TiedHands

I specifically remember a group of hipster looking guys that apparently knew Frank very well, he came in and went to them and started hugging them and stuff, and one of them was like "ya'll kicked ass, man. great band. what's the guitar player's name, the one with the hat on???". Major facepalm. I really felt bad for the guys because it was full of radio and business people, hipsters, and hot girls, very few fans. Most people were there for an autograph and jetted. Had no interest in talking to them about anything valuable. I think it took a few of them aback when some of talked to them legitimately, like Chris and Dizzy, I was asking them about their equipment, song writing, etc. I know it had to be awkward for them to walk into a room and most of the people had no idea who they were. And it's not a slap against them, they just haven't had the chance to become known at this point. Hopefully soon...

I think 'Blood in the Water' is legit, but it sounds very odd. If I had to guess, it sounds like it's from that '99 era with the 'IRS' and 'TWAT' demos. It's got that very kinda generic production with drum tracks and whatnot. There's something real there though...

I have a bad feeling if you're expecting wildly crazy and varied set lists, you're gonna have a bad time. I think it would be genius to advertise that every single night will have a unique set list, that way every single show feels unique and special, they should've done that with the UCAP tour. But most of the acts from Elton John to Cher to Motley Crue, they tailor a very specific show for Vegas, and don't often change it up at all. I'm not saying every single set will be the exact same, I expect them to maybe throw a couple of curve balls here and there, but I definitely wouldn't expect to see 'Scraped' or 'Dead Horse' or 'Prostitute' thrown in there anywhere :\ But hey, it'll be a great show, whatever they play. It always is

It is the best way to meet Chris Fortus or Richard pitman.

Unfortunately, when I did the after party thing at one of the shows last year, that was how 3/4ths of the people back there were. Different band members would walk in and people were like "what's that guy's name, the guitar player???". That was bullshit.

There was a much bigger buzz in '06 (NYC shows, Axl doing some publicity-type stuff, huge festival appearances, etc.), I think everyone was under the assumption that was it, the album was coming out, and it was probably the highlight as far as that time period goes. I don't necessarily think attendance was affected so much by the album coming out, and if so, it was only because the mystery was over. After it was out, it was out, good or bad, whichever way you looked at it. I do think, with a hit song and/or album, the attendance would increase. I've seen junk bands sell out arenas literally because they had one or two radio hits. LMFAO had a very successful run. Enough said...

Derek Trucks was one of the names being thrown around back in '06 as Bucket's replacement. Ironically, my barber at the time, jammed with guys that jammed with Derek, and I mentioned the rumor to him and he said "I don't ever see that happening. Ever."...

Surely to God they are running out of places to play with this set list? I think India is the last place on Earth that they haven't played this show at, except for maybe Africa (and that was scheduled way back when and got cancelled). Wow...

I think it really was more of a thing where he wanted to help Axl keep Guns alive and going, and probably wasn't as comfortable on tour and stuff, so has remained behind the scenes. He had more fingerprints all over 'Chinese Democracy', I think, than anyone except Axl, and maybe Robin...

I think throughout all of the mysterious episodes and eras of the entire GNR legacy, the Robin departure is the most interesting to me. I would kill to get like a sit down with him and pick his brain about everything. It's NEVER made sense to me that he was loyal for so long (except that one time he left for a little while waaaay back in '99 or whenever), then the album FINALLY is coming out and he leaves?? He almost had to have gotten fired by someone. He put 10 years of his heart and soul into the band and material and then quits the race at the finish line? I don't buy it, unless he caught wind of the NIN thing being the end and kinda felt more loyalty towards Trent because that's where he came from, and knew he'd be able to tour consistently and actually produce albums. Robin is my second favorite member in the entire history of GNR, and I would be so curious to know what would've happened had he remained in the band. Maybe things would be exactly the same as they are now, but I know that '06 band was a fucking monster in every way. On the positive side, at least him and Axl seemed to be on really great terms back when he came out and did 'Better', so who knows. I know I miss him....

I think that has always come off as kind of an awkward moment for me. There was such a mystery when it was announced that he was gonna be there because there was such amazing buzz around that time period and again, everyone thought it'd be the perfect time to announce a release date. After the scream, I think there was this awkward moment for him where he was like "crap, that didn't go over well like it did in my head, shouldn't have done it" type of reaction. Nothing wrong with the scream, it was just strange. But it was awesome seeing him out and about and in the spotlight, being the rock star that he is. He got a pretty great pop from the crowd, too...

LOL, 'tis that time of year again. I'm a big fan, but Axl/GNR certainly know how to squander a golden opportunity. What better way to premier a new single? I think it would certainly change any former opinions that were based on the '02 performance (which in actuality, wasn't all that bad, blown way out of proportion). They'll still be in tour mode, all they gotta do is go out there and give it 100% one time and hit it out of the park, and it could be a situation that gives them momentum to the moon. I have no reason to believe it'll happen, but it certainly should...

I'd go see them every day for the rest of my life if all they ever played the theme song to Duck Tales on the fiddle. But I feel like such a broken record on this issue. Drop the majority of the stuff they've played at EVERY SHOW since '02 from AFD/UYI. We don't need to really hear 'Its So Easy' and 'Mr. Brownstone' every single show. To be honest, if they're not going to play any new material, they should play the entire 'Chinese Democracy' album, plus the big hits (Jungle, SCOM, Paradise City, You Could Be Mine, November Rain). Keep Nightrain, and drop fuckin Knockin on Heaven's Door. I know it's the epic sing along, but I'm sick of it. Anyone that wants to go see the hits has already seen it, so let those of us who are more interested in the post-UYI stuff have our moment...

I would actually love to hear them perform with an orchestra. It wouldn't work entirely well with every song, but songs like 'TWAT', 'November Rain', 'Street of Dreams', 'Madagascar', and 'Prostitute' would become the most epic songs the world's ever heard. Sonic gold, that would be. Of course, I'd love for Guns to do a huge co-headlining tour...

I'll mention the elephant in the room.

So does this mean Izzy will take the place of Ron if he does indeed quit?

I like Izzy but come on. There are very few people who can play what Ron plays. I'm not singing his praises (even though I think he's a genius), but his style and the stuff he plays, not many people can replicate. That's why when people say "________ is better than Ron!!", I would love to see them play some of the crazy stuff like the Shackler solo, or do Bucket almost note-for-note on the TWAT solo. Izzy is talented but was born to be a rhythm player. Next!

It's so infuriating to know how much stuff they're sitting on. Why spend all the money, and all the effort to record, edit, and produce hundreds of hours of footage and material and never release it? Surely Axl doesn't just sit at home and watch this stuff for his own enjoyment. When you have a starving fanbase, releasing something like a documentary would be the next best thing to a new album. People would eat the shit like candy. It's always been a mystery to me...

Jesus, could they have picked a more awkward guy to do the interview??? Surely there was someone that spoke better English. He would've done better with an interpreter. I think it's stupid how people somehow expect revelations to be made in these interviews. Do you really think Tommy and Dizzy are going to magically go into great detail about the track listing of the next album, or go into detail about 'The General'?? These are powder puff pieces, meant to get publicity for the local show. They all say the same exact stuff in every city, kinda like how almost every band says "wow, this is the best crowd so far". Duh...

Axl's keeping it classy. If I were rich, that's exactly how I'd keep my "compound". Not over-done, nice but realistic and nice. Love that Axl's so obviously hardcore into art...

Don't ask him any dumbass cliched questions, because I already asked them all of him when I talked to him last year!! "Where'd he get the nickname Mother Goose? Bucket came up with it.", "Where'd you come up with the wobbly keyboard? I have to do that because I'm always so drunk that's the only way I can keep straight with it", etc. I really think he (or really any other member) will be hesitant to answer a bunch of questions about song titles we haven't heard, what's gonna be on the next album, etc. One question I meant to ask him but forgot was What was the entire process of creating the movie line sample collage in 'Madagascar'? It clearly tells a story, how did they come up with what to use, etc. That one piece has always been very striking to me, and I'd love to know the back story to it. My other question would be Could you explain the process in how some of the songs changed over the years? Specifically 'The Blues' into 'Street of Dreams'. It went from an uptempo, bluesier song (with Chris' AMAZING hip-hop-ish whirly woo synths), to a much more mellow, slower paced, ballad type of song. Still an amazing song, but for the first live performance to the final version, it's almost an entirely different song, and I'd be curious to know how that entire process works. Thanks!!

I think Chris is insanely artistic and talented, and I just hope that he's being used to his utmost potential. Having someone in the band like him can go a long way as far as evolving the sound and trying different things, and I've been nothing but impressed with what I've heard from him. I got to hang with him once after a show and he was a super cool dude, extremely fan friendly. I LOVED the stuff he added to the old songs live back in '02...

I love the big, epic songs more than anyone, but if they would release an album full of songs in the vein of 'Oh My God' and 'Shackler', it would be a hit. I think people genuinely miss Axl's dangerous, aggressive side, and you can't get that with 'This I Love' or 'If The World', as much as I love those songs. When I have let people listen to CD, overwhelmingly two of the favorite bits off of the entire album for a lot of people are the 'Don't ever try to tell me..."/"No one is stopping you..." parts from Shackler, with the disco beat, the wonky guitars and the yelling Axl, and the breakdown in Better ("I never wanted you to be so full of anger..."). Those are moments of pure brilliance, and people crave that...

I don't think Axl is naive enough to think he can hold a second album over a record label as a bargaining chip like they did with CD. What I can't understand, is take a look around the music world, and realize the amount of pure crap that is released every week, and I'm talking stuff that doesn't even have a snowball's chance of selling as many as a new GNR record would in it's first week. I have no huge expectations that a new album would sell a million copies in it's first week or anything, but I think with the right single, and a record label backing them up with the right promotion, they could pull a rabbit out of a hat and very realistically sell more copies than they did with CD. CD was an entirely weird, freak circumstance, Axl blames the label for all the trouble, the label blames Axl for all the trouble, it was like they were at a stalemate in a game of chess. In a world where anyone that wants to can put out an album (heck, Lita Ford just put out a new album!!), I don't see any legit reason GNR can't, and it not be halfway successful. It's all a giant mystery to me...

I think the song comes off really well and powerful live, I think it's a song where everyone kind of shines and has a particular part to play. DJ does a better job on the solo than I ever thought he would, though I think Richard probably would've been the right guy for the job if it couldn't be Bucket. I would love for them to bring out Baz sometime to do backing vocals, that would be killer. My one biggest gripe is, one of my favorite things about the studio version is Robin's acoustic guitar, and I wish someone was playing an actual acoustic up there. That's such an integral part of the song for me...

Yeah, Axl was obviously using scratch vocals there. He kicked ass on 'Madagascar' on the actual show, one of his better vocal performances of that song, ever, maybe THE best. But I love shit like this. Such a great period, such a mystique about it. It's just strange, I mean, I don't think fans of say, Aerosmith or Motley Crue, go gaga for freakin' rehearsal footage, but we treat this as one of the Holy Grails of all GNR-dom. But it makes it fun. I'd love to see the entire thing. Stuff like this is way more interesting than another YouTube video of 'Riff Raff' or 'Dead Flowers'...

That demo was just about the greatest thing ever put to tape. It still holds a special place in my heart. I remember when that first leaked, and I just could not believe how great it was. It blew my mind. When I heard it, that song alone made all the wait worth it. Brian's solo was immaculately amazing, Axl's lyrics, and Pittman's synth stuff just owning everything. It was such a classic, timeless piece of music. I still LOVE the final version, it's probably my favorite song (overall) on the album, but it was the most obvious of over-tinkering. But it's still a great song, and so sickeningly underrated...

Oy, I remember all those rumors way back when that GNR's comeback song was gonna be a single off the Kill Bill soundtrack, and that the title was something similar to "Substitute" (no, not 'Prostitute'). Those were the days...