Sleep

Freese left because his contract was up and A Perfect Circle had their first album in the can and were ready to go. He along with Howerdel had Axl's blessing. On top of that, Freese is a busy guy. Spending a lot of time on one thing isn't really his style. Given how large his discography is, I'm surprised he can remember anything about his time in GN'R.

The fact that Hard School is what people are holding out hope for shows you how low the bar is. Blows my mind they're trying to rework decades old material with Slash & Duff rather than coming up with anything new. 

No. Everything we've heard from it sounds absolutely atrocious to me and the CD songs go over like a fart in the elevator at the live shows. Don't go backwards. 

It wouldn't sell near as well as the AFD re-release would. What they're doing is an easy sell and is in vogue at the moment. A lot of bands re-mastering and re-issuing their early work.

Great interview. I'm a big fan of Sean's so it was cool to hear from him. Lots of good insights. 

I'd love a long interview with Robin about it all. Maybe Billy. Josh has spoken about it a bit and is always awesome. 

Not a "collector" but I have Appetite for Destruction (with the original artwork), Use Your Illusion I and II and the Nightrain single (which I'd totally forgotten about and can't remember how it came into my possession). 

Not Ashba Swag? 

The Black Album was bigger than the Illusions. Highest selling album since Nielsen Soundscan starting counting. 

I seriously don't get how the hell can some of you defend Axl in this case.

Not everyone going to see him knows about his late starts, 80% of the people who usually go don't know about the actual band and know about the music and they go there to enjoy the music, so if the show is at 8pm, then max. it should start by 9pm, not at 12am.

Cue the Del James "Whatever happened to Rock N' Roll" tirade.

Meh.

Bass Frontiers magazine recently conducted an interview with former GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan. You can now watch the chat in three parts below.

Speaking about GUNS N' ROSES' early days, Duff said: "I'd seen [Axl Rose, GUNS N' ROSES singer] in L.A. GUNS. But it was at The Troubadour [in West Hollywood]. I got there late and saw a couple of songs. And it was just like a bull loose in the ring. It was, like, 'What the hell?' And he was different. He wasn't metal, and he wasn't punk; he was like his own thing. And I identified with that. But [we got together] at this rehearsal place and he got on a mic to sort of check the P.A. and he had two voices coming out. It was kind of a low undertone and this really high, strong voice. And he was serious. He moved from Indiana, Izzy [Stradlin, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist] moved from Indiana, I moved from Seattle. We weren't here to jam. We weren't here to be in a high school band. We wanted to start something and mean it. And when those five guys — Steven [Adler, GUNS N' ROSES drummer] and Slash [GUNS N' ROSES guitarist], Izzy, Axl and myself — got in a room the first time, it was so apparent. We'd all been in other bands where there was always one weak link. There was always that one weak link up until that point. And when you've been playing since you were 13, by the time you're 20, you feel that you're a real seasoned veteran. You've toured, you've played gigs and you're not fucking around. And so I took learning to play bass and being… We all took it really seriously. Steven and I would play together. We just lived for it. And Steven and I would play to CAMEO, for Steven to get that groove. And that influenced the back groove on [GUNS N' ROSES' classic debut album] 'Appetite For Destruction'. That's all from playing to CAMEO, SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE. Just kind of playing along to probably some cassette. And then we played ourselves, and we developed grooves. And he really became probably the best small-kit groove drummer there ever was. No rack toms. [Just] a floor tom and a snare. A floor tom and a snare and a kick drum, hi-hat… cowbell. But all you got at that point is groove. Your groove's gotta be deep, or go home. And he had a great groove."

McKagan's new book, "How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions)", came out on May 12 via Da Capo Press. The bassist released a three-song EP, also called "How To Be A Man", in conjunction with the book's publication. The title track featured former GUNS guitarist Izzy Stradlin and ALICE IN CHAINS axeman Jerry Cantrell.

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/duff-mckagan-looks-back-on-guns-n-roses-early-days-video/#VXU1IPxJqJSDHPrM.99

Cool to hear him give Steve some great props.

Because not a whole lot of people truly believed that, that incarnation of the band was Guns N' Roses? No one is clamouring to hear any of the CD tunes live. People go to hear the AFD/Lies/UYI material like it or not.

Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, Josh Freese

The song on his last album with Slash playing the guitar wasn't bad. Can't remember what it was called. That album was decent for what it was. Just straight forward rock. Reminded me of a better version of Sixx AM to be honest.

I'd love a full Izzy/Duff album with a guest appearance by Slash. Hell, if they can get the Axl that did vocals on Bach's album bring him in.

Other artists have done the same thing before. Trent Reznor, Maynard James Keenan, Danny Lohner and Josh Freese did an album together under the name of Tapeworm but in the end Trent said it wasn't up to expectations so it'll never be released.

Sounds to me like he's off contract and doesn't know whether it's going to be renewed or not and doesn't want to speak about it.

Never been a fan of Scott but he sounds well there, Josh Freese is one hell of a drummer ... Can't think of anyone who's out there ATM who's better

Freese is amazing. There's a reason everyone in the biz wants to work with him. Some of the best sounding drums I've ever heard.

Class act my arse, he's blatantly stroking the bastard off to pad the ol' pension fund with a couple more reunion stretches

Duff doesn't need money. He could not work another day in his life and still spend like crazy.

I believe Dave worked with GN'R at one point and thought the whole situation was ridiculous. He talked about it in an interview. Recording stuff and then having them play it down the phone for Axl to hear who wasn't/wouldn't come to the studio. He worked with them briefly before thinking it was too big a circus and bailing.

If you want to see Azoff in action, watch the documentary Artifact made by Jared Leto. Azoff manages his band and it's all about the state of the music industry so he gets a lot of airtime.

The end of Coma is full of them, as is the second half of YCBM. I really like the "children hiding in a closet" part in Breakdown. End of Civil War is great too.

I really like his voice on Angel Down. In those couple of lines he sounds more like Axl Rose than on anything he sang on CD.

That's just a complete mindfuck as far as I'm concerned.

"Peeling the layers of emotions away" is one of the best Axl vocal lines I've ever heard. He sounds insanely good on his few lines on Stuck Inside.

He's a goddamn beast on Stuck Inside. Especially when he's humming the melody aggressively at the end. The scream is badass too. Could very well be the best he's ever sounded.

I always liked:

"So many seem so lonely with no one left to cry to baby". He really kicks it up a notch. That whole end part of Coma is amazing as well.

Really wouldn't have fit. Zakk is a great player but his style just wouldn't suit. Some of the ballads he an Axl could of written together though

Slash has no integrity, whereas, Axl Rose has too much integrity to release music that he doesn't believe in 100%. He has so much integrity, musical integrity, that he won't even allow the band he has hired to be involved with the creative process, nor will he go to the show until he feels he is ready to give the fans the best show possible. OK? Axl Rose is too damned good for this world. The only reason his/THEIR album flopped, is because the media is against him. They tried to bury it. However, the real GNR has taken the world by storm through constant touring and old fashioned word of mouth promotion of the album. But, he will have the last laugh. Because he's gonna rise like the phoenix when the public hears Chinese Democracy for the first time. Then album sales will really spike! And, then, and only then, when the public fully understands what I, and so many other Guns fans already know, that Axl Rose does indeed have a vision, will the next album come out, the second part of the trilogy. It will be the biggest thing to hit the world since the discovery of the dead sea scrolls and it will have more people interpreting it and analyzing it than the Gospel of Judas. Why can't people see this!?

I guess we just aren't as close to the action, Del.

Greatest Hits album was definitely included. I believe the label released it without Axl and co's permission because they were owed another album hence the lack of input from the three musketeers on it.