Josh Freese Talks About GN'R/ChiDem

[mcmurray]

http://idhitthatpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2013-05-12T23_21_28-07_00

Lots of Chinese Democracy talk after the 1 hour mark.

EDIT: I just changed the thread title because you misspelled his name. Also added a bit more clarification on what he talks about. Cheers - ER

Edited May 15, 2013 by Estranged Reality

[Guest Gunns]

talks a lot about buckethead and axl - pretty cool insights

Josh freeze said after working on slashs album a few years ago, he heard that it "bummed Axl out"

he hasnt seen Axl in 13 years

Edited May 15, 2013 by Gunns

[evader]

Loved this! Anyone interested in Freese, Buckethead, and the early history of CD should get a kick out of it. Freese is rambling and jumps around, never quite finishing a story, but it is really fun to hear him talk about everything he does. The Buckethead stuff is just hilarious.

[Chinaski]

Thanks for posting.

Listening now. I'll type down some notes as I listen for people who can't be bothered to hear it all.

Says it was a decent wage with GNR. He says he could make records during the day then do the Axl stuff at night. He says he didn't get a big signing on bonus like Trujillo got with Metallica. He says he wasn't buying cars with the money or anything like that like some people think but it was decent money.

He says by the second year of it he was kind of running out of things to do. He says it wasn't a pain in the ass for him but it probably was for other people. He says he doesn't have any personal crazy Axl stories. He says Axl was always cool to him and he has nothing bad to say about him. Said that Axl has had a weird life that's hard to cope with and he knows crazy Axl stories are probably out there but he doesn't have any. Says he doesn't blame Axl for anything he's done.

He says he left at the end of year two because it wasn't looking like anything was coming from it. He was getting on with everyone and liked some of the music they were making. He was on a two year contract and he had to decide whether to sign up for another two years or not. A Perfect Circle was coming together and he couldn't see anything happening GNR wise over the next two years. He says the contract mainly says that you have to make GNR your priority and you're not going to split at a random point and leave them in the lurch.

He says he was excited about having co-written 3 or 4 songs that were on the potential master list (they had a master list of 20 songs and a 'b' list of 20 other songs). He said he was happy for them to do whatever with his drum takes he was just excited to have taken part in the writing of the songs. He said he was a bit surprised that Brain supposedly re-did his drum parts note for note but says that's a typical thing to do for someone who wants to feel like they're working on a record but is really procrastinating.

He says he set up Bucket with GNR. He says when Robin left to rejoin NIN they weren't sure what they were going to do. He said it was a running joke with Axl that Josh knew everyone everywhere. He said he walked in one day and Axl said 'buckethead! do you know him?' and Josh said he did.

Josh spoke to Bucket about it and the first thing Buckethead asked him was when Josh talks to people about him whether he calls him 'Brian' or 'Buckethead'. He didn't want to be too humanized.

Josh's dad used to conduct a band at Disneyland. Buckethead was really excited about that when they met. He says in the studio Bucket never took the mask off. He would take if off if they went out for dinner or something but in the studio he is Buckethead and won't talk when he is wearing the stuff.

Axl sent Josh's dad a skateboard as a joke when his dad was in a car crash. Josh told his dad to come to the studio to meet Bucket and Axl properly. Buckethead was still just jamming with the band at this point. Buckethead started telling Josh how nervous he was about playing that night. Josh told him not to worry and he had the GNR gig in the bag. Buckethead said he meant he was nervous about playing in front of his dad because he used to work at Disney.

That's up to about 1 hour 20 minutes. I'm sure it keeps going but I've got to head out now. He was telling some pretty funny Buckethead stories when I had to turn it off.

[auad]

Freese is a fantastic musician.

In an ideal world the drummer for the band should be Dave Abbruzzese. awsome drumer.

Edited May 15, 2013 by auad

[wasted]

Interviewer: So going back to Guns N Roses, you went straight into that, it must have been mayhem, right?

Freese: So Devo...blah blah blah

[alfierose]

Cool stories. Did he mean Axl finds it hard to cope with his weird life or other people find it hard to cope with Axl's weird life? I guess the nocturnal thing makes it difficult for some people.

[Guest NGOG]

Nobody can deny Freese's ability as a drummer but he is also a careerist drummer that lacks loyalty. It's difficult to fathom how he could enter a project like Chinese Democracy for a year, understand the politics behind it, and yet work with Slash ten years down the line.

[wasted]

"Actually the first time I went down there, he wasn't there."

My man.

[alfierose]

Nobody can deny Freese's ability as a drummer but he is also a careerist drummer that lacks loyalty. It's difficult to fathom how he could enter a project like Chinese Democracy for a year, understand the politics behind it, and yet work with Slash ten years down the line.

Probably because it was 10 years ago. He is pretty much a session drummer I think. I doubt he would turn down work because of loyalty to a bygone project. Even Bach flits between Axl and old Guns members and he is supposedly a good friend of Axl's.

[arnold layne]

Nobody can deny Freese's ability as a drummer but he is also a careerist drummer that lacks loyalty. It's difficult to fathom how he could enter a project like Chinese Democracy for a year, understand the politics behind it, and yet work with Slash ten years down the line.

Money.

[Guest NGOG]

Probably because it was 10 years ago. He is pretty much a session drummer I think. I doubt he would turn down work because of loyalty to a bygone project. Even Bach flits between Axl and old Guns members and he is supposedly a good friend of Axl's.

Axl offered Freese a great opportunity that was in large part responsible for the launch of his career. I would say with a certain degree of certainty that he understood the emotional place Axl had been in motivating Chinese Democracy. I do not find it surprising therefore that Axl was 'bummed out' by Freese playing with Slash.

And it's specifically Slash by the way. Bach only collaborates with old GNR elements that have either found a degree of reconciliation or are frankly irrelevant (Matt Sorum).

[Estranged Reality]

Pretty cool interview.

[wasted]

This is the kind of promo that shoulda come out before CD was released.

[Cosmo]

Wonder if we could get an interview with him.

[Guest Gunns]

Loved this! Anyone interested in Freese, Buckethead, and the early history of CD should get a kick out of it. Freese is rambling and jumps around, never quite finishing a story, but it is really fun to hear him talk about everything he does. The Buckethead stuff is just hilarious.

echos my sentiments exactly !

best 30 minutes of insights into the 'cd era' that we've had in years!

[LoadedNightraiN]

Freese made the right choice by stoping after 2 years...

So what he worked with Slash? Axl needs to stop shutting ppl out who do(Kid Rock, Josh Freese, etc..), he will run out of ppl to work with

[sailaway]

Freese made the right choice by stoping after 2 years... So what he worked with Slash? Axl needs to stop shutting ppl out who do(Kid Rock, Josh Freese, etc..), he will run out of ppl to work with

Edited May 15, 2013 by sailaway

[dalsh327]

Now I know why Josh has the Club 33 pass for Disneyland, he prob. took Axl and Bucket there.

It's def. a good interview for those gathering info on the making of ChiDem. Paraphrasing what Josh said - Axl's a procrastinator.

"Some say I'm lazy"

Edited May 15, 2013 by dalsh327

[Guest Gunns]

Bucket sounds like an absolute lunatic, hopefully I get to meet him one day!

[SoulMonster]

A couple of transcripts I have done so far:

I set Guns N' Roses up with Buckethead. We could do a whole separate podcast on Buckethead, man. [...] The other day, I was working with a band in the studio, talking about Buckethead, and I go, "You know dude, I've known Buckethead for 20 years". They were online and they were showing me pictures, "Is this him?". All these different pictures of guys. And, "No, no, no, no." They finally found an ad that he had posted, like when he was 16, [...] with a picture of him, but you can hardly see his face, and he was 16, so it hardly looks like him. But every photo it was like, "No, that's not him, that's a tall guy with long hair, and that's a tall guy with long hair, but not Buckethead". When I finally re-tracked him down -- I hadn't talked to him for five years -- the joke I had with Axl is that no matter who you mentioned that I knew, it became an ongoing joke, he'd go, "Yes, so my first girlfriend, Linda, that I met back in Indiana when I was 14", and I'd go, "Oh yeah, I know Linda!". It got that weird almost, so he, "Yeah, sure kid, you know everybody". When Robin Finck left to rejoin Nine Inch Nails, we were looking for a guitar player, had auditioned a few people, and weren't really sure what we would do, and one day I walked into the studio and Axl goes, "Buckethead! Do you know him?" And I go, "I've known him since 1991, man!" And he's like, "I knew you'd know him! How do we get hold of him?" "Last I talked to him he was hanging up in San Francisco with the Primus crew. Let me call my buddy Dave, the manager of Primus, Dave Leftwood (?)." So I called Dave and the first thing I asked was, "Do you think Buckethead would be into this, he's such a quirky, weird, artiste?" And Dave goes, "Yeah, I think he is tired of the starving artist routine, I think he is ready to make a living". It's funny, but when I talked to Buckethead on the phone the first time [...something about Buckethead. [...] The first time I met him [...] in 1990 or 1991, my friend Warren calls me, "Dude you have to come own and meet this guy, he's a freak, he's incredible, lightning fast, this weird funk-slap style, he's like completely outshining Flea" [...] "He really wants to meet you, he is really impressed that you used to play drums at Disneyland!". Because he is a Disneyland freak. [...] My dad conducted the Disneyland band when I was a kid, [...] and he still does this [...]. And Buckethead was like, "Oh my god!" When I was a kid I played my first gig for three years in a cover band every weekend, at Disneyland, when I was 12 till I was 15, so Buckethead knew that, Warren had told him that, and he was like "Oh my god, my dream is to work at Disneyland" [...] So I didn't see Buckethead for years until I connected with him for the Guns N' Roses thing. [...] He is such a trip, man. He kinda jammed with Guns N' Rsoes 2 or 3 times before he got the job. He played and got a call back and came again. [...] To the audition he came without the stuff [mask and bucket] on. A longs story's short, he was really nervous one night, and I told my dad, "Dad, you should really come up and meet some of the guys tonight [...]". My dad had got in a car accident a few months prior to that, and Axl sent this really nice...kinda as a nice gesture and as a joke -- 'cause he is a funny dude -- he sent this nice, like giant, expensive skateboard and signed it, and made some joke about maybe you should try riding this for a while [...]. So I was like, "Dad, you should come up and meet Axl and meet Buckethead, he is such huge Disney freak." And Buckethead knew my dad was Mr. Disney. So that night, Buckethead was up there, and he was, we were going to do some more playing, "Man, I am really nervous, I'm really nervous about playing tonight," and I go, "Dude, you are all good, you practically got the gig already. You wouldn't be asked to come down the fourth time." "No, no, not so much that! You're dad's there!" [PodOmatic, April 2013].

First meeting with Axl 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 didn't leave because of him], 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].

I love Buckethead, but one of the funniest things about him is his love for Disneyland. When I first met him, I go, "So Warren says you like Disneyland, you go there often", "Yeah", "When was the last time you went there?", "I went there on Monday." It was, like, two days ago. "You know what I do there sometimes, man, I have recorded my own versions of the soundtracks to certain rides with me playing guitar and I go in there with my own walkman or whatever and I listen to me playing "Pirates of the Caribbean [etc ...]" [PodOmatic, April 2013].

I will try to get more done later. It's hard to transcribe Josh' rambling stories . But great fun. Fantastic interview!

[niceguy]

Thanks to everyone for writing up excerpts and transcripts! Makes it a lot easier for many of us

[rosehudson]

Haha, this is a pretty cool one, haven't got the time to listen to it but from the transcripts it would seem it's nothing I don't already know. Pretty awesome nontheless, not heard anything about old Nugnr since 2006 or so.

[wasted]

We need a mygnr podcast to get interviews and charge expenses to.

[hellobeatle]

JOSH FREESE IS A HOMO!

...the real fans will know the origin of that....

btw, thanks for the transcript Soulmonster. Your site is always a go-to for me when I need to look up fact-checked GNR related info. No trolling or that bullshit, just straight up facts.