Robin Finck's Place As Part of GNR

[auad]

You guys must be doing some heavy drugs or have problems with your ears !

God that guy sucked so bad it was painful !!

I agree. Robin is so fuckin bizarre and sounded strange live.

not a fan of him.

[CheapJon]

oh fuck, this thread really made me miss the guy

[Musicman11]

There was some good things about Robin.

There was also some bad things about Robin.

Good things: tone, originality

Bad things: he wasn't a very good guitar player. That, or he drinks too much before going on stage. Or both.

I'd rather have innovative and unique guitar playing than amazing, but ass boring regular playing. That's just me though, I don't know if Finck drinks that much in general, so I can't say anything about that.

On a different note this is also making me miss Finck a great deal. I would love to see what he is doing now though, Trent Reznor needs to get his ass in the studio with Finck so we can hear him play some new material, or at the very least come to his senses and tour some more with NIN. While it'd be amazing to see Finck with GNR, it would suffice just seeing him live period. The more I listen to him, the more he influences me as a musician. He, alongside Buckethead easily make me think abstract is better period.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Musicman11

[moreblack]

Finck does awesome hear, no questions asked.

Kinda reminds me of Zakk or maybe a bit of Kirk there.

[Roy79]

I Finck the fact that we got Ashba now explains part of the increased Finck love. Original as hell, bluesy as fuck, and the song 'Better' sums it up. I'd take Finck over Ashba any day, past present future.

[Guest siliconmessiah]

I'd take Finck over Ashba any day, past present future.

Oh yes. Any day.

I was surprised that Axl decided to go with Ashba. And not in a positive way. I would´ve rather have seen a less generic rock guitarist on that spot.

[RussTCB]

I'd take Finck over Ashba any day, past present future.

Oh yes. Any day.

I was surprised that Axl decided to go with Ashba. And not in a positive way. I would´ve rather have seen a less generic rock guitarist on that spot.

That's my take. I just LOVED Robin in GNR so when he left I thought wow, those are gonna be some big shoes to fill. When they announced Ashba, I didn't know anything about him except that so-so song "Life Is Beautiful". But I figured, well this is Axl's thing so I'm sure this DJ cat has the goods. Turns out, not so much.

[Georgy Zhukov]

In a few years you will all be loving DJ Ashba

[RussTCB]

In a few years you will all be loving DJ Ashba

Nope.

I post here far less than gnrevolution but trust me, I've been pro-Robin the whole time. Through all the hate then and through all the hate that still lingers. From the first time I saw him with GNR, I liked him. Then from the 06 tour through his contributions to Chinese, I LOVED what he did. It really bummed me out the day the "Welcome Back" thing showed up on the NiN site. And as I said, I was willing to give DJ a shot but I've seen and heard zero that impresses me from the guy. In order for me to even like DJ, let alone ever consider "missing" him, he'd have to do the following things; learn to play the This I Love solo anywhere near correct, go ahead and actually learn or write a decent solo to Patience, stop posing with his guitar like he's doing something amazing when he's barely playing some material right and lastly maybe stop trying to look like a Hot Topic/Slash 2011 wannabee on purpose.

[Musicman11]

In a few years you will all be loving DJ Ashba

It depends on how well he does in the studio or who replaces him later on. If he fails to do good in the studio, then we'll be in the same place as we are now, missing the old members as this whole thread is dedicated to. If he does actually do good, then more power to him, but I'll still miss Finck and Buckethead because I like not only their contributions to GNR, but to all projects they have been involved in period. Also if he gets replaced by an even worse and unoriginal guitarist (Surely to god this won't happen though, could you imagine?), then yeah we'll like him compared to the new guy. I will admit originally I was a supporter of Ashba because I did like some of his work with Sixx A.M. and thought he could do some good in GNR possibly. After I saw some videos of him performing with them, I just kinda wondered what the hell happened? Sure he can play some of the material closer to the originals than Finck, and is more consistent with performances. However that's the problem, every time that I have seen a video of him, he plays the same thing, he doesn't even try to mix things up, the same exact solo as the studio version, no improv. He's alright as a showman and at least he is enjoying himself on stage, but he never deviates off the original performances and it annoys me. If he was in classical then hell yeah stay to the source as closely as possible. However he's in a rock band, which is all about freedom of expression and going insane while in the limits of the music. He should be trying different things each time he plays and play what he feels. Then again maybe thats what Axl wants, someone who will do exactly what their told....

[Musicman11]

@russtcb: God if there is one thing that makes me hate Ashba more than anything else is how he kills This I Love, the guitar tone is all wrong for it, and he just doesn't play it with the emotion needed, yeah he may be playing the right notes, but he doesn't even try to bend or play with emotion. It just kills all the build-up the studio version had to the awesome solo. Also the NIN welcome back didn't upset me that much, as I personally like NIN, what pissed me off is for him to leave GNR to go play with him, just to have Trent pull the plug on touring. I hope that his decision to quit touring isn't permanent because I would love to not only see Finck up there, but NIN as well live.

[Guest siliconmessiah]

@russtcb: God if there is one thing that makes me hate Ashba more than anything else is how he kills This I Love, the guitar tone is all wrong for it, and he just doesn't play it with the emotion needed, yeah he may be playing the right notes, but he doesn't even try to bend or play with emotion. It just kills all the build-up the studio version had to the awesome solo. Also the NIN welcome back didn't upset me that much, as I personally like NIN, what pissed me off is for him to leave GNR to go play with him, just to have Trent pull the plug on touring. I hope that his decision to quit touring isn't permanent because I would love to not only see Finck up there, but NIN as well live.

I like Robin´s solo on TIL.

But just like many of the songs on the album, it´s too much of a copy & paste job in my opinion.

The solo just feels crammed in there, and gets loud and comes so suddenly. I would like to compare it to November Rain and Estranged, where the solos seem much more "integrated" to the rest of the song, if you people understand what I´m trying to say.

Edited September 5, 2011 by siliconmessiah

[The Glow Inc.]

Robin had a unique feel and came with some of the best parts on Chinese.

But he was very hit and miss when it came to playing the classic lead parts.

Besides, Axl didn't interact with him very much. He was doing his thing on stage but aside from Fortus, he didn't interact with anybody.

DJ on the other hand does a good job with the classic songs and interracts with both Axl, his teammates and the audience like no other NuGuns guitarist before. That's a good thing, the fact that he's an entertaining performer ( provided you have an open mind and don't expect him to "look like a fag, mimic Slash, and to be a poser" )...

However, I fear for what he might come up with if Axl ever decides to write something with him. If it sounds like Sixx AM then ewww...Beautiful Creatures on the other hand...

[Musicman11]

@russtcb: God if there is one thing that makes me hate Ashba more than anything else is how he kills This I Love, the guitar tone is all wrong for it, and he just doesn't play it with the emotion needed, yeah he may be playing the right notes, but he doesn't even try to bend or play with emotion. It just kills all the build-up the studio version had to the awesome solo. Also the NIN welcome back didn't upset me that much, as I personally like NIN, what pissed me off is for him to leave GNR to go play with him, just to have Trent pull the plug on touring. I hope that his decision to quit touring isn't permanent because I would love to not only see Finck up there, but NIN as well live.

I like Robin´s solo on TIL.

But just like many of the songs on the album, it´s too much of a copy & paste job in my opinion.

The solo just feels crammed in there, and gets loud and comes so suddenly. I would like to compare it to November Rain and Estranged, where the solos seem much more "integrated" to the rest of the song, if you people understand what I´m trying to say.

I do understand what you mean, I feel a lot of Chinese Democracy is just bundled together, all the songs played up until 2007 with Finck and Bumblefoot/Buckethead sounded much better instrumentally live then on the album. That's in part due to the fact, well they played what felt right live instead of what was exactly written. That's why I think that it is criminal that Finck never got to perform the song live, because that along with Better were his biggest parts on the album. It was his masterpiece solo that he could have made amazing live, but alas we'll never know

[Voodoochild]

I can't understand why poeple are saying DJ plays exact note by note and is a "better guitar player". He often misses notes on solos, even on Slash ones. He couldn't even play the SCOM solo on his own (and yes, it was probably handed to Ron after the fans backlash when we heard that piece of rehearsal before the tour in 2009 in a video with that sound guy).

When Ashba plays Robin's lead is way more outrageos, as he just simplify everything, just like he did with his TIL solo, when he just couldn't play the very first note (a fairly standard bend, nothing that hard to play) and went offkey all the time. Hell, even after he simplified this solo, he still goes off key on that high note before the drums kick in.

Anyways, Robin's departure was a huge loss to me. I lost a lot of interest in the band after that, which didn't happen when Bucket left. Robin had the most unusual approach to guitar I've seen without the need to use extra effects or extreme technique and I love his guitar sound.

Thanks God he's working on a solo effort now. Hopefully we'll see this soon enough.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Voodoochild

[The Glow Inc.]

Btw, most recent pictures of him :

He...looks a bit different.

Edited September 5, 2011 by The Glow Inc.

[Musicman11]

I can't understand why poeple are saying DJ plays exact note by note and is a "better guitar player". He often misses notes on solos, even on Slash ones. He couldn't even play the SCOM solo on his own (and yes, it was probably handed to Ron after the fans backlash when we heard that piece of rehearsal before the tour in 2009 in a video with that sound guy).

Robin's lead is way more outrageos, as he just simplify everything, just like he did with his TIL solo, when he just couldn't play the very first note (a fairly standard bend, nothing that hard to play) and went offkey all the time. Hell, even after he simplified this solo, he still goes off key on that high note before the drums kick in.

Anyways, Robin's departure was a huge loss to me. I lost a lot of interest in the band after that, which didn't happen when Bucket left. Robin had the most unusual approach to guitar I've seen without the need to use extra effects or extreme technique and I love his guitar sound.

Thanks God he's working on a solo effort now. Hopefully we'll see this soon enough.

He's working on a solo effort?!?, is there a link to this or something?, I love Finck. DJ doesn't do exact note by note perfection, we might actually like him a little more if he did. But I never meant to imply that he does. I'm just saying his solos sound too close to the studio ones for their own good, nothing special and because of this when he misses a note its far harder to correct the mistake with another note. Also are you talking about Ashba in the second sentence, I'm a little confused by your wording, sorry. (pretty sure you are, but just making sure.) Hell here's some proof as far as the two being compared:

Oh and if you wish to see how badly Ashba ruins the TIL solo, here you go

Edited September 5, 2011 by Musicman11

[Kosonen]

basically only "new" member I had any interest in. loving hes sloppy playing style.

[Voodoochild]

He's working on a solo effort?!?, is there a link to this or something?

Yeah: http://www.fincktheworld.com/post/9375292840/its-a-blurry-blur-but-its-robin-from-last (read the last sentence).

I love Finck. DJ doesn't do exact note by note perfection, we might actually like him a little more if he did. But I never meant to imply that he does. I'm just saying his solos sound too close to the studio ones for their own good, nothing special and because of this when he misses a note its far harder to correct the mistake with another note.

Indeed. Even his Patience solo is a copy-paste of Slash's live solo. I guess he learned the solos by listening to Live Era.

Also are you talking about Ashba in the second sentence, I'm a little confused by your wording, sorry. (pretty sure you are, but just making sure.)

Sorry. I was indeed talking about Ashba. I meant that he tends to dismiss more of Robin's work than Slash's. Ashba takes shortcuts in his playing and does a pretty lazy guitar work on rhythm, just ignoring a lot of fills that were supposed to be played.

Hell here's some proof as far as the two being compared:

Oh and if you wish to see how badly Ashba ruins the TIL solo, here you go

Damn, that's hard to listen to.

[RussTCB]

The solo on the album is 100x better than DJ ever got at it. The very beginning of the solo is just terrible and takes all the bang out of it. And the huge bends that Robin does right before the drums come in are amazing. They're not supposed to be some second rate, noodled step down that leads to no where.

[Musicman11]

To the people above me since I don't want to create an infinite cycle of boxes for a reply

@Voodoo Child: Thanks for the link, glad to see something talking about new material from Finck. Also thanks for clearing up the second part, I agree that he takes a lot of shortcuts to get to playing the material, he really needs to work and practice some more on some of the material so that it sounds decent for the new tour.

@Karri: The SCOM solo always differed when it came to Finck, its a matter of personal opinion if you like his multiple versions of the solo, which I personally do. A large point of the love from Finck from this topic is the fact that he is always different from one performance to the next. For better or for worse he always did it his way. While I will say that yeah it was early on in the tour and he did pick Finck's from much later for the most part, I've listened to later solos and work by him, and really it doesn't improve that much, its like saying yeah 1.00000001 is better than 1. He just really doesn't do that well at any point throughout the tour, yes he has the showmanship and attitude, but he doesn't have the awesome playing or originality to back it up in my opinion.

As for This I Love the emotion just isn't there, I don't get that same chilling feeling I get from Finck's version, to me it seems Ashba is just being lazy about the whole thing, it does flow a bit better than Finck's does, but the hardly makes up for the lack of emotion or proper tone in a solo that's dependent on those 2 things especially.

[spunko12345]

Former Gunners section please mods. Thanks.

Edited September 5, 2011 by spunko12345

[Musicman11]

Robin had a unique feel and came with some of the best parts on Chinese.

But he was very hit and miss when it came to playing the classic lead parts.

Besides, Axl didn't interact with him very much. He was doing his thing on stage but aside from Fortus, he didn't interact with anybody.

DJ on the other hand does a good job with the classic songs and interracts with both Axl, his teammates and the audience like no other NuGuns guitarist before. That's a good thing, the fact that he's an entertaining performer ( provided you have an open mind and don't expect him to "look like a fag, mimic Slash, and to be a poser" )...

However, I fear for what he might come up with if Axl ever decides to write something with him. If it sounds like Sixx AM then ewww...Beautiful Creatures on the other hand...

I will never understand how he landed the job in the first place of working beside Nikki Sixx, let alone end up in GNR. To be honest I do think he does a decent job on the material for Sixx AM, it isn't THAT bad, but it could still be a lot better. Beautiful Creatures was way better, it makes me happy that someone else referenced his old band, but even then he wasn't that great. I do have a lot of fear that he could ruin a lot of potentially great songs leftover from the CD sessions. I really hope Axl keeps Finck's and Bucket's contributions so we can hear them how they were supposed to be heard. As for completely new material, its up in the air, prove something to us Ashba if you can, that what I have to say to that.

[Voodoochild]

So I don't get it. This guy picked some solos from the beginning of his first tour, from which he has improved quite a bit?

And then he picked the best possible solos from Finck, including his best SCOM solo, which usually sounds off.

An uneven propaganda comparison imo.

Aside from SCOM, he picked up some similar situations. Better is from Hammerstein 1st night in 2006, the first time they played Better. Street of Dreams is from Inland Invasion with Robin and the Leeds festival with Ashba (both pretty much the start of the 2nd half of the tour). He also used bootlegs with similar quality, IMHO.

Ruins? He improves the solo here, at least it flows a lot better than on the album.

Granted, I much prefer Robin's tone there though.

Fuck, Ashba should just borrow Finck's guitars! Or ask him what his settings and gear are.

He would need also Finck's playing style. But as far as flow and improvement, I disagree - the album version is much better in my opinion. And it flows just right, its just Robin's style - he plays some notes in a slightly mid-tempo between the normal tempo, which brings some unexpected dynamic. A lot more interesting than Ashba boring rendition.

The solo on the album is 100x better than DJ ever got at it. The very beginning of the solo is just terrible and takes all the bang out of it. And the huge bends that Robin does right before the drums come in are amazing. They're not supposed to be some second rate, noodled step down that leads to no where.

This. Also, same for Street of Dreams.

Former Gunners section please mods. Thanks.

As far as I know, Robin could still be on the next album if it ever surfaces.

[Musicman11]

@Voodoo: As far as we know Finck is just taking a break from touring and letting Ashba fill in for the time being lets just cross our fingers and hope that the 1 in 100,000,000,000,000 actually does work out. But definitely he will be a part of the next album in some capacity given the fact he was there for 10 years, only missing out on any 99-00 recording.