denin

1 hour ago, allwaystired said:

I've always thought of him as more 'dope'' or 'crucial'. 

 

He is crucial dope for humanity.

34 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Possibly the first time Tolstoy has ever been described as 'pretty rad'. 

Nah, see Reddit. He's been filed under rad for years now. Which he is as a novelist, surely.

On 11/11/2022 at 11:48 PM, DTJ80 said:

I used to send him books to read on tour  – Balzac, Russ Baker, Tolstoy, Colin Wilson, whatever…

Wonder if Ax ever bothered reading them. He should've, Tolstoy in particular is pretty rad.

On 11/7/2022 at 8:05 AM, Bitchisback said:

When has Axl recorded anything since CD came out?

We can only guess, but he tooled around in studios with Pitman & co in 2010-13ish.

But that was a decade ago and we haven't heard squat about whatever they did - and with Slash back, it's likely we never will.

On 10/12/2022 at 9:30 PM, guitarpatch said:

They weren’t playing bigger venues because of any lingering issues with Azoff. That’s just what they were drawing and what was available to them after two US tours that were ended prematurely

Your sentiment is basically correct, but your timeline's flawed. Guns played an arena tour in late 2011, partially to pay off Azoff. Immediately after that tour, from 2012 to 14, they went back to clubs and festivals in the US. That's when their draw was at its lowest in recent memory.

On 10/5/2022 at 6:55 PM, BangoSkank said:

Axl losing interest is one of the saddest things to happen to GN'R in my opinion. I think it had to do with Robin leaving, but who knows. I'm so curious what happened between December 2010 & October 2011.

One big thing was the legal conundrum with Irving Azoff. Axl sued in May 2010 and settled in June 2011. Irv wielded power at Ticketmaster and LiveNation (just merged at the time). That meant Guns could only play clubs and festivals stateside while the proceedings went on. I think they had to make a deal about a certain amount of US dates, with a certain amount of those proceeds going to Azoff.

Forced Axl isn't what you call a happy one.

Axl should go with the Mouseketeer theme instead of Looney Tunes. Embrace the Mick.

The Vegas band really missed a trick there, as Ron could've done a good Goofy impression, too. A-hyuck!

He could've done both.

Slash and Duff exercized their option for a "solo" album in the early 90's. Axl confirmed he was doing his own, too.

As of 1996, Axl owned the Guns name and was entitled to the advance of the next Guns album. Despite this, his solo album option likely remained contractually viable.

He could've just dumped CD under his own name, while pasting together a Guns album from instrumentals by Slash & Duff. The swindle would be in using most of the time and money to a vanity project, while churning out the rock lp to cover the cost.

As many others have said, Melissa and Duff. It's best for internal harmony and cohesion, because they could re-arrange things that are already there. There'd be the least amount of unknown variables and road-testing is possible without any additional hassle. On the other hand, throwing in a new vocalist would be a coin-toss which could backfire in a lot of different ways.

But this is Guns. Axl will continue to wheeze and puff his way through the sets, and regular service will resume.

For sure, there's more than one way. But those moments of epiphany are often described by songwriters. Furthermore, Nick Cave has spoken about how he got serious with it. He rented a workspace for writing and started hammering out lyrics, the way a novelist would write a book. At first, the stuff was atrocious to him. Yet, over time, routine stepped in and he found himself able to control the flow, so to say.

What Cave did requires discipline, tho. Axl barely even rehearses for tours, so I have my doubts about him desiring to harness his craft better.

1 hour ago, jamillos said:

That's an example of this particular song, doesn't necessarily apply to all. I remember reading something where he was talking about Coma and how the ending verses just spurted out of him all in one sitting.

How's Coma different from Estranged, then? A big chunk of a song comes up to him overnight.

Axl on Estranged, RS 1989

There’s also a song tentatively titled “Without You.” Last night, I wrote a whole new intro to that. It just appeared out of nowhere, like the verses – just little pieces that have come whole.

How do you write complete songs from separate bits and pieces?
They’ll just show up. I keep them on file in my brain and then add them together. Like, I’ll be brushing my teeth and all of a sudden a prechorus will come, and I won’t know why. Then a bridge came about a year ago. Six months ago another part came. Last night a whole intro came. When I was writing it, I wasn’t planning on putting it with this song, but all of a sudden it just flowed.

So bits come in six-month intervals while he's doing something else. No wonder it takes.

Any ultimate lineup aside the AFD5 would be like fantasy football, methinks.

Howabout a CD-era (06-07) band with Slash instead of Bumble, Melissa instead of Pitman, Josh instead of Frank.

On 2/28/2022 at 5:25 PM, Honeyxcyanide said:

The Metropole is a strange choice for Axl stay at for a gig at the 02 but for business meetings it’s a lot more central. Ending up in joining rooms is fate though 

Maybe they both booked rooms there to have a business meeting, then?

"In the end I just went to the door of his hotel room. People from his entourage stopped me in the hallway. “You can’t go in right now, man,” said one. “He’s about to get in the shower to get ready for he show tonight.” “I’ve seen him naked before,” I said. The door to Axl’s room opened a crack. “I thought I heard your voice out here,” said Axl." - src

"There was this guy at the end of my hallway playing all this loud music and shit. What the fuck? Oh — it's Duff!" -src

It's funny how Duff kept mentioning how the hotel manager egged him on about the 02 show. You wouldn't think he gave Team Brazil the same treatment, dutifully telling them he booked "the bass player" to a room next to Axl? If it was an "accident", the TB crew would've been mortified, on the grounds that Axl might get royally upset for having an unannounced ex-member at such close proximity. This, in turn, could've led to temper tantrums about wanting a new hotel and maybe toying with the idea of canceling the show.

That's Sorum for you
No Sorum for me
He chose to trash those that knew him
And won't let them be

On 1/22/2022 at 12:40 AM, Blackstar said:

It was spiritual time travelling. She visited her 15-old self. When she was 15 she had felt one of her witch goddesses comforting her, but years later she spiritually travelled back and realized she had been comforted by her older self from the future.

Axl did that, too. His regression therapy sessions got him back to being a 2-year-old, when he was allegedly abused by his biological father. Then he got beyond that and reached a past life, where he and Erin Everly were Native Americans, and this pre-Erin killed their children. His preoccupation with the transmigration of the soul concept was made explicit in the Don't Cry video, for one.

On 7/26/2021 at 12:45 PM, Tom2112 said:

He was definitely mentioned in a more official capacity than Axls tweet, but I can't remember exactly where that was. 

This agitated Paul Stanley, I think.https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/axl-hires-kiss-manager/

The one backstage mention I recall was in Abu Dhabi in Dec 2010, which was Doc's last show with Guns, IIRC.

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

And Brain doesn't even remember the 2001 House of Blues show (or at least that it was before Rock in Rio). He's been always saying that RIR was the first show the band played with Axl.

People's memory can be subconsciously selective through complicated mechanisms, so it may be deceptive.

Yeah, but Mantia can be excused for his brain fart by the fact that RIR3 was, at the time, the biggest single show of his life (he said).

A club show in Vegas is small potatoes in comparison and got mixed up, in his mind, with the years-end shows at the Joint, likely.

1 hour ago, Pele said:

Then that detailed essay of Riad Everly which had absolutely nothing to do with anything, but was way more interesting  than the song itself!

Much like Axl's story about Dalai Lama leaving Tibet says more about Chinese Democracy than the lyrics ever will.

Cool interviews with Gary, who sounds like a swell guy.

Just those stories about the chicken coop made me scratch my head, as I think GS conflated the Rumbo & Village eras a bit. The way I see it, GS worked with Axl/Guns around '98-'99, which culminated with him recording additional bits to OMG (and maybe, IRS) at Rumbo. Around that time, Fortus & Bucket auditioned to replace Robin, I think. A year later Guns switch studios. Another six or so months and the coop is built on the suggestion of Tom Zutaut.

Then, come 2002 and Paul Tobias wants to check out. GS gets asked by Axl to audition at the Village, and that's when he sees the infamous chicken coop. Fortus auditions again, gets the gig, and GS is asked to stay 'available' for a while as the band goes on tour. Axls great guitar player shuffle. The same guys kept coming in for the same slot and then going out again for years on end. And he still couldn't make up his mind.

17 hours ago, jamillos said:

05.16.91 - The Ritz, New York, NY
Axl actually injures his heel and is forced to wear a brace on it for the first few weeks of the UYI tour.

He obviously took this whole nostalgia thing one step too far at the Troubadour in 2016.

I recall that on a certain other Guns forum the polarization between Axl & Slash became toxic after the release of Contraband. It felt stupid and unnecessary then, and is obviously the same at hindsight.

On 11/27/2021 at 4:41 PM, Twinaleblood said:

“Yeah, there’s no way three guitar players would work in this band right now. Three guitars is actually very difficult to do. Buckethead did it really well, I think. It worked with me, him and Robin Finck. You have to leave space for each other to create that big dynamic. Buckethead really understood that because he’s very musical. And I’m a big fan of Robin’s, he’s incredible, too… both of them knew it had to fit together like a puzzle.”

"...unlike those two jacks I had to put up with for five years. Always hogging it up."

On 11/27/2021 at 6:57 PM, RussTCB said:

Fortus must have an enormous inferiority complex. Imagine feeling the need to insult someone who hasn't even been in the band for 7 years.

Fortus is a curious figure in the CD saga. He came in just after the bulk of "CD I & II" were written, so he's not a part of the Golden era that culminated in 2001. The first one late to the party, substituting a principal songwriter. He's always had the chops to play lead in Axl's bands, yet he's consistently underutilized. His career in Guns really coins how absurd it gets when you keep working for Axl.

21 hours ago, Destiny said:

But his 2006 look is superior  Who ever thought Axl would get dreds/rows and pull them off so well?

He looked aces and sounded killer live. But a lot of people still complained about the cornrows at the time.

There was a running gag that he was aping the looks of Sean Paul.

Paul Tobias and Izzy are Indiana boys, so they stand a chance to be repeatedly reacquianted with Ax.

Buckethead? No way, José. In one podcast, Brain touched up on the answering machine messages GNR lawyers would leave to Bucket in around 2003-4 ('You'll never pick up a guitar again, you'll be working at a gas station by the time we're through with you' - endearing stuff like that). Then Ax publicly vilified Bucket for the RIR-Lisbon cancellation.

For someone who complained a lot about how erstwhile band members shoot shit about him in the media, Axl stooped even lower by attacking Bucket, a person who'd never dish out the juicy bits about Axl to lecherous journos. So yeah, they're likely to never communicate again, with or without a sock puppet.

Curiously, Brain has managed to play it both ways, by keeping Bucket as a friend and himself within the Guns camp. It's probably the money - guess it enabled him turn a blind eye to the boss chastising his friend, whom he knew was deeply hurt by the whole ordeal.

3 hours ago, Frankfurt93 said:

They seriously should rethink retiering before going further downhill with GNR moniker

Should've done that in 2011-14. Now we got Slash as the DJ replacement, so at least the band sounds and feels like Guns, again.