Slash Speaks! Rolling Stone Interview 08/14/2018

[RussTCB]

6 hours ago, Fashionista said:

...Slash played on an industrial MJ song in '96....

Huh? 

[Towelie]

4 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Huh? 

I assume he's talking about Morphine, which is actually from 97. Although for the life of me, I cannot detect what Slash is supposed to be playing on that song, as there really is no discernable lead or rhythm guitar part.

Edited August 18, 2018 by Towelie

[RussTCB]

3 hours ago, Towelie said:

I assume he's talking about Morphine, which is actually from 97. Although for the life of me, I cannot detect what Slash is supposed to be playing on that song, as there really is no discernable lead or rhythm guitar part.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider that an industrial track at all. That's before you even worry about whether or not Slash is on it lol

[Towelie]

Just now, RussTCB said:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider that an industrial track at all. That's before you even worry about whether or not Slash is on it lol

It does sound a bit NIN-ish to me.

Listen to this beat and tell me you couldn't imagine MJ riffing and ad-libbing over the top in the mid-90s:

 

[Gunsdrummer63]

19 hours ago, Wagszilla said:

Axl supposedly wanted to do AFD 2.0 but Slash got in the way for whatever reason.

This was said in the Kurt Loder interview in 1999. Of course, what is said publicly and what is done privately are two different things.

Who knows.

I don't give a shit, personally. 

Axl meant it like slash is the reason why he can't have another AFD. Not that he got in the way of it it's just he needs him to be the guitarist 

[newusedillusion]

4 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider that an industrial track at all. That's before you even worry about whether or not Slash is on it lol

Maybe they cut him out or messed around with it. Either way, as far as industrial goes, there is a big difference between playing on a legend's song and being in an industrial band.

From what I have read, Slash's issues were not necessarily with musical direction, though we all know what he prefers, so much as the way Axl was going about doing it. It seems to me as if Axl himself might not have had a clear idea and once Slash quit, was lost at sea which lead to Duff quitting since nothing was happening other than racking up studio fees.

[Blackstar]

On 8/18/2018 at 10:04 AM, Fashionista said:

Blackstar, I consider you an invaluable resource and I am curious on what your considered opinion overall is on the following points:
1) What sort of sound do you feel Axl wanted in that '94, 95, 96 window before Slash left?
2) Do you think anything of value was recorded by the band in that timeframe (I mean full fledged songs which simply lack vocals/melodies)?
3) What do you feel was the ultimate cause of the split?
4) What are your opinions on Gilby and Paul Huge, both in terms of their roles in GN'R and what they (could've) brought to the table musically?
 

I think most answers are in the posts I linked to, but I’ll try to put it all together.

1) & 4):

I think no one knows exactly what kind of sound Axl was heading for, maybe not even Axl himself knew clearly. Based only on interviews and quotes (it’s the only thing we have, since we weren’t there) and filtering them, he most likely wanted to do, other than piano epics, something more 90s rock by incorporating some new elements from contemporary things he liked (but not a radical change to the GnR sound, because he was relying heavily on Slash). And he saw the second guitar spot as the key factor for that “update”. It seems that his idea after Izzy left was to pair Slash with a guitarist with a strong musical personality and not stylistically similar, in order to create a new “dynamic”.

Axl had excluded Gilby for that role from the beginning; even right after they had hired him and before they started playing with him, Axl had made it clear in public (in a radio interview from Nov. 1991) that he saw Gilby only as a touring member and there were no plans for him after the tour * – it’s safe to guess that he had said the same in private. Who knows, maybe Axl saw Gilby just as a poor man’s Izzy and didn’t see any real potential in him – it was nothing personal, just that. The reason Gilby stayed in the band as long as he did after the tour and they even tried to write the new album with him (in the failed March-April ’94 writing sessions) was because Slash liked him. So poor Gilby was getting messages from Axl that he was out of the band and from Slash that he was still in the band *. But even Slash, although he clearly liked Gilby, “kind of went along”, as he himself said, with Axl’s opinion about firing him at one time when he was pissed at Gilby because he had missed a rehearsal * (this may be a hint to what Slash is like in regards to certain things – he wants to get work done). Then he tried to bring Gilby back, but Axl was adamantly against it.

Axl’s original dream scenario was Dave Navarro and a Jane’s Addiction “vibe” to the GnR sound *. But after that couldn’t materialize and Navarro didn’t even show up for an audition, he was looking vaguely for that “X factor”.

And then he came up with the Paul Huge/Tobias “solution”, bringing him into the studio to “help”. It’s not clear if Axl intended him as a full member/for the second guitar spot, since, from the interviews of the time and from the Zakk Wylde brief tryout, it seems that the second guitar spot remained open during all that time; and Tobias himself never showed signs that he cared about or liked the rockstar exposure. Paul though, judging from his known back record till then (the two old GnR songs he had helped in writing and his band Mank Rage) didn’t have anything special about him that could make him an “X factor” for the evolution of the GnR sound. Unless Axl had idealized him (because he had said he was introduced, as a kid, to blues rock guitar by him) and he saw him as “bigger” than he really was, we have to wonder why he wanted him there. I think Paul probably combined some things that were important to Axl at that moment: based on their backstory, he was someone who could “translate” Axl’s ideas into guitar, as Axl’s guitar skills were limited, in the way Axl had worked with Izzy and West Arkeen before; he was sort of an Izzy substitute in other ways too (Indiana, childhood friend, the three of them had a garage band back there); and, of course, he was someone whom Axl could trust and who could be his “eyes and ears” in the studio, and would report back to him.

The rest of the story is known: Slash hated Paul from the very beginning. The rehearsals with him in ’94 lasted two weeks until Slash told Axl he couldn’t have him anymore *. Duff and Matt didn’t like him either. It seems that the guy had an attitude and felt entitled, but the fact alone that he was Axl’s friend and trusted person would be enough at that point, for Slash at least. During the same time Slash recorded Snakepit, which caused more tension when Axl found out about some of the songs Slash had used for it. And after that there was the SFTD incident, which hurt Slash's pride and he saw it, not unrightfully, as being disrespectful to him.

Moreover, Slash didn’t like to share leads and solos and he didn’t like to have a “guitar competitor” in the band in general (and that included even Izzy at a time). He wanted someone to complement his playing and, to him, Gilby was great for that. Axl, on the other hand, wanted that competition as the “key factor” (see Navarro) and that was another source of tension. The Zakk Wylde story was just a “let’s see if it works” and, in my opinion, an attempt on Axl’s part to reach out to Slash with someone that was more compatible to his style, plus someone Slash was fond of as a person *. Duff seems to have liked him. But it couldn’t work for Slash for the aforementioned reason. And it didn’t work for Axl either, as he admitted later *. So it didn’t matter much. It’s an indication, though, that Axl didn’t look for something radical, he just wanted something that would revitalize the band’s sound in a way.

I don’t think that either Gilby or Paul Tobias could have brought anything to the band as it was at that point, because Axl didn’t like Gilby and Slash didn’t like Paul, so it was a dead end. Now in a “what if” scenario where everybody loved each other: I’d say that Gilby’s contributions to the first Snakepit and his first solo album are an indication of the potential; and maybe of the limits, as well (depends how one sees it). As for Paul, his only known work outside GnR at that time was that band Mank Rage and I don’t see anything special there that helps figure out what he could have brought; and it’s hard to say based only on his contributions on CD (I’m not even convinced that he contributed to that extent).

* I don’t want to fill the post with quotes (it ended up being very long as is), but I can post them if necessary.

2):

Difficult to say. Slash had referred to “songs” without vocals, not fragments. And Matt had talked about 7 completed songs in ’96. So I think it’s likely that there are some full songs. And I’d be very curious to hear them some day.

3):

In a nutshell, mainly miscommunication/third party involvement and power games (I don’t think Axl was the sole player in those).

I think things had become toxic during the Illusions and, basically, the band had already broken up then. The relatively quick and immense success, as well as mental/emotional problems and addictions, didn’t help (ironically, Izzy’s and then Duff’s newfound soberness didn’t help the band either, although of course it was life-saving for themselves and Duff seems, by character, to have been more patient, tolerant and able to cope with the madness, and that’s why he lasted as long as he did in the band).

All the above became worse after the tour. Axl and Slash were on different trips each. Slash didn’t want another UYI process, he wouldn’t compromise like the other time. Axl wanted something else and had a lot of personal problems. An additional problem was that Axl wasn’t inspired to write like he was for the Illusions (by his own account saying he had a writer’s block and by accounts of others) so he waited for the band to come up with something that would trigger him to write and give directions - but that was just another symptom.

------

Like I said in the beginning, I wasn’t there, of course. So all this is just my opinion after putting bits and pieces together, mostly based on the –many times contradictory- words of the people involved in one way or the other, and filtering them, i.e. without taking everything said by them at face value, taking into account each person’s consistency.

Edited August 19, 2018 by Blackstar

[Fashionista]

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I think most answers are in the posts I linked to, but I’ll try to put it all together.

1) & 4):

I think no one knows exactly what kind of sound Axl was heading for, maybe not even Axl himself knew clearly. Based only on interviews and quotes (it’s the only thing we have, since we weren’t there) and filtering them, he most likely wanted to do, other than piano epics, something more 90s rock by incorporating some new elements from contemporary things he liked (but not a radical change to the GnR sound, because he was relying heavily on Slash). And he saw the second guitar spot as the key factor for that “update”. It seems that his idea after Izzy left was to pair Slash with a guitarist with a strong musical personality and not stylistically similar, in order to create a new “dynamic”.

Axl had excluded Gilby for that role from the beginning; even right after they had hired him and before they started playing with him, Axl had made it clear in public (in a radio interview from Nov. 1991) that he saw Gilby only as a touring member and there were no plans for him after the tour * – it’s safe to guess that he had said the same in private. Who knows, maybe Axl saw Gilby just as a poor man’s Izzy and didn’t see any real potential in him – it was nothing personal, just that. The reason Gilby stayed in the band as long as he did after the tour and they even tried to write the new album with him (in the failed March-April ’94 writing sessions) was because Slash liked him. So poor Gilby was getting messages from Axl that he was out of the band and from Slash that he was still in the band *. But even Slash, although he clearly liked Gilby, “kind of got along”, as he himself said, with Axl’s opinion about firing him at one time when he was pissed at Gilby because he had missed a rehearsal * (this may be a hint to what Slash is like in regards to certain things – he wants to get work done). Then he tried to bring Gilby back, but Axl was adamantly against it.

Axl’s original dream scenario was Dave Navarro and a Jane’s Addiction “vibe” to the GnR sound *. But after that couldn’t materialize and Navarro didn’t even show up for an audition, he was looking vaguely for that “X factor”.

And then he came up with the Paul Huge/Tobias “solution”, bringing him into the studio to “help”. It’s not clear if Axl intended him as a full member/for the second guitar spot, since, from the interviews of the time and from the Zakk Wylde brief tryout, it seems that the second guitar spot remained open during all that time; and Tobias himself never showed signs that he cared about or liked the rockstar exposure. Paul though, judging from his known back record till then (the two old GnR songs he had helped in writing and his band Mank Rage) didn’t have anything special about him that could make him an “X factor” for the evolution of the GnR sound. Unless Axl had idealized him (because he had said he was introduced, as a kid, to blues rock guitar by him) and he saw him as “bigger” than he really was, we have to wonder why he wanted him there. I think Paul probably combined some things that were important to Axl at that moment: based on their backstory, he was someone who could “translate” Axl’s ideas into guitar, as Axl’s guitar skills were limited, in the way Axl had worked with Izzy and West Arkeen before; he was sort of an Izzy substitute in other ways too (Indiana, childhood friend, the three of them had a garage band back there); and, of course, he was someone whom Axl could trust and who could be his “eyes and ears” in the studio, and would report back to him.

The rest of the story is known: Slash hated Paul from the very beginning. The rehearsals with him in ’94 lasted two weeks until Slash told Axl he couldn’t have him anymore *. Duff and Matt didn’t like him either. It seems that the guy had an attitude and felt entitled, but the fact alone that he was Axl’s friend and trusted person would be enough at that point, for Slash at least. During the same time Slash recorded Snakepit, which caused more tension when Axl found out about some of the songs Slash had used for it. And after that there was the SFTD incident, which hurt Slash's pride and he saw it, not unrightfully, as being disrespectful to him.

Moreover, Slash didn’t like to share leads and solos and he didn’t like to have a “guitar competitor” in the band in general (and that included even Izzy at a time). He wanted someone to complement his playing and, to him, Gilby was great for that. Axl, on the other hand, wanted that competition as the “key factor” (see Navarro) and that was another source of tension. The Zakk Wylde story was just a “let’s see if it works” and, in my opinion, an attempt on Axl’s part to reach out to Slash with someone that was more compatible to his style, plus someone Slash was fond of as a person *. Duff seems to have liked him. But it couldn’t work for Slash for the aforementioned reason. And it didn’t work for Axl either, as he admitted later *. So it didn’t matter much. It’s an indication, though, that Axl didn’t look for something radical, he just wanted something that would revitalize the band’s sound in a way.

I don’t think that either Gilby or Paul Tobias could have brought anything to the band as it was at that point, because Axl didn’t like Gilby and Slash didn’t like Paul, so it was a dead end. Now in a “what if” scenario where everybody loved each other: I’d say that Gilby’s contributions to the first Snakepit and his first solo album are an indication of the potential; and maybe of the limits, as well (depends how one sees it). As for Paul, his only known work outside GnR at that time was that band Mank Rage and I don’t see anything special there that helps figure out what he could have brought; and it’s hard to say based only on his contributions on CD (I’m not even convinced that he contributed to that extent).

* I don’t want to fill the post with quotes (it ended up being very long as is), but I can post them if necessary.

2):

Difficult to say. Slash had referred to “songs” without vocals, not fragments. And Matt had talked about 7 completed songs in ’96. So I think it’s likely that there are some full songs. And I’d be very curious to hear them some day.

3):

In a nutshell, mainly miscommunication/third party involvement and power games (I don’t think Axl was the sole player in those).

I think things had become toxic during the Illusions and, basically, the band had already broken up then. The relatively quick and immense success, as well as mental/emotional problems and addictions, didn’t help (ironically, Izzy’s and then Duff’s newfound soberness didn’t help the band either, although of course it was life-saving for themselves and Duff seems, by character, to have been more patient, tolerant and able to cope with the madness, and that’s why he lasted as long as he did in the band).

All the above became worse after the tour. Axl and Slash were on different trips each. Slash didn’t want another UYI process, he wouldn’t compromise like the other time. Axl wanted something else and had a lot of personal problems. An additional problem was that Axl wasn’t inspired to write like he was for the Illusions (by his own account saying he had a writer’s block and by accounts of others) so he waited for the band to come up with something to trigger him - but that was just another symptom.

------

Like I said in the beginning, I wasn’t there, of course. So all this is just my opinion after putting bits and pieces together, mostly based on the –many times contradictory- words of the people involved in one way or the other, and filtering them, i.e. without taking everything said by them at face value, taking into account each person’s consistency.

One of the biggest "what if's" for me is if Dave Navarro had shown up and been taken into the band. Navarro had a very "90s" style and was capable enough to fulfill the Izzy role (in that he could be both a lead and rhythm player, playing off Slash the way Izzy did on AFD). He would also perhaps have given GNR a breath of fresh air in a sense, a new guy who was no one's "man" (in the sense that Gilby's was Slash's man and Paul was Axl's), and a guy who came from a bit different of a musical background. The strength of GN'R was their musical diversity, like Steven bringing in a funk vibe with his drumming and his being inspired by Cameo. Dave came from a similar school and perhaps that would've invigorated them. Also, he had cred in the alternative scene, which is something which by 92 GN'R needed.

I think something very overlooked is that Slash, by the mid 90s, didn't want to share the spotlight with another guy (big name or not) on guitar. Izzy is almost totally mixed out of the Illusion records with Slash playing over him and he was mixed very low live for all but a few shows and Gilby is practically inaudible on TSI and live was also mixed low.

Slash in this period seems to have wanted to dominate the guitar sound of the band and wanted a compliant rhythm guitarist who would add basic rhythm parts and little else. The dynamic tension and trading of lead parts ala the Stones which made AFD unique was something Slash clearly did not want and was also something Axl sought to replicate.

Even post Slash, Axl spoke about that tension and tried to replicate it by having in a sense three lead guitarists all swapping parts and solos, aka AFD. I have to think that Slash would have probably objected to any guitarist who wasn't willing to be Slash's lapdog and play what he was told and not hog any of the limelight

As far as Gilby, his solo album is proof to me that he had the chops. IMO his first solo record is on par with any of Izzy's, if not in lyrical content than at least on guitar. Paul, while not a great guitarist, did have a "90s" touch IMO. His Leads on SFTD have a very choppy mid 90s feel. Not just the solo bits I mean his Lea parts in the left channel of that song. He did not have the charisma (or it seems the desire) to be in big band, but he could've easily worked either as a studio guitarist or as a West Arkeen type figure. 

As for the musical direction I do agree that I don't think Axl had a clear idea about what he wanted except for "we have to go beyond sludge rock." He was talking about this as early as 1990, and if you go back and read those interviews, he was clearly tiring of traditional hard rock as early as 1990. Remember, he was listening to and was excited by a whole bunch of the underground stuff like NiN, Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden and such. He called Faith No More the future of rock music in 1989. The UYIs were one step, and for the next record he wanted GNR to take another. I don't think it was or had to be "industrial" or "grunge" but I do agree he wanted to distill 90s rock through GNR in some way. Duff seems to have been open to the 90s. His solo record features a guest by a rapper and is close to an alternative type of sound. 

If you listen to Making of Estanged, Slash is playing an early version of Back and Forth Again and Axl is whistling and humming a melody over it. And that song is pretty country rock, even in that early version. So I don't think Axl was totally against doing traditional stuff. It just had to be good. I think what started the Snakepit war wasn't so much Slash doing a solo album as him taking songs Axl WAS interested in like Back and Forth Again along with the ones Axl rejected.

I get the feeling Axl wanted to develop Back and Forth Again and to quote Axl Slash wasn't interested in "working that hard", which probably means Slash was against spending dozens of takes perfecting it to meet "Axl's vision." At this point, to Slash, that meant taking a raw rock song and turning it into an overproduced ballad. After doing Estranged and all the music videos he was not willing to "work that hard", to make music he felt was overcooked or that would be this, in his view, pretentious thing. So he took the ball and went home and thus the war began.

Slash as we have seen isn't a guy who likes to go out of his comfort zone often. His solo records are pretty muc all the same really. Snakepit was Slash's vision for GNR's next record and it would not have lit the world on fire in 1995 and might have really injured Guns' standing as a mainstream band. If Axl is Freddie Mercury or Mick Jagger, always wanting to try something new, Slash is ACDC or Keith Richards, do the same shit, keep it simple.

It's a shame really. These guys had the world by the balls. They were among the most talented of their generation. The story of GN'R is a sad tale of "what could've been?" And what makes it sadder is that, unlike most of rock's what could've been stories, all these guys are alive. It's not like Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison where death stopped them. They stopped themselves.

Thats not to say they don't have a place in the history books. They earned their place. But if they had continued putting out records, even if they went through a slump of mediocre records in the mid 90s, they could've truly joined the Stones and Led Zeppelin as one of "the greats" from an artistic and cultural standpoint, and not just from a "we can fill a stadium" standpoint. 

It it really is a bummer.

And by the way, I would KILL to hear anything/everything put to tape between 1993 and 1997. Even if just instrumentals. That's my GNR holy grail. Even the Shaq rap track. I want it all.

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Fashionista

[Fashionista]

I do also think "outside influences" had a lot more to do with the breakup than we'll ever know. You probably had people whispering in Axl's ear about Slash and distorting things he said or did and likewise, people in Slash's camp were probably egging him on: "GNR is dead, dude, you're Slash, you've played with Michael Jackson, you can be a superstar without Axl Rose, you don't need to compromise and play his dumb ballads." Things like that. I think both were playing a game of chicken, a dick measuring contest with GN'R as the prize and ultimately Slash blinked first and quit the game.

 

I think because of outside influences telling him so, he felt he had Axl by the balls by quitting and that Axl would do anything to get him back. He didn't realize how personally Axl took his exit or how hurt and betrayed he felt. I don't think Slash realized that with the loss of Izzy, Erin, Stephanie, Shannon Hoon and his mom in a short span thar Axl might've felt dependent on him in an emotional sense. He viewed his leaving would serve as a wake up call and leverage the game back in his favor; Axl would be conciliatory and easier to work with. 

Now, Axl had his own outside influences telling him he didn't need Slash, probably. After 2 years at that point of Slash being very open in the press, I think Axl wanted to show Slash. "Oh, you quit? Fuck you. I can replace you too." Like, being dumped by your wife, and deciding to be spiteful and date a younger, hotter woman just to show her, out of hurt. And I'm sure he had guys telling him he could do exactly that, right on Axl. "you're the only one whose been holding this thing together anyway, man, and your vision is why GNR got huge in the first place."

I think by the mid 90s Axl really felt Guns was himself and Slash and when Slash left, he was probably more hurt than anything. This was his partner in crime and his muse and the only other guy who really was carrying the heavy weight that Guns had become.

Duff was a nice guy but he was never viewed as a leader. He was just the guy who mediated things and whose role was more of a tie breaker and advisor, and by the time Slash left, Duff's heart wasn't even fully in Guns anyway to really devote his energy to keeping it all together. He was sober. He was discovering himself and reforming his identity as a man and rebuilding his health and starting a new life as a husband and soon to be father. Guns was no longer the core of his identity, hell, he wasn't even "Duff the Johnny Thunders wannabe" anymore. The one voice who maybe could've gotten the two egomaniacs to sit down in a room without managers wasn't interested in babysitting two adults.

Thats the biggest factor in the breakup. GNR was no longer a band that could just sit in a room together and talk shit out. They lost sight of the fact that they were a really cool band and what they had accomplished together and could accomplish together. Everything was legal, bureaucratic, done via middle men or over the phone or in a very legalistic fashion.

Guns was by 96 an enterprise resting on the shoulders of two egotistical guys: One who was weary, emotionally drained and depressed and perhaps as such not rational; and the other was a heroin junkie who was bored, tired of Axl, becoming a bit full of himself and feeling his oats and who wanted to establish an identity outside of Guns. And in the vast canyon between these two men were a shitton of hangers on, friends, romantic attachments, lawyers, management types and shady music biz people who had their own interests in mind feeding all of their worst traits and preying on their weaknesses. To these people, GNR was what they could get out of it. 

I think also Axl felt a little outnumbered.  He didn't really have anyone in his camp in the band anymore. Izzy was gone. Duff was apathetic. Slash was growing increasingly independent. Matt was Slash's boy and always ready to challenge and question Axl. Dizzy was of no consequence. So, he surrounded himself with his own "guys" to try to have leverage: Dougie, Paul, Del and so on. People who were outside of the band and really should have minded their business, but who I think Axl felt needed to help him make decisions for it because he felt it was like, two on one. He felt his world in all the ways was shrinking and relied on outsiders as his only allies.

There is a reason Axl has never done anything with Matt since 1993 and why he said there were issues with guys who joined in the UYI era. I think Matt played his own, if small, role in the breakup.

[newusedillusion]

Except Axl was in large part the reason Izzy was gone and Duff was apathetic. It's not as if his antics were specifically aimed at Slash, it was everyone. When you have 5-6 guys saying one thing and 1 the other, it gets a tad hard to buy it's all make believe especially when those other dudes have gone on to form bands with each other and get along fine while the one dude is going through personnel like a football team.

It just sounds to me like the other guys wanted to be Guns n' Roses and Axl wanted to Axl Rose and The Guns.

[Jw224]

17 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider that an industrial track at all. That's before you even worry about whether or not Slash is on it lol

I've always hated the mixing on that song. Doesn't hit hard at all and his vocals are buried. 

[Draguns]

Really great analysis done by both Blackstar and Fashionista! 

[Sydney Fan]

On 15/08/2018 at 4:55 PM, BOSSY78 said:

Further proof of what I was thinking as reading the article, which was, bet the interviewer has been to this forum.

He asked questions discussed here.

In 94 dave Navarro was in the chilly peppers , considering he wasnt in that band long i dont know if being in GNR would have been any better.

 

[OTHAFA]

18 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I think no one knows exactly what kind of sound Axl was heading for, maybe not even Axl himself knew clearly.

 

This really sums it up to me. One only needs to listen to Chinese Democracy to hear this smorgasbord of different ideas, influences, sounds, etc. all mashed up into one gigantic, directionless cluster.

Time was Axl's worst enemy. It was mentioned earlier in this post that Axl wanted to sound like Pearl Jam. Then as time went on, he was heavily influenced by NIN, and the rap-rock craze with bands like Limp Bizkit. I recall an article where he kept going through drummers trying to find someone who could get the drum sound Dave Grohl had on Nirvana's albums.

All the while, he's still got these classic rock/punk roots he's trying to be true to.

Axl seemingly got lost in trying to be everything and everyone else besides just, being him, being Guns N' Roses, and when you have a mindset like that, it makes perfect sense why an album would take 14 years to make - because you're never caught up. You're constantly behind the 8-ball. Just when you've mastered that last idea, a new influence or new sound comes along that you want to try, and now you've got to play catch-up with that. 

Edited August 19, 2018 by OTHAFA

[Blackstar]

On 8/20/2018 at 2:29 AM, OTHAFA said:

This really sums it up to me. One only needs to listen to Chinese Democracy to hear this smorgasbord of different ideas, influences, sounds, etc. all mashed up into one gigantic, directionless cluster.

Time was Axl's worst enemy. It was mentioned earlier in this post that Axl wanted to sound like Pearl Jam. Then as time went on, he was heavily influenced by NIN, and the rap-rock craze with bands like Limp Bizkit. I recall an article where he kept going through drummers trying to find someone who could get the drum sound Dave Grohl had on Nirvana's albums.

I see the period until 1996 and the period after that as two different eras, and my post was about the first era. Axl always liked industrial, since it had started emerging as a "movement" around 1989, as well as rap, and that's why he did My World. He was also interested in collaborations. It doesn't seem, however, that he tried to do that with GnR at the time Slash was still in the band. Whatever he wanted was closer to traditional rock.

Then, after Slash left, he started to explore all kind of things, even things outside the rock genre in the narrow sense. Reportedly his new band worked on all kind of songs, from rockers to electronica and Axl epics (with some of the latter ending on CD).

Edited August 21, 2018 by Blackstar

[RussTCB]

5 hours ago, k12 said:

sounds like he is terrified of saying the wrong with Mr. Rose as usual

That's my takeaway from all of these Slash interviews popping up. He's saying a LOT of the same thing and all answers seem to come with a hint of "How do I word this so I don't piss off Axl?"

[Gold top 78]

16 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

That's my takeaway from all of these Slash interviews popping up. He's saying a LOT of the same thing and all answers seem to come with a hint of "How do I word this so I don't piss off Axl?"

I actually find the timing of Axls Iceland interview quite coincidental. It’s the last show of the leg before Slash is about to go and do loads of interviews. I think some of Axls answers were for Slash to more or less copy without upsetting camp GNR 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Gold top 78

[Blackstar]

28 minutes ago, Gold top 78 said:

I actually find the timing of Axls Iceland interview quite coincidental. It’s the last show of the leg before Slash is about to go and do loads of interviews. I think some of Axls answers were for Slash to more or less copy without upsetting camp GNR 

Most of the Slash interviews that have been popping up recently were done before the Iceland show, they are just published now. The Rolling Stone interview was done when GnR played in England (likely the Classic Rock one too), and the interview with the Swedish magazine was most likely done when the band played there last month. The Times interview was done in Iceland, same time as Axl's interview there.

Probably Slash allowed the bigger outlets to ask him more about GnR, but not smaller or local ones.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Blackstar

[Gold top 78]

18 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Most of the Slash interviews that have been popping up recently were done before the Iceland show, they are just published now. The Rolling Stone interview was done when GnR played in England (likely the Classic Rock one too), and the interview with the Swedish magazine was most likely done when the band played there last month. The Times interview was done in Iceland, same time as Axl's interview there.

Probably Slash allowed the bigger outlets to ask him more about GnR, but not smaller or local ones.

Thanks I didn’t know the Rolling Stone interview  or The Times interview was done back then. Though I did think the Swedish one  would’ve been done when GNR played there but forgot that when writing my post. Looks like they’ve just agreed on how much to say when talking about GNR. 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Gold top 78

[Ratam]

3 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Most of the Slash interviews that have been popping up recently were done before the Iceland show, they are just published now. The Rolling Stone interview was done when GnR played in England (likely the Classic Rock one too), and the interview with the Swedish magazine was most likely done when the band played there last month. The Times interview was done in Iceland, same time as Axl's interview there.

Probably Slash allowed the bigger outlets to ask him more about GnR, but not smaller or local ones.

You are right, i think the more fresh interview is the Forbes one❓

[Tourettes2400]

Slash was on Eddie Trunk. He was talking about this Rolling Stone interview. He said the guy and him didn't get along very well because he kept pushing on all those issues and the interview wasn't supposed to be about Guns N' Roses or his divorce   He was only on for a few minutes, he was just walking down the hall and they grabbed him for a few minutes.

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Tourettes2400

[Georgina Arriaga]

22 minutes ago, Tourettes2400 said:

Slash was on Eddie Trunk. He was talking about this Rolling Stone interview. He said the guy and him didn't get along very well because he kept pushing on all those issues and the interview wasn't supposed to be about Guns and Roses or his divorce   He was only on for a few minutes, he was just walking down the hall and they grabbed him for a few minutes.

 

Where was the interview? What hall?

[Tourettes2400]

31 minutes ago, Georgina Arriaga said:

Where was the interview? What hall?

At the SiriusXM Studios in New York. Slash and his people we're walking down the hallway about to leave and Eddie saw them. Eddie went to a commercial break and asked Slash to come in for a few minutes on his way out the door.

He wasn't on for very long since he was not even supposed to be there.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Tourettes2400

[Georgina Arriaga]

12 minutes ago, Tourettes2400 said:

At the SiriusXM Studios in New York. Slash and his people we're walking down the hallway about to leave and Eddie saw them. Eddie went to a commercial break and asked Slash to come in for a few minutes on his way out the door.

He wasn't on for very long since he was not even supposed to be there.

Thank you!

[Blackstar]

7 hours ago, Tourettes2400 said:

Slash was on Eddie Trunk. He was talking about this Rolling Stone interview. He said the guy and him didn't get along very well because he kept pushing on all those issues and the interview wasn't supposed to be about Guns N' Roses or his divorce   He was only on for a few minutes, he was just walking down the hall and they grabbed him for a few minutes.

How did the RS interview come up in the conversation? Did Trunk ask him about it or Slash brought it up himself?

8 hours ago, Ratam said:

You are right, i think the more fresh interview is the Forbes one❓

Yeah, or the Eddie Trunk one.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Blackstar