seagullview
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There's just a little snippet of it here, but hope somebody here will post the full article
http://issuu.com/weareteamrock/docs/mh264_issuu?e=0/10101410
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You would think he doesn't want anything to do with any Slash-material. On the other hand he might be thinking I'll take whatever I can from him. It's like that saying he had about Izzy long time ago. At least we got some good songs out of him or something like that he said after he had left. He might apply the same view in regards to Slash.
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Don't think it has been posted here before
What It’s Like to Play With (and Be Sued By) Axl RoseKevin Lawrence didn’t want to rename his band. He did want to release their work, along with the vocals of one Bill Bailey.
ENTERTAINMENT | November 24, 2014By Walter Bonner
Before reinventing himself as Axl Rose and becoming the biggest rock star on the planet, the future Guns N’ Roses frontman was Bill Bailey, a polite 20-year-old kid fresh off the bus from Indiana. In 1983, he arrived on the Sunset Strip and joined a local hard-rock band called RapidFire, led by guitarist Kevin Lawrence. Bailey recorded a five-song studio EP with Lawrence, played a couple gigs, then left the band, changed his name, and started welcoming people to the jungle. Lawrence went a different way, disbanding RapidFire and leaving the music industry to do something less exploitative, run porn websites.
“I gave myself until 25 to quote-unquote ‘make it,’” Lawrence says. “When I turned 25, I just kind of quit my own band.”
This week, Lawrence released “Ready to Rumble,” his old band’s EP—featuring the first-ever studio vocals by Rose. On the songs, the frontman sings in a lower range, but his trademark high-pitched squeal makes some brief appearances—snapshots of a rock star in the making. But what’s even more interesting is the EP’s backstory: the years of legal wrangling between Lawrence and Rose’s lawyers over its release, the singer’s early attempts to remake himself as a glam rocker, and the surprising revelation of his sole ambition in the music industry—to earn enough money to buy a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots.
“We’d sit on the roof in Westwood, have a beer and a cigarette,” Lawrence recalls. “He said, ‘When I make it, I’m gonna get myself a pair of snakeskin boots. That’s all I care about.’ I’ll never forget that.”
How did you first meet Axl?
We used to hang out at Troubadour and Gazzarri’s all the time and I just met him. We used to see each other around the club and started chatting. I was the singer [of Rapidfire] before Axl, and I didn’t want to sing- I just wanted to play guitar. We were a three-piece, I was playing guitar and singing and I always hated singing. Axl said he was a singer, and my first question was, “Do you have a P.A.?” He said he did, and I said “Come on out and audition.” His PA never left our studio until he quit the band.He was still Bill Bailey then. Did he ever say anything to you that he was thinking of changing his name to Axl?
At one point, during his [time] in our band, he asked if we could change the name of the band to A-X-L. He didn’t say ‘Axl,’ he said ‘A-X-L.’ I said, ‘‘Axl?’ What does it mean?’ He said, ‘It’s just a word.’ I said, ‘Oh, let me think about it.’How was he as a frontman?
I was with him his first time onstage. He wasn’t what he is now, now that he’s got bodyguards and confidence. He was nervous to go onstage, and he was a little stiff in the beginning but he loosened up eventually.Was the Sunset Strip’s groupie scene in the 80’s as wild as everybody says it was?
It was unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. There were so many women and cool looking guys, and this was even before the glam thing. Even Motley Crue wasn’t glam. On their first album, they’re all about leather and lighting themselves on fire. That’s the era that we emerged out of. We were already gigging, not doing this glam thing, and then it came along and took over the Strip. We were not a glam band.When was your last gig with Axl?
He showed up to our gig on May 28th (we’d recorded May 25th), and he arrived at the last minute for the gig with his white jacket dyed pink, and his hair Aqua-Netted straight up and straight out, like in ‘Welcome To The Jungle.’ The whole band kind of looked at him and said, ‘What the fuck?!’ And I remembered [Rapidfire drummer] Chuck [Gordon] going, ‘You’re not going on stage like that!’ I said, ‘Just leave him alone.’ I said to [Axl], ‘Let’s do this gig and then kind of see how it goes, but this is not the vision that we have for this band.’ We were just kind of a guys rocking out as opposed to doing New York Dolls glam.When could you tell that Axl was going to leave the band?
I had no idea until that gig. After the gig we both talked and Izzy was there. I didn’t know Slash back then, but I’ve been told he was there. And [Axl] came up into the dressing room and he and I talked and we said, ‘Maybe we should part ways.’ I don’t know if I said it or he said it - probably him. He wanted to play with Izzy because they came out from Indiana. We said best of luck to each other, and he invited me to the first Rose gig - before it was even Hollywood Rose, they called themselves Rose - and I went. It was me, our drummer Chuck, and two waitresses in the whole Troubadour.What was it like when GNR first blew up? Was it shocking?
I didn’t think they’d get as big as fast as they did. And they did. I’m happy for him; he’s a talented guy. But people, they always ask me, ‘What’s Axl like? What’s Axl like?’ And I’m sick of answering. My answer to that has become, ‘I don’t know Axl Rose. I know Bill Bailey.’Why wait so long to release the EP, and what’s been the major hurdle in releasing it?
With the Hollywood Rose album, claiming to be the first ever Axl Rose recordings, I got a little pissed. I was like, ‘That’s not true, that’s bullshit. These are the original recordings.’ And so I scoured the country for somebody who had an old 8-track reel-to-reel machine that could run it into a computer and digitize it for me, and it took me all over the place. Finally I found Jack Endino, who was Nirvana’s first producer, and he referred me to another guy who had all the equipment. I shipped out the tapes to him and he digitized it and sent it back. I put up a little website, just one page with a picture, and it just got slammed. And then all of a sudden came the lawyer letters.Do you think Axl cares about the EP’s release or do you think it was just a lawyer thing?
My attorney thinks it’s a lawyer thing. He said, ‘You all parted on completely amicable terms. The last time you saw each other you had a good chat. I don’t even think he would care.’ But his lawyers sure did, and they were sending me some of the nastiest, most threatening letters: ‘You have to return Axl’s property and master recordings or’- I was living in Canada- ‘we’ll have the RCMP seize them from your home.’ The Canadian lawyer told me I was holding Axl Rose’s property and they wanted a list of all the people who have copies of it. It was just ridiculous. My brother Joshua, who was my lawyer, just laughed and wrote them back letters just catching them on all their mistakes. ‘Hey really? Here’s the copyright registration and serial numbers that shows Kevin owns everything.’ Another lawyer would go after me, then another. They were trying to scare me, and I just don’t scare easily.What did you do after you got out of music?
In the late nineties, I got into the Internet business. I created an Internet porn company, which did extremely well and moved to Canada with my wife and three dogs. It was great. It was inordinate money. It was silly it was so much money. But with the Internet boom came the Internet bust: We all lost our asses and our houses and our wives. Down goes the money, down goes the lovin’.In 2013, on 30th anniversary of the EP being recorded, [my brother] Joshua sent me a little email that said ‘Happy Birthday.’ I was like, ‘It’s not my birthday....’ It was a link to a snippet of “Ready To Rumble” and it got a lot of hits. Axl’s lawyers filed a copyright infringement, and you’re not allowed to do that unless it’s your copyright. All we had to do was respond to YouTube with the copyright information, which is all mine.
Then Josh killed himself and I just lost it. I said, ‘Over my dead body will this album not come out in 2014, regardless of the consequences.’ We mixed it, had it remastered, had a little artwork done for the front, and put it out there. And I haven’t heard a word. They know they have no case. Josh was very clear in his letters that they have no say in my music, just because some unknown named Bill Bailey was on it and now he’s a star.
When was the last time you saw Axl?
It was in the mid-to-late nineties. I don’t know what album they were on, but I’m pretty sure it was still the time when Slash was in the band, and they were the original. We just ran into each other on the Third Street promenade in Santa Monica, and just started chatting. We were both in a shoe store. He said, ‘Let’s take this outside,’ because people in the store were like, ‘Is that Axl? Is that Axl?’ So we went outside and we were chatting for awhile, and he actually asked me, ‘Do you have a copy of that demo? I never got a copy.’ I said, ‘Give me a phone number and an address and I’ll get you one.’ He gave me a phone number, I called and he never called me back so he never got one. If he’s heard it, he’s heard it since it’s been released.Does it get old talking about your time with Axl?
It’s kind of old-hat by now, but since the album’s come out it’s sort of reinvigorated my resolve to really get it out there. Especially since it’s getting great [reviews] and people want CDs and vinyl, which we’re going to run at the beginning of the year.I don’t live with that yearning, or beating myself up, because I didn’t make it with Axl. [He] just had a new band that he ran, that’s what he always wanted. He’s the boss. Slash is a fantastic guitar player, so that didn’t disturb me…. It would’ve been cool if he’d said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this new band. Do you want to play rhythm guitar?’ But Izzy was doing that. You know, whatever.
http://www.maxim.com/music/what-its-play-and-be-sued-axl-rose
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Intercourse should win the best poster award. Really hard to disagree with what he says.
So you agree with his statement that "I believe Axl has stopped working on new music" despite the very fact that Richard just said Axl was in the studio laying down vocals?
This ties in veeeery nicely with what I said earlier about the pendulum having swung and members being unrealistically negative and cynical.Axl laid down vocals in studios for over decade, most of which we've never heard. Standing at a mic in a cosy room and releasing an album of original music to the full glare of a cynical and often shitty public are light years apart.
When Axl makes the jump, I'll be waiting with my cash to buy his work. But until then...
PC is not trolling either, he's just pointing out that you guys are back swallowing plates of GNR bullshit first chance you get.
Do you ever tire of the stuff?
Axl is a fucking recording artist - he's supposed to be in the studio! Its like being shocked you saw a busdriver at the wheel of a bus.
It will come out, it just takes an awful long time. That's all there is to it
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Intercourse should win the best poster award. Really hard to disagree with what he says. If Axl is recording vocals now, then the situation is worse than I imagined. Axl said the album is done. Unless he's working on another album, looks like CD2 is far from done.
The last six years have shown Axl has no interest in releasing new music. He might have claimed otherwise but his past actions speak louder to me.
You could turn it around though and look what happened to CD1. Yeah sure Dizzy, DJ and Richard have been talking about this new album for years now, but likewise CD1 was talked about for years. In the end it did come out and so I believe CD2 will be relased too.
even a stopped clock reads the correct time twice a day.
It's 5 o'clock somewhere
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Intercourse should win the best poster award. Really hard to disagree with what he says. If Axl is recording vocals now, then the situation is worse than I imagined. Axl said the album is done. Unless he's working on another album, looks like CD2 is far from done.
The last six years have shown Axl has no interest in releasing new music. He might have claimed otherwise but his past actions speak louder to me.
You could turn it around though and look what happened to CD1. Yeah sure Dizzy, DJ and Richard have been talking about this new album for years now, but likewise CD1 was talked about for years. In the end it did come out and so I believe CD2 will be relased too. When is another question but I hope and think maybe by next year.
As for laying down vocals who knows what that is for. One album has already been recorded (+ the remix), but there are brand new songs too so I'm guessing that's the songs he's laying down vocals for now. If they're going to mix the old songs with the new for the final release I don't know. In my wildest dreams I'm hoping they're working on a double album (wasn't it supposed to be a trilogy?), but one album for now will be fine.
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Every leaked song was on CD though, so there must have had to been some influence.
I guess the influence could potentially have been the other way around as well. Maybe the 14 songs were chosen for CD and because they needed the most work/mastering etc. they were passed around from band to label and others and were therefore most prone to leaking. Atlas was intended for CD according to Ron but CD limitations meant it couldn't make the cut. Therefore they didn't put it through the same pre-release procedures and it was not accessible to leaks?
Good point!
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Axl has no interest in releasing new music. His motivation seems to be playing his Hits one month a year in Vegas and South America.
He's in the studio working on Pitman's long awaited solo album?
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Let's take Silkworms as an example. This was one of the first new songs being played live, yet it didn't make it to the final album. Was it regarded as one of the better songs by the band since they played it live? Then why wasn't it on the final album? Or if it wasn't regarded as being so good why would they play it live as one their first new songs?
Haha it's impossible to understand this band!
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I never understood the concept of saving so called big guns for another album. Axl Rose hadn't released an original album in almost 2 decades. Why would he decide to release what he perceived to be songs that weren't his best? Wouldn't he try to come out swinging with the best of the best to make a statement and to show that he wasn't just wanking off for 20 years?
It's not hard to agree with you, but I think since he viewed it as a double album you have to save some of the good songs for that too? I mean he must already have had that album (CD2) in his mind when choosing songs for CD1?
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I think we all can agree there's been a lack of motivation/fire in Axl since 2011. Live performances have generally speaking left a lot to be desired and his preperation have been poor.
Do you think a new album could trigger his motivation again?
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Now that it seems like things are finally happening in regards to a new album do you think it will contain some "big guns"? Or has he used all his best songs for CD1?
Personally I think he has saved a lot of the best songs for this album. I believe so since he has always said he sees it as a double album. This could have made him save some songs for this particular album. Also if you look back at the history of GN'R they always waited a long time before relasing songs even though they were some of their best songs, e.g. November Rain and Don't Cry. They could have been released on earlier albums, but were continuously worked on and released on later albums.
Then there's the theory of the leaks and how it determined what songs ended up on CD1. If this is correct many good songs could have been left out.
Finally, it seems they are also writing brand new songs and who knows what they sound like?
Anyway I'm pretty sure the songs on the new album will be just as strong as the previous album and some of them maybe even better
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every time i read your post i can feel the salami's taste in my mouth$5 mil for Axl's wigs alone
(i'm eating salami right now)
On topic: agreed with the OP
The most funniest thing is. Slash will have a co-writing credit on the next record, according to Richard Fortus on his november 20. workshop
Slash ? Writing credit on axls next album? Said by fortus?!?
See:
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Lot's of interesting stuff starting at 18:34 in part 2.
Richard wrote chorus for Better and other bits, but for the most CD was already done when he joined
3 albums worth at least already recorded
Axl is recording vocals the very week that workshop took place (week 47) and some vocals are already done
Richard says Axl is very secretive, he wants stuff out but only when he feels it ready
Edit:
Also at 00:52 in part 2 Fortus tells his favourite unreleased track from the next album is a song Robin Finck wrote but he's not sure if it even got a title. He says its not Soulmonster and hasn't leaked at all. A lot of songs haven't leaked. He says he probably knows the songs by different titles than we do.
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The majority of the costs came from unused studio and equipment rentals.
The studio and equipment would just there unused for months at a time. If I were the studio and equipment owners, I'd be delighted to keep such a situation going for as long as possible.
If that's the case money had "nothing" to do with how the album sounded
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I wonder how much CD2 (or whatever it's going to be called) is going to cost.
A lot of it should already be paid for during the making of CD1 (since some of the songs were recorded then), but who knows how much more it will cost
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Money is no guarantee of quality. Chinese Democracy is a mediocre album. No money would change Axl's production approach or his cringe worthy lyrics. Nothing could save CD from mediocrity. Not Slash, not lol Paul Tobias, etc.
I think Chinese Democracy is a great album, although I think it could be just as good without all the money
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I guess a common misconception among many is that the more money being put into an album the better it has to sound. Sure you can do some things with money, but after a certain point there is nothing money can do to improve the sound. In fact, it may make it sound worse if being worked on too much.
So CD allegedly cost $13 million to make. What on the finished album cost that much? I mean would the album sound different if theoretically only $1 million were spent on it? One example of money being wasted was the rental of equipment that were just sitting there and not being used (or was that a studio not being used? I can't remember). In the end did it cost that much just because it took so long to finish? Or because they mixed it several times? Or because they hired so many people? But if you're being specfic it doesn't cost a lot to make those "sounds" that ended up on the finished version. Surely there's no sound that couldn't be made with less money? Where did all the money go?
Just to follow this theory through, would AFD sound better if they had spent the similar amount as on CD on that album? I'm sure not
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I'm surprised how NOT dated it sounds. When I redicovered GN'R in 2011 after an almost 20 year break (which may have helped) I was surprised how fresh the music sounded and how well the music still held up. I'd say GN'R are the band that from the 80s/early 90s holds up the best today. Even the way they dressed still looks cool almost 30 years later. I mean GN'R music in general, not particularly UYI, but I dont see any differences between their albums
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This clip is from 2006 as well, but what a difference! For this particular song I definitely prefer the high Axl voice. There's some parts with high clean voice but it's more a deeper voice in this clip
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CD suffered from the monumental hype and expectations attached to it. It could never live up to it, and yeah,given how long it took,it should have been better. It's far from a perfect GNR album, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. I was underwhelmed at first, but over the years, it has really grown on me.
This is not true though. Just because you spend a lot of time making an album doesn't make it better. In that case lots more artists would do that. In fact, it probably makes it worse (overproduction). The album was really done in 99 (?), anything after that was just fine tuning and overproduction. Same with money, it doesn't necessarily make it a better album. After a certain point money can't improve lyrics or a tone or whatever. Basically, people made an error in assuming the vast amount of money and time spent on the album would make it the best ever album made or whatever. It is understandable that they were thinking so though. The hype created unrealistic expectations.
Personally, I didn't like it all in the beginning too. Same as with you it has grown on me and I really like it now.
Another point to remember is that that this album should really be viewed as a debut album. This was the first album this group of people made together. And even this new group had line-up changes made to it. It's just the GN'R name that's confusing people. People were expecting a GN'R sounding album, but how could it ever be when only two people were left from the UYI line-up? I'm sure had it sounded more classic GN'R people would probably criticise them for sounding to similar to the original members
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Nice version of used to love her. Axl's voice is kinda high but fits nicely to this song
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- Atlantis
- Broken [allegedly mentioned by Frank Ferrer to a fan]
- Cuban Skies *
- Did I Ever
- Greenletter
- Heaven Is A Lonely Place For Two
- Light My Fire *
- Never Had It
- Monstrosity *
- Prosperous Chili
- Push
- Servitude
- Shameless
- Strange Disease
- Time *
- Today, Tomorrow, Forever
- Todd The Intern
- Tonto *
- Velvet Rope Dope
- Victory
- WombasiFAKE
- Closing In On You [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Cock-A-Roach Soup [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Eulogy Of A Broken Heart [confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Friend Or Foe [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Hearts Get Killed [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Motormouth [allegedly first mentioned by Richard Fortus to Zero Magazine; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- No Love Remains [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Something Always [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Suckerpunched [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Take That [confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- We Were Lying [allegedly first mentioned by Dizzy in January 2006; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- When Love Collides [confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
- Zip It [first mentioned in Kerrang! in August 1999; confirmed fake by Axl during an online chat]
This ties in veeeery nicely with what I said earlier about the pendulum having swung and members being unrealistically negative and cynical.
Big guns on CD2?
in GUNS N' ROSES - DISCUSSION & NEWS
Posted
I remember Oasis putting out some of their best songs as B-sides on singles so it's not always as straightforward.
GN'R (Axl) has a HISTORY for waiting to release some of their "best" songs. Why wasn't November Rain or Don't Cry on AFD? I think I read somewhere someone in the band saying Don't Cry didn't fit on that album? (not sure)
I'm sure Axl sees all his songs as good or as something he personally likes and I think CD was an album where he finally could make the music HE wanted and release. Slash said he thought CD was the album Axl always wanted to make. I'm not sure if putting the potentially biggest hits on that album was his main priority.