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Richard Fortus Interview


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2 minutes ago, gnr5 said:

Cool interview, still listening now, had no idea he was a session/touring musician for Rihanna, NSYNC and Enrique Iglesias

Me neither or of his connection to Frank.

It was interesting to hear how he got in and that Axl waited for him.

He gave a little more info on how the reunion happened too. It's nice to know Slash had been trying for a while to get I contact and how much they want to play St. Louis.

I like he confirmed they have been doing new stuff in soundcheck it reminds me of someone on here who swore they heard some new stuff in soundcheck.

Overall a great interview. He also confirmed no press which we already figured. 

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He also sheds some light on the "Slash wanted me in his band" thing - Slash's management approached him but him and Slash never met. He said him and Slash have hit it off very well. They all travel together, text and talk after every show, and everyone gets along well.

St. Louis didn't happen last summer because when the second night in Chicago got added at the last minute it pushed the St. Louis date to where the stadium was unavailable.

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1 minute ago, James Bond said:

Funny when he mentions that Live Nation won't comp them any tickets. Even they have to pay the absurd prices for family to see them. :lol:

Yeah, this wasn't surprising since in my efforts to get some tickets to giveaway to members of this forum there wasn't much response from the band/management.  I get it since the band is likely paid a guarantee and live nation recoups out of ticket sales.  

Really fun and interesting interview.  There was a level of candour and ease that we didn't generally hear too much of during the CD era.  Would be great to hear more of these.  

I do think money was a factor, but I don't think it was the factor.  As Richard mentioned in the interview, if money was the driving factor the reunion would have happened a long time ago.  But I have hard time believing that a reunion would have happened if no money was involved.  That's not a slight against anyone in the band; anyone in their position would have had a hard time ignoring all the dollar signs that surround this venture.  

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10 minutes ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

@BOSSY78 What did he say about Slash and the reunion? If you don't mind telling me :) 

Besides what @James Bond just posted he said they meshed well together and also talked again about how Slash manager approached him while he was performing with Thin Lizzy and said they wanted to steal him, he was of course in GnR at the time. He said he wouldn't do that to Axl who is his friend. Slash was there as well but he didn't speak to him. He's asked about Slash's divorce but doesn't say much on that

 

Also he brings up being mistaken once for Izzy when he was on his way from leaving a GnR audition heading back to finish his tour with Enrique Iglesias.

@James Bondyea seems Live Nation offers no discounts he seems they are slightly unhappy with them but doesn't say it

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2 minutes ago, downzy said:

Yeah, this wasn't surprising since in my efforts to get some tickets to giveaway to members of this forum there wasn't much response from the band/management.  I get it since the band is likely paid a guarantee and live nation recoups out of ticket sales.  

Really fun and interesting interview.  There was a level of candour and ease that we didn't generally hear too much of during the CD era.  Would be great to hear more of these.  

I do think money was a factor, but I don't think it was the factor.  As Richard mentioned in the interview, if money was the driving factor the reunion would have happened a long time ago.  But I have hard time believing that a reunion would have happened if no money was involved.  That's not a slight against anyone in the band; anyone in their position would have had a hard time ignoring all the dollar signs that surround this venture.  

 

Yea he makes it pretty clear Live Nation won't give away tickets he's surprised they are giving some away on the show even it seems. 

As far as it being for money I don't think i'st at the forefront of it at all this has been offered for years now. Money has always been on the table. Of course, the money sweetens the pot they decided to stir, though.

 

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1 minute ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

Thank you @James Bond 

Nice to know that Slash was making that kind of effort, he is just the greatest in my eyes. 

As much as I would rather see Izzy back, I think it is very clear that Richard and Slash get along very well. 

 

 

 

 

I agree about Izzy. Love the guy but the band is doing fine without him. Richard has been there a long time now.

It's nice to know he made the effort, yes, but I think we are slowly seeing that all wasn't as Slash said over the years which is likely why this didn't happen sooner.

And Richard is getting married this Saturday so congrats to him for that

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Good interview! Glad fortus finally confirms to some of the folk in denial that slash wanted him in his band..

Also he did shed some light since the band isn't doing interviews, which he confirmed needing special permission to do. Even Eddie trunk said it, they needed a bass player and a lead guitarist. No doubt Duff was the only logical choice to replace Tommy and him being the middle man getting axl and slash to finally bury the hatchet and have Slash rejoin gnr was probably put over because they knew they'd be able to really make some serious cash. So it was clearly about Axl and Slash mending the friendship first but, slash coming back to gnr was eased by the fact that they're making serious cash doing this. 

Shame we can't get more interviews or what not but this was cool... poor Eddie trunk is still waiting. 

Edited by Billsfan
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36 minutes ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

Thank you @James Bond 

Nice to know that Slash was making that kind of effort, he is just the greatest in my eyes. 

As much as I would rather see Izzy back, I think it is very clear that Richard and Slash get along very well. 

 

 

 

Agreed. Slash and Duff didn't come into this going "ok, were the real Guns N' Roses so you guys are going to take a back seat and do things our way since we're the band people care about". They didn't vote on band members or start from scratch. They came in and worked together as a team with the lineup that was already there .

It really is great too that we get more confirmation that it's not a Van Halen scenario where they can't stand each other.. they communicate every day and after every show and they get along great. It's awesome to see!

And as cool as fortus is.. I do still wish they could work something out with Izzy at some point and have them both involved. It would make this band even better!

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Ha, the band members need to club together and get him 100 St. Louis tickets as a wedding present.

Richard comes across as a really down to earth guy, I like that he seemed relaxed and free to talk.  it's interesting that they are doing no press, I guess the interviewer had some subjects he wasn't allowed to touch on and he played ball but a couple more of these low key interviews would be great from various band members. It's good to get more personal, and hear how they message and talk to each other, makes it feel less corporate.

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22 minutes ago, Billsfan said:

Agreed. Slash and Duff didn't come into this going "ok, were the real Guns N' Roses so you guys are going to take a back seat and do things our way since we're the band people care about". They didn't vote on band members or start from scratch. They came in and worked together as a team with the lineup that was already there .

It really is great too that we get more confirmation that it's not a Van Halen scenario where they can't stand each other.. they communicate every day and after every show and they get along great. It's awesome to see!

And as cool as fortus is.. I do still wish they could work something out with Izzy at some point and have them both involved. It would make this band even better!

 
 

It would be great to see Izzy at some point.

I understand the reasoning behind not seeing him thus far, though.

I remember those fans in denial about Slash wanting Fortus. Just as I remember the ones in denial that Slash had been contacting Axl.

I'm glad they seem to be getting along and couldn't be happier to see them like this.

One thing I forgot to mention is Axl/Dc was brought up and he confirmed Axl and Angus are in talks to record together. He said Angus wanted to. We kind of already knew Axl wanted to but to know even after the tour is over they are still discussing it to some degree is cool.

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53 minutes ago, James Bond said:

He basically confirmed that Slash had been trying to get in touch with Axl for a while and finally Axl decided to go ahead and get together with him. They worked it out and quite organically it was "well, Guns needs a bass player and a guitar player, so..."

Funny when he mentions that Live Nation won't comp them any tickets. Even they have to pay the absurd prices for family to see them. :lol:

We really need a "Reunion Whispers" website up and running!

Some things don't fit together....

The "the band needed a bassist and guitarist so Duff and Slash joined" narrative doesn't make sense because one could argue those positions opened up because the reunion/regrouping was a close reality. Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

And I have to wonder if music industry rumours about a "reunion" didn't proliferate the speed at which offers were extended out to Guns N' Roses and their management about possible festival/tour dates

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12 minutes ago, BOSSY78 said:

It would be great to see Izzy at some point.

I understand the reasoning behind not seeing him thus far, though.

I remember those fans in denial about Slash wanting Fortus. Just as I remember the ones in denial that Slash had been contacting Axl.

I'm glad they seem to be getting along and couldn't be happier to see them like this.

One thing I forgot to mention is Axl/Dc was brought up and he confirmed Axl and Angus are in talks to record together. He said Angus wanted to. We kind of already knew Axl wanted to but to know even after the tour is over they are still discussing it to some degree is cool.

Well said Bossy. And this is why I've hated the "no interview" policy. I get that some around here want to rationalize the whole theory of "just let the music do the talking" but it's just soooooo much better and calming to hear them speak and even clarify things.

Like Axl and Slash working things out - I didn't need to hear the specific things they needed to get over. No one here in this forum or outside of it does. I just needed to hear that Slash had been trying to get in touch with Axl, Axl clearly wasn't ready for awhile but when he was he got slashs number and they got in a room and hashed the whole thing out. That's all we needed.

And yeah he confirmed that Angus and Axl wanted to make a record but, who knows if that'll ever even happen since there really is no AC/DC left. But he did acknowledged being in a band missing a bunch of parts so :lol: anythings possible lol 

 

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3 minutes ago, Billsfan said:

Well said Bossy. And this is why I've hated the "no interview" policy. I get that some around here want to rationalize the whole theory of "just let the music do the talking" but it's just soooooo much better and calming to hear them speak and even clarify things.

Like Axl and Slash working things out - I didn't need to hear the specific things they needed to get over. No one here in this forum or outside of it does. I just needed to hear that Slash had been trying to get in touch with Axl, Axl clearly wasn't ready for awhile but when he was he got slashs number and they got in a room and hashed the whole thing out. That's all we needed.

And yeah he confirmed that Angus and Axl wanted to make a record but, who knows if that'll ever even happen since there really is no AC/DC left. But he did acknowledged being in a band missing a bunch of parts so :lol: anythings possible lol 

 

 

It definitely helps when interviews are done but I understand why they do them rarely.

It's hard to tell about AC/DC right now. I'm glad they are toying with new songs in GnR too.

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