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

[lame ass security]

Sometimes, having a ton of money isn't a good thing for a perfectionist when it comes to making an album.  They have the financial resources to make endless changes or just scrap things altogether.  So much wasted time and money.  Go in with a fixed budget and time frame and have the discipline to follow through.  But then again, that's boring.

[Ratam]

Great interview , i loved the Axl's human side too.

[BlueJean Baby]

Plan on listening to this one tomorrow, can't wait to hear it.

[Sydney Fan]

5 hours ago, lame ass security said:

Sometimes, having a ton of money isn't a good thing for a perfectionist when it comes to making an album.  They have the financial resources to make endless changes or just scrap things altogether.  So much wasted time and money.  Go in with a fixed budget and time frame and have the discipline to follow through.  But then again, that's boring.

I personally think that if the record company wasn't hammering the band for a release date for the illusions records, or only set a timeframe of 36 days for recording, i reckon axl would have taken longer - the release date for CD would have been quick in terms of what the illusions date could be if axl took more time.

[lame ass security]

11 hours ago, Sydney Fan said:

I personally think that if the record company wasn't hammering the band for a release date for the illusions records, or only set a timeframe of 36 days for recording, i reckon axl would have taken longer - the release date for CD would have been quick in terms of what the illusions date could be if axl took more time.

You're probably right, lol. It's like the old adage says "a painting is never finished but you have to just walk away".

[Blackstar]

On 1/22/2019 at 10:26 PM, Silent Jay said:

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."

He didn't say anything about a "Stephanie scene" (?)

Full transcript of the part about TIL:

-----

Dave Dominguez: Mike Clink had called me and said, “Hey, the producers for this Robin Williams movie are coming down at some point and they want Guns to record a song for it, a song called This I Love. But we gotta find the tapes." It’s like, okay, cuz we were... I guess they had written it and recorded it during the Illusions tour. Cuz Illusions - I don’t know if you knew this, you probably do, cuz you’re a GNR podcast - Illusions wasn’t finished when they hit that tour, so Mike would fly with them and they would finish it up in different cities.

So I remember getting four tapes, one from Australia, one was in England, the other was, like, somewhere in Wisconsin... And so they come in and they were from different parts. So when they finally got there, Axl – that was Axl who was really involved with that – called me up. “Hey, don’t you come in?” “Yeah.” So he came in and goes, “This is what I’m looking for.” And I found the... Cuz it was, then... There’s always a master tape, which has usually drums, rhythm guitars, bass and a scratch vocal; and then the rest are slaves, which have different parts. So they had, like, three different slaves. “There’s a certain part of the song that I want, that I really like, so you gotta find that, the right tape”. So I put it up, rolled, like, “yeah, that’s it.”

It was a beautiful song. I guess it ended up on Democracy, but just the title. It’s a whole different song. (...) I think I remember... I listened to it - I haven’t listened to Democracy in quite a while, but I go, “Oh, this isn’t the exact...” Because that was a piano ballad. (...) It was a ballad, it was a really cool song.

So a guy, Kenny Barra, who I mentioned earlier, who was around at the time, had become, like, my assistant during that, he would come in and he’d help me out, and... I’m sure you’ve heard the famous Axl stories about him just being out of control and being, you know, rude, just yelling... Well, I never really got any of that, personally. He always treated me great, and he treated my family great, and he was always awesome. The only time he ever did really get upset with me was during that session. At the end of that song, This I Love, he had said - he was repeating the, um, what was his girlfriend? Stephanie Seymour. It was like, “I love you Stephanie” or “This I love Stephanie” and he was, like, whispering it at the end of the song. And he heard it and he goes, “Just erase all that.” And I was like, “Do you want me to back it up?” “No, erase it!” And he yelled and walked out of the room. So Kenny there, the assistant, and I said, “We’re gonna erase something GNR fans are never ever gonna hear. Like, they’re never gonna hear this.” That to me was like, “Wow, this is crazy. This is a GNR song that no one’s ever heard and no one is ever gonna hear this again.” I looked at him, “Are you ready?” And I put the tracks in the record and I erased it. (...)

It was pretty intense. That was the first time he got upset - I think the only time he ever got upset with me. And I was like... Cuz I didn’t know. I was like, “Do you wanna back it up, just in case?” You know, I was gonna lock it to the A-DAT and back it up, and so anybody could put it back. And he was like, “No.” I go, “Alright...” And I just remember, like, that was the only time I had butterflies on my stomach. I didn’t wanna erase the wrong thing. So he left the room, and I said, “I need, like, ten minutes.” I would’ve probably only needed two minutes to do it, but I wanted to verify I was erasing the right thing. And I was like, I did triple-quadruple checking, like, “this is it, here we go.” And yeah, that was pretty crazy.     

[lame ass security]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

He didn't say anything about a "Stephanie scene" (?)

Full transcript of the part about TIL:

-----

Dave Dominguez: Mike Clink had called me and said, “Hey, the producers for this Robin Williams movie are coming down at some point and they want Guns to record a song for it, a song called This I Love. But we gotta find the tapes." It’s like, okay, cuz we were... I guess they had written it and recorded it during the Illusions tour. Cuz Illusions - I don’t know if you knew this, you probably do, cuz you’re a GNR podcast - Illusions wasn’t finished when they hit that tour, so Mike would fly with them and they would finish it up in different cities.

So I remember getting four tapes, one from Australia, one was in England, the other was, like, somewhere in Wisconsin... And so they come in and they were from different parts. So when they finally got there, Axl – that was Axl who was really involved with that – called me up. “Hey, don’t you come in?” “Yeah.” So he came in and goes, “This is what I’m looking for.” And I found the... Cuz it was, then... There’s always a master tape, which has usually drums, rhythm guitars, bass and a scratch vocal; and then the rest are slaves, which have different parts. So they had, like, three different slaves. “There’s a certain part of the song that I want, that I really like, so you gotta find that, the right tape”. So I put it up, rolled, like, “yeah, that’s it.”

It was a beautiful song. I guess it ended up on Democracy, but just the title. It’s a whole different song. (...) I think I remember... I listened to it - I haven’t listened to Democracy in quite a while, but I go, “Oh, this isn’t the exact...” Because that was a piano ballad. (...) It was a ballad, it was a really cool song.

So a guy, Kenny Barra, who I mentioned earlier, who was around at the time, had become, like, my assistant during that, he would come in and he’d help me out, and... I’m sure you’ve heard the famous Axl stories about him just being out of control and being, you know, rude, just yelling... Well, I never really got any of that, personally. He always treated me great, and he treated my family great, and he was always awesome. The only time he ever did really get upset with me was during that session. At the end of that song, This I Love, he had said - he was repeating the, um, what was his girlfriend? Stephanie Seymour. It was like, “I love you Stephanie” or “This I love Stephanie” and he was, like, whispering it at the end of the song. And he heard it and he goes, “Just erase all that.” And I was like, “Do you want me to back it up?” “No, erase it!” And he yelled and walked out of the room. So Kenny there, the assistant, and I said, “We’re gonna erase something GNR fans are never ever gonna hear. Like, they’re never gonna hear this.” That to me was like, “Wow, this is crazy. This is a GNR song that no one’s ever heard and no one is ever gonna hear this again.” I looked at him, “Are you ready?” And I put the tracks in the record and I erased it. (...)

It was pretty intense. That was the first time he got upset - I think the only time he ever got upset with me. And I was like... Cuz I didn’t know. I was like, “Do you wanna back it up, just in case?” You know, I was gonna lock it to the A-DAT and back it up, and so anybody could put it back. And he was like, “No.” I go, “Alright...” And I just remember, like, that was the only time I had butterflies on my stomach. I didn’t wanna erase the wrong thing. So he left the room, and I said, “I need, like, ten minutes.” I would’ve probably only needed two minutes to do it, but I wanted to verify I was erasing the right thing. And I was like, I did triple-quadruple checking, like, “this is it, here we go.” And yeah, that was pretty crazy.     

I assume the Robin William's movie he referred to was What Dreams May Come?

[Twinaleblood]

7 hours ago, lame ass security said:

I assume the Robin William's movie he referred to was What Dreams May Come?

Yes, later in the interview he even describes the scene where the song was supposed to be played in.

[lame ass security]

7 hours ago, Twinaleblood said:

Yes, later in the interview he even describes the scene where the song was supposed to be played in.

Very cool.  The reason I assumed that is I remember someone on YouTube had synced video from the movie to the song and it was really good.  This was probably 7 or 8 years ago so I don't know if it's still on there.

[BlueJean Baby]

Just listened to it, well up to the part where he erased the song, then it started buffering and I could not get it to come back on.  Not sure  what's up with that, brand new laptop over wifi.

But enjoyed the parts I heard. 

 

By the way, Atlanta's Rock Station 100.5 FM, actually was talking about this and mentioned on air Wednesday about Axl having them erase the song that fans will never hear. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by BlueJean Baby

[Blackstar]

The way I understood it, he didn't erase the whole song. He said there were four tapes containing different parts of it, Axl told him to find a particular part in one of the tapes and he erased that tape.

[Azifwekare]

On 22/01/2019 at 8:26 PM, Silent Jay said:

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

...

"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.

...

This sounds like it's the same party that one of my favourite Axl anecdotes comes from.

"At the singer's '99 Halloween fancy dress party, Dave Quackenbush, vocalist with LA punk band The Vandals [and Josh Freese's bandmate], encountered him 'wearing a dinosaur outfit. When some kids approached him and asked if he was Barney The Dinosaur, he said 'Nah! Barney's a fag!' Then he stopped himself and said, 'Oh, uh, I mean Barney's a pussy.'" (Q Magazine, 05/01)