were tears of joy (...). There he was, blowing off a chance to be in a scene for a major movie release, to stand by me, his own personal vigil, just Axl. Goddamn Axl. Soon as I thought I had him pegged, he went and did one of the most touching, meaningful things anyone's ever done for me. That was so cool. Thanks, Axl ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, pp. 163]

Axl is so prolific lyricwise and has such a heartfelt sense of melody that combined with Izzy's songwriting skill and Duff and myself, creating great guitar parts was easy, and so we'd have amazing songs in no time. Izzy and Axl had such great chemistry because Axl knew how to transform one of Izzy's simple structures into a perfect, well-rounded, melodically and lyrically rich song [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, pp 265]

This all [Steven's being too drugged out to play 'Civil War' properly] coincided with the implosion of what was ledt of the band morale. Axl had figured out that if he said he wouldn't do this or he wanted that, ten people would jump. People from the management company, the label, would-be concert promoters, it didn't seem to matter as long as somebody jumped. Axl also started to see a psychologist, who seemed to consciously feed his megalomania. It seemed to me that she was almost predatory in the way she handled him. After all, she was trained to recognize people's quirks. As far as I was concerned, she took advantage of him and milked the situation. Sometimes he talked to me about the things she told him. "Come on, man, this is me you're talking to," I would say. "But listen to this..." Of course, I was in no position to throw stones. I dealt with my shit with booze; Axl had found his way to deal with things [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 163]

After the media had shish-kebabed Axl over that riot in St. Louis and being late and just everything, it really got to him and he said something weird at one of our gigs - 'a lot less pressure killed Jim Morrison'. Axl's just naturally late. It can get pretty tense at times, particularly when you're supposed to be on-stage and you're sitting there, literally counting the seconds, thinking 'man, we've just had a riot in St. Louis. Now we're in Texas. What the fuck is going to happen here? [The Vox, 1991]

Axl is probably the most physically... together of us right now [The Vox, 1991]

Axl's so fuckin' great. Anything he does or says, it's just because that's the way he really is. He's beyond real, ya know. I've never seen anyone dare to talk shit to him, ever. I love that [The Vox, 1991]

If there ever was a combination of fucking opposites, like me and Axl or whoever else in the past, that one is crystal clear. Me and Axl are so unalike that we attract each other. The relationship between most lead singers and most lead guitar players is very sensitive, very volatile - I could go on listing these things for hours. It's just very intense. It has major ups and major downs. But somewhere between all this intensity and this friction there's a chemistry. And if the chemistry's right, like me and Axl are really tight, then there's something - a spark or, you know, a need, that holds it together. You fight too. The biggest fights are between me and Axl. But that's also what makes it happen [Tears Before Bedtime?; Q July 1991]

Here's the thing about Axl. He demands emotion. "Love me, hate me, but don't you fucking ignore me." He will not tolerate a vacuum. Sometimes I think that's why he would keep our fans waiting for three hours before going on. He demanded an emotionally charged atmosphere at all times. He wanted a life spent on the frantic jagged edge, and that's why he could deliver that unique urgency in his lyrics: he lived it ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, pp. 163]

The first night of the Aerosmith tour was tumultuous: it started in Illinois, and while the rest of us showed up early enough to watch them sound-check, Axl was missing in action until half an hour before show-time. I remember Steven Tyler coming up to me and saying, "Hey...so where's your singer?" It's become a recurring punch line; it's his standard greeting whenever he sees me [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, pp233]

Recounting Axl and him playing with The Rolling Stones in 1989: The Stones were asking me: 'Which song are you doing?' We'd chosen 'Salt of the Earth'. Nobody knew it! And I'm thinking: 'Fuck, you guys wrote it over 20 years ago! You must remember some of it!' So we go back in this little trailer and Mick Jagger's got a tape-player and he's listening to it, with the lyrics written on a piece of paper in front of him. And I'm sitting there playing acoustic guitar with Keith Richards and I'm thinking 'This is sooo cool!' 'Cos we're playing it thru' and Charlie and Bill Wyman are sitting there, listening to it. And I'm just flipping out, thinking 'God, this is sooo wild!' Finally we finished the song. They all turned to me and said: 'So where's your singer?' And I didn't have an answer! Axl was late again. Real late [The Vox, 1991]

Axl's always been very health-concious [...] [Slash - The Hands Behind The Hype, Guitar Player, December 1991]

It takes Axl an indeterminate amount of time to decide what he is going to do from the inception of an idea to the point of carrying it out, which always keeps things interesting [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.259]

Axl and I had a very interesting sort of love/hate relationship, and always did. Most of the time Axl and I were like fishing buddies who don't have much to talk about unless they're fishing. Then there were times when he and I had a great rapport, when he'd come to me to talk when he had a lot on his mind. For all of those periods, there were stretches when we were so obviously on opposite sides of some invisible fence that we didn't communicate at all [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.268]

About writing and rehearsing for Use Your Illusion: Axl did finally show up in Chicago. It was a little too late. He got there, got into a fight with a girl he had befriended, and trashed the place where we were living. [...] I felt used and foolish about going out to Chicago for so long and in the end getting dusted by Axl. Up to then I had not wavered in how I perceived us - as a band and a family and a gang. But this trip solidified some of the flimsy walls that had begun to go up between various parties in our unit [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 153-154]

Recounting the period right prior to the release of the Illusions albums: This was when Axl started getting obsessive about the details of everything to do with Guns N' Roses, starting with the publishing splits of the songs on Illusion I and II. (...) In the end, because of contributors like Paul Huge and West Arkeen and Del James, Axl insisted upon splits that were like 22.75 percent or 32.2 percent per song for us core members [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.319]

Axl became a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (...) It was really tough for me because I felt very close to Axl for periods of time when we were working together toward a common goal, and then, not much later, I'd feel like we were on opposite sides of a fence. It started a real love/hate situation between us. Axl and I had a pretty rocky relationship from the very beginning, which continued until the very last time we spoke, for the simple reason that we have such different, different ways of looking at and handling things. I bear him no ill will; I know that his version of events is every bit as viable as mine...just different. It took me a long time to even sort of understand Axl - if I ever did at all - let alone predict what made him react the way he did. (...) Early on, when we first met, what he did would sometimes take me by surprise. We related to each other because both of us were rebellious and anarchistic, but I could never understand why he took rebellion to the point that it made his life difficult for no real reason. I could understand standing up for what you believe in and that conflict often results from that. But Axl took it to a degree of self-sabotage that I just did not comprehend. I spent a lot of time trying to sort that out, to just understand it intellectually in some way, until I realized that there was no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.328]

I was drawn to Axl like everyone else because he is such an amazing singer and performer and has such powerful all-around charisma. I also admired the fact that he always had a point of view that he felt strongly about and was always so sincere about it. He's a brilliant lyricist and such a really tortured artist that he won me over because my mentality has always been to root for the underdog - and that was such a major part of his brilliance [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.329]

I learned to take the bad with the good as far as our friendship was concerned because Axl had a lot of stuff going on. We'd have these very in-depth, personal conversations, especially during the period when the band was starting out and we lived together. There were moments when I loved him to death, when he was just so cool and we had really close, heartfelt talks that he would lead. It was cool to get to know someone like him, because I can go for years without saying anything about how I feel, but Axl is not like that at all; he needed someone to communicate his feelings to. We'd have these great, peaceful one-on-ones about what bothered him and what was on his mind when the static died down. We'd talk about personal stuff for his past, all the things that concerned him, interested him, his goals for himself and for the band, what he wanted to do with his life. It was great insight into someone that I already admired, and I liked him a lot during those times because he was human and vulnerable and I felt like we really connected. The flip side to Axl, the Hyde to his Jekyll, was that once you felt that you had a strong bond going with him he'd do something that completely defied what you knew. One of the great things about our band was that we always had one another's back, regardless of the situation, but that became hard to do with Axl eventually. He never did anything directly to me; he did things that jeopardized the entire band and its standing among our peers and fans (...). The longer this type of behavior continued, though, the more I harbored mistrust when it came to him, because the guy that I'd have those intimate talks with was not the same guy who would make what I considered inconsiderate decisions [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.329]

(...) For my part I put a lot of hours into trying to understand Axl and where he was coming from, because for our band to succeed, it had to be us, united, against the world. We had to keep our ranks tight. Whenever Axl did stuff that belittled the rest of us, it put distance between us where there should have been none [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.330]

As the band got bigger, though, his demands got bigger. And as time went on, we developed a habit of appeasing him. (...) It established a pattern in which he got used to getting what he wanted. (...) One of the hard things about him back in the day was that when no one else agreed with him, Axl's retaliation wasn't easy: he'd throw something, knock something down, leave the building, or walk away, fuming, down the street and quit the band. In the heat of those moments you couldn't reason with Axl; he was like a kid having a tantrum [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.330]

I didn't feel it was fair to a lot of people coming to the gigs to go onstage two or three hours late. That's just not right. That's the way Axl is and the way he works, but it's not right for me and I didn't think it was right for the fans either. Stuff like that kinda got to me after four months on tour. There's a lotta pressure, I suppose, but the bottom line is, if you gotta be somewhere and there's something you gotta do, you do it. That's how I see it [Kerrang!, September 1992]

I tried talking to him during the Illusions albums: "If we had a schedule here, come in at a certain time..." And he completely blew up at me: "There is no fucking schedule." [...] It was really fucked that [suggesting that Axl be fined whenever shows started late] had to come into play, to base something like that on money. But the reality was that it was bumming me out, to be waiting there because someone else is late. It's just not fair to the audience, to the other band members. And the crew! When you go on three hours late, that's three hours less sleep they get. I expressed my feelings to Axl and the very next night on MTV I saw that I was going to be replaced by the guy in Jane's Addiction. So I took that as an indication that I'd really pissed him off. [...] Axl made it clear that he was going to do things his way, and there was no space for debate. So I had to make it clear to everybody that that was the end of the line for me. When we were playing the gigs, a lotta times it was a case of, how long's it gonna be before Axl comes back onstange? It's a retty big stage, and you're going, 'Anybody see which way he went?'. Then you see a bunch of roadies running...And the old filling-in with a blues jam and a drum solo shit gets old when it's on a nightly basis. It wasn't every night, but y'know... [Rolling Stone, October 1992]

I just think of him as Axl, a guy I've known for a long time. I know the good and bad of him. Sometimes I really get worried that the authorities are going to get ahold of him and make it bad for him. I've been through the system a few times myself, and I came to the conclusion that - what's that old song? 'I fought the law and the law won.' With him, yeah, I do worry [Rolling Stone, 1992]

About Axl being the visionary: Surely, yeah, whereas we wouldn't see beyond an hotel bar's closing at two in the morning. Without doubt! We played behind him for five years, and never, at any time, we thought about what was happening! Authentical! Whereas him, he was cogitating, in his bedroom. You know, we were just trying to stay in life, behind. Sometimes, you find yourself thinking... hmmm...two plus two, how much is that? [...] In five years with Guns, Axl never came to a rehearsal [Rock & Folk, September 1992]

About Axl being the visionary: Surely, yeah, whereas we wouldn't see beyond an hotel bar's closing at two in the morning. Without doubt! We played behind him for five years, and never, at any time, we thought about what was happening! Authentical! Whereas him, he was cogitating, in his bedroom. You know, we were just trying to stay in life, behind. Sometimes, you find yourself thinking... hmmm...two plus two, how much is that? [...] In five years with Guns, Axl never came to a rehearsal [Rock & Folk, September 1992].

Talking about Axl's soul-baring interview with Rolling Stone [/t544-1992-04-02-interview-with-axl] The band knew about it, but that was a personal decision made by Axl. It took guts, and he thinks it helped him explain himself to the rest of the world. And if you read the letters to the editor the next month, you'll see that he did a lot of good. Other people who had suffered from the same thing started going out and getting treatment [Lakeland Ledger, August 1992].

[...] Axl's usually the main victim of [inaccurate stories]. People just love to jump on him, poor guy. And he's usually innocent. Just try living your entire life under a microscope the way he does. Nobody's perfect every day, but not everyone's being followed around by cameras and reporters, either [Lakeland Ledger, August 1992].

Oh, Axl and I are both from the Midwest, and we probably have more in common musically than the other members of the band. We both grew up listening to all those same silly '70s songs. And he never rides me - maybe because he thinks that if he's mean to me I'll leave [Lakeland Ledger, August 1992].

I've seen Axl once -- I saw him in a liquor store -- and that was about seven or eight years ago. He was like: Hey, man -- what's up? We gotta talk, you know? I go: All right. And then Doug Goldstein called my house once, and I called back, but I never got an answer back -- so I don't know what that was all about. I'll tell you the one thing about Axl that was always really cool, man -- he was really loyal, till he's not loyal anymore. If that makes any sense. He'll kill for you, until he decides not to. And then, once he decides not to, then that's it. [...] He's not really someone ... if you're not on the payroll you should be scared of, heh ... you know. I think he basically means well -- I think he really does, you know?. You know, he wants everybody to like him for him [Spin Magazine, Outtakes for Axl Rose issue, 1999]

After the first part of the Use Your Illusion tour, Axl wanted to make me sign a contract which put me aside a little, which meant that I was less paid. I couldn't believe it. This contract came from a guy who I grew up with. We'd always taken Guns N' Roses as a friends' thing and, at one go, roughly, the singer said to me: "now, we're doing business." Why was I going to continue? Where was the fun? That was the last straw, but there'd been antecedents which had made me flip: during our first concert in London, kids died during the show. What the fuck is that? Is that rock 'n' roll? It's to have fun and then read in the newspaper of an airport that kids died during your concert? It's fun to play in stadiums every evening and to start a riot in Saint Louis because the singer threw a fit? You really manage at some point to say to yourself: "none of this is funny anymore." Axl didn't do his job of frontman anymore [Hard Rock Interview, June 2001]

Axl tried to reach out to me a few times [during touring in 1992 and 1993 when Duff was depressed about how things were]. One time in São Paolo [in October, 1992] he called me from his hotel room. Stephanie Seymoure was visiting him; Linda was with me. "Hey," he said, "why don't you come down to our room and we'll have dinner? We'll just have a nice time." We had a relaxed dinner and acted like adults. I thought we might be creating grounds for getting things together again. If it stays like this, I thought to myself, maybe I can dig myself out. I'll have people I can depend on. Half an hour later Linda and I left the dinner. Axl was throwing chairs in the lobby of the hotel and trying to fistfight some guy [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 216]

Axl insisted that owning the band name was something we needed to litigate, and making our "identity" a "commodity" left us feeling dictated to - which was something that never went over well. That legal arrangement damaged our sense of mutual respect because it made the rest of us apart from Axl feel pretty taken for granted [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.332]

Subconsciously, I think I began to see the band as one guy sitting on a throne high above and completely apart from the crowd of people hustling around beneath him [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.329]

(...) We began to go on [stage] later and later as the [Illusions] tour progressed. That was an Axl thing and it wasn't just one or two occasions, it was every night. That hit me, on a personal level, as his biggest betrayal ever (...). It became a major issue with me. When I am asked why I quit Guns N' Roses, I can think of three reasons: the first was the fact that on that tour we almost never took the stage on time; the second was cancelling shows for no good reason; and the third is the infamous contract rewarding Axl the band's name should we ever break up [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.336]

We met in Hollywood when I first moved there and... he just liked the way I played the piano. At the time, in the 80s, most of the keyboard players that were playing at the time were kind of classically-trained and you know... they were good but they would not have fitted in with Guns N' Roses songs. And I think he realized that I would be able to play and add something that would raise the songs [Madagascar88, January 2006]

We were an unreal band with an unreal singer; Axl was just amazing. Despite all of the tension going on behind the scenes, I still had some onstage chemistry with him that was incredible: we did amazing things every single night that were godlike [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.339]

Recounting the St. Louis riot: The first major issue [during the Illusions tour], of course, was in St. Louis (...). Axl had a beef with a guy in the first few rows who had a video camera. Axl mentioned it to venue security and they did nothing about it. Their attitude and the guy's blatant disregard really set Axl off, so he jumped into the crowd to take his camera away (...). Axl got back onstage, everything felt triumphant for a second...then he grabbed the mike, said something like, "Because of the bullshit security, we're going home," slammed the mike down, and walked offstage [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.340]

Talking about the riot in St. Louis in 1991: When something like that happens, you can't help but think back to Donington [in 1988, when two fans were trampled to death in the rush for the stage at the start of GN'R's set]. What's to stop us from having some more people trampled - because the singer doesn't like something? Like, what's the point? What are we getting at here? [Classic Rock, 2001]

We went on late [Mannheim, Germany, on August 21, 1991] - late even for us - then, pretty early in the set, something happened and Axl walked off for what reason I have no idea. (...) He went to to the van and headed off to the dressing room. "Fuck that guy," [Matt] said. "I'm gonna go straighten him out." Matt felt that Duff and Izzy and I had played it too delicate with Axl for too long (...). By this point we'd discovered that Axl's van had not left for the dressing room; he was sitting in it but refused to come out and return to the stage. So Matt went down to Axl's van to rally him, but as he got down there, he ran into Axl, who had emerged to head back to the stage. "What the fuck are you doing?" Matt yelled. "Get back onstage!"(...) Axl went back to his van, and it didn't look like he was coming out again. (...) The local police were already there in riot gear, ready to deal with a full-on situation. It was a scary, tense scene, and a very near miss. We got Axl back onstage once he realized he had no choice, and the rest of the show went as planned. All I remember thinking as I walked offstage after the encore was 'Fuck, that was close.' Well, too close, as it turned out: by the next morning, Izzy sent a message through Alan [Niven] informing us that he was quitting the band [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.343-344]

From the start of the tour [with Metallica in 1992], Axl was out to impress Metallica and every one else - in his way. He brought up the idea of having backstage parties every single night - theme parties that would be a lounge for our guests (...) I never went to one of those parties during the entire tour. The whole idea of it was just too self-indulgent, too self-centered, and too showy for me to even think about participating in good faith anyway [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.356]

[The synth on 'Paradise City] didn't come on until Axl was putting his vocals down on the record, so I had no idea about that until we got to the mixing stage. All of a sudden there was that part. Being the guitar purists that we were, Izzy and I were like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" But Axl won that battle, so it stayed on there. All things considered, it was never that big a deal, but it introduced a certain electronic thing that didn't fit well. Axl had a tendency to do that from time to time - to bring it in on the back end [Back to the Jungle, Guitar Edge Magazine, March 2007]

About hearing Appetite for Destruction for the first time together with friends: I don't think [Axl was there]. God knows what he was doing - I don't think even God knows what Axl's doing half the time[20 Years of Appetite, Classic Rock Magazine, July 2007]

About Axl having sex with Adriana Smith for 'Rocket Queen': I said: "That's cool, who's that?" Slash said: "It's Adriana." She wasn't like my girlfriend exactly...but, we had some good, long nights. Axl came up with this idea to fuck some girl in the studio and record it for Rocket Queen, so he called Adriana. They put up a divider, laid a blanket down, and recorded it. I just felt that out of all the girls around us, he just had to pick the one that I was hanging out with. He knew we were close. But it came out good, it worked [20 Years of Appetite, Classic Rock Magazine, July 2007]

by **Soulmonster** Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:09 pm

I think that the reason Axl went onstage so late, and never understood how offensive, selfish, and inconsiderate it was to everyone involved - from the fans to the band - was that he saw it as something other than what it was [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.357]

The disrespect and lack of trust that Axl's behavior inspired was corroding the core of the band [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.358]

It wasn't the backline holding up the show. In fact, by the time [Axl] was finally ready to go on, we were reduced to drinking coffee, we were so bored. . .and embarrassed [Philadelphia Daily News, June 2001]

Recounting an episode after Slash OD-in in 1992: (...) Doug [Goldstein] called a band meeting in Axl's room. We all gathered around, and I was still nodding out at this point. Everyone voiced their concern for my well-being, but Axl's comment stood out most of all. It snapped me out of my haze, actually. "You gave us a scare," he said slowly, looking right at me. "We thought you were dead...I though I'd have to look for a new guitar player" [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.362]

On Axl bad-mouthing his from the stage after Izzy left the band: I've heard [Axl]'s still slinging mud. I can't take it personally, because if it wasn't me, it would just be somebody else. Somebody's gonna get it in every city. There's nothing I can do about it. When I left the band, he got real pissed off, told me to get off his property. When I talked to him a couple weeks later, he said he wasn't still mad, but who knows? I've left him all my phone numbers since December, and he still hasn't called. When he's ready, he'll call and we'll talk [Musician, 1992]

On being asked if he would donate bone marrow to save Axl: What, you mean if he had an accident? Uh, if he was gonna die I'd give him a little bone marrow. A little. We could work something out! [Kerrang, 1992]

Being asked why Axl is so late on stage: It's something you should ask Axl about. It's hard for me to answer, since I don't share his opinions in all questions. Axl has made that clear to everyone, that he doesn't get on stage before he feels ready. I've experienced when people have forced him to go on stage and I've seen when he's refused. It's worth waiting one or two hours, because then Axl gives the absolutely best possible show. At the same time I understand that people can get irritated, but that's something I can't affect [[url=https://www.a-4-d.com/t572-1992-mm-dd-interview with-gilby#98]Mental Hammer, 1992[/url]]

On tour he had a real hard time finishing the sets. And he had a hard time getting onstage. So you're sitting there in the dressing room at a hockey rink and for, like, two hours the walls are vibrating while the audience is going, `Bullshit! Bullshit!' That time goes "slow" when you're sober. And they have to send a helicopter to the hotel to get him. He would just `get ready,' and sometimes he would `get ready' for a long time. I don't know what goes on upstairs with him. To me it's simple. Get an alarm clock, ya know? There's a modern invention that seems to work for people. You set it, and then you wake up when you're supposed to [Musician; 1992]

We opened for [Johnny Thunders] once in Long Beach during the early days. This was back when Axl used to wear those chaps with his ass hanging out and no underwear. I remember it was backstage, and Johnny Thunders said, `What are you, some kind of biker fag?' Axl goes, `I'll fuckin' kill you.' Really wanted to kick his ass. And Johnny just sat there smoking his joints and drinking his Budweisers. Great first impression [Musician; 1992]

I guess in some ways I was sort of a balancing factor between Axl and the rest of the guys at one point [RIP; 1992]

Before I left [Guns N' Roses] I spoke with Axl for a couple of hours on the telephone, and he made it real clear to me that he was going to be running things, so to speak, and there were some conditions put up that I was going to have go by. He was trying to make it good for me as well, I guess, but at the same time I realized that was it, I was done. The next day I signed my leaving papers [RIP, 1992]

When [Axl] wants something from you he's on the phone being all nice and friendly. As soon as your usefulness has run out he turns on you. He's said some shit about me in the past, and right after I'd done those dates [stepping in for five gigs in 1993 when Gilby's arm was broken] he was back in the media putting me down. He's an odd guy [Metal CD, 1993]

At a gig in Mexico City later that April [1993], we called a band meeting. Slash, Gilby, and Matt agreed we had to confront Axl about the lateness. Somebody had to start the conversation. "Listen," I said to Axl when everyone was assembled, "we're drinking ourselves into oblivion, waiting three hours listening to our fans chant 'bullshit.' We've been working hard to keep this thing together..." I paused and looked around for support. The other guys looked away and shrank down in their seats. That was it [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 218]

My relationship with Axl is really, really personal. So, I don't know if I would like to talk about it that much. Because it's been so blown under proportion, in a negative way, that I'm scared to say anything anywhere about it. You know, a little gun-shy. Um, it's real sensitive, kind of… I don't know , like a partnership kind of thing. And I don't like it being tanned, you know, and thrown out of whack, because of the press or the media or whatever. So I'm a little shy, you know, to say anything [Civil War Single / Making Fuckin' Boxes, March 1993]

God knows what goes on in his little mind. [Interview with Izzy in Japan, September 1993]

Being asked if Axl had changed much when playing with the band for five shows in May 1993: No. [laughter] He is getting worse. No, he was more aggravated during those shows then when I left the band. Just always tense, aggravated, flustered. [...] That's his nature. [...] He's got a lot of talent, though, I gotta say that for him. It's just misdirected. [Interview with Izzy in Japan, September 1993]

Being asked about the perceived special bond between him and Axl: I don't know him very well, at least these days. I thought I did, a long time ago. Maybe we are just at two different points in our lives. I took a different exit. I think the things that are important to him is not important to me. [Interview with Izzy in Japan, September 1993]

If Axl's in a good mood, us others in the band don't have to think about what he's doing and why. But if he's in a worse mood, we have to spend a big part of the show at not making him more pissed off or irritated and therefore screw the show even more. [...] He will absolutely not do anything he doesn't feel like and I respect that. Of course it happens that a show doesn't fully work due to his mood-swings. But he can't pretend. But the times we are good, then it feels really good. Then there is nothing better [Metal Zone, December 1993]

My official end was actually at the last show of the last tour. Axl was jokingly saying "Bye" to everybody, but he was really saying "Bye" to everybody. He even came up to me and said, "Hey, enjoy your last show." At that point I thought he was being funny, but he wasn't being funny. He knows what he's doing. He's a smart guy. So I knew it was the end at the last show [Songfacts, October 2013]

Explaining in 1994 that no album is planned: Well, it's an Axl thing. He just wasn't into what we were doing, so he's kind of rethinking what he wants to do. He just kind of threw a wrench into everything that me, Slash and Matt had worked to. And then Duff came in. Duff and Axl have an idea what the album should be, and the rest of us have another idea. So right now, we're not gonna do anything [War Of The Roses! (Gilby Clarke interview), Kerrang!, May 1994

Not long after I got out of the hospital [after having his pancreas almost exploding from alcoholism in May, 1994], Axl came up to Seattle to visit me. He was the only member of the band who had called me in the hospital [...]. Not that anyone owed me a call in a situation that was my own making, but Axl's concern still touched me [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 235]

It's Axl's band, and he runs it the way he wants. And whatever he wants to do is gonna happen. So we can work on songs all year long and come up with 20 songs, but when it comes down to it, if Axl writes 10 songs, he'll go, 'I want my 10 songs on the record'. And that's what's gonna happen [War Of The Roses![/i] (Gilby Clarke interview), Kerrang!, May 1994]

Axl had demonstrated a lot of compassion over the years - and especially in the wake of my pancreatitis. That's what also drove me crazy. He knew that I'd changed my life around, that I got up early and went to bed early, that I was doing whatever I could to stay alive. And yet, right at this point me made a big switch and became a night person [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 241]

I don't know why Axl didn't play on Duff's album, but he was easy to work with on mine. He came down to the studio, wasn't terribly late [laughs] put down the vocals and the result was good. (...) Axl came down, played piano and when he was ready he said "do you want me to sing too?". I was surprised and answered "and I thought you didn't want to" [Gilby Clarke - A "Pawned" Rocker, Heavy Mental, June 1994]

If you give too much to someone like Axl. Let's put it this way. If everyone around you is answering "yes" for years, if everything is reduced to "yes, yes, yes", then in your relation with other people, when someone says "no" you think that person is wrong. You're gonna tell him to fuck off! You're in this band from the start, and then suddenly everything turns autocratic, just because one person is surrounded by people saying yes to everything. It's not autocracy legally, but there is just one person thinking that's his band. Well then, keep your damned band! [Popular 1, July 2000]

Axl is in such a funny place, you know, because Axl is Axl, and no one will ever really understand him as much as he would probably like to be understood. So he really is on his own in that respect. But I've known him long enough where there's a certain amount of leeway with his outbursts that I can handle. They just don't affect me. But I feel sorry for him sometimes, if only because he's such a tough act to be: to maintain any kind of dignity with this public scrutiny and having all this negative press and so on... [Kerrang! - January, 1995]

We just had a really rare, heated conversation a couple of days ago, where everything that I've had brewing - you know how quiet and laidback I am - I just let everything out. He sort of listened to me. I said everything I could possibly say that I didn't agree with. So that's about it. [Kerrang! - January, 1995]

He hasn't heard [It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere] yet. I don't really want to hear his opinion. He and I are so close that he could say something that could dampen my enthusiasm for what I'm doing. [Kerrang! - January, 1995]

Talking about Axl threatening to sue Slash over teh Snakepit songs: Legally, it's all verbal stuff. We have never gone into litigation of any kind with this. Axl just thought that the songs were rightfully Guns' because they were written with the intention of them being Guns songs. I disagree [Kerrang! - January, 1995].

He's a little bit crazy, but we're good friends even if I don't have a clue what he's doing now. You have to learn to understand Axl. We've been working together for over ten years and we really know each other. But working with him…Axl is serious and thinks incredibly much. He sees a show on TV that interests him it doesn't matter if we're gonna go onstage. He sees the whole show and we get two hours late. That's just the way he's working [Guns N' Roses Doesn't Quit, Goteborgsposten , February 1995]

Axl thinks that Guns is his solo-project [Slash Is Tired Of The Superdiva Axl, Aftonbladet, February 1995]

Axl has gotten very into a lot of stuff (musically) that I don't necessarily relate to, but we still work together on it. It's like we've expanded into different realms
[Los Angeles Times, February 1995].

I defend him within reason. A lot of the stuff, like going on (stage) late and causing riots, it's just 'cause Axl's real explosive. There's things I don't forgive him for, but because I've known him for so long, I understand him. I don't judge him. That's why I feel that if you don't know the guy, just shut up [Los Angeles Times, February 1995].

[...] and it really dawned on me [after the UYI tour] - the harsh reality that Axl and I had grown so far apart and we weren't really all that close to begin with. We'd grown so far apart, and to this day, there's no putting that back together [Behind Use Your Illusion, Classic Rock Magazine, June 2011]

There's a little bit of congestion going on, because I'm on tour [with Snakepit] and Axl wants to do a Guns record right this second. Unfortunately, I can't back down from my situation because I have to drop the ball. It's too late for that. [...] There are some things that need to be sorted out. Axl wants Guns to do lots of ballads and stuff and I want to do rock stuff [Slash - I Was Dead For 8 Minutes, Metal Hammer, February 1995]

If Sorum had stayed with me [on the Snakepit tour], it would have made the conflicts between Axl and me even worse, because I would have taken the drummer. [...] I would have loved to take Matt out. But, you know, this whole tour thing and how long it's gonna go is sort of a thorn in Guns N' Roses's side, you know. [...] You know, [Axl]'s not doing... At one point he said he was gonna a solo project, then he decided his solo project he could do with Guns, which I was like, after doing all those videos and this and that and the other, I was like: "No". [laughs] No, I don't wanna get involved in any kind of Stephanie Seymour ballads or any of that shit. I took off and then he threatened to sue me, because he wanted the material back that I'd written and already recorded. [...] I shouldn't even be getting into this. It's not that big a deal. He just wanted these certain songs and he didn't like them at first. And this is way before Snakepit even became like, a reality. This is when I was just writing at home. And he didn't like them. So I was like: "Cool". You know, it's sorta like old Guns stuff and then all of a sudden, after the album was finished, he goes: "Remember those tapes I have. You know, I want to...". He didn't know we'd finished the record. And he goes: "This song, this song, this song, this song and this song." And I went: "Dude, we finished it already. It's gone". And he goes: "You couldn't have done an album in two weeks." I said: "Oh yeah. I can". You can do that. And it turned into a big fight. Anyway, when I took off, we had an agreement, so we came to terms with the whole situation, but we did do some... like, off-the-wall kind of writing and recording and this and that and the other. And they're still trying to work on things, so if I'd taken Matt with me, that would have just been starting a fight, basically. Which I don't wanna do [97.7 HTZ-FM, April 1995]

Axl and I have just not been able to have a meeting of the mind of such that we can actually work together [Milwaukee Journal, February 1995].

My last conversation with [Axl] was when he called me and was trying to explain what he wanted to do. And, basically, it was: I want to change the sound of the band. You know, I want to go more into a current direction. You know, I want to use, you know, more industrial type things. You know, he was really into bands like Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails. And I just kinda laughed and said: You know, look -- I want to play guitar in a loud version of The Rolling Stones, you know? [Spin, June 1999]

When the Snakepit thing is over, and I've got that out of my system, we all seem to be pretty amicable about how we feel about each other as far as Guns are concerned. I just want to do a really cool Guns record, and I don't want to push it 'cause I don't feel like we have to rush it out to keep up with the Joneses. So when everybody feels comfortable doing that... I don't know exactly where [Axl's] head is at, as far as what that should sound like. It changes from month to month. But we talk. We're fine. All the rumors and all that kind of stuff, it's between us. It's sort of like getting involved in someone else's marriage: You don't know what's going on, but people love to write about it. Me and Axl and Duff are obviously way the fuck more close and personal than they can even possibly put out in some magazine. That goes back to when Guns started, before we even got signed. The first quote that was in Music Connection was `They'll be great if they live long enough' [Coiled and Ready, April 1995]

Axl's got an agenda but it doesn't really match mine. Every day is a new test, one after the other. It would be easier if the same test would happen repeatedly but instead it's one test, you deal with that and the next one is altogether different. You have to be tenacious to be able to handle it [/i] [Slash - Welcome to the Snakepit, Metal Edge Magazine, April 1995]

Me and Duff are real close, we talk all the time. Axl and I haven't talked, I don't think we've actually come to terms with what we're gonna do [Slash On The Line: A Report From the Road, October 1995]

At one point he didn't like the songs [that ended up on Slash's solo record], and all of a sudden he wanted them and the [Snakepit] record was already done. That set me off. What the f.ck is that? It turned into a bit of a fight [Slash On The Line: A Report From the Road, October 1995]

[...] With Axl that whole trip that we'd just taken had really become a part of him, to the point where Axl is as much a rock star in his own mind as he is in the public eye. [...] Everybody used to go, "What's gonna happen when Guns is no longer.. when a new fad comes along?" or whatever. And I'd be, "I don't give a fuck". And I watched it happen, and it didn't matter to me. With Axl it mattered a hell of a lot. Next thing you know, he wants to be Pearl Jam, right? Why? I hate Pearl Jam anyway, so what's the point? And it's great to watch Pearl Jam going through what they're going through, cos I'm going, "See Axl?" We do what we do the best that anybody does. Let's just go out and do a club tour, a theatre tour, and fucking get back down to where we have some validity with an audience that we can relate to. But Axl was all fucking.. he wants to be on MTV, he wants to do Unplugged, he wants to be this, he wants to be that. So we didn't see eye to eye, and that's where a lot of that bullshit got started, and of course it was blown out of all proportion in the press [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

Axl is Axl, you gotta know the man before you can really pass judgement on the guy. The reason I am not working with Axl at the moment is only because he wants to do what he wants to do, and I wanna do what I wanna do. Mine is more simple [...] rock and roll band, while he's got visions of videos and blah blah blah [Interview with French tv, 1995]

I played him the material that I was writing, and he was like, "I don't wanna do that kind of music" [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

About Axl doing s solo album: I wanted him to. You have to know Axl to understand what I'm getting at. Axl's the kind of guy who over-thinks everything. Sometimes it's fucking classic, and sometimes it's just...whatever. And that's cool. But there was a point there where Axl goes: "I'm gonna do a solo record, and I'm gonna get Trent Reznor and Dave Navarro, and the drummer from Nirvana..." and so on. And it's like, he doesn't even know half of these people. He's just pulling them out of the sky. And I was like, "Cool! Do your thing. That way you'll get it out of your system, and when you get back we'll just be Guns N' Roses" [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

About the band name: As far as contractually - and this is a discrepancy between myself and our attorneys - apparently Axl owns it. Now I should have known that, because I could have then said: "Okay." I don't give a fuck who owns the name. But I find out later that Axl legally owns it - apparently. It's like everybody is on Axl's side from the business point of view, y'know? Everybody's scared that they're going to get fired. Because if Axl decides that he can't work with you you'll get fired, no matter what I say! I can fight till I fucking turn blue, but I won't be able to get anything done with the band if Axl won't work. And that's how the latter part, from "Use Your Illusion" till now, has been. And that's why we had big blow-up dolls and background singers and horns! It was ridiculous [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

I work with the band; I don't work with Axl when we record. I work with the band and we just jam the stuff live, and Axl goes in and spends... Well last time it was a year in the studio, just adding and adding. I don't necessarily agree with that, but Axl's so talented he can go in and whip it out like that. But everything has to be perfect. Sometimes some of his ideas - like a harmony or something - I can go along with, but all the additional stuff...'Use Your Illusion' sounded amazing when it was just the basic tracks. It was fucking great. But then by the time all the tracks were done it was like impossible to fucking mix it, and it came out sounding... The more stuff you put on tape, the less "big" it sounds. I tried to tell Axl that but he wouldn't listen. But I'm not gonna do it that way this time, and that's what we have to talk about. I have the rough mixes, which are more or less the basic tracks and the basic overdubs - very simplified and try - and those fucking rock! You could come over to my house and I'll play you "Use Your Illusion" before it went into the mixing stage, and you'd be like, "Fucking what?!" It's very brash. But this is before synthesizers and all this outside stuff got involved. I really try to understand where Axl's coming from when he gets into that. It's a self-expression that, because our personalities are so different, I can't fucking understand. And he probably can't understand why I want to keep everything so natural. But it's just because I know the band - on a players' level or an emotional level or an expression level - is fine when it's naked on its own. When we play live, it's right there, y'know? That's as good as you're gonna be, no matter what you put on it [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

[...] Everybody thinks that Axl is a major drug addict. that's never been the case. Axl's never been addicted to anything - except maybe cigarettes[Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer, November 1995]

axl and I are having a very civil relationship as we speak. Thanks for the concern [...] Axl and I have been meeting recently and everythings progressing [Online Chat, July 1996]

About recording 'Sympathy For The Devil': Once we got around to listening to the track, [Axl] had some constructive critisism. Via a lot of communications between middle people, I was told that I needed to rerecord my guitar solo so that it sounded more note for note like the Keith Richards original. Now that really pisses me off, most of all because the message reached me three times removed like we were playing a game of telephone. (...) "If you don't change it, I won't sing." I swallowed my pride - yet again (...). When I got a DAT of the song with Axl's vocal oon it, I noticed that there was another guitar layered on top of mine in the solo. Axl had gotten Paul Huge to double over me. (...) That was it - having another guitar player record over me without telling me was a much disrespect as I was willing to handle [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.380]

Lead singers are just difficult. They just are. I'm sorry. If you don't hold an instrument in your hand, then you're just gonna be a pain in the ass [Outsiders responsible for Guns N' Roses reuniting? Toronto Sun, September, 1996]

I don't care what Axl might say - this band was formed on the camaraderie between a little gang, against all odds [GUNS N' ROSES -"We Ain't Dead Yet" , Kerrang, September 1996]

Right now, Axl and I are deliberating over the future of our relationship [...] I have only been back in the band for three weeks and my relationship with Axl right now is sort of at a stand still [Transcript of Slash online chat; Pepsi Live @ Ticketmaster Online, October 1996]

Talking about Axl playing guitar: That tripped me out when I first came back. I figured 'Okay, that's where his focus has been. I haven't really talked to him about it, to tell the truth. I guess he's just been sitting at home, figuring out chords or something. Maybe he's been taking lessons. [...] Rose's sound is a lot more synthetic than anything I would get anywhere close to. That's about all I can say [Total Guitar, January 1997

Talking about Axl playing guitar: Axl likes to ponder everything and spend a lot of time with it. [Total Guitar, January 1997

And last but not least there was Axl with his piano-shit, the gospelsongs and a lot of Rose Tattoo, AC/DC and Nazareth. From these bands he also had the rage in his vocals. There were never any problems really about the stylistic direction of the band, untill Axl started disagreeing with the rest of us at one moment. It clearly became harder for us to be ourselves, as long as we were working together with him. Can you imagine how sick we were, suddenly having to play ballad-sets with songs like "Estranged", "November Rain", or "Don't Cry". Duff was the first of us who didn't feel like doing that anymore and the whole thing became an essential problem for the band, because we, accomplished musicians, needed to be changed just because of 'stylistic self-circumcision'. At a certain point it was just a war, because Axl didn't like anything anymore that came from us, the others [Rock Hard magazine, March 2000]

I had very difficult moments with Axl, but he's extremely intelligent, he's a very emotive guy who writes great songs. Sometimes, I have the feeling he's a genius. Right now, he's playing guitar and it's like he plays that instrument for 10 years. He had very difficult moments, when we toured in stadiums, sold millions of albums, when everybody wanted to tell us how great we were. Axl, as the leader of the band, had a lot of responsibilities. I told him many times: "Relax Axl, don't take things to heart like that". But he can't. You can feel those difficulties in his music. What he's doing is eating him, he's living it too intensively. That's why the new album is not done yet, he doesn't want to make a shitty record. The Snakepit album could have been the new GNR album, but Axl didn't thought it was good enough [...] There was some good songs [on the Snakepit album], but it wasn't a band effort, it was Slash's songs. It had nothing to do with 5 guys working hard in a studio, what we are doing with Guns right now. When Slash says "I'd like to work on that riff" and Duff answers "Yeah, let's work on it", it's really GNR. This has nothing to do with "This is a Slash song, you will play like that and Axl will sing like that" [...] I think he has respect for me, he thinks I'm a good drummer et it's cool. I heard him say that and I was happy. You know, humm, he fired me 2 or 3 times and he called me back…(Laugh) You never heard the rumors? Yes, we all have been fired at least 1 time! You never heard about it (laugh)? Seriously, it's true that he sometimes goes too far. Sometime I open my mouth and I say "Ok, Axl, fuck off!", then he fires me. So? I know he will call me the next day. I feel I'm in security and I know I will be the GNR drummer for a long time. [Some French Magazine, 1996]

And Axl is really intelligent and he always make the good choices. I must agree with him, because he's a visionary. He knows what GNR should be 2 or 3 years in advance. When we got out of the plane [after the UYI tour], he said: "Guys, we'll see us again in 96". It was 3 years ago. And now, we work together and an album will be released in 97. [...] You know, when he does something, when he present it to us, I say "This guy is crazy!". But he's always right! Like when we did Use your Illusion 1 & 2… When I heard this idea, I said to myself "He's crazy! We will release 30 songs on 2 albums? I would never buy 2 albums of the same band." Result? We made history with those 2 albums. Nobody did it before [Some French Magazine, 1996]

We progress naturally. As far as the rumor that one person wants us to change, that's just not true [Online Chat, December 1996]

[...] Guns N' Roses had become a dictatorship. [...]The whole process was dictated by Axl, and although I know he wanted input from me, I was suffocated by the tension and I couldn't think straight [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.390]

Explaining what Matt meant Axl was wrong about: About schedules and the way Axl was late for the next album. Susan, my girlfriend, was pregnant. We were going to have a baby, but this band was becoming a dictatorship, everything had to get done in Axl’s way or it wouldn’t get done at all. It wasn’t like that when we started out [Duff McKagan Interview, Hard Force Magazine June 1999]

This time [the contract in 1995] was directed at Duff and me - the only remaining original members of Guns N' Roses. And it was very strategically presented: the contract stated that Axl would retain rights to the band name and was allowed to start a new band that he could call Guns N' Roses. Of course Duff and I could be members...but only on his terms, which felt to us like we were being defined as hired hands (...). He pushed this contract issue on us with so much pressure to the point that Duff and I just gave in [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.391]

In a nutshell, Axl and I aren't really seeing eye to eye as far as musical direction is concerned. Where he's taking on a visionary direction, I'm still rooted in the original concept [from] when we first got together. We're sort of butting heads on that.

When I came back from the last Snakepit tour, I did go back to rehearsals [with Axl] to see if we could rekindle any kind of flame, but it just didn't work out.

If we ever decide at some point that we need each other, that we want to get back together, if we ever get back in a room together and it clicks, that would be great. In the meantime, I'm not gonna sit around and play rock star. I want to work [Los Angeles Times, February 1997].

Slash in 1997, according to Joseph Bruce from Insane Clown Posse: I wrote a whole fucking album about Axl Rose, and he never even knew it.[...] fuck that cocksucker...[...] he's a fucking asshole [Joseph Bruce from Insane Clown Posse, "Behind the Paint", 2003]

I was blindsided by it [giving up the band name], more or less a legal faux pas [...] I'd be lying to say I wasn't a little bit peeved at that. It'd be one thing if I'd quit altogether. But I haven't, and the fact that he can actually go and [record a new GN'R record] without the consent of the other members of the band...[...] Axl's whole visionary style as far as his input in Guns n' Roses, is completely different from mine.I just play the guitar, write a good riff, go out there and play, as opposed to presenting an image." [Addicted to Noise, 1997]

Then in 1997 we got into an argument and I said, ‘This is not right, we’ve got to pull the band together. This is not brain surgery, this is rock and roll: two guitars, bass, vocals, and drums. Don’t over-think it.’ He said, ‘Are you going to quit?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘You’re fired’ [Matt Sorum Rocks with Velvet Revolver, Drum! April/May 2004]

It was almost amazing to me that this band had taken such a turn; we, the band, had allowed Axl the freedom, over all those years, to transform what we had into some morbid reality that existed only in his head [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.392]

Not too long after I got out of the hospital, Axl came up to Seattle to visit me. The challenge was how we were going to make a new record and what direction we were going to go musically. We couldn't very well do anything at the time because Slash was out doing a Snakepit tour and battling his own addiction. In previous years, there had seemed to be a fail-proof alliance and understanding within our band; we knew that at the end of the day we only had each other to rely on. Now I was doing sober things with Axl, like riding mountain bikes and eating healthy food and talking on the phone about a productive musical direction. That sense of family and trust had recently been tainted by management dealings and other wedges that did everything possible to vanquish our bonds [Reverb, December 2009]

Despite the anger I felt after the late gigs, there was another side to my relationship with Axl that trumped all of the unpleasantness, and that is the side I choose to remember and hold dear. Axl can be the most tender and thoughtful of friends. Was he the ideal bandmate and business partner? Actually, no. He was stubborn, moody, arrogant, and greedy. But to be fair, was I any better? Instead of stepping up some time in 1991 or 1992, I fell deeper and deeper into my stupor. I am sire I was arrogant and moody and difficult myself back then. Make no mistake, Axl pushed my trust and friendship to the brink many times with his reckless disregard of others. When, through Doug Goldstein, he demanded ownership of the Guns N' Roses name, I probably should have written off all of the sacred moments of friendship we had shared to that point. [...] Unfortunately for both me and Axl, more than a decade passed before we spoke a single word again. It's sad, but the history of GN'R is so fraught with barbs and accusatory hand grenades that complete separation seemed to be the one and only answer for a while - for such a long while, in fact, that it seemed we might never meet again. I was just too damn exhausted from living on a razor's edge for so many years. I didn't regret the choice I made, but I eventually did wish we could still have been friends and have gotten together once in a while [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 291-292]

Explaining why Axl changed: Because many people around him maintain him in that state of mind. They kept telling him he was right. Some of them feared him cause they were scared they were gonna lose their job. It’s as simple as that [Duff McKagan Interview, Hard Force Magazine June 1999]

The road that Axl chose to travel forced me away. And once I left, Duff was next-he split of his own accord less than a year later. Not too long after that, Matt got fired. Apparently, he stood up for me when I was slandered at rehearsal and that was the end of him. By 1998, Axl was the only one of the original five still in the "band" he'd legally arranged to be able to call Guns N' Roses [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.396]

Robin talking about his first meeting with Axl: I was no longer playing with NIN at the time and I had jumped on a tour with a touring show from Cirque du Soleil, which at the time was not everywhere in Las Vegas like it is now. It was a North American tour under a blue and yellow big top (tent). What I'm telling you now is after this all happened. Axl had come to simply see the circus (laughs) and he and I had never met and he didn't know I was there. One of the guys Axl was with in the grandstands pointed and said (in hushed excited voice), "Axl, you see that guitar player down there? That's Robin from Nine Inch Nails." [...] Axl was telling me this after the fact. And he just kind of scratched his head and was sitting there thinking, "What is he doing here?" Hah hah hah. At that time Axl was no longer playing with Slash but the rest of the original guys were still together. I was in my Oakwood apartment with the rest of the circus. This was before cellphones and I had the curly-cabled telephone hanging on the wall in the kitchen. It rang and someone said they were a representative of Axl Rose who wished to speak to me - "Would I be at the number in 15 minutes?" [...] It came out of the clear blue. I kinda jumped to all kinds of conclusions. I skipped holding hands and first kiss and went straight to making babies. I said to the guy, "Ahh, can I take your name and number and I'll call you back in 15 minutes." I kinda clammed up. [...] We ended up talking that day and he invited me to play with he and the rest of the Guns N' Roses guys at the studio space they were kind of housed in. It was a welcomed opportunity just to play that one day. I was doing this circus thing for a year or more by then and that was a blast and I really enjoyed my time there. But I would have been over the moon if even an usher from the circus show told me, "Hey, I got a drumkit in my garage. You wanna go play some AC/DC?" I would have jumped at the opportunity. So the fact it was Axl and Guns N' Roses, I wasn't mad at that.[...] The circus was only in town for I think four months or maybe it was three months. So eventually the circus was gonna pack up and go north and Axl said, "Don't go. Stay here. I wanna do a record. I wanna do a tour with Guns N' Roses." [Ultimate Guitar, January 2014]

Being asked if he is still friends with Axl in 1999: Yes I am, but it doesn’t mean we agree on everything. We’ve been thinking too much about this band. We’ve been teenagers together, we became adults together. Nobody can ask me not to be friend anymore with my brother. But he’s got a problem: too many people around him confusing his mind. To be honest, he probably doesn’t live in the same world as you and me [Duff McKagan Interview, Hard Force Magazine June 1999]

When the 90’s rolled around, Axl got really, really into the whole trip and became a more exaggerated version of someone I already knew. Nothing that Axl does now surprises me. It’s just a bigger, more exaggerated version. That’s where he was headed [Modern life is rubbish, Kerrang! 10th of June, 2000]

[...] There's another version of "Sweet Child O' Mine" that Axl did in the same movie [Big Daddy], which is the same version as our thing from 'Appetite for Destruction'. They sampled my guitar solo, and then added their own thing. It sounds really, really bad. And that's all I can say about that. It's like, "Why? What's the point?" Sheryl Crow doing it was an interesting take on it. But when Axl did it, it almost became a lawsuit. He used Duff's bass line, some of the original drums, and sampled some other stuff. I was like, "Wow. A lot of cooks in the kitchen over there!" That's why I quit, I have to say, for the record. Everybody keeps asking me, "Well, why would you quit? Guns was such a huge band." With all my heart I can say that I would have never wanted to mess with that. I did everything in my power to keep GN'R going--even having a good time in the midst of the most insane chaos with the redhead. But it just got to a point where it was really hard. So when I finally quit, I was like, "I have no choice. I'm going into deep depression here. I'm not having any kind of a good time, and all my bandmates are gone. I have nothing to hold onto." People were saying, "No, You can't quit." But I was like, "Well, I gotta go." And they said,"No, you can't." So I said, "Axl wants to make a Guns N' Roses record, and he wants to do it with me. But he doesn't [care] about Matt, Steve, Izzy, or Duff. And I can't do it that way. I don't wanna work with these people who are suddenly becoming involved in the band." That was about five years ago [Guitar One Magazine, April 2000]

I just haven't talked to Axl. I think the split-up between [us] was a little more bitter [than with other GNR members]. But it wasn't so much personal as it was a disassociation from what I thought he was doing and consequently what it was that I wanted to do. So we just parted ways and I haven't talked to him since [Boston Globe, April 2000]

When the '90s rolled around, Axl got really, really into the whole trip and became a more exaggerated version of someone I already knew. Nothing that Axl does now surprises me. It's just a bigger, more exaggerated version. [...] I just wish the fucker would get the fuckin’ record out so I could see why he took something so cool and systematically, destroyed it. I want to hear where he was headed, and what he was trying to communicate that none of us in the band could relate to. [...] [Axl]'s a brilliant man. I'm a huge Axl fan, but he's got one way of doing things which I just don't understand. [Modern life is rubbish, Kerrang! 10th of June, 2000]

I think Axl is really pissed at me now. I think he's getting more and more pissed. First time I saw him, everything seemed to work out fine, but it looks like things have changed. [...] Weird things happen when you become famous. There's no school to teach you how to be famous. It happens and people are affected in different ways. [...] If he puts out a record and it is good, he's gonna be alright. He's very scared about this [Popular 1, July 2000]

Listing his villains: He’s the closest person I’ve ever worked with that was as villainesque as they get. You know, in a sort of harmless kind of way, but not totally. All that is sort of self-explanatory as well. I definitely gotta put him on the list cos as much as I love the guy he’s definitely way up there. I don’t know how familiar you are with Guns history, but I quit the band five years ago and haven’t looked back since. Axl’s probably still in them, but I haven’t seem him. He’s just a really fucking huge mindfuck. He has a sweet side to him and a nasty side to him, if memory serves. He would be very, very violent and have very wicked thoughts and sore points. I guess I last saw him in an attorney’s office. I quit the group because of musical differences. I wanted to continue doing the hard rock thing, and he wanted to do techno-rock or something. We’re still to see the end result. I just do what I do because that’s what I like doing, but his thing seems to be a little more convoluted [Slash’s Heroes & Villains, NME, October 2000]

The problem is, behind the scene was a thick tension. It was easy for me to plug on my guitar and play, it wasn't that simple for Axl. He always had to fuck it all up. It came to a point that all we did was fighting and regressing musically. I could see problem coming, I could feel them while we were recording Use Your Illusions [Hard Rock Magazine, October 2000]

On what song reminds him of Axl: A Thin Lizzy song, "Thunder and Lightning." It always reminds me of him [Rolling Stone magazine, November 2000]

The only one [from GN'R] who doesn't speak with anybody, is Axl. He doesn't call people on the phone. I like to drive my motorcycle and I know where he lives. Once in 1995, I went to ring the doorbell at his place, and he opened the door. We hugged, he made me visit his house and we talked. It was cool, we reminisced several times after that. But, one day, on the phone, I found the Axl of the 90's. He took notes of what I said, and then, no more news. Since then, I've gone to his house for a laugh: I ring the doorbell and there is always someone telling me that he is not there! I'm happy, in any case, that he had concerts in the beginning of the year in Las Vegas and Rio. I'm happy that his microphone worked okay. Who knows, he might have left the stage otherwise (laughs)! [Hard Rock Interview, June 2001]

I'd moved back out to L.A. [1996 or 1997] (...) and was riding around one day and I thought, fuck it, I'll go by [Axl]'s house. Bastard, he lives up in the hills, in this big house. I'll go and see what he's up to, what he's doing, you know? And I go up and he's got security gates, cameras, walls, all this shit, you know. So I'm ringing the buzzers, and eventually somebody comes and takes me up and there he is. He's like, ''Hey, man! Glad to see you!' Gives me a big hug and shows me round his house. It was great. Then, I don't know, probably a month later, one night he calls me [and] we got into the issue of me leaving Guns N' Roses. I told him how it was on my side. Told him exactly how I felt about it and why I left. And man, that's the last time I've talked to the guy! But, I mean he had a fucking notepad. I could hear him [turning the pages] going, 'Well, ah, you said in 1982... blah, blah, blah...' And I'm like, what the fuck - 1982? He was bringing up a lot of really weird old shit. I'm like, whatever, man. But that's the last time I talked to him [Classic Rock, 2001]

Axl used to make us wait for hours before we went on stage. You can imagine being a drummer getting ready to go up before 50,000 people, but you don't know when to turn on. The show time is 9:00 and Axl would show up at 10:30, so your adrenal glands are pumping and you're constantly on edge with this nervous energy, and he keeps you on edge. I think somewhere deep inside he knew that was part of how he got this amazing rock 'n' roll energy out of the band. When we hit the stage, a lot of times we were pissed off at each other. I wouldn't even look at him. Then he would leave us on stage and take off. I'm sure everyone has heard about the stuff that went on. It was nuts. We'd go into these ten- or fifteen-minute jams waiting for him to come back [Surviving Super Stardom, Modern Drummer, September 2001]

Every two or three years I'll put a call in to the office and say, 'Hey, tell Axl gimme a call if he wants to'. But I mean... the weirdness of his life. To me, I live pretty normal. I can go anywhere. In 2001, I don't think people really give a shit. But for Axl, I knew for the longest time, because his face was all over the television, and stuff. I don't think he could really go anywhere or do anything. And I think because of that he kind of got himself in a little hole up there in the hills. He kind of dug in deeper and deeper and now I think he's gone so fucking deep he's just... I mean, I could be completely wrong. But I know he doesn't drive and he doesn't... he doesn't do anything. I've never, never seen him in town. Isolation can be a bad thing, but Axl's been at it for a long time now. you know, he always stays up at night...[Classic Rock, 2001]

by **Soulmonster** Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:29 am

About Axl asking him to sign a contract: This is right before I left - demoting me to some lower position. They were gonna cut my percentage of royalties down. I was like 'Fuck you! I've been there from day one, why should I do that? Fuck you. I'll go play the Whiskey'. That's what happened. It was utterly insane. (...) I recognize it as something that's not normal. Maybe it was just the stress and pressure of being him. I mean, he had people threatening to kill him constantly. So that's got to be hard to deal with. Then you've got those fucking morons in the KKK thinking we're behind them because of one song ['One In A Million'] [Classic Rock, 2001]

Reminiscing about Axl presenting him a coveted Leatherface doll to get him to join the band: He must understand me somehow [Interview with Kurt Loder, MTV, November 2001]

I'll tell you why I'm still with the guy: He's got my back. He's the most loyal guy you could ever meet. There's a lot of love in him. There's a real person there who goes way beyond his historical past, you know? [Cleveland Times, 2002]

About the breakup of the band: It wasn't a "success kills" kind of story, it was just that what Axl had originally planned all along started to become something that none of us knew anything about [laughs]. [...] Now Axl is doing Guns on his own, I have no regrets about the whole thing, because it was a slow, systematic thing that went on. I am just waiting for the new Guns album to come out so I can have something solid in my hands to explain where Axl was heading - just to clarify some things [laughs][Return to the Jungle, Guitar One Magazine, April 2002]

He's one of the most brilliant lyricists.He's got so much going on, and he's really an intelligent, amazing guy. It's just...it depends how much of that [emotional baggage] you want to experience with him. A lot of it is stuff that not everyone in the band necessarily understands. So you try to understand, and you try to be a good friend and bandmate as you go through it. But when it negatively affects everything the band is doing, it is really hard to stand by him. I am also interested to hear the new Guns record because so much has gone on since this whole thing started - I know he's got a lot to say. Even a lot of his stage performances is fuelled by angst. And it's essential to have that sort of soul and energy for the music to come across as genuine; that's an integral part of rock 'n' roll. But it just depends on how far you want to take it. It's like, if you can get it all out of your system in the two hours you're onstage, great - as long as you're onstage [laughs] [Return to the Jungle, Guitar One Magazine, April 2002]

[Axl] is a lot bigger than I ever really thought about when I got into this. He is such a huge star. Even 10 years after the last tour, people are still dying to see him up there. It's really impressive and crazy [MTV, November 2002]

[Axl is] one of the most thoughtful people I know. He's one of the smartest, too. Musically, he's close to being a genius, if he isn't one. He can take any idea and once he adds his thing to it, it turns into magic. I love the guy [Cleveland Times, 2002]

I'm probably way more of a control freak than he is. I know him as someone who's easy to work with, someone I like working with. If I were to compare him to anyone else, I would say he's one of the easier people I've had to work with in my years, you know what I mean... ? [www.twincities.com, November 2002]

I got into Guns 'n' Roses because I looked at Axl and thought, "This guy's the embodiment of punk rock." I've gotten strength from seeing how determined he is [Tommy Grows Up, Harper Magazine, October/November 2003]

I think just about fucking everything is a misconception about the guy, to be really honest with you. I know the guy, spend a lot of time with him on the road, at home, whatever. What I see people write, or hear what people write or think, is fucking so 180 degrees from what it really is. Most of the time. And you know what? That’s part of the myth and why people still want to come see him is because no one really knows! Except what we know. But they [the media] don’t want to fucking hear that! No one wants to hear ‘you know what? He’s a really good guy, he’s funny as shit and he’s a really good friend [who] I totally fucking trust my life with [Unknown source, March 2003]

(...) Axl as a producer is trying to get the best out of eight guys and get them all in a song, like trying to pull everyone in. You know, mush it together like a fucking piece of clay or something. Trying to form a piece of art work out of it. It takes time. (...) He has a way of working with people and pulling them in. Get you to bring something to the plate that's gonna be special and cool for that song. And it just takes a long time. Because you got eight guys you know. So that process takes a while [This tastes like pretzels - the Tommy Stinson interview, Here Today... Gone To Hell!, 2004]

People don't believe me, but I really don't have a bad relationship with Axl. We get along great when we see each other once every six years![Interview with Gilby, February 2004]

Axl was always nice to me and always generous. People want to hear horror stories, but I personally don't have any [Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 2004]

At that point, I'd sat in the studio for about a year and a half with Axl. As much as I enjoyed working with him, there was no promise that anything would happen. I'm glad I left then because it's been four years since I left, and still nothing [Cleveland Free Times, April 2004]

I think [Axl]'s one of the coolest, most giving, warmest people I've ever met. Sure he's temperamental, but he's a good friend. Seriously though, he's a good guy. [...] [The media treatment] is ridiculously unfair. Its just total creation of the media. For some reason, when the media turns on someone, they just let him have it and its completely unfair. The thing is, a lot of it happened when he kind of disappeared for a long time. So he wasn't around. Rolling Stone put out a whole article based on interviews of people that... well they put him on a cover and never spoke to him at all about anything to sell their fucking magazine. They basically just collected a whole bunch of negative comments. You could go around with you or me or anyone in this room and talk to people that they've known their whole lives and say, "Come on, give me some dirt," and there'd be something and then you could write a fucking article about it and make them look like shit, and it would all be factual. They just did it to sell their fucking magazine. That's so fucked up. So its all bullshit [Rock Journal, July 2004]

I had a guitar that had the knobs go to 11, and Axl said, 'Is that what you're going to use tonight?' I said, 'Yeah!' And he had a fit. He went crazy [Guardian Unlimited, July 2004]

I would say [Axl's] strengths are definitely his heart and his loyalties. He's incredibly loyal and totally has your back if you're straight with him and are loyal back. Which is why him and I have gotten along so well. I'm the same sort of person. I don't fuck around or waste my time with people who waste my time, and I don't really take up people's time if they don't want it. I would say those are his strengths. Other than that, he's a fucking awesome singer and an amazing songwriter. The weaknesses part? Maybe he still thinks too much of what people are expecting of him. Maybe he could try just fucking exist, and not worry about the way people want him to be? Maybe a little bit of that? Might be hard for him, because he's got a lot riding on it. I've got a lot riding on it, but he's obviously got way more [laughs]. What I see with the Guns N' Roses thing... you know, I've hung out with him so much to know that it's hard to be him, just because people are rabid. They get pretty weirded out. He's got some crazy fans, and people that have been there for a long time. And I think if he could just exist, if he could get up in the day and go cruise around like I cruise around and see the world in a non-stressful environment like that [laughs], it might do some good for his fuckin'... his self. He's a huge fucking rock star, man. He can barely go down the street without someone fuckin' throwing some curveball at him. It's a bummer [Brave Words, September 2004]

[...]it's pretty hard to do a Guns song without Axl. He's one of the best, one of the greatest. [...] I believe in him, and I believe in what he's doing [Richmond.com, September 2004]

GN’R turned into a Gestapo – It was run by one guy who had his vision of what Guns was supposed to be, at that point. In this band, we like hanging out together and playing music with each other, it’s like we can’t wait to come up with a new riff. With Guns, we’d come up with a new riff and Axl would be like, “That sucks!" [Breaking The Big Machine, Metal Edge January 2005]

[Axl] can walk in the middle of a fuckin' cornfield and draw a crowd. [...] Axl has some good reasons for what he's doing and what we're doin,' and I thought, 'You know, that's a ballsy fuckin' dude [...] [Creative Loafing, February 2005]

What makes [Scott Weiland] different [than Axl] is that he’s cool to work with and a good friend. At the end of the day, that might be the most important thing. Duff, Izzy, Matt and I have remained friends throughout everything we’ve been through. Axl was just too high strung and unpredictable for that. He didn’t need anybody… at least in his mind. Scott is a total pleasure, especially in comparison to that [Hit Parader, 2005]

What I do regret is we let down a huge fan base that was there waiting for a next record, and Axl made us all--we all balled at one point or another. We couldn't deal with him. There wasn't any sort of rationality. It's just too bad. God, I don't want to come off bad mouthing him because the guy has a lot of great attributes. But how it worked before was the band would write all the music and rehearse it all, and kind of give it to Axl and he'd write lyrics to it. Or Izzy or I would already have lyrics, and he would just come in at the end. Later he wanted to be the ringleader and it didn't go anywhere. And I guess it still hasn't. Whatever, I have no resentment [Thrasher Magazine, January 2005]

Axl and I have a great friendship; he supports me and I support him [Tommy Gun, Classic Rock 75 - January 2005]

Axl Rose is a very, very fickle guy, and he changes his mind all the time [POP QUIZ: DUFF MCKAGAN OF VELVET REVOLVER, April 2005]

Axl is very much into having a band. and he's one of the fairest, coolest, nicest guys that I've ever met... and that's just a fact. And I mean he treats us as band members but at the same time with any situation like that... there's always one person that's more important and you know is in charge and you have to know whose in charge. In every band, in every successful band, has a leader... he's the leader [Madagascar88, September 2005]

Talking about how he can only contact Axl through Del James: [Axl]'s a fucking nut. [Glitzine, November 2005]

I spent my summer vacation touring with Axl's new GNR and had some fun playing live again. Amazing fans out there.... It's hard to believe at times. Fantastic! (...) Axl and I connected via cell phone [digital] this year, I stopped bye to see if he looked as old as he might be............same age as myself, you know and he looked great!, and it was nice to reconnect with an old friend/war buddy/fellow musician. I told him later I`d like to join the fun in some way and he said I was welcome to come and play something, so I did! Took me about 3 weeks to recover from the 6 weeks of touring! [Talking to fans at Chopaway.com, 2006]

Axl is a very complicated type, but very talented [loveloveleaon, July 2006?]

You just need to be a regular guy and for the guys around you to be the same. It's a grass roots 'all for one and all for one' thing as a member of a gang. But the extremes of the relationship between Axl and myself were something else again. There was a point were I - or I should say we - found his behaviour completely incomprehensible. From the Use Your Illusion tour on it was a matter of just getting through it somehow. [...] I can live with most shit, but it was the fucking up of gigs that got me. You've got four other musicians and 80 people working their ass off to set up this stadium show up every night, and you've got 30,000 to 180,000 fans turning up to see it. everybody is dependent upon it all synchronizing, so when you start sabotaging that for no good reason, it's the most unbelievably selfish thing. [...] And by the time I'd come back from [touring with Slash' Snakepit], Axl had built this impenetrable cocoon around him. I can't knock the guy - he's an incredibly complex character and that's what makes him who he is. But I never could understand how we couldn't continue doing what we'd set out to do in the first place. There was so much animosity between us, so little communication because of my personality flaws and his. [...] I was pissed at Axl, obviously. When he put someone else's playing on top of mine that was certainly a factor, but mostly I was pissed because I felt like I was leaving my own band. There was a really ugly vibe that has lasted for years. When Velvet Revolver started, Duff and I did an international press tour to promote the record, and everybody was coming at me with Guns N' Roses' questions because I hadn't really addressed the issues. I was like a cornered animal; anything that came out of my mouth was an attack on Axl and that sparked more animosity. But I have reached out to him a couple of times to show that I am not so...Well, not so bitter that I can't communicate. There's still a part of me that loves a part of Axl. There's still a part of him I could relate to [The Truth About His Past, Present and Future, Mojo, June 2008]

I went over to his house in the middle of the night drunk on JD. [...] It was the last time I tried to see him. I wanted to put the kibosh on this fucking lawsuit, so my plan was to speak with him and say, "Here's my number, let's sort this out." I am pretty sure he was at home that night, but he didn't come to the door. I gave the message to his live-in assistant. That was the closest that Axl and I have come to any kind of communication since I quit. [...] I have always had that soft spot in my heart and there's this tight connection between Axl and I that no amount of mud-slinging can erase, I guess because we came from nowhere together [The Truth About His Past, Present and Future, Mojo, June 2008]

I always liked the kilt. I wasn't so sure about the white leather ensemble... [The Truth About His Past, Present and Future, Mojo, June 2008]

About hearing Chinese Democracy [...] one way or another it will be great, because Axl in his own right is a genius. I'm intrigued, because the saga and all the procrastination behind him making that record has a lot to do with why he's there in his world and why I am here in mine. I'll be interested to hear what Axl has to say these days. Music is the purest form of communication, after all [The Truth About His Past, Present and Future, Mojo, June 2008]

First meeting at rehearsal in 2006 (?): The thing I remember is that he walked in carrying a huge tray of hamburgers. At that point I hadn’t eaten red meat in a long time, and I thought, What a perfect way to break that streak and have some beef. So I had a burger with him, and my God – that was the best freakin’ burger I had ever tasted! Maybe it was because I hadn’t had red meat in a while, but it was fucking good. But what I didn’t know at the time, and I’ve since come to learn, is this: Wherever we are in the world, Axl knows where to find the best burgers. We’ll be in Japan and he’ll find these little Kobe steak burgers that are just… wow. So I trust him when it comes to ground beef. Oh – and I also remember we were jamming to one of the new songs and he yelled in my ear that it reminded him of 'Hey Bulldog.' So I thought, All right, he’s a Beatles guy. Cool [Bumble In The Jungle, Guitar World - vol. 30/No.2 - February 2009]

Everyone always baits me to give them a crazy Axl story. I don't really have any. I spent two years in a studio with him [and] I never saw any mood swings. He was never not cool to me. So, I am always quick to defend the guy, even though I know his reality is different than mine. Then again, everyone has a different reality. (...) Then I decided that I should go down there because I wanted to meet him. At the time, no one had seen him for a couple of years and there were all these rumors. He had become the Howard Hughes of rock 'n' roll and I wanted to see it. I went down and I liked him. He wasn't the monster that was painted of him [Spinner, 2009]

It's an honor to have the opportunity to be a part of a band that I have always loved and respected. I'm looking forward to working with Axl, who is not only one of the few great front men of our generation, but a true artist [Guns N' Roses Press Reselease, March 2009]

I saw some really amazing stuff with Axl. We worked really well together. We were good friends. And I hope to perhaps have that friendship back one day, although it's not something I wait around for. But I look forward to it [The Inquisition - Tough Questions For Duff McKagan, April 2009]

I think when you don't talk to the media, then the media starts running a little crazy with things. There was a Rolling Stone story about him that painted him as a Howard Hughes sort of figure and everybody used that as the template to write about Axl. None of it is true. You know, he's just a guy caught up in events [Q&A: Duff McKagan, independent.ie, October 2009]

We’ve had plenty of fun times, some tough times in the trenches, but it’s all good [The Gown, July 2010]

Obviously Axl runs the ship but, you know, it's like, with anything, he's very much 'This is a band'. It's very much a family. It's a really tight knit family [SVT Swedish Television, 2010]

During that last tour [in 1993], it was like an ongoing exercise in how we could bond the least. It just got worse and worse. Partly my fault for not confronting things, and partly Axl's for sequestering some private place and brooding over things all the time. [...] He was very talkative [back in the first days], mainly about himself and his beliefs. He had this very intense, emotional, serious vibe about him. And a lot of the brilliance he has is down to that personality. It's what makes him such a brilliant front man. [...] Someone sent me those blogs he wrote. It doesn't hurt me now. It would have done when we worked together. But now I'm obviously just this thorn in his side because I am continuing to do my thing musically and he isn't [GQ Music, July 2010]

Nobody will ever realize the amount of bullshit that Axl gets thrown at him on a daily basis. If you only knew the half of it, you would understand. Trust me I don't know anyone out there that could deal with what he has to, to keep a monster like Guns N' Roses rolling and still get on stage and perform like he does. My hat goes off to him. I have nothing but respect for Axl, and always have, even before I joined the band. He is one of the few living legends of our time. He is the real deal, like it or not, he stands for what he believes and wears his heart on his sleeve. He is all about his fans, we all are....thats why we give 200% every concert we do [Twitlonger, August 2010]

Axl insists on doing things his way and not playing by the fucking rules. You can love him or hate him for it, but the fact of the matter is.... he's the real fucking deal. skin, blood and soul. Deal with it or not, but it won't ever change [Twitter, August 2010]

Axl gets this bad-rap crap. So he's made maybe one or two or three or four bad mistakes — he's done a million wonderful things. People keep knocking him for the bad things [reviewfix.com, September 2010]

He's insane — that's it. The bottom line — the fucker's insane. I said it. OK, fine, fuck me. I said it — he's insane. I try and try to be fucking so cool about him... I swear to God, he's a nutball [The Adam Carolla Show, September 2010]

by **Soulmonster** Fri May 04, 2012 6:07 pm

About asking Axl to sing on his solo album: You know, I will be honest with you, even at the sake of it going public, when I was in the middle of this process there were a lot of singers names who flew through my mind during the process. You are living in Singer Land so all you are thinking about is singers. The thought of him crossed my mind at one point. I thought, “Axl could sing the shit out of any of these songs.” I, obviously, never made the phone call because I wanted to put the record out in this millennium [Classic Rock Revisited, September 2010]

Two weeks ago, I flew off to London for a week's worth of non-music-related business. Mere hours after landing at Heathrow I found myself onstage with a friend that I have been to hell and back with, and lived to tell the tale. Axl and I just happened to be in hotel rooms next to each other. Unexpected? Oh, fuck yes. Sometimes, though, it takes a serendipitous moment like this to put some important things into perspective. I for one was glad we were sort of thrown into meeting. I hope he was, too, for the sake of the pounds of flesh that we shed in the struggle and fray. Mostly we laughed, and that was indeed great. [...] This chance meeting gave me pause for thought and reflection. Many of you have asked me to write about this gig and our meeting. Other magazines and whatnot have tried to contact me for a "statement." Really? A STATEMENT? I'll state this: Trust is built on foundations of granite. Trust is not built when a late-breaking story can prompt you to gossip [Reverb, Seattle Column, October 2010]

Though it had been thirteen years since we'd last spoken, I had always assumed Axl and I would one day meet again. I didn't know hot it would happen, I just held out hope of perhaps rekindling a relationship of some sort, at some time. These days our only relationship, if you could call it that, consisted of being CC'd on the same emails about various business and legal affairs. Often vitriolic, caustic, or unpleasant emails. [...] Now here I was, a forty-six-year-old father of two girls Axl had never met. [...] In the end I just went to the door of his hotel room. People from his entourage stopped me in the hallway. "You can't go in right now, man," said one. "He's about to get in the shower to get ready for he show tonight." "I've seen him named before," I said. The door to Axl's room opened a crack. "I thought I heard your voice out here," said Axl. He wasn't naked. He motioned with his head and said, "Come on in." And so, for the first time in much too long. Axl and I finally met again face-to-face. Any doubts I had about what might happen melted instantly. We hugged. From the on, there was no awkwardness at all. It turned out it wasn't a big deal for either of us, I don't think. It was just cool. After so much time gone and lost, we both seemed eager to mend a personal fence, to bridge a gap between us that had felt wider the longer we had gone without meeting [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 354-355]

Axl invited me and Susan to a dinner a few night later [after the October 14, 2010, London gig], which timed well with my feelings. This was a much more leisurely evening, and one without questions hanging in the air. Axl and I could let down our guard. We both now knew: things were fine. When the waiter came to take our drink orders, Axl looked up at him, paused, glanced at me, and the said, "I'll have a virgin mojito, please" [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 356]

The thing people don't know really about Axl... I think everybody has a preconceived notion of who he is or what he is, and it's just funny to sit back and listen to what people really think of him, because he's actually the nicest... one of the nicest guys I've met. I think it's one of those things when you get to that level, when you get that big that quick and for that long, I think it's like anybody — Britney Spears, Michael Jackson — when you get to that level, the media just loves to tear people down, no matter what you do, and it's unfortunate. The bottom line is he's done more for this industry of music than most, and [more than they could] ever could ever dream of ["Hot Breakfast" at Triple M, March 2011]

Talking about meeting Axl in London: The cool thing about that was Axl and I got to reconnect. We're grown-ups, you know. There's been a lot silliness. Lawyers and bullshit. You know, lawyers like to create a situation so that their jobs go on. And I know that. But it was just nice to reconnect. We had a nice dinner. That was much more important to me than actually getting up and playing. But it was fun playing with those guys. There are some really good players in that band [Music-news.com, April 2011]

About why he was picked for GN'R: No, seriously…I don't know. I don't think he ever told me. Actually, of all things, I think it was because he'd heard a song of mine called I Can't Play The Blues, which was on an old album I did for Shrapnel Records. I guess he liked all the crazy stuff I did on that song. Axl gravitates towards players who don't play all the normal patterns and licks [Musicradar.com, April 2011]

[Axl's] got a great sense of humor. A real ball-buster. Sometimes he'll tell jokes into our in-ear monitors while we're tryin' to take a solo, he's fucked me up a few times, haha...[UGO Entertainment, April 2011]

Being asked if Axl is a diva: He's not a diva, he's an asshole. One of the greatest assholes of all time — and I say that with love [Matty P's Radio Happy Hour, April 2011]

People think he doesn't care, but it's the complete opposite — he cares so much that he takes it to another level. He's a superstar. He demands so much out of himself. There's been times we've been on stage and he's gotten so angry with himself — I know it seems crazy, and it is a little crazy — that he would leave the stage. He's such a perfectionist that if he felt like he wasn't doing his best, he would freak, he would get upset with himself. He's not mad at the world, he's just a perfectionist who gets mad at himself. But he's the greatest. I mean, who have you got? Throughout the time of rock and roll, you've got Freddie Mercury, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, and you've got Axl Rose [KLOS 95.5, May 2011]

I never had a personal beef with Axl, truth be told. Lawyers and stuff in that instance, it was kind of treacherous. They make money and try to create enemies between clients. I wish they’d teach that course. If there was a rock ’n’ roll textbook, I could add some shit to it, real valuable shit. We were torn apart by people who weren’t in the band, and that’s really what always happens [The Onion A.V. Club, May 2011]

The guy’s one of the best vocal melody writers ever, I think [The Onion A.V. Club, May 2011]

Talking about his bands: (...) they all have fairly emotional singers who are a little bit on the dangerous side. And they’re real—they’re all the real deal. I guess I got lucky enough to not have to play with people who aren’t [The Onion A.V. Club, May 2011]

Axl had a plan in place. He wanted to add a keyboard and when he met me he decided I would be that guy. People sit around, drinking beers, and everybody’s got ideas and plans. Ninety-nine percent of those plans never happen. I was hoping Axl’s would, but I wasn’t counting on it. They’d come back to town, I’d run into them, and they’d say ‘We’re going to need you soon’ [daltondailycitizen.com, May 2011]

He's just a genius when it comes down to music [TripleM, May 2011]

I know Axl tends to get a bad rap because people believe what the media force feeds them and they believe what they wanna believe. ‘Cause I think when anybody gets that big, it’s the media’s job, they feel, if we don’t tear ‘em down then we’re not doing our jobs. The media loves to build people up just to tear ‘em down. I’ll never get that because if you actually sit down and get to know Axl, he is very intelligent, very talented, and probably one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met in my life. He’s constantly cracking jokes left and right; he’s really just a good-hearted person. (...) He’s like anybody else; the thing I like about Axl is he’s the real deal. He gives you the option—you can either be his friend or fuck him over. So I think he’s like anybody only he doesn’t pussyfoot around the subject. If you do him wrong, he’s gonna call you out on it. But he gives everybody the opportunity to be cool; he treats you like you treat him. He’s just a cool fuckin’ guy and I can’t really say enough nice things about him. He’s got more talent in his pinkie than most people out there. It’s sickening to sit there and watch this guy play piano in his hotel room and he’s singing shit equally as great as “November Rain” that has never been recorded. I just sit there with my mouth open and I’m like, “Holy fuck.” He’s like, “This is just stuff I’m tinkering around on” and I’m like, “Dude, you gotta get this out to the public. This is sick.” So he has a lot of great songs up his sleeve that I pray to god the world could hear one day ‘cause it’s gonna blow people’s minds [Ultimate-guitar.com, May 2011]

Axl definitely is open to writing with the band. I know Robin Finck helped him write 'Better', the single that was out. I know a lot of the guys had a lot of input on the album. He's always been really open. I've worked with a lot of talented people, but this guy, I'm telling you, he has songs up his sleeve that I've sat down at the piano with him, and literally, my jaw hits the piano bench. He has a lot of songs up his sleeve. Obviously, I'm in the band, and I have no reason to kiss his ass, I'm just kind of putting it out as it is. The guy is just fucking incredible. The songs that he has that no one's heard… I pray to God one day people get to hear what he has up his sleeve, because me being a fan for one, but the shit is just awesome. [...] The thing about Axl, and what I do respect about him, he doesn't give a fuck about, like, if a label person is trying to hurry him for a record. The one thing is, he is the real deal, he is a true artist — he will not release a record until he knows in his heart it's ready. [...] He literally has, like, four albums' worth of… I mean, he has tons and tons of songs. So whenever he feels like, OK, this is what he wants to release next… It's his call, it's his vision, so I'm just here to do whatever I can to bring that vision to life for him, or with him [Metaholic.com, June 2011]

[...] Axl's a...perfectionist. That's what makes him great. The end product's great, but it gets maddening to work with that person [Behind Use Your Illusion, Classic Rock Magazine, June 2011]

Axl's way of rationalizing things are sometimes the genius thing ever and I've always liked that about him. Other things were maddening, and I am sure I maddened him. On the Illusions tour I could have not gotten so fucked up all the time. Did I blame it on him for being late all the time? Yeah, for the longest time. But you gotta start taking responsibility for yourself and that's what I didn't do[Behind Use Your Illusion, Classic Rock Magazine, June 2011]

start over & call the band axl "fucking" rose & move on like everybody else did... [AFD, August 2011]

I know he's really into Halloween — he usually likes going off and trying to get to a Halloween party [upstate.com, October 2011]

Axl is one of those people who would give you the shirt off his back. And he's also one of the funniest guys I know. I always tell him, ‘It's a good thing this music thing worked out, but if it didn't you should've been a comedian. The guy is hilarious. He just cracks me up. We're always sending each other the funniest jokes back and forth [upstate.com, October 2011]

About Axl continuing with Guns N' Roses: He didn't start over. The other guys just kind of vacated the band. They said, "Fuck it, I don't want to work." Axl just decided to go on. He called me and asked me to do it and got the other guys to do it as well. Axl just wanted to keep working. He didn't want to start completely over after everything the band had been through. I think it was a pretty ballsy move [D9 At Night, November 2011]

[...] he's been nothing but amazing. I hear all the opinions and blah blah blah, but the guy treats me like gold. He's been nothing but an amazing friend and loyal and honest. I couldn't ask for anything more when it comes down to that [omaha.com, November 2011]

I love Axl. He's a great person. He gets bashed a lot in the press, but he's a great cat and he's amazingly talented. And he's really funny, that's something I don't think people realize. A lot of times he'll greet you with a joke, and it's a good joke, not something your grandpa would tell you [twincities.com, November 2011]

Axl and I have always gotten along [StarTribune, November 2011]

I give a lot of props to Axl. Cause he takes a lot of heat for going on an hour late here or there or whatever but what people dont really point out is the guy goes on and sings his balls off for three hours solid…and not one Guns song is easy to sing. So I just think the world of the guy, I think he’s the real deal [Banana 101.5 Rocks, November 2011]

By the time I joined, I walked in going, ‘This sounds kinda punk rock what [Axl]’s trying to do and thinking of doing.’ You know, everyone quit, and [Axl] was like, ‘I wanna work. I didn’t spend 10 years on this to let it go now. Fuck you guys! I’m going to keep it going.’ I thought that was pretty fucking ballsy. I said, ‘I’m down.’ … I still think it was a good idea. [...] Axl is a great producer. He doesn’t give himself credit for it. Sadly, of course, it took forever to finish the fucking record, but the reason why is because of what he expects out of the band. He likes to actually collaborate with the people he’s playing with. He doesn’t bring them a song and say, ‘Here’s my song. Sing it.’ It’s kind of a strange, old-school, songwriter-producer thing. I don’t think he realizes that. He’s really good at getting people to write something that inspires him. [...] We get along great, we really do. It ain’t perfect, it’s not great every day. We’re all cantankerous in our own right. But the reason I’ve played with him so long is that we do get along [Chicago Sun Times, November 2011]

I think, if you let people get to know [Axl] more, it certainly wouldn’t hurt him. We’re all human, we all have our light side and our dark side and everything in between. I know I sure as fuck do. But, he just did That Metal Show, and if you watch it, that’s what it’s like to just hang out with him and talk. And we’ve hung out and talked for like 20 hours straight. It’s like a big episode of That Metal Show. I think that it wouldn’t hurt if... like me personally, I don’t mind connecting with people. And doing interviews and just hanging out and that kind of stuff. I know he’s in a different position, because at his level of fame, celebrity, notoriety, idolization, objectification, it’s so far beyond the scope of things I’ve ever dealt with. And you lose a lot of freedoms, because you can’t just say what you want because everything you say can and will get twisted, and it just gets to you. And you can’t hang out, because people just can’t handle it and start acting all weird and it gets uncomfortable and there’s always a problem with that kind of shit. So, it gets very tricky. And sometimes you just have to... it’s kind of like a doctor, where you may want to give your home number to your patients, but they might start to abuse it if you do [NY Hard Rock Music Examiner, November 2011]

Talking about Axl and Paul Westerberg: They are both very strong personalities. There are certain peccadilloes with each, but they are also pretty similar in certain ways. [...] They are both very serious and maybe read a little too much about what people say about them and think about them. I think they both carry a significant amount of baggage and they could really improve their quality of life by just letting go of it [Punknews.org, November 2011]

Well . . . (long pause) . . . you know, I think . . . he really isn't a really weird guy. He's more of a simple guy who got thrown into a complicated world. That's really the best way that I can describe that. 'Cause I knew him . . . Izzy was already living with me at my Mom's house when Axl came up to LA to be in a band with Izzy. So a very young, nineteen-or-twenty-year-old Axl was soft-spoken, intelligent . . .would kick anyone's ass for you if he was your friend. He always had the fight in him, there's no denying that. He always had the fight in him. But I also think - which is one of the reasons I left Guns 'N Roses in the first place - once we started having this very minor success here in L.A., Izzy and I were running into problems with him. His extended speeches on stage, this newfound power . . . the power of his voice to communicate how he felt about situations on stage. At that time we were allotted an hour; you know, you go up there, you've got an hour to play your songs and then get the hell off the stage. The first show we did ten songs, a couple of shows we did nine songs, and then the last few shows I did, we were literally playing five or six songs and then letting Axl just stand there and talk, and tell everybody what he thought. Which is great, but for me personally, I wasn't playing music to support any cause, or any local clothes maker or whatever. And I think that he found that that worked for him; that he could be a voice to be reckoned with, and you're not gonna cross him. And he stuck to those simple values of, "You say something bad about me, I'm gonna fuck you up." To the point where he is a Howard Hughes type, where he took forever to make a record, it came out, some people like it and some people don't . . . he's got a band of great musicians now. They don't play very often; when they do, there seems to be a little bit of iffiness about it. You know, he's doing it his way, but I don't think he's that weird a cat. I think that he has an unrealistic view of the world. That doesn't necessarily make him weird. It just means . . . Michael Jackson kinda went through the same thing of really not having a childhood, for instance. How do you cope in the adult world when you already have everything, you can have anything, and then you have to deal with an adult on an adult, educated level? Here's what my Dad says: "The day you get your record deal is the day you stop maturing" [Hard Rock Examiner, November 2011]

Axl was always trying to push the envelope [regarding new music]. [...] Axl in his mind wanted to be this epic, stadium, world-wide, renowned super-group, and he looked at bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, like sort-of the benchmark for that, so we created these opuses, these epic numbers, like 'November Rain', to really sort of become this bigger thing [Triple M, November (?), 2011]

Being asked bout the public image of Axl being a megalomaniac: I think most of it is cruel and malicious and unnecessary. I don’t think he’s like that at all. He’s a good friend. He’s like a brother [Vindy.com, December 2011]

Being asked what the deal is with Axl: You're asking me to (expletive) write 'War and Peace,' dude. [...] I think [Axl, Paul Westerberg and Dave Pirner] are hugely talented, a bit misunderstood in a lot of ways, and maybe I subconsciously think I can help them in some way. I guess I'm kind of used to that kind of personality; maybe I'm drawn to those kind of people and they work out good for me. Maybe I've got a yin and yang kind of thing about it [Detroit News, December 2011]

Being asked if Axl is difficult to deal with: Not for me. The rest of the free world? Sure [Detroit News, December 2011]

I got into this band with [Axl] ’cause I thought the idea that he had of… the whole (expletive) band kind of left him sitting there, and he’s like, “Well (expletive) that, man. I want to work. I’m not gonna sit here and call it a day,” was kind of ballsy, so I was in. [...] I mean, (expletive), [Axl] was more notoriously bad with [late starts] before. I think to his credit he’s gotten better at that whole issue. Ultimately, when he’s ready to play, that’s when we’re gonna play. I wouldn’t want to play with him one minute before he’s ready. He ain’t (expletive) ever gonna change because of you or me or (expletive) anyone [Enquirer, December 2011]

I didn't like that interview [Axl] did on That Metal Show. I was very disappointed. He didn't answer one question. I guarantee you – and I could tell by the looks on Eddie [Trunk] and the other guy's faces – that before Axl came out, his manager told those guys, "If you ask him this, if you ask him that, he will stand up and walk out in the middle." I guarantee it. And the questions that that they did ask, he didn't answer. He just started talking about whatever he wanted to. And, he blamed everybody else. He blamed everybody! Who gives a crap? Don't blame people. I was disappointed. I was hoping to hear something better from him [Rolling Stone, December 2011]

We've always got along pretty well. I remember the first time I ever met him: He walked into this studio that they were moving into. My band at the time was moving into the studio next door. I was sort of entertaining this young lady on this mattress on the floor of the studio. There was garbage everywhere because we just moved out. He walked in and saw us and he said, "I like that dude." That was the first thing I remember him saying. And I was like "All right, well ... ." Then I saw them play for the first time and I thought, "I have to join that band. Those guys are amazing." He heard me play and he said, "You're going to be the guy. When we add a keyboard player, it's going to be you." That all kind of worked out in a weird way. I'm just happy I'm still here, man, and being able to make music has always been awesome. He's one of a kind, man. Always has been, always will be. [...] Axl is a lot more fun at 5 a.m. than he is at 5 p.m. Let's put it that way [jconline.com, December 2011]

I love that dude [Reverb Column, December 2011]

After opening for Guns N' Roses on two dates: Thanks @axlrose. My friend..... A really great couple o nights. Thank you Seattle and Vancouver. And.....good fuckin night! [twitter, December 2011]

He's been doing the same thing his whole career. Going on late -- what's new about that? It's sort of rote at this point. He does his thing, and he works really hard to put on a good show every night. He prepares a lot to be the best he can be, and I think that's commendable. This guy can still fucking wail [LA Weekly Blog, December 2011]

Comparing Axl with Paul Westerberg: Jeez, there are a lot of similarities. One is they're both the real deal, both without a doubt the real thing. Axl's the great singer, sold tons of fucking records, and Paul is one of the great writers of the era. They're both somewhat hard to deal with. They have definite ways they see things, and that's the way it's going to be. Not that it's a bad thing -- they both stick to their guns. Maybe sometimes to a fault. It's gotta be hard on both of them to be so immovable at times [LA Weekly Blog, December 2011]

Axl and I came from completely different backgrounds. Because of that we made an interesting pair trying to figure each other out [The Enquirer, December 2011]

The split between Axl and I was a quiet one. But because there was so much attention on the breakup — and are we going to get back together? — it got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn't the focus for me. Neither one of us wants to be down each other's throats for no reason. At this point, I'm trying to put it to rest. So I try to avoid the subject [The Enquirer, December 2011]

About joining Guns N' Roses: Axl gave me a shot, gave me a chance. It's hard for me to turn my back on people that have helped me out. [...] Axl and I had been talking for quite a while, and he stuck to his word. [...] But Axl's a great person. He's like a big brother or something. He's funny. Fun to be around most of the time. And he gets the best out of everybody that works with him, which is pretty amazing [azcentral.com, December 2011]

You'd think 'Oh, Axl Rose, this egomaniac' and everything you've ever heard. He's quite the opposite. He lets me write my own solo pieces right before I hit 'Sweet Child O' Mine' every night. It's really funny to me to read some of these things out there on him, because it's just a completely different guy than I know [azcentral.com, December 2011]

He’s a good friend, and he’s pretty funny, man. A lot of times before we go onstage, he’ll tell us a joke he just heard or something that he read that was really funny, then it’s like, ‘OK, let’s go play’ [Loudwire, December 2011]

I recorded him playing lots of awesome guitar parts back then [around 2001], I don't think people know what an original and cool guitar player he really is [Facebook, January 2012]

Being asked to describe Axl in one sentence: An amazing character that has put his mark on the world and rock n roll [musinq.net, January 23, 2012]

Being asked about Axl's personality: He can be the nicest guy in the world , did some really nice things for me. Paid for my 30 th bday party and always gave me super nice gifts [musinq.net, January 23, 2012]

He’s a great, great man. He’s done a lot for me and my family and for so many other people. And people don’t know that about him. And you know what? He’s always got some great jokes, man [Metro, February 9, 2012]

[...] if you got a great song and Axl sings it, it’s Guns N’ Roses at that point to me [Gazzette.net, February 2012]

Being asked if Axl takes the lead in the studio: For some songs, sure, but I know if we spend time and put together cool ideas and send it his way, and it’s cool, he appreciates it. So some things go a little bit further, maybe. And some things don’t, you know? Everyone brings things in, it just depends. At the end of the day, he’s going to sing it, so it’s got to flow the way he wants it to and the way he feels comfortable and the way he does put what he puts on it [Gazzette.net, February 2012]

[...] Axl Rose is part of a dying breed, a real rock star. There just aren’t rock stars anymore. He’s a really good guy, great to work with [The Mercury, February 2012]

Axl and I have become super close since I’ve been in the band and he’s just awesome. He’s one of the funniest guys I know. He’s constantly cracking jokes and that’s what sad about it... I can only speak for me and what I know, but I see all the negative shit and it bums me out. That’s not the guy I know. He treats me like gold and he’s a great great human being. He’s seriously one of the most talented individuals out there [Brave Words, March 2012]

Never heard Axl play guitar. And hopefully never will, lol. He's a great piano player. Greater singer [Live chat, March

Axl will probably want to play [at the Rock and Roll induction ceremony] with his hack band — his band of hacks. ‘Axl and His Hacks’ — it shouldn’t even be Guns N’ Roses. He’s just driving that name into the freakin’ ground. ‘Axl and His Hacks' [Loudwire, March 2012]

[Axl] hates my guts [...] It's over a lot of different stuff; I don't even know. There's just no communication between us [Rolling Stone, March 2012]

He means a lot to me. I hope I at least can get a hug out of him one day [Artisan News, April 2012]

I always thought [Axl] was such a great lyricist [Metrolyrics.com, April 2012]

You know, that guy has more integrity than any artist I have ever worked with, and I have played with a lot of people. But he has more integrity and that is really something that I find incredibly admirable. He is all about the music and that is all that matters to him, that’s what it’s about and that’s all it should be about. What matters is that it’s the best it can be. That is how Axl rolls. He’s not about the money. He is about the art of it and I think that is what I’ve learned more than anything. And I’ll tell you what else, that guy listens more than any other singer I’ve ever worked with. He listens to musicians. When we’re onstage, and like I said the songs are different every night, so he’s listening to you for when you finish a phrase before he comes in. He totally pays attention and it’s really cool. It’s great to work with someone like that [Glide Magazine, April 2012]

I have no desire to know [Axl] or work with him or do anything with him again. Letting go of that was like a huge weight was lifted off my body. I feel fucking free. Yay! [...] and in Axl’s letter [regarding Hall of Fame induction], he showed his true colors to the world. After that, that’s it. [...] I think it’s disrespect. He's not for the fans, which is everybody in the world. Basically, he told everybody in the world, "Fuck you, I don’t give a shit what you think." [...] [What Axl said about Steven in the HOF letter] doesn’t even make any sense. That’s Axl, he doesn’t make any sense, and that’s it, I’m done with him, I’m never mentioning him or talking about him again. That’s it. One last thing – god bless him. [...] Myles Kennedy did a number on that other redhead. He did a phenomenal job, stepping into those big redheaded shoes. [...] I’m telling the truth, I never heard a boo like that in my life [when Axl's name was mentioned at the HOF ceremony]. It was frightening. I was sitting there going, "Man, god forbid they were doing that at me." That would be soul-crushing, you would think. But that redheaded guy, I was standing onstage, I looked at Duff and said, "You know what the crazy thing is, Axl’s so back-ass backwards that he probably likes it." Instead of going, "Wow, that’s harsh," he’s going, "Yeah, fuck yeah, I love it." [...] He’s got nothing in the world to be angry about. It’s so great to move on from that, to get that out of my life and out of my system. You ever have somebody that you know, but they’re not in your life, you don’t see them, you don’t talk to them, but you think about them, and it makes your stomach get all tight, and you go, "Son of a bitch," and you don’t even talk to the guy or see them – that’s what that asshole would do to me. It’s just great to not have that feeling in my stomach anymore. It’s good to move on. It’s like getting off of heroin, "Oh, I feel so much better, my god, what a relief, I’m not sick anymore" [Rolling Stone, April 2012]

Describing Axl: I guess genius is a good word for it [National Post, May 2012]

[Axl]s been a great influence on me. He's the person who gave me this opportunity and I'll always be thankful or that. When we do hang out, it's always fun. He's a very funny guy, good with quips and his level of musicianship is high. He sets the bar pretty high and over the years it's made me a lot better at doing what I do. In that regard, he's made me a better person as well. We've had ups and downs, but he's always come out and delivered and that's a very tough thing to do when you're fronting a band like this [Scotland Herald, May 2012]

Axl doesn’t do anything in a small way, it’s always go big or go home and I love that about being in Guns [EspyRock, May 2012]

To say something nice about Axl, is to say that the guy is true to himself. However you feel about his decisions, he is true to himself. He has been consistent. [...] A lot of us former members are limited to some extent from doing the (GNR) stuff live, because there’s only one Axl. Nobody can sing like he can. So we’ve all got to do the songs that are in what we call ‘normal ranges’ [TheSpec, June 2012]

Being asked if Axl is his friend or boss: More like my cousin's Uncle's friend's TV repairman. We spend more time laughing and joking, he's more friend than boss [Teraz Rock Magazine, July 2012]

Axl is about as anti-corporate-rock as anyone I know [Las Vegas Weekly, October 2012]

Really enjoyed watching Axl on Jimmy Kimmel made me happy to see him happy and having fun [twitter, October 2012]

What Axl's really good at doing is reading the crowd [Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 2012]

[Axl’s] always treated me really good. Even when I left and Frank took over because I was having a kid, they were pretty accommodating. I think Axl was a little freaked out with another drummer coming in but I did it, he let me do it and it was kind of my decision not to come back because I was getting into other stuff like producing and film soundtracks.

But I’m still doing stuff, I’ve done some remixes for him. He’s always been good with me. I know he’s got his reputation and I’ve seen it and that’s what makes him Axl Rose. He’s running the whole ship. He’s got a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of freaks trying to take shit from him [musicradar, October 2012]

He's a living legend in rock n' roll [8 News Now, November 2012]

I'm not angry with Axl anymore. I love him and I feel blessed that I got to work with him and achieve what I achieved with him. I guess time does heal all wounds [Rolling Stone Magazine, November 2012]

On whether Axl is misunderstood by most people: Oh, absolutely, because he doesn't defend himself in the press. There are a lot of people who take advantage of that, and ex-members know that's the way it is and they fully use that to their advantage [Total Guitar, December 2012]

On whether Axl is misunderstood by most people: It's easier to get in a fight when the other guy isn't going to swing back [Total Guitar, December 2012]

I think that, a lot of times, if he’s late on stage or if he’s not going to show up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or if an album is taking too long to come out – that kind of stuff – I think a lot of times people think it’s because he doesn’t care about his fans. They just take it that way. But the truth is I think, from what I see, he cares so much that it almost gets in the way. I would say he cares too much. That’s what people don’t realize about him. They take it the wrong way. They think that if he’s stalling on something that it’s that he doesn’t care but it’s actually because he cares so much that he’s so concerned about doing the wrong thing. He’s trying to feel out what the right thing is to do. That’s one thing I noticed about him: that he cares maybe too much. That’s my perspective if I were to put it into my own words [Boomerocity, January 2013]

I think a lot of people and the press try to blow it up and say he's an asshole but everyone can be an asshole if you get them on the wrong day. [...] One thing people don't seem to get is that he's genuinely funny and he's always joking around and telling stories to make people laugh. I always say that if he wasn't a musician he'd be a great comedian. I wish the world could see that side of him because it's the opposite of what people have branded in their brains. [...] Axl is in a position where he doesn't have to be cool with the band but he treats us like gold. He lets us write our own solos and gives everybody their time to shine on stage and I think that says a lot about who he is. He has no problem sharing the spotlight, in fact he quite likes it - otherwise he'd be doing this interview and not me [7 News, January 2013]

You know, I can’t really imagine what it would be like to not make music the way [Axl] does it. Working with him has taught me a lot. He’s a bit of a perfectionist, I guess. Because of that it always brings out the best in everyone that’s working there [in the studio], and also out of me. You need some tension to make the best recordings you can make. It’s easy to get something that sounds kick-ass and just roll with it and say, ‘Hey, there it is. We’re done.’ But everything should have a second go around – or three – to make sure it’s right. I think Axl’s work ethic has really rubbed off on me. [Border Mail, February 2013]

Talking about misconceptions surrounding Axl: Absolutely. Of course. Unfortunately, in the world we’re living in – especially today – negativity sells. That’s all people want to know about. When you make it to the top of the heap, everybody wants to knock you off. Things have always been like that. The more a person fights that, then the more it gets thrown back at them. If you took anybody and just presented all the negative things about them – a lot of them untrue or exaggerated – then you’re not going to think too highly of that person. So there’s misconceptions, definitely [Border Mail, February 2013]

Talking about his hot sauces: One time before a show I gave some hot sauce...I would bring a vial of really strong extract with me on the road, so one time at dinner I gave Axl some and his head broke out in welts [Eat More Heat! Live chat, March 2013]

[Axl]’s a singer of a band and he’s a friend ... we have, you know, a working relationship for 16 years now. He’s a lot of fun to play with, he’s a good entertainer and he’s a force to be reckoned with [The Star, March 2013].

I’ve never had any difficulties with Axl. He’s far from a pussycat, but even further from what his reputation belies. I’ll tell you one thing, he has more musical integrity than any singer I have ever worked with. He also is a true musician. He is constantly listening and participating in the musical conversation. He’s not just waiting for his turn to sing his parts, he’s listening and then helps direct the conversation. It’s a pleasure to play with him. It can be an incredibly intense experience. I’ve never stood next to anyone on stage that is that intense. He is definitely exorcising demons at times! [Australian Guitar, March 2013].

by **Soulmonster** Thu May 17, 2012 1:24 pm

First meeting after being asked to audition with GN'R in 1997: At this point he'd been our of the limelight for a while, he'd been out of the spotlight, and there were all these weird rumours about him, "Oh, I hear he is 300 pounds", and, "He is bald". You know what, I should go meet him. I like to form my own opinion about the guy rather than hearing all these rumours about him, right? Is he driving himself there? Is he taking a helicopter? Or a limo? What's he rolling up in these days? So I went down there to do it and he was cool. Actually, the first time I went down there he wasn't there. I auditioned, and, oddly enough, the two guys auditioning me were guys I would later be in two separate bands with. The guy playing bass, because they didn't have a bass player at the time, was Guns N' Roses' pro-tools engineer at the time, Billy Howardale (?) who would later do A Perfect Circle, but he was just the pro-tools guy and he strapped on a bass and I had no idea. Who's this weird bass roadie? Who's this bald bass roadie that's going to jam with us? later, he and I, would have A Perfect Circle with. And on guitar was Robin Finck, the guitar player who had just left Nine Inch Nails to do Guns N' Roses, and who would later leave Guns N' Roses to rejoin Nine Inch Nails, and I played with Nine Inch Nails for a bit. Anyways, so we're down at the complex [...] and I auditioned and it went well and they said "We want you to come back" and "Axl wants to meet you,", "Cool!". So I came back and I met Axl, and I liked him. He seemed like a cool guy. And I had so many people telling me not to do it, and actually, not to bring him up again, but I remember talking to Paul Westerberg, and Westerberg was the only one who said, "You should do it. Go do it! If everyone's telling you not to do it, you should go do it". [...] You know, tt wasn't [a pain in the ass working with Axl], it wasn't for me. You might talk to other people who will say it was. Everybody's always looking for a good Axl story from me, but I don't really have any, man, I know they are out there, but my personal experience, and experiences with him...he was always cool to me. I don't have anything bad to say about the guy. His reality is different than yours and mine, and most everybody's. he's had a weird run, from what I know about him, you know, as a kid [....] becoming famous and having all that power and money and shit, it's gotta be weird. [...] It's just the way it worked out, you can't even blame him for it. Even when I do hear stories about him, I don't go, "Oh, man," I just feel bad for him, you know, sometimes. I like the dude, never had any issues with him. No, , I left because we were in year two of sitting in the studio and the records till wasn't looking as it was going to be done anytime soon. [PodAMatic, April 2013].

Axl doesn't do anythig half-assed. [In The Now, May 2013].

The one thing that impresses me so much with playing with someone like Axl, there's not one of these songs that is easy to sing, and this guy goes out and not only runs for three hours on stage, full blast, singing these songs. He does it night after night and it is just mind-blowing to me. I don't know how he does it. [...] Pretty insane. [...] He's old school. Everything you hear he is singing, there is no lip synching. It is the real deal, it is raw. [In The Now, May 2013].

First meeting: Sharon Osbourne introduced me to Axl like 15 years ago when I was doing the Beautiful Creaturs album and Guns were working on Chinese right next to us in the next studio. Sharon walked me over and Axl [...] couldn't have been nicer, you know. And 15 years go by and I never see him again and when I joined the band, he had been following my career like he knew everything about what I had done and it was cool the respect he has for my playing, and it obviously goes both ways and we just have an incredible amount of respect for each other [kfmx.com, May 2013].

I’m in a place where I belong. Axl has always been cool to me, and he gave me a big opportunity and I’m very thankful and grateful for that. I just honestly, I’m just very happy. I wake up every day just being very grateful and thankful and happy that I can still do this for a living even after all of these years. [Lubbock Online, May 2013].

[Axl]'s like no one I've ever known, a unique spirit & energy. It's a pleasure making music with him, a lot of good times. [The Telegraph Calcutta, June 2013].

[...][Axl]’s one of the last living legend singers. Working with him in real life is the exact opposite of everything the media says about him. He’s one of the nicest guys out there and one of my closest friends in the industry. We just had a band barbecue and Axl was telling jokes and being funny, which is different than anything you hear about him. I don’t have one negative thing to say about him. [The Examiner, June 2013]

In a lot of ways, yes he is a perfectionist. If he has a song, he’s going to turn it inside and out and sideways. He’s not by any means a tyrant as the media says he is. He is a lot of fun to work with and I learned so much from him as well. He pushes himself to the brink all the time. If only people realized how hard he works before and after the show and in the studio. I have an incredible amount of respect for him and it makes me better and push myself harder. [The Examiner, June 2013]

The fucking most amazing thing about this guy, about playing with him, is that, he gets up there and fucking does a fucking 1000 % of what he's got every time he shows up, and fucking people come out in their fucking thousands all over the fucking world to see that. I think we put on a good show for him, but when you really think about it, I think it is all about Axl. I am going to be honest about that and it just still amazes me, just how rabid they are to see him up there doing his thing. He puts on a fucking great show. [...] I think he's probably a better singer now than he probably was back in the days, he's got more used to working with his voice and stuff like that. He's a lot stronger, in a lot of ways. [...] He is not as erratic as people think. [...] He does his thing the way he does it. [A.V.'s Podmass Central, June 2013]

Then we went to the room of Axl, the frontman of our band, and talked for about 20 hours. The only reason I had to leave was because I had to get on the plane to get to the next country for a gig. Then Axl arrived, he was miffed and said, 'I thought we had two days off between the gigs', and I was like, 'You did man, you talked through both days! The shades were down, so you didn't see the sun rise or set!' With him, you are in the AXL time zone, an odd vortex where time and space defy the laws of physics. I have been living in that zone for seven years now! [The Times of India, June 17 2013]

[Axl's] a human being. He's like everyone else. He just want the truth. He'd rather have honest bad news than be strung along with things that aren't true. [vorterix.com, November, 2013]

I don't think you can describe that guy in one word; he runs so deep. Yeah, he's not a one-word thing. [...] [Axl] absolutely is [a cool guy]. He's very fun and welcoming and a wonderful host when you're hanging out with him and just loves to see everybody enjoy themselves and makes everybody feels comfortable. Unless you don't treat him like a person, and then he's gonna respond like a person that's not been treated like a person. That's the thing about him — he doesn't act like a celebrity, he acts like a person. And if you treat him like a normal person, you'll have a great time, like you would with anybody. But if you treat him like he's not human, then, yeah, [it's like it is with] anybody — your guard goes up, because it's just not natural and it's not normal and you don't see yourself that way. You just see yourself as human; the same person that you were born as.[Radio Futuro, November, 2013]

Axl is a person. Only difference is that if you get frustrated for a moment, it doesn't end up on YouTube as entertainment and your legacy forever... lol. He likes to have fun, and I've seen plenty of that [...] On stage, he gives all he's got, and is always cracking jokes in the monitors trying to make me laugh & screw up my solos, often succeeding, LOL![REDDIT AMA, December 2013]

After a GN'R show in Bolivia where Duff filled in for Tommy: Axl's voice is SO on. @axlrose . Even at 13k feet![twitter, April 2014]

[Axl's] doing great. He’s been texting me funny texts all morning. He is in good spirits and he’s really excited about Vegas and Rock on the Range. [...] not many people realize how physically demanding it is to do a 3 hour show. Physically, it takes a lot out of you that you’re running around with a 10 pound guitar for 3 hours. It tires me, watching him sing the songs. [...] I remember the first time we walked on stage I had been in rehearsals and the first time we actually played together was in front of like 60 thousand people and I remember him walking on stage. You have to catch yourself cause you realize FUCK – I grew up listening to him. It’s just a real honor to know him. He’s not the guy the press wants to make him out to be. From my perspective he’s always been a good friend to me. It’s been nothing but an awesome blast in this band. [Soundmagazine, May 2014]

The guy is singing his ass off. He sounds better than ever. He can still command a crowd. In so many ways, it doesn’t matter who’s behind him. When he sings those songs, it’s Guns N’ Roses. [The Columbus Dispatch, May 2014]

I can’t argue with [Axl having the greatest vocal range]. I’ve made similar comments before. I think if everyone had a chance to really sit down and dissect what he has done over the years on certain songs and CDs, his voice is his instrument. It’s mind blowing and yes, his range in incredible. I have mad respect for him as a singer, songwriter and as an artist and a friend. He’s amazing [Metal Insider, June 2014]

Talking about first meeting: So, I went down and met [Axl], and I really liked him. He was really nice. He was talking about Devo, and instead of throwing out “Yeah, I used to like ‘Whip It.’” Instead of saying something like that, he started naming other songs. “Dude, ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ is great. ‘Gut Feeling.’” And I’m like, “This guy knows.” He’s not just saying he likes Devo and remembering that one hit from 1983. He knows his shit. [...] But going back to Axl, everyone wants to hear a crazy Axl story. Obviously, there’s been a lot documented about him. But me, personally, I never had a bad experience with him. I never saw him blow up. I never saw him do anything unfair. He was nothing but cool to me, and I saw a guy that wanted to have fun and wanted to come down to the studio with the guys and write music and stuff. [...] I really liked him. [...] And I felt bad when my two years was up and I decided I was going to go start A Perfect Circle, because it seemed like a more tangible thing that was really going to happen. These guys aren’t spending a million in the studio. They seem like they want to start a regular band. They want to write and record a record and go on tour six weeks from now. It all seemed very realistic. When I put in my notice, I didn’t want him to take it personally, which I know he probably has with other guys who have left his band or been fired or whatever, because I really do personally like him and always got along with him. When anybody ends a relationship, even if it’s business, some people go, “Don’t take it personally; it’s business.” People still take it personally. You get bummed out. I felt bad about leaving, but I had to do it. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Axl. [Laughs] [noisey, August 2014]

[Axl] has as much heart and passion as he ever did[Legendary Rock Interviews, September 2014]

Axl and I are two different people with two different lives and two totally different sets of hurdles to jump over which totally affects our ability to release what we create. It’s very hard to bust out anything when life becomes more complicated or you have more people trying to pull you in a million different directions or distract you. The bigger a band gets, the more that happens; so at Axl’s level it’s definitely not easy and there’s a million fires to put out where at my level there is maybe ten fires or even two fires (laughs)[Legendary Rock Interviews, September 2014]

Being asked to name a few of Axl's best qualities: Aside from the fact that he is obviously one of the greatest singer/frontman guys to come along ever, brilliant lyricist, but he's very supersuper intelligent, a very astute individual. [...] And one of the most honest, straight-foreward people that I have ever met [Loudwire, October 2014]

Talking about "coming down" after a show: Axl's thing is, he doesn't want to come down, he wants to carry it on somewhere else, like he goes to a party, and after that party goes to another [Intimate workshop with Richard, November 2014].

Axl is very secretive. He wants stuff getting out. He wants to create stuff and realease it when it is ready. He is also a bit of a perfectionist. The way he generally works, [...] what he will do is take a little piece I sent and a little piece that Dj sent on another track and he'd like [combine them], and he's always done that, back with even the Appetite stuff, He'd take a little bit form this and a little bit form that and they put it together. And when you listen to it you can sort of hear it, you know, when you listen to the different tracks, especially on the Illusions [...] where he took little bits from different people and put it together. He's got a real talent for that [Intimate workshop with Richard, November 2014].

[Axl being a notorious front man] is one of the biggest misconceptions about him. He is a very hard working dude that has a very particular way he wants to do things. I’ll be honest with you, if he’s doing anything other than he wants to be doing and you’re in the room, you don’t want to be in there, but when he’s doing what he wants to do, he’s great and he’s doing a great job. I’ve seen Guns n’ Roses twice now with the whole band and he is kicking ass and I’m very happy for him. I’m really happy for all my friends who are in that band.[Rock on Philly, August 2016].

I think it was really super important for Axl to get the [GN'R reunion] going on and put some stuff behind him that I think has been sitting inside him. I think something has happened to him and it's completely fucking awesome and it makes me really happy. I've known the guy for almost 20 years now; I've never seen him look better. He sounds better than ever. He's a completely different guy. I couldn't be happier for him[Billboard, August 2016].

by puddledumpling Fri May 18, 2012 5:13 am

Gotta say Soulmonster, that scanning the quotes all together from the selected sources and spanning the time period seem to give a rounder, more real picture to me of not only the subject but of the speakers as well.