Our Interview with Dave Dominguez (Chinese Democracy, AFD Re-Recording, Live Era Engineer)

[Twinaleblood]

On 16/1/2019 at 4:55 PM, sidman69 said:

Last friday we chatted with Dave Dominguez about his time working on Chinese Democracy in 1998. He shared some stories about also working with Slash on the Curdled Movie soundtrack a few weeks before he quit GNR. He also recorded with Duff and Izzy as well. He also chatted about visiting Axl's house and what those early recording sessions with Mike clink were like in the late 90's! Discussion starts around 10-12 minutes into the interview. Enjoy! We've got another big interview coming next week with someone who worked with GNR back in the day!

3

Guys, thank you SO SO much for this awesome podcast. It shed some more light on one of the most interesting periods in GNR history. Dave comes across as a very cool guy and the story about This I Love literally blew my mind.

Keep up the good work, hope you get to interview more people that were around during those mysterious years.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Twinaleblood

[RONIN]

For fucks sake Axl.

So the real version of This I Love w/ the original lineup is lost forever? And the only existing version is the cheesy Broadway POS on CD?

[ludurigan]

28 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Thanks homie

Never heard that song before.

Now I know he knows you know he knows Izzy knows he knows better.

17 minutes ago, RONIN said:

For fucks sake Axl.

So the real version of This I Love w/ the original lineup is lost forever? And the only existing version is the cheesy Broadway POS on CD?

by "original" i should understand Axl, Slash and Duff, right? Or was Izzy on the recording as well?

[Sydney Fan]

1 hour ago, ludurigan said:

by "original" i should understand Axl, Slash and Duff, right? Or was Izzy on the recording as well?

I thought this was part of the 95/96 sessions?.

[Blackstar]

2 hours ago, Sydney Fan said:

I thought this was part of the 95/96 sessions?.

It was in 1992/93 during the Illusions tour.

[Blackstar]

From what we'd known, Axl generally doesn't throw stuff away. He is said to be recording everything (e.g. he allegedly recorded the rehearsals at the Complex in 1994) and then storing it in some "vault" (forever). And if he had anything erased, it was allegedly parts, not whole songs.

So what happened with TIL is rather unusual behaviour, even for Axl. First he recorded the song in various studios over the world but  "forgot" the tapes there (so did the rest of the band, if it was recorded with the band. And then, years later, when Dave Dominguez collected them, Axl had the whole song deleted, not even just parts of it (I've no idea about this stuff, but I guess it was possible to delete just the vocals, right?). There must have been some really heavy emotional stuff going on.

[The Holographic Universe]

5 hours ago, RONIN said:

For fucks sake Axl.

So the real version of This I Love w/ the original lineup is lost forever? And the only existing version is the cheesy Broadway POS on CD?

I think he said the I love you Stephanie part was erased because at a later date he had to dig up the song on DAT for the film. So it must exist.

[Blackstar]

On 1/16/2019 at 7:17 PM, Grayfox said:

What’s the Elvis cover song that’s mentioned? I couldn’t really understand what was said.

I heard "Why fools fall in love". So it could be this

1 hour ago, The Holographic Universe said:

I think he said the I love you Stephanie part was erased because at a later date he had to dig up the song on DAT for the film. So it must exist.

I listened to that part again and I think you're right, because he said he was worried that he might delete the wrong thing by accident.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Blackstar

[Fashionista]

4 hours ago, Blackstar said:

From what we'd known, Axl generally doesn't throw stuff away. He is said to be recording everything (e.g. he allegedly recorded the rehearsals at the Complex in 1994) and then storing it in some "vault" (forever). And if he had anything erased, it was allegedly parts, not whole songs.

So what happened with TIL is rather unusual behaviour, even for Axl. First he recorded the song in various studios over the world but  "forgot" the tapes there (so did the rest of the band, if it was recorded with the band. And then, years later, when Dave Dominguez collected them, Axl had the whole song deleted, not even just parts of it (I've no idea about this stuff, but I guess it was possible to delete just the vocals, right?). There must have been some really heavy emotional stuff going on.

A combination of intensely missing Stephanie at the time, bitterness and sadness over listening to the tapes of a now dead band with guys who were just a few years prior who he now didn't even speak to....A lot of emotional baggage with the tune. For all we know it could've been the last proper, fully fleshed out song the UYI band recorded and hearing it, considering how as late as 2000 he was describing crying burning tears of anger over Slash leaving, it might've been just too much and he wanted to just erase it from his life.

[ludurigan]

3 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I heard "Why fools fall in love". So it could be this

 

it should be fun to listen to axl sing a version of this one, reminded me of "too much too soon"

[Dean]

That was fucking cool with Dave hearing Axl do the opening part for Jungle, could definitely see why he'd get goosebumps. 

Great insight, thanks for the great work!

[LlamaRenegade]

Weird how Dave casually mentioned erasing This I Love after the fact, it's like he seems to think there's another existing copy or something (I hope so)

Edited January 18, 2019 by ApacheChief42

[avahland]

14 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I heard "Why fools fall in love". So it could be this

I listened to that part again and I think you're right, because he said he was worried that he might delete the wrong thing by accident.

Your ears are far better than mine; thanks....and now let's find/get Axl's version :-)

[Twinaleblood]

18 hours ago, The Holographic Universe said:

I think he said the I love you Stephanie part was erased because at a later date he had to dig up the song on DAT for the film. So it must exist.

From what I understood, I think he said that they dug up the song for the film (possibly to have new band members to re-record the music), played it back and Axl had him erase it. So maybe that's the reason the song wasn't included in the movie after all.

[LlamaRenegade]

Also, how does everybody feel about Dave mentioning that it was a completely different song?

Do you think he actually meant it was a completely different work or just a different recording?

Edited January 21, 2019 by ApacheChief42

[Grayfox]

3 hours ago, ApacheChief42 said:

Also, how does everybody feel about Dave mentioning that it was a completely different song?

Do you think he actually meant it was a completely different work or just a different recording?

It doesn’t surprise me that it would be a completely different song. I like This I Love but if the song originated from 92/93 I could see more depth to it then what Chinese Democracy delivered. Lyrically CD to me has mostly simplistic lyrics. Where UYI I & II had more depth. 

In my personal opinion I’d say Prostitute and This I Love originally sounded a lot different to what was on the albums release. 

[Ericstacey]

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 5:16 PM, RONIN said:

For fucks sake Axl.

So the real version of This I Love w/ the original lineup is lost forever? And the only existing version is the cheesy Broadway POS on CD?

I like the song, but agree, it's very cheesy.

[Ericstacey]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 7:57 PM, Wagszilla said:

I'm lazy so someone give me a bullet-point summary. 

I'd be most interested in CD era stuff.

@Pele No vocals on Oklahoma, later Berlin as of Feb 3 2000. I'm obviously not sure of the dates/timeframe spoke about in the podcast. 

Not too much, says he was there about 8 months, nothing really recorded other than ideas. Axl was listening to NIN at the time a lot...Interesting that when CD came out recognized some of the song titles but the songs themselves were totally different.  Mentions that Paul, Robin, and Tommy were there when he was there....says they were spending money left and right on new keyboards, guitars all the time-peobably a couple million spent when he was there. Honest interview-I know for years now people that have worked with Axl have said that he is a nice guy, not at all like he has been made out to be in the past, but this guy does say he's seen Axl totally ignore people who were in the room, has seen him yell at people, ect...says a guy named Tommy D got it the worst from Axl when something would go wrong. Tells the story on why Youth was fired. Says Moby may have worked at Axl's house, but was never at the studio when he was there...I think this was around 98, so pretty early stuff. Great interview, tho

[Propaganda]

One of the most insightful interviews I've seen you guys do. Only to beat by the Goldstein ones. Great Work guys!

Can you guys make an interview with Roy Thomas Baker, or that guy that took a tape to Axl and Axl supposedly ran over it with his truck?

Edited January 21, 2019 by Propaganda

[sidman69]

14 hours ago, Wagszilla said:

Please God, let these leak sometime. 

new interview coming tomorrow with a collaborator of Izzy and Hanoi Rocks. 

[dgnr]

45 minutes ago, sidman69 said:

new interview coming tomorrow with a collaborator of Izzy and Hanoi Rocks. 

Angela McCoy?? 

 
 

[Silent Jay]

Was the original idea that Guns were just going to come in for a few weeks and get some ideas together and then record immediately?

"Yeah, the idea was that they were going to come in for four months and rehearse - or three months - and then they were going to start writing a record for three months, but they didn't have a producer at the time. It was supposed to be six months long."

 

What was it like working with Axl?

"I'm sure you've heard the famous stories of Axl just being out of control, and being rude, yelling. I never really got any of that personally. He always treated me great and treated my family great, and he was always awesome.

"The only time he ever did really get upset with me was during one session - at the end of the song 'This I Love' he had said he was repeating the Stephanie scene one, like 'I love you, Stephanie,' or, 'This I love Stephanie.'

"And he heard it and goes, 'Just erase all that.' I was like, 'Do you want me to back it up?'. He was, 'No, erase it!'. He yelled and walked out of the room.

"The assistant comes in, and I said, 'We're going to erase something GN'R fans are never ever going to hear. This is crazy, this is a GN'R song that no one's ever heard, and no one is ever going to hear this again.'

"I looked at him and said, 'Are you ready?'. And I put the tracks in and erased it."

 

During those sessions, did Axl have a really good idea of what he wanted the album to sound like? Or was it just people throw out ideas and then they share the CDs?

"He was listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails at the time, a lot of industrial stuff, so I remember that vibe, that was what he was going for."

 

In one interview, you talked about going to Axl's house for one of the parties he had. Was it a Halloween party?

"It was awesome. I got the call real quick before that we would take weekends off, and I would do sessions on the weekends. I get bands - it was extra money - and I get bands in the studio because it was down-time, there were two rooms, so I'd get bands in whenever I could.

"My ex-wife had to work, so I had to take my two young kids with me to the studio, and it was only half a day, it wasn't a whole day so there's like six hours.

"Once we got there, my kids were like, 'Hey dad, we're hungry,' and I was like, 'Okay, we'll order pizza in a few minutes.' I start working - I've never taken them to work with me before, I forget they're there, and it's like, 'Three hours later,' and I'm like, 'Shoot, the kids are here!'

"So as I walk out of the room, I hear this deep voice talking, and I look up and it's Axl. He said, 'I hope you don't mind, the kid said that you're going to order them pizza, so I'm ordering pizzas. Is that okay?'. So he bought them pizza, he's talking to them, he's hanging out with them for an hour.

"So, he called me up and said, 'Bring your family.' My ex and I have four kids, so I brought only three because the youngest was only two years old at the time. So, we get to the house, it's up in the Canyon in Malibu, a really beautiful area, park the car, tell the kids not to touch anything, just being a dad...

"So we walk in, and they have a Barney who's greeting all the kids, and there's Barney dancing and he greets the kids and also goes, 'Hey Dave' in a deep voice, and he takes the head off and it's Axl in the Barney costume.

"He rented a bunch of busses and rented out the Universal Studios - he was taking everybody down there. I got my kids, so I can't go."

 

You said that he had a big game room, so was he a big gamer himself?

"He never mentioned it, he just had one push-down projector screen, and he had a couple of gaming systems. I'd never heard him talk about gamers, ever."

 

So when the album came out in 2008 and you heard it, did you recognize a lot of the stuff you worked on?

"Not a thing, the only thing were the titles, but at that point, I had already been off for 10 years, so I couldn't remember any of the loops. I remember 'I.R.S.', 'Oklahoma'... 'Better.' kind of remember some of that."

 

What exactly is the role of an engineer on an album?

"The role is to get tones and record the sound and to lay down the bands' instruments.

"The producer will come in and make arrangement ideas and it could be - they could carve out the tones together, this is what the engineers job is to sit there and mic it, make sure it's not distorted, make sure it's clear, it's all on the technical side, as opposed to the producer which is on the artistic side."

 

Was it difficult to leave the GN'R project and move on?

"Not at all. They were going to rehearse for three months and then record for three months and then the record would be out. I left it in August. I think we started on January 3rd - I left in August, and nothing had been written, nothing had been recorded, it was just like ideas."

 

At that point when you left in August, you weren't with a lot of different musicians, I've always heard that everything was so expensive and grandiose in the studio, like no expense was spared compared to some other bands.

"For the first three months, there was FedEx or UPS every single day. Keyboards, guitars, from what I understand, Axl has a studio in his place, all the keyboards were being delivered to Axl's, so there was a ton of money spent. A ton of money. I think I saw paperwork, and at when I left, and it was in the millions."

 

After GN'R, what were some other bands you worked with?

"I met Jay Baumgardner, who produced Papa Roach, at his studio. I went for an interview because they needed someone as a Pro Tools operator, and a friend had set me up. So I went down there, it didn't work out that way, but Jay said that they needed an engineer.

"He recognized me as an interviewee from the Guns thing as a producer, and we're like, 'Hey.' We started talking, he said, 'You want the job? I'm doing a demo for a band from Sacramento called Papa Roach.' I said, 'Yeah.'"

 

What do you make of the way the music business has changed now? Seems now everything is on streaming services, kids nowadays don't know anything about album covers. What do you make of what the music industry has become?

"I really wish it wasn't like that, but everything changes. I wish it was like back in the old days where there were record stores.

"That was our hangout when I was 13-14 years old because they were open until midnight - free listening station, magazines, I'd hang out there for hours. But times change."

 

[Ex-GN'R manager] Doug Goldstein, did you ever deal with him back in the day?

"Yeah, BFD management, I dealt with them early on. It was probably, maybe halfway through when Axl just canned them. But he was a nice guy, I met him, he came down to make sure everything was rolling and then I never saw him again."

[Twinaleblood]

3 hours ago, sidman69 said:

new interview coming tomorrow with a collaborator of Izzy and Hanoi Rocks. 

Timo Kaltio?

[sidman69]

1 hour ago, Twinaleblood said:

Timo Kaltio?

good guess....You'll see tomorrow. I'll post it on the forums.

[Sydney Fan]

And he heard it and goes, 'Just erase all that.' I was like, 'Do you want me to back it up?'. He was, 'No, erase it!'. He yelled and walked out of the room. "The assistant comes in, and I said, 'We're going to erase something GN'R fans are never ever going to hear. This is crazy, this is a GN'R song that no one's ever heard, and no one is ever going to hear this again.' "I looked at him and said, 'Are you ready?'. And I put the tracks in and erased it."

fuck axl......