Popular Post maynard Posted August 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) The part about GNR is really insteresting. Josh is the coolest guy on the planet.You were part of Guns N’ Roses during what has now become the infamous Chinese Democracy debacle...One of my favorite strange feathers in my cap that I have is that whenever I walk into a room of people and they’re talking about [whispers] Chinese Democracy, just this whole debacle of a record that took 100 years to make and cost a million dollars—I’ll walk into a room full of people and go, “What are you guys talking about?” They go, “Chinese Democracy,” and I raise my hand and go, “I wrote ‘Chinese Democracy,’” because I wrote the music to the song. I didn’t write anything else on the album. I wrote a couple other things that didn’t make it on the album. When I left, there were still another seven or eight years before the album came out. But it always makes me laugh. It’s not like I wrote Track 10 or something; I wrote “Chinese Democracy.” Some people told me I shouldn’t brag about that. Actually, I like that song. And it’s not just because I wrote it; it’s because it’s a really dumb, simple, dirty guitar riff. It’s cool. I think it’s one of the better ones on that record.How did that come about, though?I got a call from their now-ex-manager in 1997 saying, “Guns N’ Roses is auditioning drummers. They’d like you to audition.” I was busy at the time playing with Devo, and doing lots of Vandals gigs, and working with Paul Westerberg—my hero from the Replacements. I was already really busy not being a rich-and-famous rock star but being cool—being cool, working with people I loved and really stood behind and making a good living. I wasn’t filthy rich, but I wasn’t broke. So, I was like, “I’m good, man.” And I had a conversation with the manager, and he said, “Why don’t you just come down and meet Axl?” I said, “I don’t know.” And he said, “Listen, who knows if you’d even get the gig, and if you get the gig, you don’t have to say ‘yes.’ Just come down.” I think, “What have I got to lose?” At that point, no one had seen Axl in five years. You heard rumors, “I heard he’s 350 pounds.” “I heard he lost all of his hair.” You hear all these things. I was like, “I should go down. Does he drive himself or does he take a limo? Does he show up with his sister? Does he show up with the porn stars? Does he take a helicopter? Let me see how this dude rolls.”So, I went down and met him, 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. He does like Devo. He’s like, “I want someone to come down here and write with me. I don’t want you to just be the drummer.” I was like, “I’m going to check it out,” and I had a lot of friends begging me not to do it. I had people going, “Dude, what are you doing? That’s insane.” I have to say, to Paul Westerberg’s credit, Paul Westerberg’s the one guy who said, “You should do it. Go do it. It sounds totally wrong; go do it. What are you going to do, be in some totally cool alternative band? Are you going to join the Foo Fighters or something obvious? Go play with Guns N’ Roses. Nobody knows what they’re doing. There’s all these weird rumors about him. You should go do that for a minute.”What was the experience like?I did it, and I don’t regret it. I was on a two-year contract with them, and by the end of the second year, I realized they weren’t going to leave that studio or that room anytime too soon. 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. You hear the other stories—just like me or you or anyone on the street that’s looked at the internet and said, “Oh my God, he did what to so-and-so? He trashed this? He wouldn’t show up to the show?” You hear crazy stories. Maybe if I was around that shit, I’d tell you a different story. I personally never witnessed any of that stuff. I was also in our personal, private bubble. I wasn’t out playing gigs and sitting backstage hearing, “He’s not even in New York yet. And the opening band’s off stage and he’s still in Philly, refusing to come here.” Then I might go, “Fuck, man,” and it would drive me crazy. But we were on our own schedule in a studio out in The Valley. There was no real big consequence if we were late or if he didn’t show up one night. It didn’t matter. 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]Full interview: http://noisey.vice.com/blog/josh-freese-interview Edited August 22, 2014 by ProstituteComa 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovim Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhazUp Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I didn't know Freese came up with the CD riff, that's cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky_Rose Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I am fan of Josh Freese and had no idea he wrote the CD riff.Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coma16 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I feel like I've read this a while ago but thanks for posting. So, there use to be contracts but not anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PITBOSS Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I feel like I've read this a while ago but thanks for posting. So, there use to be contracts but not anymore?who knows man, I don't see how you can have a band like gnr without contacts of some sort (even though msl is adamant about this) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dando Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Josh is one hell of a drummer, shame they didn't kick on after 97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdave Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Nice find. Josh is hands down one of the best drummers on the planet and an all-around fun guy. It would have been cool to see him behind the kit at a GNR show though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Diet Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Cool interview. And it’s not just because I wrote it; it’s because it’s a really dumb, simple, dirty guitar riff. It’s cool. I think it’s one of the better ones on that record.Probably the only memorable riff on that album.Axl is got full of kick ass guitarists within his band and the most memorable riff came from a drummerLMAO Edited August 22, 2014 by Crash Diet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNNER PT Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Tks for posting, PC.What was the experience like?I did it, and I don’t regret it. I was on a two-year contract with them, and by the end of the second year, I realized they weren’t going to leave that studio or that room anytime too soon. 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. You hear the other stories—just like me or you or anyone on the street that’s looked at the internet and said, “Oh my God, he did what to so-and-so? He trashed this? He wouldn’t show up to the show?” You hear crazy stories. Maybe if I was around that shit, I’d tell you a different story. I personally never witnessed any of that stuff. I was also in our personal, private bubble. I wasn’t out playing gigs and sitting backstage hearing, “He’s not even in New York yet. And the opening band’s off stage and he’s still in Philly, refusing to come here.” Then I might go, “Fuck, man,” and it would drive me crazy. But we were on our own schedule in a studio out in The Valley. There was no real big consequence if we were late or if he didn’t show up one night. It didn’t matter. 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]Oh ... shut up, DJ. You fcnk hired hand. Stop licking the boots of your master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreakDown2014 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 AWESOME find. It's always great hearing all these sincerely great comments about Axl, and getting to know a little bit more about how things went down during the CD process Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jekylhyde Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thanks for posting. Cool stuff. Freese is always such a nice dude. I've always known that Freese wrote the riff for CD, but I haven't ever thought how cool and funny it must be to get to say that. "I wrote Chinese Democracy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThinkAboutYou Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) I feel like I've read this a while ago but thanks for posting.So, there use to be contracts but not anymore?who knows man, I don't see how you can have a band like gnr without contacts of some sort (even though msl is adamant about this)I have contracts for live shows and for concert recordings for old GNR, so I assume band members would have contracts but the contracts may have expired after Vegas that is possible Edited August 22, 2014 by ThinkAboutYou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Diet Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I feel like I've read this a while ago but thanks for posting.So, there use to be contracts but not anymore?who knows man, I don't see how you can have a band like gnr without contacts of some sort (even though msl is adamant about this)I have contracts for live shows and for concert recordings for old GNR, so I assume band members would have contracts but the contracts may have expired after Vegas that is possiblewait wait wait...YOU have contracts for old live recordings, are you a former recording/sound engineer of the classic line up?If so can you shed some light about uncirculated live recordings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellobeatle Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I'll just leave this for the real JF fans: Josh Freese is a homo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klay Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I wrote “Chinese Democracy.” Some people told me I shouldn’t brag about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hally187 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovim Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Josh said in a different interview he wrote 3 or 4 AAA songs. One of them, Chinese Democracy, is the only one that got released.They had a bunch of lists in the studio, and it was divided by quality and who wrote what. Josh made his mark on what Axl was trying to do. That's cool. Josh is great. (and a good storyteller) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManetsBR Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Josh Freese interviews are always great. Guy can talk. Edited August 22, 2014 by ManetsBR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PITBOSS Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 sounds like after he left, he never talked to axl again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maynard Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) After leaving, he got busy with APC for a while. And then he played on another 5000 records. So yeah... I doubt he had time to meet Axl again. Speaking of APC, Billy Howerdell also worked on Chinese Democracy, if I'm not wrong. Their debut album, Mer de Noms, is just sublime. It's funny how I became a Maynard fan because of APC, not Tool. I remember being blown away by their performance of "3 libras" in some talk show a long time ago. I'm glad he left Guns, APC wouldn't be the same without Josh. Edited August 22, 2014 by ProstituteComa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris1989 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Pretty sure this is an older one, seems really familiar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maynard Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 well, the page says:Written by: Bill JonesAug 21 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquor & Whores Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Freese is a class act Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I was on a two-year contract with them, and by the end of the second year, I realized they weren’t going to leave that studio or that room anytime too soon.Full interview: http://noisey.vice.com/blog/josh-freese-interviewWait........what?I thought some people swore that GnR's musicians weren't under contracts?I'm so confused now.But cool interview.Sounds like he really enjoyed his experience working with Axl.Wish we could hear what other songs he wrote with Axl!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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