The "New Album" Thread - Susan McKagan says album is coming

[megaguns1982 683]

41 minutes ago, Towelie said:

To be fair, the only b-grade musician he had was Ashba, as Fortus and especially Ron are world class. But just the fact that they replaced Finck with someone as tacky and useless as DJ Ashba was, in hindsight, a sign that Axl no longer cared and was going through the motions.

I get what you’re saying, it’s just my opinion. 

Tommy, robin and bucket were the only ones who had any credibility imo. 
Ron, frank or fortus  were all b grade prior to joining gnr, even now I’d still call them b grade session guys

Edited August 15, 2020 by megaguns1982

[GNR_RNR 337]

1 hour ago, Towelie said:

To be fair, the only b-grade musician he had was Ashba, as Fortus and especially Ron are world class. But just the fact that they replaced Finck with someone as tacky and useless as DJ Ashba was, in hindsight, a sign that Axl no longer cared and was going through the motions.

I think people are a bit too harsh on DJ. Sure he's no virtuoso but his tone was arguably the most 'accurate' to the original stuff.

Also he's the only one,, aside from Axl, who had a stage presence. 

[megaguns1982 683]

28 minutes ago, GNR_RNR said:

I think people are a bit too harsh on DJ. Sure he's no virtuoso but his tone was arguably the most 'accurate' to the original stuff.

Also he's the only one,, aside from Axl, who had a stage presence. 

That tone is replicated by basically every 15 year old on YouTube playing gnr on their les Paul.... and most of them play the gnr songs better than Ashba..

sorry

[jamillos 2,044]

1 hour ago, GNR_RNR said:

I think people are a bit too harsh on DJ. Sure he's no virtuoso but his tone was arguably the most 'accurate' to the original stuff.

Also he's the only one,, aside from Axl, who had a stage presence. 

His stage presence may have been the best thing about him; however, I could never get over the fact that while on the stage, he had a top hat, cigarette, and Les fucking Paul. I mean come on. 

Edited August 15, 2020 by jamillos

[t-p-d-a 1,461]

9 hours ago, Ant said:

let’s start working on a chorus

 

Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du, yeah-e-yeah
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du, yeah-e-yeah

 

 

[EricA 2,399]

8 minutes ago, jamillos said:

His stage presence may have been the best thing about him; however,

I could never get over the fact that while on the stage, he had a top hat, cigarette, and Les fucking Paul. I mean come on. 

 

[fabrph5 173]

5 hours ago, EricA said:

 

While standing next to a guy wearing tight biker shorts and a flannel shirt as a skirt :-)

 

[Ant 960]

5 hours ago, jamillos said:

the fact that while on the stage, he had a top hat, cigarette, and Les fucking Paul. I mean come on. 

I’m doin all the things!

*sigh*... listen, DJ, you’re a good kid....

[Sydney Fan 1,966]

39 minutes ago, fabrph5 said:

While standing next to a guy wearing tight biker shorts and a flannel shirt as a skirt :-)

 

I could go that look beforev the braids and over sized NFL shirt look of 99-00.

14 hours ago, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

I'm not optimistic, but the label could move a lot more copies of the Greatest Hits on vinyl if there was a hidden new track on one of the sides.

Or they could tell people to play the records backwards, and every song will sound as if it was something new.

Its always one thing with this band, they dont now how to maximise opportunities.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Sydney Fan

[Gordon Comstock 5,766]

9 hours ago, Towelie said:

To be fair, the only b-grade musician he had was Ashba, as Fortus and especially Ron are world class. But just the fact that they replaced Finck with someone as tacky and useless as DJ Ashba was, in hindsight, a sign that Axl no longer cared and was going through the motions.

 

At the time, I was excited about DJ joining. I'd seen him with Sixx AM in 2008 and he was good enough, and entertaining. He'd had a big hit on the rock charts the year before, and helped with Motley's relatively successful Saints Of LA album. He was different from Finck of course, but the 2009 lineup did have some great potential. I don't think Axl really started 'going through the motions' until 2011, at which point DJ also started getting a lot sloppier.

[fowlerisgod 77]

7 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

At the time, I was excited about DJ joining. I'd seen him with Sixx AM in 2008 and he was good enough, and entertaining. He'd had a big hit on the rock charts the year before, and helped with Motley's relatively successful Saints Of LA album. He was different from Finck of course, but the 2009 lineup did have some great potential. I don't think Axl really started 'going through the motions' until 2011, at which point DJ also started getting a lot sloppier.

The first Beautiful Creatures album with DJ is fucking great...the dude can write hard rock riffs and songs... don't know why he was such a dud with GNR..the absolute butchering of the This I Love solo..Mother of God

[Free Bird 2,105]

22 hours ago, Towelie said:

To be fair, the only b-grade musician he had was Ashba, as Fortus and especially Ron are world class. But just the fact that they replaced Finck with someone as tacky and useless as DJ Ashba was, in hindsight, a sign that Axl no longer cared and was going through the motions.

Greetings from Pitman and Frank

Edited August 16, 2020 by Free Bird

[rumandraisin 186]

Pitman is a very good musician and songwriter judging from If The World which was mostly him and Bucket. 

DJ submitted 12 tracks to Axl but they were rejected I seem to remember. Bumble did the same thing. Fortus too submitted stuff that Axl didn't like. 

[Ralphelmo 1,170]

Normally musicians present stuff to each other on rehearsals, in GNR they have to send a pigeon with CD attached.

[DownUnderScott 397]

16 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

At the time, I was excited about DJ joining. I'd seen him with Sixx AM in 2008 and he was good enough, and entertaining. He'd had a big hit on the rock charts the year before, and helped with Motley's relatively successful Saints Of LA album. He was different from Finck of course, but the 2009 lineup did have some great potential. I don't think Axl really started 'going through the motions' until 2011, at which point DJ also started getting a lot sloppier.

I agree. Great post. Saints of LA was pretty good. I guess history, or really Axl, has never given us the opportunity to truly gauge the songwriting or song-contributing skills of Ashba, Fortus, Thal et al...

[jimmythegent 28]

5 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Greetings from Pitman and Frank

Paul Huge says hello

[allwaystired 2,859]

Ashba wasn't really that bad was he?! 

I think him, and Bumblefoot, came across pretty well and both seemed to really want to push the band forwards in terms of both engagement and music. 

 

[Rovim 5,111]

7 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Ashba wasn't really that bad was he?! 

I think him, and Bumblefoot, came across pretty well and both seemed to really want to push the band forwards in terms of both engagement and music. 

 

I think DJ was always... not a very good guitar player. meh tone, lack of imagination, weak technique that he hides with a couple of flashy looking tricks he knows how to execute well. He does have an ear for melody but there's no depth to his playing. As soon as the solo gets more detailed, he doesn't know what to do. (Patience solo, This I Love, the second half of the SCOM solo that Bumble had to play)

He does have an ability to construct a decent composition given enough time imo but nothing spectacular, he's not very good at improvising and Gn'R is the kind of band that always featured very talented lead players. There was always at least one attribute that made them cool when it came to Robin, Bucket, and Bumble.

Richard has the chops and does the material justice, covering a lot of ground, while Paul has a lot of writing credits and had a hand in writing some of the AAA tunes on Chinese.

DJ had "stage presence". Also found the 2 volume and 2 tone knobs on his Les Paul to be a difficult concept to grasp.

[allwaystired 2,859]

2 hours ago, Rovim said:

I think DJ was always... not a very good guitar player. meh tone, lack of imagination, weak technique that he hides with a couple of flashy looking tricks he knows how to execute well. He does have an ear for melody but there's no depth to his playing. As soon as the solo gets more detailed, he doesn't know what to do. (Patience solo, This I Love, the second half of the SCOM solo that Bumble had to play)

He does have an ability to construct a decent composition given enough time imo but nothing spectacular, he's not very good at improvising and Gn'R is the kind of band that always featured very talented lead players. There was always at least one attribute that made them cool when it came to Robin, Bucket, and Bumble.

Richard has the chops and does the material justice, covering a lot of ground, while Paul has a lot of writing credits and had a hand in writing some of the AAA tunes on Chinese.

DJ had "stage presence". Also found the 2 volume and 2 tone knobs on his Les Paul to be a difficult concept to grasp.

Perhaps you're right on those points in certain songs and I'm remembering things too fondly.

I think he had his place though, and he absolutely wanted to bring new ideas in. Which is something I'll always give him massive credit for, given the total resistance to new things that has always gone on. 

[Rovim 5,111]

18 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Perhaps you're right on those points in certain songs and I'm remembering things too fondly.

I think he had his place though, and he absolutely wanted to bring new ideas in. Which is something I'll always give him massive credit for, given the total resistance to new things that has always gone on. 

DJ wanted to move forward, he had the right attitude in that regard. Bumble wanted the same. But when you say "his place", what exactly do you mean by that? musically in the band? cause even if I'm glad and thankful DJ quit Gn'R, I believe a good Gn'R album featuring DJ, Bumble, and Richard could have been completed.

DJ said he doesn't really consider himself to be a guitar player. I think in a studio environment he is capable of coming up with some shit that could have worked well in the context of Gn'R.

DJ could have brought a very melodic and catchy side to the table while maybe Bumble could have handled the more wacky and technically complex shit. Fortus could have anchored it in a more classic hard rock place and I can see how it could have gelled together well.

but maybe Axl wasn't interested in using these players as composers cause CD ll was already completed with Robin and Bucket. Personally I believe any other option is better: with the current line up or the 2002 line up cause the players from those line ups had/have better chemistry with each other or their styles are more suited to Gn'R.

[allwaystired 2,859]

14 minutes ago, Rovim said:

DJ wanted to move forward, he had the right attitude in that regard. Bumble wanted the same. But when you say "his place", what exactly do you mean by that? musically in the band? cause even if I'm glad and thankful DJ quit Gn'R, I believe a good Gn'R album featuring DJ, Bumble, and Richard could have been completed.

DJ said he doesn't really consider himself to be a guitar player. I think in a studio environment he is capable of coming up with some shit that could have worked well in the context of Gn'R.

DJ could have brought a very melodic and catchy side to the table while maybe Bumble could have handled the more wacky and technically complex shit. Fortus could have anchored it in a more classic hard rock place and I can see how it could have gelled together well.

but maybe Axl wasn't interested in using these players as composers cause CD ll was already completed with Robin and Bucket. Personally I believe any other option is better: with the current line up or the 2002 line up cause the players from those line ups had/have better chemistry with each other or their styles are more suited to Gn'R.

I mean he had "a place" really. Perhaps handling those solos wasn't it....but as you say, a good GNR album could have been made with him handling the things he did bring to the band. It wasn't all negative. 

[Rovim 5,111]

1 minute ago, allwaystired said:

I mean he had "a place" really. Perhaps handling those solos wasn't it....but as you say, a good GNR album could have been made with him handling the things he did bring to the band. It wasn't all negative. 

agreed, even if I cringe at the thought of DJ ever being a part of Gn'R, it wasn't all bad. He could have contributed some cool shit in his style to a Guns album.

There are covers of the original instrumentals he composed for his solo spot played by better players and I think Ballad Of Death, Mi Amor, and La Bella Vita demonstrate his knack for coming up with basic, yet effective melodic lines and DJ said Axl had asked him to make a studio version of Ballad Of Death and allegedly liked his 12 ideas he composed for Gn'R.

[allwaystired 2,859]

31 minutes ago, Rovim said:

agreed, even if I cringe at the thought of DJ ever being a part of Gn'R, it wasn't all bad. He could have contributed some cool shit in his style to a Guns album.

There are covers of the original instrumentals he composed for his solo spot played by better players and I think Ballad Of Death, Mi Amor, and La Bella Vita demonstrate his knack for coming up with basic, yet effective melodic lines and DJ said Axl had asked him to make a studio version of Ballad Of Death and allegedly liked his 12 ideas he composed for Gn'R.

If they had released something then, I'm sure people would feel differently about that era of the band. It would be seen as a legitimate part of their history, rather than simply a sticking-plaster solution to keeping the band touring. We'd be in the same situation we're in now.....but we'd have had an album to look back on. There seemed to be no reason for that not to happen, as everyone seemed keen......presumably apart from one person! 

[DurhamGirl 495]

Really interesting.

[allwaystired 2,859]

23 minutes ago, Rovim said:

If Axl had released an album with the DJ/Bumble/Fortus line up I think some people would have been frustrated by not getting to hear more Bucket and Robin in Gn'R, but yeah, a good Guns album would have legitimized that lineup.

but Axl once said that the Bucket/Robin line up was the right one for the album and the DJ/Bumble one was right for "this" referring to the touring probably iirc.

Maybe he never had a real intention of releasing an album featuring that line up. The rumor is Axl did try to convince Bucket to rejoin Gn'R so he had to get someone to replace Robin and Bucket. DJ and Bumble were never his first choices. Maybe kinda like a Gilby situation where he had to compromise in order to keep it going.

The same constant come across though to me- a chronic waste of time, talent and ability.

It's desperately sad when you think about it all that way.