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Robin Finck: opinions? Is he a good guitarist?


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8 hours ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

I hear you about the confusion.  Just looking at my CD booklet and it does list Finck as playing on album version Riad, along with Bumblefoot and Paul Tobias.  Would LOVE to know which part Tobias played on Riad.  

Sorry to be a pain about it, but can anyone ID where these players come in on the video? 

 

 

Robin plays the lead following Axl's voice in the chorus (more to the left channel). He also plays some funky wah rhythm guitar after the first chorus. 

Bumble plays the solo and rhythm in the right channel for the whole song (except the pulse riff intro, which is Robin and Paul), often playing some riffin' fills. 

Paul plays the rhythm guitar on the left channel, tho it's mixed with Robin's rhythm. You can hear it better on the demo (Paul left, Robin right).

Buckethead plays the ending solo.

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At the time? didn't like him... at all! :P hindsight? actually not that bad, I just hated him because he kept changing the solos. As if the solos were gospel or something :D Solid player, good soloist, tight rhythm playing good sage presence, good songwriter - good guitar player... even if he did look weird AF when he joined... which definitely played into my rationale (and others, I'd expect) in disliking him from the get go.

I actually think he's a very good guitarist, and his final departure was probably the death knell for NuGNR... even though they obviously had great success in the years afterwards... even despite having DJ in the band :P Favourite of the new era, Richard, Bumble, Robin, Bucket and I take or leave the rest, mainly leave :D 

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I went to see nuGNr in nijmegen 06, was a great show. Axl sounded great and Izzy was there:headbang:

What i thought was that Finck was anoying, he did a bit of "Slash" gimmick on stage i didn't like that at all!! 

back then Axl was carrying the show !

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In trying to work out who plays what and when on Riad, I'm gaining an appreciation of just how demented Axl's methods were.  

So. Many. Guitarists....Axl. Why? 

I mean, just look at the stage in the first minute of this video - guitarists everywhere, getting in each other's way.  Robin flings one into the crowd around 0.44 and then throws it down at 1:59.  Who is the guy in the suit??

It's like Axl had some perverse desire to get as many egotistical guitarists together at the same time just so he could watch the carnage.  It's bonkers.  Entertaining.  But bonkers.

 

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Trent Reznor thinks he's badass.

Actually, one thing Robin rarely ever gets credit for is his singing/backup vocals. He's got a lot of power/authority to his voice. You can hear it most notably in Soseggo, but he did backup on stuff like "Nightrain" for years. Sounds pretty cool.

He was supposed to be working on a solo album where he plays and sings, but it's been quite a few years since there's been any word of it. 

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Very likely a sound issue. He's running wireless and it might have cut out.

You can see him lean down towards the cab of the amp. Either trying to get feedback or trying to see if his sound is cutting out.

But he wouldn't be the first guitar player to take his frustration out on his instrument. 

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Unique player who (to my ears) really stepped up his playing and stage presence to a Guns level in 06/07. Was poised/well-positioned to be the “co-star” on Chinese had it come out in that timeframe IMHO. According to Canter- Axl strongly thought Robin would be his “Randy Rhoads”, etc. Just ran out of patience I guess... 

Anyway- I’ll always respect the guy for taking the gig back in ‘97. Really had to wonder what the hell he was getting himself into (e.g. trying to “replace” Slash, Sorum and Duff still around feuding w/Paul, Axl mostly AWOL, wasting time watching cartoons all day/night, etc.).😂

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I'm actually pleased to read some comments here about Robin. I never agreed to people who says he was better suited in NIN - there's little room for leads and writing there, and I believe this way of thinking is more tied to how he looks than what he plays.

I love Robin. Always did, he and Bucket actually brought something new to the band in terms of sound and guitar playing. It was interesting, unexpected and exciting.

You should also listen to Robin's (and Buckethead's) work in the Ghost of Mars soundtrack. There's some really awesome stuff there.

 

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Great call on the Ghosts of Mars soundtrack voodoo. Was so cool to have that and be able to hear what Robin n’ Bucket would sound like on a studio track together years before Chinese came out. Love to know more backstory on that as at least allegedly Robin and Bucket didn’t always get-along- so guessing their involvement was quite separate from the other- and then Carpenter realized- “Wow- I’ve got both new guitarists from GNR on this...”. Was always a little surprised that Axl was “ok” with it too (as far as we know anyway). Maybe he thought it was decent marketing...

”Love Siege” is awesome.

Edited by AXL_N_DIZZY
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3 minutes ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

Great call on the Ghost of Mars soundtrack voodoo. Was so cool to have that and be able to hear what Robin n’ Bucket would sound like on a studio track together years before Chinese came out. Love to know more backstory on that as at least allegedly Robin and Bucket didn’t always get-along- so guessing their involvement was quite separate from the other- and then Carpenter realized- “Wow- I’ve got both new guitarists from GNR on this...”. Was always a little surprised that Axl was “ok” with it too (as far as we know anyway). Maybe he thought it was decent marketing...

”Love Siege” is awesome.

I'm not sure, but I think by that time Robin had left to NIN. It was somewhat a surprise when in the Las Vegas NYE 2001 he was announced to be back in the band along with Buckethead and Paul Tobias.

I guess Axl was ok with it because he wanted to see how Robin and Bucket would work out together outside of CD sessions? I dunno.

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40 minutes ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

Unique player who (to my ears) really stepped up his playing and stage presence to a Guns level in 06/07. Was poised/well-positioned to be the “co-star” on Chinese had it come out in that timeframe IMHO. According to Canter- Axl strongly thought Robin would be his “Randy Rhoads”, etc. Just ran out of patience I guess... 

Anyway- I’ll always respect the guy for taking the gig back in ‘97. Really had to wonder what the hell he was getting himself into (e.g. trying to “replace” Slash, Sorum and Duff still around feuding w/Paul, Axl mostly AWOL, wasting time watching cartoons all day/night, etc.).😂

It's interesting for me to learn that Robin seems not to have been all that impressive initially, but later on stepped up, as you say.  Axl has said before that he has the ability to spot potential in people and I've never known how true that was, but maybe he really is a bit of a talent scout?

Robin must have felt the pressure filling Slash's shoes, especially as (if reports by others are to be believed) Axl spent a lot of time  telling stories about the 'old band' and Slash, instead of rehearsing - and watching cartoons! lol  That couldn't have been easy for Robin to deal with.  So it's quite funny now Slash is having to grapple with Robin's TWAT solo.  

The trials and tribulations Axl puts his guitarists through. :lol:

Edited by MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle
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7 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

I'm not sure, but I think by that time Robin had left to NIN. It was somewhat a surprise when in the Las Vegas NYE 2001 he was announced to be back in the band along with Buckethead and Paul Tobias.

I guess Axl was ok with it because he wanted to see how Robin and Bucket would work out together outside of CD sessions? I dunno.

Yep. Could be. At a minimum probably knew a lot of Anthrax and Steve Vai fans would be interested in the cd. Couldn’t hurt to get Robin n’ Bucket out there to them in advance (hoping anyway) of Chinese...

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7 minutes ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

It's interesting for me to learn that Robin seems not to have been all that impressive initially, but later on stepped up, as you say.  Axl has said before that he has the ability to spot potential in people and I've never known how true that was, but maybe he really is a bit of a talent scout?

Robin must have felt the pressure filling Slash's shoes, especially as (if reports by others are to be believed) Axl spent a lot of time  telling stories about the 'old band' and Slash, instead of rehearsing - and watching cartoons! lol  That couldn't have been easy for Robin to deal with.  So it's quite funny now Slash is having to grapple with Robin's TWAT solo.  

The trials and tribulations Axl puts his guitarists through. :lol:

Haha. Yeah. May be a good way to think of it IMHO. I think in the Chinese-era- whether consciously or sub-consciously- Axl liked keeping his guitarists “on their toes” and perhaps even pitted against each other (Robin v. Bucket, Dj v. Bumble, etc.) at times. Perhaps he thought it would bring out the best in them when under pressure. Kind of his management-style.

Alternatively, maybe over time everyone just decided they didn’t particularly like each other on their own.😂

As you say though- the end result is that they all (including Slash) have this “prior work” from other guitarists that they have to wrestle with. It’s kind of like hearing about your girlfriend’s/wife’s ex-boyfriends all the time. Lol.

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2 hours ago, appetite4illusions said:

Trent Reznor thinks he's badass.

Actually, one thing Robin rarely ever gets credit for is his singing/backup vocals. He's got a lot of power/authority to his voice. You can hear it most notably in Soseggo, but he did backup on stuff like "Nightrain" for years. Sounds pretty cool.

He was supposed to be working on a solo album where he plays and sings, but it's been quite a few years since there's been any word of it. 

I was really bummed when the Madagascar leak happened and Robin wasn't doing the cross / backup vocals on the last part. If you listen to live versions from 2002, he always sang lines against Axl at the end of the song. 

It sounded roughly 10x better than what's on the album. It's nice to have other voices in there against Axl's as opposed to dozens of Axl overdubs singing against each other. 

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7 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I was really bummed when the Madagascar leak happened and Robin wasn't doing the cross / backup vocals on the last part. If you listen to live versions from 2002, he always sang lines against Axl at the end of the song. 

It sounded roughly 10x better than what's on the album. It's nice to have other voices in there against Axl's as opposed to dozens of Axl overdubs singing against each other. 

This is so true.  I'm in the absolute minority in that I don't think CD was massively 'over-produced', not intrumentally.  Where CD suffers most for me is Axl's vocals.  Too much.  Too overpowering and competing with the instruments.  He was heading in that direction wth Illusions where he over-sings on a lot of songs.

I'm really intrigued about Robin's vocal contribution now.  Going to seek out these 2002 version you speak of.  Thanks for the tip Russ!

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3 minutes ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

This is so true.  I'm in the absolute minority in that I don't think CD was massively 'over-produced', not intrumentally.  Where CD suffers most for me is Axl's vocals.  Too much.  Too overpowering and competing with the instruments.  He was heading in that direction wth Illusions where he over-sings on a lot of songs.

I'm really intrigued about Robin's vocal contribution now.  Going to seek out these 2002 version you speak of.  Thanks for the tip Russ!

Hit the 51:35 mark

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1 hour ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

Axl has said before that he has the ability to spot potential in people and I've never known how true that was, but maybe he really is a bit of a talent scout?

Are we talking about the Axl who hired DJ Ashba and Frank Ferrer? :P

I think hiring Robin was actually Matt Sorum's idea. They didn't get to do much together, though. :lol:

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1 hour ago, RussTCB said:

Hit the 51:35 mark

Thanks again Russ.  This is great.  Robin is a good singer, much better than Duff, bless him.  Axl sounds absolutely amazing.  I know it was a long time ago, but still...so good to hear him like he used to be.  The band sound great on the CD songs but you can tell they're still trying to get to grips with the AFD catalogue though they give it a good shot.

My Michelle is tolerable.  Epic fail on Slash's (or is it Izzy's?) dive-bomb in that song @soon lol  I wonder who is trying to do that, Buckethead I suppose?  He can't do it.  :lol:

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13 hours ago, RONIN said:

Good in the studio, horrific live - except Patience.

i think you re mistaking patience for djs version. Robins solo on that. from a guitar player point of view seems like the most interesting cover to the solo after the original. he uses a lot of tasteful triads there and adds something very unique. he plays in key and understands the song structure and makes it his own. Dj didn't do so well. out of key and time almost always.

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