Dizzy Reed Appears on Morning Australian TV Show

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

16 hours ago, sidman69 said:

surprised that del james produced the record. I wonder if he asked duff or slash to play on it. Sounds like they are not on the record. 

I’ve never really got the sense that Dizzy and Slash/Duff are particularly close (other than maybe a brief period after the UYI Tour when everybody was appearing on each other’s records, etc.). Not hostile- just different camps within the GNR “machine”...

Plus- maybe Dizzy feels it’s not his place to be appearing with Slash/Duff on a record again until Axl does...

[Derick]

11 minutes ago, Gibbo said:

PREMIERE: Listen to Guns N' Roses' Dizzy Reed's Debut Solo Record 'Rock 'n Roll Ain't Easy' http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2018/02/15/album-premiere-dizzy-reed-rock-n-roll-aint-easy/

Thanks man!

[Carmenjello]

Sounds like a million other rock bands out there. Boring, predictable and replacable

[Tucknroll]

Come on guys, I don't actually hate the man, I just hate him being in guns for some reason. I think it's because in my mind he made the band softer. Plus you need sunglasses to look at those teeth of his and that bugs me 

[6lake sa66ath]

Listened up to about track 9 I think, was having issues with the browser player, but I thought it was decent serviceable party rock with some nice solos and other elements added by Dizzy’s keyboard heavy style. 

6.5/10

Edited February 15, 2018 by 6lake sa66ath

[ludurigan]

11 hours ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

IMHO certain hardcore Appetite-era fans “hate” Dizzy b/c: (1) he somehow symbolically represents the shift in the band’s style from “gritty” Appetite to “bloated” UYI (even though a fair amount of the piano/keys on UYI are actually Axl); and (2) it was irritating to them that another “Classic-era” member remained in the band during Axl’s Chinese odyssey.

I’ve always found Dizzy fairly benign. The guy was offered the opportunity of a lifetime as a performing musician- and unlike Matt, Gilby, etc, had the good sense to do whatever it took to stay onboard through the years. I suspect most of us would try our best to do the same.

Anyway- looking forward to hopefully hearing Dizwald’s record soon...

almost got it right!

some hardcore Appetite-era Guns-n-Roses-era fans “hate” can't explain why on earth the best rock n roll band in the planet would hire a complete alien keyboarder as a permanent member to a band that was already perfect as it was -- specially when no one in the band actually seemed to like the idea except of course for the singer -- who, by all accounts, very likely pushed the idea down everyone's throats!  b/c: (1) Some Guns n Roses-era fans, along with pretty much all the GNC-era, ANF-era and GNA-era fans, to this day, don't seem to realize that the arrival of Dizzy and a lot of what was going on during that time-period, including the firing of Steven Adler and Alan Niven, somehow symbolically represents the end of Guns n Roses as band. The time-period when Dizzy walks in is the period when Guns n Roses starts being less and less a five guys band and begins to become more and more a one-man (Axl's) band, where the singer is more and more calling the shots by himself and more and more doing things as he wants. That particular era was just the beginning of that and things eventually got worse and worse through the next few years, in a long process that would end up alienating each and every member of the band to the point that everyone left but the singer! Of course that now, with benefit of hindsight, it gets pretty obvious that poor Dizzy was not the real problem at all, he was just one of many symptons of the real problem that destroyed GNR. Others symptons included firing the drummer because he cant play the new type of music the singer wants to play, offering new contracts to one of the main players and songwriters of the band because the singer believes he doesnt work hard enough, firing long time manager Alan Niven, recoding million dollars vidoes that no one in the band wants to do except the singer etc etc etc ...Also the arrival of Dizzy marks a horrible shift in the band’s style from very “gritty” and "raw" and "real" rock n roll music Appetite to a somehow more “bloated” and "clean" and "weaker" studio music for the 2 albums UYI (even though a fair amount of the piano/keys on UYI are actually Axl and even though band remained absolutely ferocious with Dizzy onstage for at least one full year while Izzy Stradlin was still on board); and (2) it was irritating to them that another “Classic-era” member remained in the band during Axl’s Chinese odyssey.

[DieselDaisy]

I sincerely don't believe anyone ''hates'' Dizzy Reed. One would firstly need to conjure-up enough interest in Dizzy Reed to hate him! It is more that he is somebody who is not really noticed. When he is noticed, at worst he is vaguely irritating, at best he just about justifies his employment.  

[RONIN]

I don't think anyone hates Dizzy either. It's hard to hate someone that literally does everything he can to be neutral even if his head is firmly lodged up Axl's ass. He's just a yes-man like Paul Tobias. Only difference between those two is that Dizzy has some talent and doesn't interfere with band affairs. He's the consummate paycheck gunner.

[RONIN]

38 minutes ago, ludurigan said:

almost got it right!

some hardcore Appetite-era Guns-n-Roses-era fans “hate” can't explain why on earth the best rock n roll band in the planet would hire a complete alien keyboarder as a permanent member to a band that was already perfect as it was -- specially when no one in the band actually seemed to like the idea except of course for the singer -- who, by all accounts, very likely pushed the idea down everyone's throats!  b/c: (1) Some Guns n Roses-era fans, along with pretty much all the GNC-era, ANF-era and GNA-era fans, to this day, don't seem to realize that the arrival of Dizzy and a lot of what was going on during that time-period, including the firing of Steven Adler and Alan Niven, somehow symbolically represents the end of Guns n Roses as band. The time-period when Dizzy walks in is the period when Guns n Roses starts being less and less a five guys band and begins to become more and more a one-man (Axl's) band, where the singer is more and more calling the shots by himself and more and more doing things as he wants. That particular era was just the beginning of that and things eventually got worse and worse through the next few years, in a long process that would end up alienating each and every member of the band to the point that everyone left but the singer! Of course that now, with benefit of hindsight, it gets pretty obvious that poor Dizzy was not the real problem at all, he was just one of many symptons of the real problem that destroyed GNR. Others symptons included firing the drummer because he cant play the new type of music the singer wants to play, offering new contracts to one of the main players and songwriters of the band because the singer believes he doesnt work hard enough, firing long time manager Alan Niven, recoding million dollars vidoes that no one in the band wants to do except the singer etc etc etc ...Also the arrival of Dizzy marks a horrible shift in the band’s style from very “gritty” and "raw" and "real" rock n roll music Appetite to a somehow more “bloated” and "clean" and "weaker" studio music for the 2 albums UYI (even though a fair amount of the piano/keys on UYI are actually Axl and even though band remained absolutely ferocious with Dizzy onstage for at least one full year while Izzy Stradlin was still on board); and (2) it was irritating to them that another “Classic-era” member remained in the band during Axl’s Chinese odyssey.

Mostly agree but...

1. Axl always wanted to be Elton Rose from the beginning. The piano was part of his act even in the early 80's. AFD was "raw" only because that's the only way they could get an album made w/ Geffen. He wasn't allowed to put November Rain on that album otherwise it would be there (as would Dizzy who would have been brought into the band and signed to Geffen along with the others).

2. 14 years w/ piano sounds like some great authentic rock n' roll. Piano is very much a part of rock n' roll lore and GnR (during the AFD era anyway) were rock n' rollers. But I'd agree, a piano on stage probably didn't help their "street' image. But then again, these guys were living in mansions and driving around in limos after Appetite. Are they really street at that point? I'd be curious to know what Izzy thought about the piano being included in their songs. Do any of his albums even have piano? 

Are you against the piano being used in a GnR album or just against having Dizzy in the band? On Illusions, Dizzy is playing Axl's compositions. I believe he had zero creative input on Illusions (thankfully).

Edited February 16, 2018 by RONIN

[DieselDaisy]

18 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Do any of his albums even have piano? 

Ian McLagan plays on Ju Ju Hounds, River and On Down the Road. Joey Huffman plays on Miami. Nicky Hopkins guests on Ju Ju Hounds also, with Ron Wood on Ron's own "Take a Look at the Guy".  

[Subtle Signs]

As if anyone would turn down the gig.  Dizzy is cool, man. 

[Tucknroll]

I especially hate seeing him onstage during appetite songs. I've always thought duff and slash couldn't care less about him too. Didn't duff say in his book that they gave him hell

[ludurigan]

59 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Mostly agree but...

1. Axl always wanted to be Elton Rose from the beginning. The piano was part of his act even in the early 80's. AFD was "raw" only because that's the only way they could get an album made w/ Geffen. He wasn't allowed to put November Rain on that album otherwise it would be there (as would Dizzy who would have been brought into the band and signed to Geffen along with the others).

2. 14 years w/ piano sounds like some great authentic rock n' roll. Piano is very much a part of rock n' roll lore and GnR (during the AFD era anyway) were rock n' rollers. But I'd agree, a piano on stage probably didn't help their "street' image. But then again, these guys were living in mansions and driving around in limos after Appetite. Are they really street at that point? I'd be curious to know what Izzy thought about the piano being included in their songs. Do any of his albums even have piano? 

Are you against the piano being used in a GnR album or just against having Dizzy in the band? On Illusions, Dizzy is playing Axl's compositions. I believe he had zero creative input on Illusions (thankfully).

Yeah, it looks like Axl always wanted to be Elton Rose from the beginning

But that doesn't mean that Axl ever made that "desire" clear to his bandmates like "hey guys, i am doing this rock n roll thing just for a few years, what i really wanna do is huge epic piano music like elton and queen, and thats how its gonna be after appetite".

it also doesnt mean there was any kind of agreement in GNR that GNR would change its style after appetite.

Yes, you can definetely say that the piano was part of Axl's act even in the early 80's, but only offstage, right? I may be mistaken but as far as i know Axl has never played piano in any of his pre-GNR bands (rapidfire, rose, hollywood rose etc) and he had never played piano live in GNR until that fabulous Indiana 1991 gig, when he actually says that "we're gonna try something that we never tried before until right now".

I believe you are mistaken by saying "AFD was 'raw' only because that's the only way they could get an album made w/ Geffen". I believe it was "raw" because that's what Guns n Roses was. I am not sure the five guys ever sat and discussed something like "hey we wanna be a raw rock band". It was probably an unspoken thing that came naturally to them as a sum of who they were and the bands they loved and the music they wanted to play.

So of course Axl had November Rain way before Appetite but i don think thats a track/direction any of the other guys wanted to pursue or follow. I think for the other four guys it was more like "Yeah, Axl likes this November Rain song a lot, its not really my favorite stuff but i am open to help him arranging it and recording it as a Guns n Roses song and releasing it on one of our albums and playing it live no problem". Thats what happens in a band, you give room to other people's ideas, right?

Also I am not sure Axl "wasn't allowed to put November Rain on that album otherwise it would be there". By what i can remember Axl and the rest of the band were advised by Niven (or whoever else at Geffen) to keep the "soft" songs (November Rain and Dont Cry if i am not mistaken) for the second album so the first album could be more cohesive. Apparently the entire band agreed to that. That didnt prevent the album from having at least two love songs (Think About You and Sweet Child O Mine). Which, by all accounts, at least one of the guys (Slash) didnt really wanna play or record because he felt they were too soft and sappy or something like that (but he did played and recorded them anyway, probably in the "band spirit" of giving room to other people's ideas).

I really dont think that "Dizzy would have been brought into the band and signed to Geffen along with the others". Why would you say that? As far as I can see, there is zero evidence of that. Guns n Roses never has had a keyboarder on its line up, it began without one even when the five guys werent there yet, then weeks/months later when the GNR line up was cemented they never played November Rain live anywhere (not documented anyway) and i believe if they ever did it must have been the acoustic guitar version similar to the one on the demo that we all know

 

 

the acoustic guitar demo (which is most likely from 1986) shows that the band was actually willing to "work" on the track. it appears to be a whole-band effort including backing vocals. it also indicates that the band (and maybe, just maybe, even axl) was willing to completely rearrange the song for acoustic guitars so there would be no need for a piano/keyboard player.

there is also the piano-and-voice-only demo and the fact that there is no one else playing on that demo except axl may indicate that no one in the band was willing to have a piano on the song, that they much rather have guitars on it. but of course thats me speculating

i agree 100% that "14 years w/ piano sounds like some great authentic rock n' roll" and i would add that the piano doesnt hurt on a handful of other tracks from the illusions, specially the "axl tracks".

i also agree that "piano is very much a part of rock n' roll lore and GnR (during the AFD era anyway) were rock n' rollers".

about piano not helping their "street' image, yes, you are correct. yeah, not sure about they being street or not at that point. I dont care, really. Stones havent been street for a zillion years and they still write some good songs!

I would also be curious to know what Izzy thought about the piano being included in their songs. As far as i can tell, he went to rehearsals one day and dizzy was there. now THAT is where things start to go completely fucked up. when that kind of shit happens in a band, things usually go downhill pretty fast and we can all thank Axl for that!

Do any of his albums even have piano?

YES they do, i believe most of them have

Are you against the piano being used in a GnR album or just against having Dizzy in the band? On Illusions, Dizzy is playing Axl's compositions. I believe he had zero creative input on Illusions (thankfully).

Oh, back then i was so against it! Now I have mellowed out a lot on that subjetct. I think the piano fits well in the mellower GNR songs BUT i think that in a band like Guns n Roses the piano ends up being more of a distraction that keeps me from being able to listen to the real gold. Fuck, you have the best rhythm guitar player on the planet (sorry keef, sorry malcom!) and the best lead guitar player in the planet in that band, why the fuck would you want a piano or a third guitar player of horn sections or anything else? You also have the best singer ever and the best drummer ever, why would you wanna hear anyone else other than these guys and the bass player? for my personal taste there is zero need for anyone else in that band! i wanna hear axl, izzy, slash, steven and that other guy who plays bass! yes, these days i kinda enjoy most of the piano/key arragements on illusions but id much rather if there was no piano at all, like in the november rain acoustic guitar demo!

besides, the piano is absolutley useless on the hard/faster/heavier songs so in a live situation you have that pathetic keyboard player playing bongos or whatever for like 70% of the show!

always a pleasure talking to you man!

Edited February 16, 2018 by ludurigan

[ludurigan]

27 minutes ago, Subtle Signs said:

 

cant stop listening to rick james for about three weeks since i found the highly addictive UM BAH BAH SONG!

[sidman69]

Coming Tuesday guys......our interview with Producer Sean Beavan. We sat down with him for 1.5 hours and talked NIN, A LOT OF GNR, and some other stuff!

[sidman69]

Here's another interview with Dizzy

 

 

[Blackstar]

Izzy in the end thought that Dizzy* was a "cool addition", so I guess he liked the piano at least on the more rock 'n' roll songs including the ones he wrote/co-wrote.

"…Another thing Axl had been working on. One day Dizzy came down to our rehearsal. He must have had a terrible time, 'cos everyone ignored him for two weeks. I tried to be friendly. I'd say: 'Hey man, how's it going? I don't know what we're doing either! We've just been in this studio for the last two years and we're supposed to be making a record or something. By the way, do you have a keyboard?' - 'cos the guy didn't even own a fuckin' instrument. After a few weeks I said to him: 'Hey man, seeing as we're Guns N' Roses, maybe someone can lend you a keyboard or we can get you an endorsement or something'. In fact, the guy's turned out to be a really cool addition."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t562-1991-10-dd-interview-with-izzy

* this sounds so funny, Izzy and Dizzy

Edited February 18, 2018 by Blackstar

[AxlRoseCDII]

I feel bad for Dizzy he doesn’t deserve all the hate. Im not the biggest fan of the guy by any stretch but it’s not like he had done anything bad to the guns name. If anything he’s enhanced it.

[Order of Nine]

On 2/15/2018 at 8:05 PM, RONIN said:

Mostly agree but...

1. Axl always wanted to be Elton Rose from the beginning. The piano was part of his act even in the early 80's. AFD was "raw" only because that's the only way they could get an album made w/ Geffen. He wasn't allowed to put November Rain on that album otherwise it would be there (as would Dizzy who would have been brought into the band and signed to Geffen along with the others).

2. 14 years w/ piano sounds like some great authentic rock n' roll. Piano is very much a part of rock n' roll lore and GnR (during the AFD era anyway) were rock n' rollers. But I'd agree, a piano on stage probably didn't help their "street' image. But then again, these guys were living in mansions and driving around in limos after Appetite. Are they really street at that point? I'd be curious to know what Izzy thought about the piano being included in their songs. Do any of his albums even have piano? 

Are you against the piano being used in a GnR album or just against having Dizzy in the band? On Illusions, Dizzy is playing Axl's compositions. I believe he had zero creative input on Illusions (thankfully).

Most of my fav guns songs are the ones that feature the piano.

[G-Money]

Haven't finished the album yet, but I love it so far. The piano-heavy rock really reminds me of UYI. But then again, I'm a Dizzy supporter, so my opinion and 50 cents will buy you a cup of coffee lol.

[Tadsy]

I don't get the hate for Dizzy. he's always been fairly easy going, he hasn't caused any shit or done anything to really deserve the bad feelings, he certainly doesn't detract from the songs or the live performances like some current members of the band either imo. 

In regards to the discussion about the piano. I think the fact that Axl used it and excelled with on those songs is what drew me to GNR as a teenager. Yeah sure I loved Jungle & YCBM, nightrain and easy as much as the next big fan (amongst other songs) but they were diverse in their sound by 92 and regardless of whether the illusions were bloated or not, the diversity in their sound is what has stood the test of time. 

If they'd have made another fast rocker album after AFD, I'm fairly certain it doesnt get to AFD levels. Civil war and YCBM are definitely good enough to match or be on AFD, but what else? The illusions may be a mess of everything that guns had left on the table but it just works. The piano songs took gnr beyond just being a fast hard rock band, it's what helped them stand the test of time. If gnr had of just made another hard rock album after appetite I'm fairly certain their legacy doesn't hold as much weight. 

Axl gets a lot of shit for a lot of things and rightly so. But he's definitely under appreciated in terms of how the legacy of what WAS released and the direction he took the illusions records in, I think the departures of the izzy and Steven kind of subdue that point but had they been on those albums I feel like Axl would have got a lot more respect for the vision he had of those 2 albums and the piano work etc 

yes the albums were bloated and there's noises and computer generated shit (synths) or what not that I find annoying. But overall, if they hadn't of moved forward beyond another basic rock album, the legacy from those 3 albums, would probably not be as great, the diversity is why I can keep listening. 

[default_]

I believe pianos were a really nice addition to the band, I cant really imagine songs like 14 years, Bad Obsession and Dust N' Bones wihout 'em.

Yeah, I know its cool to say that you like raw rock, that you have badass attitude and blablabla but GNR music evolved from hard rock (really good hard rock) to rock n roll. Had they released a 2nd Appetite I dont think we'd be here talkin about them to this day, they'd be just another Def Leppard. Their music evolved and the less entertaining songs on the Illusions are just the "raw" ones. Get in the ring, Shotgun Blues, Garden of Eden... lol

 

On 17/02/2018 at 2:28 PM, sidman69 said:

Coming Tuesday guys......our interview with Producer Sean Beavan. We sat down with him for 1.5 hours and talked NIN, A LOT OF GNR, and some other stuff!

Whats the podcast?

[sidman69]

22 hours ago, default_ said:

I believe pianos were a really nice addition to the band, I cant really imagine songs like 14 years, Bad Obsession and Dust N' Bones wihout 'em.

Yeah, I know its cool to say that you like raw rock, that you have badass attitude and blablabla but GNR music evolved from hard rock (really good hard rock) to rock n roll. Had they released a 2nd Appetite I dont think we'd be here talkin about them to this day, they'd be just another Def Leppard. Their music evolved and the less entertaining songs on the Illusions are just the "raw" ones. Get in the ring, Shotgun Blues, Garden of Eden... lol

 

Whats the podcast?

Here it is guys our interview with Sean Beavan. Lots of GNR and Chinese Democracy talk