themadcaplaughs

Any idea what he is up to today? Any day jobs, or is he still working in music? Any chance we'll hear more of the mankrage stuff that was posted some time back? Thanks for your responses.

Marc:

I know it's been said and said again, but thank you so much for taking the time to go to the fans like this. You have no idea how much your comments have helped us put together pieces of a puzzle that have been bothering us for years. That being said, I have a few questions about Paul Tobias. This is a man who Duff and Slash claim was responsible for the unraveling of the old lineup, and who Axl claims is the reason Guns N' Roses still exists. Despite this much impact being placed on the man, we have virtually no information about him. I just have a few questions about Paul. Feel free to answer them as much or as little as possible, in case some of them are personal to Paul.

1. How far back do Axl and Paul go. Do you know if he was involved in any other songs besides "Shadow of Your Love" and "Back off Bitch?" Were Axl and Paul in any bands together in their youth?

2. Why does he choose to go by the name Paul Tobias instead of his name real name Paul Huge?

3. What is your opinion on his role in the band? Was he really as mean-spirited a person as Slash (and to a lesser degree Duff) say he was? Was he really not that great of a player (something that Slash and Matt have both said)?

4. Paul has some pretty hefty writing credits on Chinese Democracy. What were his contributions to these songs?

5. What were his feelings about touring/playing the shows he played?

6. How did he get along with the guys in "new" GN'R (Chris has mentioned that Paul was cool).

7. Is Paul still any part of Guns N' Roses, or at least was he when you last talked to Axl?

Hey, haven't really stuck my head in about Buckethead in a while, but I will confirm that he has NO interest in Guns N' Roses in this point. NONE. ZERO. He feels everything about the time he was in the band was not what he was told it would be (if that makes sense). At this point, he is not bitter about Guns N' Roses, he just does not care. It's a part of his life almost a decade gone, and he's more than happy doing his own thing.

This. I think the real question is whether Tobias is still "part of the GN'R Family" like Brain and Finck or whether he's been fully exiled like Buckethead and most (if not all) of the "old band"...

If I had to guess- I'd say the former- but you hardly ever hear of the guy...

Axl said in the chats that he still talks to Paul and he helped out with some stuff for the Chinese Democracy liner notes.

More than just about anyone I'd like to hear his views and stories about Guns n' Roses.

Does anybody else worry about how long DJ will stay with GnR?

He seems to jump around from band to band. Bullet Boys, Ashba, Sixx AM, Beautiful Creatures, GnR now.........

With his tremendous writing skills (life is beautiful, motley crue smash album sola, enuff z nuff, etc), his amazing guitar shredding abilities, his clothing line booming, and his penchant for only staying with bands for a few years.... Just worries me that this intrical part of Guns n Roses might bail in us.

When did you join the forum DJ?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fight with Tommy Helfiger. I know it technically is not GN'R, but besides the 2002 VMAs it is the one moment everyone I know seems to recall about Axl in recent times.

Axl click in "i dont know". Stevean was the first click i´will"

As much as I wanted to hate this thread, this genuinely made me laugh.

Project 961?

Yep...and ever since the single and album dropped they have done nothing but shit on the album. As a matter of fact, the night after the GN'R concert at Philips Arena, they talked about what a shitty show it was.

I'll donate money in the quadruple digits if someone bans BBA right now.

I live in Atlanta...heard "Chinese Democracy" twice the day the single was released, and most of the callers just talked about how they thought the new AC/DC album would be a lot better. Heard "Better" on the radio once in December 2008.

Also- the fact that the current line-up seems to get-along reasonably well and has been pretty "battle-hardened" on the road for the last 3 years would indicate to me that they'd actually have a shot at truly "following-up" an album release with proper promotion, tour, videos, etc. The 01/02 band- with its varrying clashing personalities and rivalries, etc. just simply wasn't constructed to withstand those type of pressures/demands IMHO. It was an interesting era with some unique players (Robin's my favorite Guns guitarist ever), etc.- but I always find it hard to buy into the idea that Axl (especially as unstable as he seemed at the time- which people tend to forget) could have captained that strange ship for any real extended period of time...

I LOVED the 2001/2002 lineup, but this is about as accurate as you can get. Just listening to Axl's rants and between song banter during that time, it was obvious that he saw the Guns N' Roses shows at that time as more of an obligation to prove he could perform than as a real opportunity to have fun like he seems to be having now.

"You know, I liked the last record, I like the new one. Who do I listen to that's aggressive? I think that the "End Of Days" soundtrack is a lot of fun. Limp Bizkit is fun. The White Zombie stuff is fun."

Axl talking to Kurt Loder in 1999

I think this thread was a dumb idea. Axl's behavior in defending himself hasn't really changed at all over the years so I don't see how he has "given up" on defending himself. His most recent RRHOF letter reflects that. The whole premise of this thread is built on a vague concept and vague allusions to accusations. I don't really see any facts to back up the OP's claims.

I was gonna bring up the RNRHOF thing. That was Axl rant at its purest.

Every time I hear the Sabbath comparison I instantly think of Bach calling Sorry doom metal. Sorry is fucking tame. I know this is Axl saying it and not Bach but I don't trust descriptions.

It's only been recently that I've even begun to be able to listen to "Sorry" without this statement in the back of my mind.

Did he ever mention which track had Robin doing a "Stevie Ray Vaughn" solo?

Thanks...?

My views on Metallica...without having dredged through 15 pages of MSL trying to prove everybody wrong be subtly rewording things and acting like a lawyer...

1. The lawsuits: Yes this was bad, and I at the time was in the masses screaming to boycott Metallica, but time heals all wounds. Metallica has apologized for this profusely, admitting they (or more realistically Lars Ulrich) rushed into the situation without any adequate understanding of the technology, and the foresight to think that the Internet would change the landscape of music. Almost all of the lawsuits were dropped, and whether it was fan unfriendly or not, fans that downloaded illegal files of Metallica music were BREAKING THE LAW. Unlike Guns N' Roses, where fans get kicked out wearing Slash related t-shirts. Furthermore, Metallica has provided fans with tons of goodies be it video footage through their web site, an ace fan club, or only charging $19.82 to their fan club for tickets to the 30th Anniversary shows.

2. Lulu: Yes it was bad: terrible, but you cannot cry that Metallica was "selling out." It seems they involved themselves in a project based solely on their respect for Lou Reed, his history, and their interest in teh story he was telling. There was no way they expected this to be a hit, and it was not, but Metallica got to say they made a project with one of the rock greats.

3. The set-lists: Yes, I suppose they are not busting out a lot of Death Magnetic songs at the moment, but they played the hell out of them for almost 4 years. Do not forget, as others have mentioned, that they are playing outtakes from Death Magnetic. It makes me laugh though. This is a fan base that jizzes itself and calls a tour successful when Guns N' Roses plays 2 "new" old tracks (i.e. "14 Years" with Izzy and "There was a Time" in Dublin), but completely glosses over the fact that Metallica has played DOZENS of new/rarely played tracks over the last two years from Master of Pupptets, ...And Justice for All, Black Album, and Load/ReLoad. I mean, they have played songs like "Escape," "Trapped Under Ice," "The Memory Remains," and "To Live is to Die." Songs that fans have clamored over for years. That would be the equivalent of Guns N' Roses adding "Coma," "Locomotive," "Bad Apples," and "Don't Damn Me" to set lists.

I lost everything for Dizzy when he told his key-story.

What is this key-story everyone talks about?

DJ Ashba.

. For starters, Axl was mindful even back in 2008 of representing the newer NuGuns line-up on Chinese Democracy

If that is the case, why is Richard barely on Chinese Democracy?

here's the only story i have about robin... we have a mutual friend, and she says he's one of the nicest, sweetest, most humble dudes in the world. just a total sweetheart to the core. so naturally, axl's behavior could often rub him the wrong way. she told me a story about one time axl slipped on stage or had problems with his ear monitor. he raged backstage and blamed it on one of the crew guys. he took the dude's laptop and smashed it on the ground. robin (and possibly others in the band) threatened to quit if didn't replace the guy's computer, which he did. and robin stayed for a while longer.

I know nothing about Robin Finck personally, but being a member of Guns N' Roses forums, and a frequenter to Nine Inch Nails fan sites, this seems to be the general consensus. Him hating Buckethead must have been the exception.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/26/opinion/oe-detournay26

jordan and madcap... you guys may have had connections to other band members, and not so much direct time with del yourselves. but did you ever hear anything about him? for instance, it was mentioned in the other thread that del was tight with tommy, and that together they were pretty hostile toward bucket, his role in the band, and his growing relationship with axl. i think somebody mentioned that they felt threatened by the increased presence bucket had in axl's creative process.

I knew nothing about Del James, but what Jordan says pretty much sums it all up I think.

Anyone know what Bucket's relationship with Paul was like? or Fortus? Maybe its been said but just wondering.

Paul would have been happy with anyone Axl brought in. As much I respect Paul for helping Axl out of his rut and being a songwriting partner, I doubt he would have ever had the balls to say anything bad to Axl: even more so when he was clearly enamored by Bucket.

Fortus has never mentioned his personal relationship with Buckethead, but joked about how he got the gig in 2000 instead of Richard, and has also complimented his ridiculously good playing before. Also, in some blog, Chris posted a picture of the band at Rock in Rio III in 2001, and said that Buckethead was an awesome guy.

Bucket left because he was a fuckin' freak.And I think Axl caught him sometime in the studio watching hardcore pornos and wanking' off in public in a chicken costume :-)

I assume that first part is in response to the Classic Rock article where they claimed Buckethead used to watch hardcore/fetish porn flicks for "inspiration." As for [sic] "wanking' [sic] off in public in a chicken costume," I cannot say I've heard that one.

maybe if snooze or madcap or jordanrose have some free time, they could volunteer some stories they've heard.

I know absolutely nothing about Del James. The only information I know is about Buckethead because I know someone who works on his staff. I'd be really interested to hear though. Sorry to hear he was not the nicest to you.