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New Tommy Interview 10/24

jthunders13

By jthunders13
in 2012

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jthunders13 Senior

jthunders13

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http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2012/oct/24/appetite-residency/

Will you prepare for a 12-show residency any differently than you prepare for a tour? Probably a little bit, because I think we’re going to have to alternate sets and do different things. Whereas when we tour we kind of tweak the set as we go and then kind of get in a mode of it being a certain way, with a few audible changes as we go along. I think with the Vegas sets, we’re going to try and make some different things happen to kind of keep each show a little bit different.

Like, keep a basic set and mix in a few songs? Or will you have multiple setlists? I think we’re really going to have to think about that. And as you just say that … (pauses) … an idea came into my mind … to really, drastically change the set. I can’t share it with you, but I think would be really good. I think there’s a couple different ways we could go about all this, and I think we should.

Is there you’ll be able to do, production-wise, to make these shows special since you won’t have to tear it all down every night? I’ve got a couple of ideas, and I think everyone is going to have to use their noggin to try to figure it out. I know Axl [Rose] is going to try and make every show different from one to the next. I think that would be the way he thinks.

The Details

GUNS N’ ROSES October 31, November 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23 & 24; Wednesdays 9 p.m., Fridays-Sundays, 10 p.m.; $41-$111. The Joint, 693-5000.

Sounds like there’s still a lot up in the air. Do you think it will mostly happen spontaneously? Ya know, I don’t know. I think that we’re probably going to have to talk about how different we want to make the shows, then once we do that and we all get on the same page it’ll be easy to say, “Hey, how ’bout tonight we do it this way?” That way, people aren’t gonna go, “Wow, I saw them last week, and I saw that set.” It would be good to have them see a different set each time. To make people go, “Wow, that was totally different.” It might be totally acoustic for half the set tonight. Or maybe we’ll do half the set on f*cking kazoos! (laughs)

The residency is called Appetite for Democracy. Does that mean it will mostly draw from Appetite for Destruction and Chinese Democracy? I just think somebody came up with a cute term (laughs). I don’t really know where that came from, but it is definitely going to be more than just Appetite and Chinese Democracy. It’s going to be a lot of things—as much as we can throw out there.

You’ve been in Guns N’ Roses almost 15 years, right? Yeah, ’98! F*ckin A!

I know you played on Chinese Democracy, but were you involved in the writing process or was the album already written by the time you joined the band? I came in sort of … in the middle of the record, but there was a lot to write and a lot to put together still. So I was pretty much involved in helping put all that stuff that you hear on Chinese Democracy together in one aspect or another.

When you took over GNR bass duties, did you try to play like Duff McKagan? Or did you try to make it your own? I think, other than him being more riff oriented than I am, we’re not all that different players. We both kind of came from a punk-rock background, and it wasn’t all that much of a stretch. I did, however, tweak my sound a little bit so that it would fit sonically with what was going on. I didn’t really try to sound like Duff necessarily, but to make it sound as powerful as I could while still fitting in to what’s going on.

Did you switch amps or basses? I tried all sorts of stuff, but eventually I went back to what I know. And that’s Ampegs and P and J basses.

I read that you and Paul Westerberg are working on new Replacements material. Yeah, we recorded some songs live in the studio a couple weekends ago to benefit Slim Dunlap, the guitar player that took my brother’s place. He had a massive series of strokes this last spring, and he’s pretty laid up, so we’re trying to raise some money for his recovery. We did, like, four songs. [Ex-Replacements drummer] Chris Mars did a song to throw on there, and we’re going to release a Replacements EP at some point. The proceeds will all go to Slim.

That will surely feed Replacements reunion tour rumor mill … You never know. We certainly had a f*cking ball doing it, and it was fun to get in the f*cking mud and just kind of sling around until it kind of warps into something and you’re just like, “Wow, we can actually still f*cking do that.” I think some time, maybe end of December or early January, we might try to just record some songs together, not for any purpose for The Replacements necessarily but just do some recording just to have that vibe, whether it’s for his record, my record, whatever. That’s just something we talked about. It could fall apart at any point. We both had enough fun with it that it seemed like it would be a good thing to try and do.

During the ’80s, The Replacements exemplified anti-mainstream music. Now, you play in Guns N’ Roses, one of the most popular bands from that period. Was that a strange transition, mentally? Ya know, they’re totally different things, but they’re both totally the same in a lot of ways, in that its rock ’n’ roll. It’s what I’ve always done. Axl is about as anti-corporate-rock as anyone I know, Paul [Westerberg] included. It just so happens that their model of anti-corporate-rock got through and people liked it. People bought it. I can’t speak for the whole band, but I can speak for me getting down with Axl, and he comes from the same place as all of us.

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pepsicoca Senior

pepsicoca

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<p><p>

During the '80s, The Replacements exemplified anti-mainstream music. Now, you play in Guns N' Roses, one of the most popular bands from that period. Was that a strange transition, mentally?</strong> Ya know, they're totally different things, but they're both totally the same in a lot of ways, in that its rock 'n' roll. It's what I've always done. Axl is about as anti-corporate-rock as anyone I know, Paul [Westerberg] included. It just so happens that their model of anti-corporate-rock got through and people liked it. People bought it. I can't speak for the whole band, but I can speak for me getting down with Axl, and he comes from the same place as all of us.</span></span></span><span style='font-size: 14px;'><span style="background-color: initial">

:lol: :lol: It's good to start the day with a big laugh... Everybody is so anti-corporate nowadays... Even those who play in casinos. Edited by pepsicoca
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Bumble's Bridge Pickup GOD

Bumble's Bridge Pickup

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Funny how the shows are a week away and he's "thinking" about drastically changing the set.

lol this.

At least Tommy admits the setlists are identical night to night on tour, unlike Ashba who claims the opposite

The idea that at Vegas, half the set could be acoustic, sounds nice, but come on, it's not going to happen.

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Bumble's Bridge Pickup GOD

Bumble's Bridge Pickup

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At least Tommy admits the setlists are identical night to night on tour, unlike Ashba who claims the opposite

You made be a very selective reader. Tommy didn't say the sets are identical night to night. He said they tweak it as they go, get in a mode of it being a certain way, but with a few audible changes as they play.

What Ashba has claimed is perfectly consistent with what Tommy said. Not the opposite by any stretch of the imagination. Ashba has claimed the band doesn't have a set list, which is true. They have a master list of songs they know, they tweak what they play as a tour goes along, figuring out a basic skeleton they're comfortable with, but the order is rarely the same and some songs switch in and out because they're audibly calling out songs on stage as opposed to taking the stage with a *set* list of songs.

They do not take the stage knowing exactly what they're going to play and when. They take the stage with a general idea of the majority of the songs they will play, based on what they've been playing lately. The shows are usually similar, but rarely identical.

There are plenty of valid reasons to criticize the band, so no need to lie and make up fake reasons.

Getting into a "mode" is the same as having, if not perfectly identical, highly similar sets every night isn't it?

The only tweaks and changes are mostly seen in the order of songs played. Sometimes they don't play a couple of songs like Maddy and Better or maybe Whole Lotta Rosie. And rarely they even introduce new songs (CW, Estranged), and maybe switch everyone's solos once a tour. But real rotation or variation is pretty rare. The "master list" might as well not exist because a lot of songs on it are never played. Yes Perfect Crime among with OMG and some new Axl song are in there but they do not matter because the band never chooses to play them.

The basic structure of the gigs has been quite similar since 2009: e.g. it always starts with CD, WTTJ, Easy, Brownstone... Nightrain and Patience are near the end, Paradise City is the closer.

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Guest RonMexico82

Guest RonMexico82

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Interesting thoughts from Tommy. Half acoustic, a bit like when back in the day they had that sofa onstage and covered Dead Flowers would be great. Something similar anyway.

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Cosmo FRONTMAN

Cosmo

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I bet there will br very minor change between setlists. Maybe some jams, adding or rotating between songs we alrradt heard a thousand times like madagascar an patience, you're crazy and used to love her, maybe a litrle shackler's in and out but I'm certain we'll have absolutely no new songs, no locomotive, no coma, nothing too out of the ordinary. I also expect a very mediocre performance from Axl, slightly getting better from show to show but nothing like we want. Ashba might try to play some of his instrumentals from that new soundtrack of his as advertising and that's about it.

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Flayer GOD

Flayer

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Tommy/The 'Mats despised the GnR's of the '80's. Tommy kisses Axl's ass/works for Axl for the cash and to say "I'm in Guns n Roses"....which he isn't.

Or maybe he got over it, seeing as he's had a couple decades to change his mind and got to know Axl personally.

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Apollo LEGEND

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Am I the only one who doesn't care about acoustic as much as others?

I think the recent charity show killed the acoustic desire for me.

I would love to see a few real acoustic versions of a few songs. But have no interest in seeing the songs played exactly the same as electric.

Remember the famous acoustic set when the old bad was sitting down in the small bar and they did one in a million and patience?

That kind of acoustic set would be cool.

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Chinaski Senior

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If Tommy still gets a number on this tour I'd like him to bring out Meant To Be from his last record. That's a really good song. Or something else off of Village Gorilla Head aside from Motivation. Could fit in pretty nicely if they concede to a more mellow mid-section. I think an acoustic section could work as at least then it would be a conscious change of pace, rather than just that moment in the middle of a GNR show when the stop-start energy takes over and they lose the crowd a little (in my experience of a few shows anyway.)

I only really have enthusiasm for an acoustic set if there is any reason for it, just playing the same songs the same way but everybody picking up a different sounding guitar is a little pointless really.

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