"WE DID DEMOS AT DUFF’S HOUSE IN THE STUDIO" says ZAKK WYLDE about his 1995 sessions with Slash, Duff, Axl, Matt and Dizzy

[ludurigan]

 

"WE DID DEMOS AT DUFF’S HOUSE IN THE STUDIO"

 

 

Zakk has talked many times over the years about his 1995 sessions with what was left of GNR (Slash, Duff, Axl, Matt and Dizzy).

Someone please correct me if am wrong but I dont recall Zakk ever using the word "DEMOS" before when talking about said sessions.

Prior to this interview, I remember he always referred to those sessions as "JAMMING" with the guys. Nothing more than that

Anyway, now it seems that the jamming went a bit further than that and they actually ended up recording demos.

 

We jammed a bunch of things, but nothing was happening at the time with the fellas. It was Slash, Axl, Duff, Matt, Dizzy was down there; so all the guys, and then I just came in, and it was jamming. We did demos and stuff over at Duff’s house in the studio.

 

What does Zakk mean by "over at Duff’s house in the studio"?

Duff has a studio in his house? Didnt know about that!

Anyway, things have gone a bit further than just jamming but in the end they didnt go anywhere as usual

 

We just had a bunch of riffs and stuff like that, but nothing was going on; it was in limbo, it was just laying there, and I was like; “I’ve got such an outstanding booze bill, I’ve got to pay this debt off”, so I said; “Fellas, I’ve got to get back to work, and just let me know what’s going on”.

 

Well so now we know that there are demos from these sessions and that Duff has them in his house, right?

FULL STORY = https://www.eonmusic.co.uk/zakk-wylde-interview-april-2018.html

[killuridols]

Hah. 

Pretty interesting.

Yeah, just like you, I remember Zakk only talking about jamming and going nowhere with that.

If we associate this with what the bassist from The Outpatience said, it looks like the band members were moving around among different bands and artists, recording stuff, doing studio things, in search of the holy grail for the next GN'R album. Like trying to get the muse back...

All of this seems to have happened between 1994 and 1997.

However, I'm not much excited about the alleged Zakk demos. Not sure they are that great, lol.

[papashaun]

Even if it is just recorded "jam sessions" that didn't really develop into any time of songs....I would be interested to hear some the riffs that Slash and Zakk could put together, just from feeding off each other. 

[soon]

I dont recall Zakk saying "demos" before either, but I do recall him saying something along the lines of 'songs would get worked up to a point but Axl wouldnt put anything on them (Axl claiming if he wrote lyrics it would be about lawsuits).' So I kinda figured there were demos.  Demos of course being possibly as simple as pressing record while "jamming."

As an aside, I thought Ozmosis was fantastic and that is what Zakk worked on while secretly moon lighting with Guns. Ozzy confronted him and Zakk came clean about joining Guns but then didnt join Guns and was also no longer in Ozzys band.  Had Zakk and Ozzy not had this between them and had toured and recorded a follow up with same team I think it would've been an amazing album.  Instead Ozzy went back to being niche.  The demise of Guns claimed victims outside the band even!

[Ace Nova]

These old stories are cute but basically just a tease. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by Kasanova King

[EvanG]

8 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

It's stuff we will never hear...if it even still exists somewhere out there.

Maybe when he's dead.

[Sosso]

Does that mean that Paul Tobias wasn't involved in those demos?

[Blackstar]

8 minutes ago, Sosso said:

Does that mean that Paul Tobias wasn't involved in those demos?

Looks like he wasn't, based also on this article/interview from 1995:

"I SPENT A WEEK JAMMIN' WITH GUNS N' ROSES".
Zakk Wylde to join GN'R?!
Kerrang!
January 28, 1995

ZAKK WYLDE has been writing and jamming with multi-Platinum LA megastars Guns N' Roses!

The Pride & Glory/Ozzy Osbourne axeman made the announcement exclusively to Kerrang! during an interview this week. And Zakk's astonishing revelations mark the most promising Guns news in years!

Zakk jammed with GN'R after an invitation from controversial band frontman Axl Rose, and becomes another confirmed coconspirator alongside Paul Huge. Incredibly, Kerrang! heard this week that, contrary to rumor, Paul Huge is probably not a fully-fledged member of Guns N' Roses, and is mainly only a writing partner for Axl. This, of course, leaves the vacant guitar post wide open!

How much Guns axeman Slash knows about the situation remains open to conjecture: the six-stringer was unavailable for comment as Mayhem went to press this week.

Zakk's involvement with Guns N' Roses was initiated by Axl, who is reportedly taken with all aspects of Wylde as a musician and performer. He was insistent about getting him to hook up with GN'R and contribute on the next Guns LP, and is understood to be impatient to start work immediately.

Axl went through a particularly rough 1994, capped by two of his former lovers suing him for a variety of things and ever-spiraling rumors of Guns N' Roses' demise. This latest move, however, not only suggests that Axl has no intention of throwing in the GN'R towel but also - as you'll read-that no one should bet on the Axl/Slash partnership breaking up just yet!

Indeed, according to Wylde, who was tracked down in New York during pre-production for Ozzy Osbourne's next LP, Slash is not only highly aware of his work with the band but has also been a participant!

"The bottom line is this," says Zakk. "I've jammed with the guys. When I was asked about jammin' with the guys, I thought it'd be way cool because I love the band, I think they're great. And I love Slash as a guitarist, I really love listening to his guitar playing - him and (Alice In Chains star) Jerry Cantrell are my peers that I dig listening to.

"We did that thing in Wembley, me and Slash, that Night Of 100 Guitars, and just recently Pride & Glory played the Troubadour in LA and Slash came and jammed there. So then the guys asked me if I wanted to come down and jam with them, get some tunes together, and I said, `Yeah, cool, man'!"

So Axl invited you down and asked you to write some songs and play?

"Yeah - he said, `Dude, why don't you come and write some songs and we'll see what happens. If it works out, great, it'd be a blast'. He just said, `Hey, maybe we'll be in a band together!'. So we jammed together for just over a week, we jammed over a whole bunch of shit and came out with three pretty cool ideas. That was with the whole band: Axl, Slash, Dizzy, Duff, Matt and me. We were all just jammin' together and havin' a blast.

"That's where it pretty much stands right now-things are up in the air. I mean, I have crazy shit happening with my stuff. I'm also doing my work with Oz and there's no telling what will happen in the future. I think the guys in Guns are f**kin' awesome, and hangin' with Axl when I have, we've had a f**kin' great time talkin' and jammin'." Paul Huge's name did not come up as being part of this jam: does this mean he isn't a member of GN'R after all?

"I dunno...

"When I talked with Axl I said it'd be way cool that Slash and I could do harmonies together, crazy shit that'd be fun to play, and the whole band ended up jammin'."

In your meetings with Axl, where does it all seem to have clicked?

"Basically because we both wanna play. He wasn't all, 'Financially, this would be a great move if the band does this and that...'. He just said 'I wanna play some f**kin' tunes and I like the shit you did with Ozzy. It'd be great to get together and jam with the guys'. And it was great."

Were you surprised you got on so well with someone that half the world assumes to be crazy as a coot?

"Bottom line, he's just a normal dude to me. Shit maybe happened in the past because things haven't been going great. He has downs, he wants to kick ass and gets pissed if something isn't right.

"It wasn't like he's this 'weirdo', and the bottom line is that if someone gave me a weirdo head-case trip - and I wouldn't care if it was Robert Plant! - I'd tell 'em to go f**k themselves. I need that like a hole in the head.

"Axl isn't like that. He just wants to jam and he told me he's bored as f**k and wants to jam."

You and Slash.

"That's right. He said it sounded f**kin' killer. He's got a batch of good ideas, piano things that sound really cool. I have a bunch and I look forward to jammin' some more, seeing if they work out.

"But it's all up in the air right now, I ain't a member of Guns N' Roses. Who knows what'll happen, but if the guys say after a record that it would be great if I'd do the tour then that'd be great, but who knows?"

Has the stuff you've got together with Guns been Metal or more Southern sounding?

"A mixture of both, really. The stuff we've been dicking around with is just heavy hardcore stuff with the whole band jamming it. But I'm having a good time, and I'll tell ya, the only thing that'd stop me from doin' the Oz record, my own thing and jammin' with Guns is if I was a lazy asshole who watched TV and drunk beer all f**kin' day!"

 

[Blackstar]

^^^

This also disproves Doug Goldstein's recent claims about Paul Tobias being part of those jams and the 3 guitars being a thing at the time.

[Ace Nova]

2 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

^^^

This also disproves Doug Goldstein's recent claims about Paul Tobias being part of those jams and the 3 guitars being a thing at the time.

Maybe a different session?  Didn't Slash also say Tobias was involved at the time?

[Blackstar]

6 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

Maybe a different session?  Didn't Slash also say Tobias was involved at the time?

No, Slash didn't mention that Tobias was part of the sessions. When he talked about them in 1995, he said that before Zakk there was Tobias as second guitarist and he didn't like him etc. He only mentioned that Tobias was writing with Axl, like the article above says.

And those sessions were very short as a whole; 1 week, 2 weeks at most.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Blackstar

[Blackstar]

Slash, April 1995:

"Zakk Wylde was hanging with us for a while, and we sounded like Ozzy and Roses. Before that, we had this friend of Axl's, Paul, who basically couldn't play that well. He played on Sympathy For The Devil."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t2446-1995-04-17-interview-with-slash-in-the-michigan-daily

[killuridols]

I love how Slash gets so upset about Paul Tobias

I never saw him being so pissed about something or someone like he was about "that guy".

"It's not like you hire a bunch of session people and make Guns N' Roses. It doesn't work that way."

What a wise young man he was....

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by killuridols

[moreblack]

It hasn't been until he and Duff came back. 

[default_]

It would be great if Zakk had joined them, Zakk is extremelly prolific and versatile, one of the best modern rock writters out there.

At the time he was into some amazing southern heavy blues trip that a year before was released as Pride&Glory, one of the best post 80's rock albums ever released as well as the amazing job HE did with Ozzy's No More Tears, which is also my fav Ozzy album and is like 90% a Zakk Wylde baby.
As for these sessions, I believe they did create some demos as Duff says on his book, there was a piano song written by Zakk, and Zakk himself said most of the first Black Label Society ideas came from the GNR sessions. 

Its cool to note that Zakk and Slash had similar playing and writting styles at the time and what you hear on BLS album is probably an "evolution" of what he did while jamming those ideias with GNR, not the exact thing as he adds heavy distortion and fuzz effects to the riffs and I dont really think they'd use that kind of effects with GNR. Talkin about riffs, there are some AMAZING hard rock riffs at that album that I think worked by the GNR guys could've made an amazing GNR record.

Plus Zakk is a piano guy, he loves it and I think he would be a great help on Axl songs, elevating them.

Zakk is great.
 

Edited April 18, 2018 by default_

[Fashionista]

Duff says in his book that some of the sessions with Zakk included Zakk at the piano working out some really cool stuff. Also, the song "The Rose Petalled Garden" off BLS' first record came from a riff Zakk developed during these sessions. While the sessions themselves only lasted 1-2 weeks, they kept Zakk in limbo for almost 6 months as to whether he was going to be hired or not. It got to the point that they kept him hanging for so long that Ozzy booted him from the Ozzmosis tour because his status was so up in the air. It ultimately fell apart because Axl was told, through management as usual, that Zakk demanded 1 million up front and his own tour bus to join.

[scooby845]

Thank God Zack Wylde never got a role in GNR... 

He is light years below Ashba in terms of painfully average.. 

[Blackstar]

27 minutes ago, Fashionista said:

Duff says in his book that some of the sessions with Zakk included Zakk at the piano working out some really cool stuff. Also, the song "The Rose Petalled Garden" off BLS' first record came from a riff Zakk developed during these sessions. While the sessions themselves only lasted 1-2 weeks, they kept Zakk in limbo for almost 6 months as to whether he was going to be hired or not. It got to the point that they kept him hanging for so long that Ozzy booted him from the Ozzmosis tour because his status was so up in the air. It ultimately fell apart because Axl was told, through management as usual, that Zakk demanded 1 million up front and his own tour bus to join.

Yeah, through management which was also Zakk's management (Dougie).

But it also (and mostly) fell apart because Slash didn't want Zakk. He liked him as a guitarist, but didn't want him in the band (the two leads thing).

[Fashionista]

30 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yeah, through management which was also Zakk's management (Dougie).

But it also (and mostly) fell apart because Slash didn't want Zakk. He liked him as a guitarist, but didn't want him in the band (the two leads thing).

Given how long it dragged on, I think Slash would've (grudgingly) went along with it if it meant Guns would actually get some work done. Even though it was a two lead situation, it was at least with someone he liked and respected as a person and musician unlike Paul Huge. I think if Axl hadn't balked at Zakk's supposed demands, Slash would've reluctantly went along with it. In 1995 Slash was halfway out the door mentally anyway so what did he care as long as it meant GN'R would do something more than waste studio time?

[Blackstar]

1 minute ago, Fashionista said:

Given how long it dragged on, I think Slash would've (grudgingly) went along with it if it meant Guns would actually get some work done. Even though it was a two lead situation, it was at least with someone he liked and respected as a person and musician unlike Paul Huge. I think if Axl hadn't balked at Zakk's supposed demands, Slash would've reluctantly went along with it. In 1995 Slash was halfway out the door mentally anyway so what did he care as long as it meant GN'R would do something more than waste studio time?

I don't think that for Slash getting the album done was above the prospect of working with another lead guitarist. He didn't want that and he expressed it in all the interviews where the Zakk thing was brought up.

It was mostly Axl that wanted the album to be done (this from Slash's interviews as well) and probably that's why he had Zakk on hold for months, although he admitted in later interviews that the Slash-Zakk pairing didn't work well.

[lame ass security]

12 hours ago, ludurigan said:

 

"WE DID DEMOS AT DUFF’S HOUSE IN THE STUDIO"

 

 

Zakk has talked many times over the years about his 1995 sessions with what was left of GNR (Slash, Duff, Axl, Matt and Dizzy).

Someone please correct me if am wrong but I dont recall Zakk ever using the word "DEMOS" before when talking about said sessions.

Prior to this interview, I remember he always referred to those sessions as "JAMMING" with the guys. Nothing more than that

Anyway, now it seems that the jamming went a bit further than that and they actually ended up recording demos.

 

We jammed a bunch of things, but nothing was happening at the time with the fellas. It was Slash, Axl, Duff, Matt, Dizzy was down there; so all the guys, and then I just came in, and it was jamming. We did demos and stuff over at Duff’s house in the studio.

 

What does Zakk mean by "over at Duff’s house in the studio"?

Duff has a studio in his house? Didnt know about that!

Anyway, things have gone a bit further than just jamming but in the end they didnt go anywhere as usual

 

We just had a bunch of riffs and stuff like that, but nothing was going on; it was in limbo, it was just laying there, and I was like; “I’ve got such an outstanding booze bill, I’ve got to pay this debt off”, so I said; “Fellas, I’ve got to get back to work, and just let me know what’s going on”.

 

Well so now we know that there are demos from these sessions and that Duff has them in his house, right?

FULL STORY = https://www.eonmusic.co.uk/zakk-wylde-interview-april-2018.html

Zakk mentions a huge "booze bill" and I thought whose was higher, his or Duff's. But Duff would've been sober by this time.

Edited April 19, 2018 by lame ass security

[RONIN]

Weren't most of these demos just used for the first BLS record? 

[Order of Nine]

1 hour ago, RONIN said:

Weren't most of these demos just used for the first BLS record? 

I believe your right, Zack went on to use his stuff for BLS, Gilby, the first snakepit, all we're kicked around at sometime to humor a guns record.

[J Dog]

I would've taken some Guns N Zakk music. He was pretty good back in the day. Him and Slash always seemed to be down, I'm sure they could've made some heavy stuff together.

[StrangerInThisTown]

The Rose Petalled Garden was a song (or riff) from those GNR sessions