Fortus says there was only a "brief moment" of chemistry in NuGNR

[Tom2112]

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-says-it-was-a-difficult-dynamic-to-make-three-guitars-work-in-guns-n-roses/

42:23 Frank talk - how Slash and Duff made him adapt his playing style. Notice at the end of the Frank talk when the interviewer says "He's a great drummer, not surprised it worked" and Richard does a 'u-huh'... sounded close to his tone of Ron...

37:20 on he talks about CD era band. Loves Robin, Tommy even Bucket... That love doesn't extend to Ron🤣 He continues to shit on him. How could you choose to shit on Ron when to his right DJ ashba was there, playing out of tune guitars on the regular, and he was botching half of the iconic solos he had somehow manage to steal away from Richards capable hands. I guess the snub in itself was that he didn't even mention DJ😄 At least he mentioned Ron, even if it was just to throw him under the bus.

I like Richard, but if I'm going to listen to one guy play over the other I'd choose Bumble any day of the week! He's a lot more inventive and he has written some great songs! outside of the James bond theme and his 2012 solo I'm yet to hear a Richard track that blows me away! Regardless he is a great player, and when I met him he was generous with his time... just disappointing when someone decides to take cheap shots at a guy who took the high road after his GNR departure. I'm sure Bumble could light up Richard and Axl and the entire band if he wanted with the amount of shit they pulled on him. I think Ron is too classy to do it, but he should respond to some of this shade. 

[ZoSoRose]

Disappointing to see a bit of shade at Ron when DJ was in the band. Wtf Fortus

[MaskingApathy]

3 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-says-it-was-a-difficult-dynamic-to-make-three-guitars-work-in-guns-n-roses/

42:23 Frank talk - how Slash and Duff made him adapt his playing style. Notice at the end of the Frank talk when the interviewer says "He's a great drummer, not surprised it worked" and Richard does a 'u-huh'... sounded close to his tone of Ron...

37:20 on he talks about CD era band. Loves Robin, Tommy even Bucket... That love doesn't extend to Ron🤣 He continues to shit on him. How could you choose to shit on Ron when to his right DJ ashba was there, playing out of tune guitars on the regular, and he was botching half of the iconic solos he had somehow manage to steal away from Richards capable hands. I guess the snub in itself was that he didn't even mention DJ😄 At least he mentioned Ron, even if it was just to throw him under the bus.

I like Richard, but if I'm going to listen to one guy play over the other I'd choose Bumble any day of the week! He's a lot more inventive and he has written some great songs! outside of the James bond theme and his 2012 solo I'm yet to hear a Richard track that blows me away! Regardless he is a great player, and when I met him he was generous with his time... just disappointing when someone decides to take cheap shots at a guy who took the high road after his GNR departure. I'm sure Bumble could light up Richard and Axl and the entire band if he wanted with the amount of shit they pulled on him. I think Ron is too classy to do it, but he should respond to some of this shade. 

 

2 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

Disappointing to see a bit of shade at Ron when DJ was in the band. Wtf Fortus

Maybe Fortus/DJ were/are friends.

[ToonGuns]

4 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-says-it-was-a-difficult-dynamic-to-make-three-guitars-work-in-guns-n-roses/

37:20 on he talks about CD era band. Loves Robin, Tommy even Bucket... That love doesn't extend to Ron🤣 He continues to shit on him. How could you choose to shit on Ron when to his right DJ ashba was there, playing out of tune guitars on the regular, and he was botching half of the iconic solos he had somehow manage to steal away from Richards capable hands. 

Jealousy. 

[CAFC Nick]

8 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-says-it-was-a-difficult-dynamic-to-make-three-guitars-work-in-guns-n-roses/

42:23 Frank talk - how Slash and Duff made him adapt his playing style. Notice at the end of the Frank talk when the interviewer says "He's a great drummer, not surprised it worked" and Richard does a 'u-huh'... sounded close to his tone of Ron...

37:20 on he talks about CD era band. Loves Robin, Tommy even Bucket... That love doesn't extend to Ron🤣 He continues to shit on him. How could you choose to shit on Ron when to his right DJ ashba was there, playing out of tune guitars on the regular, and he was botching half of the iconic solos he had somehow manage to steal away from Richards capable hands. I guess the snub in itself was that he didn't even mention DJ😄 At least he mentioned Ron, even if it was just to throw him under the bus.

I like Richard, but if I'm going to listen to one guy play over the other I'd choose Bumble any day of the week! He's a lot more inventive and he has written some great songs! outside of the James bond theme and his 2012 solo I'm yet to hear a Richard track that blows me away! Regardless he is a great player, and when I met him he was generous with his time... just disappointing when someone decides to take cheap shots at a guy who took the high road after his GNR departure. I'm sure Bumble could light up Richard and Axl and the entire band if he wanted with the amount of shit they pulled on him. I think Ron is too classy to do it, but he should respond to some of this shade. 

My take on this interview was slightly different to how others have interpreted it. 

What I took away from it was he was quite happy/inspired to play with the CD-era guys and it seems that only after what could be referred to as CD-era 1 seemed to fall apart that it became less fulfilling. Richard has frequently talked about how he gets on with Robin personally and professionally and I think what is clear from interviews and other subtext is that the addition of Ron was especially frustrating for both Richard and Robin because they had re-worked the parts for 2 guitarists and Ron showed up at the 11th. hour. This version of events has been corroborated with Ron too. 

What I found particularly interesting in this interview was when Richard talks about how Ron didn't seem to "get it" in regards to the guitar parts for 3 players, where as Buckethead did - interesting especially as I always thought Ron got it the most! He seemed to be extremely faithful to the material and was extremely consistent with his playing, where as Buckethead would basically stand on-stage completely still when he had no parts (VMA 2002 WTTJ for reference).

Overall, my interpretation was that this interview wasn't as bad as people are making out but it is a bit disappointing to see him take some perceived retrospective shots at his old bandmates. I do wonder if in 10 years when New-Old-GNR is done if he will take shots at Slash/Duff?

 

[Mendez]

seems like hes shitting on ron, but it could be that egos just got in the way of each other on a personal level.

 

To be fair, they did get along enough that Bumblefoot got Fortus, DJ, Frank and Tommy to record the Pink Panther theme for an official Bumblefoot release, so maybe it was just a matter of not getting along personally, or musically.

[Tom2112]

5 hours ago, MaskingApathy said:

 

Maybe Fortus/DJ were/are friends.

Maybe Ashba hooked him up with a lifetime of Ashba water. who knows

 

4 hours ago, ToonGuns said:

Jealousy. 

Maybe? but why wouldn't he be jealous of Bucket then? I think it rubbed him the wrong way when Bumble was brought into the band and never really warmed to him from there. Sounds like he treated it as 'This is a guy who I have to work with, so I will, but that's as far as it goes'. I kinda enjoyed in the later years when Bumble and Richard would play off each other, seemed to have some chemistry... 

I don't care what Richard says now in 2020, he can like or dislike whoever he wants! doesn't change what I heard and that, that band was on form! and they blow the current band out of the water! Somehow they were both rawer and tighter (2006) and in 2009 they were tighter and more aggressive... although I wasn't always a fan of the live mix.

[ToonGuns]

46 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Maybe Ashba hooked him up with a lifetime of Ashba water. who knows

 

Maybe? but why wouldn't he be jealous of Bucket then? I think it rubbed him the wrong way when Bumble was brought into the band and never really warmed to him from there. Sounds like he treated it as 'This is a guy who I have to work with, so I will, but that's as far as it goes'. I kinda enjoyed in the later years when Bumble and Richard would play off each other, seemed to have some chemistry... 

I don't care what Richard says now in 2020, he can like or dislike whoever he wants! doesn't change what I heard and that, that band was on form! and they blow the current band out of the water! Somehow they were both rawer and tighter (2006) and in 2009 they were tighter and more aggressive... although I wasn't always a fan of the live mix.

Only thing I can think is Bucket was already there when he joined, whereas Bumble joined after 2 years of there only being 2 guitarists... so Richard probably thought "jeez the boss doesn't think I'm good enough, this new guy is my competition".

[Voodoochild]

12 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-says-it-was-a-difficult-dynamic-to-make-three-guitars-work-in-guns-n-roses/

42:23 Frank talk - how Slash and Duff made him adapt his playing style. Notice at the end of the Frank talk when the interviewer says "He's a great drummer, not surprised it worked" and Richard does a 'u-huh'... sounded close to his tone of Ron...

Well, didn't Richard brought Frank to the table when Brain said he would eventually be out for the birth of his daughter?

 

4 hours ago, CAFC Nick said:

My take on this interview was slightly different to how others have interpreted it. 

What I took away from it was he was quite happy/inspired to play with the CD-era guys and it seems that only after what could be referred to as CD-era 1 seemed to fall apart that it became less fulfilling. Richard has frequently talked about how he gets on with Robin personally and professionally and I think what is clear from interviews and other subtext is that the addition of Ron was especially frustrating for both Richard and Robin because they had re-worked the parts for 2 guitarists and Ron showed up at the 11th. hour. This version of events has been corroborated with Ron too. 

This is true. Richard had high expectations when they were working to arrange the songs for a two guitars lineup, especially because he would shine quite a bit in newer songs like Better, TWAT and IRS.

4 hours ago, CAFC Nick said:

What I found particularly interesting in this interview was when Richard talks about how Ron didn't seem to "get it" in regards to the guitar parts for 3 players, where as Buckethead did - interesting especially as I always thought Ron got it the most! He seemed to be extremely faithful to the material and was extremely consistent with his playing, where as Buckethead would basically stand on-stage completely still when he had no parts (VMA 2002 WTTJ for reference).

Maybe he was talking about the rhythm guitars. Bumble was always active during the songs, kinda making it hard to hear a more cleaner approach of just two guitars + keyboards + axl's vocal range, especially on old songs. Bucket didn't play rhythm where it wasn't needed. I do agree that Ron played faithful with the records, but that may not translate well in a live mix. At least that's what I got from Richard's.

[Tom2112]

21 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

Well, didn't Richard brought Frank to the table when Brain said he would eventually be out for the birth of his daughter?

 

This is true. Richard had high expectations when they were working to arrange the songs for a two guitars lineup, especially because he would shine quite a bit in newer songs like Better, TWAT and IRS.

Maybe he was talking about the rhythm guitars. Bumble was always active during the songs, kinda making it hard to hear a more cleaner approach of just two guitars + keyboards + axl's vocal range, especially on old songs. Bucket didn't play rhythm where it wasn't needed. I do agree that Ron played faithful with the records, but that may not translate well in a live mix. At least that's what I got from Richard's.

Yeah, it was Richard that introduced frank.Not saying there's anything here! but he did for whatever reason decide to throw Frank under the bus for his playing not fitting in the early stages of rehearsals, and then kinda sound unconvincing in his belief that Franks a good drummer. Maybe he was in a bad mood after several phone interviews?

I know what you're saying about the 3 guitar things, but Richard should be saying "I didn't think Axls idea of 3 guitar players worked, Ron, Bucket and all those guys are great musicians! but for GNR the sound is 2 guitars" Instead he lays all the heat at Bumbles feet even though. Bumble was hired to fill the role as the 3rd guitar player by Axl. Ron was hardly going to just come on stage and play the 4 Chinese songs in the set and then leave the rest to Robin and Richard. I get the criticism of Ron in 2006/07... but Ron explained after that tour that he hadn't a chance to really dial things in with the guys before that run - that includes his sound, approach everything! he was thrown in to the deep end whereas the rest of the guys were already settled and comfortable! by 2009 Ron was at home playing that material, it all fit together like a puzzle, and there's no reason to say it didn't because there's plenty of soundboard mixes as well as the AFD dvd as evidence that for the majority of songs it worked!

[Voodoochild]

12 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Yeah, it was Richard that introduced frank.Not saying there's anything here! but he did for whatever reason decide to throw Frank under the bus for his playing not fitting in the early stages of rehearsals, and then kinda sound unconvincing in his belief that Franks a good drummer. Maybe he was in a bad mood after several phone interviews?

I know what you're saying about the 3 guitar things, but Richard should be saying "I didn't think Axls idea of 3 guitar players worked, Ron, Bucket and all those guys are great musicians! but for GNR the sound is 2 guitars" Instead he lays all the heat at Bumbles feet even though. Bumble was hired to fill the role as the 3rd guitar player by Axl. Ron was hardly going to just come on stage and play the 4 Chinese songs in the set and then leave the rest to Robin and Richard. I get the criticism of Ron in 2006/07... but Ron explained after that tour that he hadn't a chance to really dial things in with the guys before that run - that includes his sound, approach everything! he was thrown in to the deep end whereas the rest of the guys were already settled and comfortable! by 2009 Ron was at home playing that material, it all fit together like a puzzle, and there's no reason to say it didn't because there's plenty of soundboard mixes as well as the AFD dvd as evidence that for the majority of songs it worked!

It was indeed Axl's idea. Maybe he had some other stuff going on, but the fact is that he didn't have a good plan, he was still trying to get Bucket back before the first 2006 shows. Did the other guys knew that? I'm not sure. 

As far as what Ron did, I think it's weird. I do think that 3 guitars playing rhythm for some songs was too much. I think there were a lot of things that sounded overpowered and unnecessary - especially SCOM's last solo with Ashba/Ron. This is what I guess Richard was talking about: for the old songs, Bucket didn't double any rhythm guitar without reason. Even the new songs - he didn't play along in The Blues too much either.

[Tom2112]

19 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

It was indeed Axl's idea. Maybe he had some other stuff going on, but the fact is that he didn't have a good plan, he was still trying to get Bucket back before the first 2006 shows. Did the other guys knew that? I'm not sure. 

As far as what Ron did, I think it's weird. I do think that 3 guitars playing rhythm for some songs was too much. I think there were a lot of things that sounded overpowered and unnecessary - especially SCOM's last solo with Ashba/Ron. This is what I guess Richard was talking about: for the old songs, Bucket didn't double any rhythm guitar without reason. Even the new songs - he didn't play along in The Blues too much either.

I agree, there were definitely songs that the 3 guitar thing was too much. In those case Ashba should have been given his baby bottle filled with Monster and thrown off stage. 

I was never a big fan of them splitting the end solo in SCOM. I liked it in YCBM though, although thinking back Ashba didn't really do it justice!

[axljungle]

In a lot Guns n roses studio songs there are three guitars sounding.

In 2006 the 3 guitars sounded overpowered, but in 2010 sounded great, you could heard the 3 guitars clearly, and even Ashba played good. 
For me in 2010 shows, 4tus was the most carismatic member. Now he is some hidden in the shows and I think that this is  bad thing

[Sosso]

Just now, axljungle said:

In a lot Guns n roses studio songs there are three guitars sounding.

In 2006 the 3 guitars sounded overpowered, but in 2010 sounded great, you could heard the 3 guitars clearly, and even Ashba played good. 
For me in 2010 shows, 4tus was the most carismatic member. Now he is some hidden in the shows and I think that this is  bad thing

Of course, Slash wouldn't allow any other guitar player to me more than just the second fiddle. However, I would say that Fortus enjoys more creative freedom than any other guitarist who has worked with Slash during the last two decades. 

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, Sosso said:

Of course, Slash wouldn't allow any other guitar player to me more than just the second fiddle. However, I would say that Fortus enjoys more creative freedom than any other guitarist who has worked with Slash during the last two decades. 

I believe Slash when he talks about Fortus, I think he really respects him as a very different and more technical player.

What he really thinks about Frank is anybody's guess. Slash played with all the very best rock drummers and he's got a great drummer in his own band.

Did he ever say anything about Melissa so far? 

[Ant]

2 hours ago, Sosso said:

Of course, Slash wouldn't allow any other guitar player to me more than just the second fiddle. However, I would say that Fortus enjoys more creative freedom than any other guitarist who has worked with Slash during the last two decades. 

Sidoris might not have creative freedom but he's definitely learned how to differentiate from Slash the most tastefully.

Fortus on some visceral level just does not want to be a rhythm guitarist. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Ant

[Sweersa]

It would be killer if GN'R got Josh Freese to record with again, and to tour too. Imagine Josh re-recording Brain's re-recording of an old Josh drum track. lol

[Sosso]

46 minutes ago, Ant said:

Sidoris might not have creative freedom but he's definitely learned how to differentiate from Slash the most tastefully.

Fortus on some visceral level just does not want to be a rhythm guitarist. 

Yeah, I was at a SMKC gig last year and they sounded great. I would have expected more GN'R Songs, but whatever.. Frank Sidoris and Todd Kerns actually recognized my NuGN'R Shirt 

SMKC is Slash's own band and he has the creative control. GN'R is the opposite and each member has to know his part in the band. Richard was used to his role of the co-lead guitarist before the reunion and he kept this role. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Sosso

[Sweersa]

I really hope they let Richard play more lead on the upcoming album. Perhaps Richard will re-record some of the Bucket leads?

[blackrose87]

In fairness he doesn't really shit on Bumblefoot. He simply says that the dynamic that was there in rehearsal prior changed. That's natural in any band when you have different people come in out.  

I would love to know his (and everyone's) status in that band as of now. Are they all just contract for hire workers (excl. Axl) or is he a fully fledged member with an actual stake in the band. I'm not sure if this has even been disclosed publicly for Slash and Duff.

[Gackt]

4 hours ago, Sweersa said:

I really hope they let Richard play more lead on the upcoming album. Perhaps Richard will re-record some of the Bucket leads?

[MaskingApathy]

6 hours ago, Sosso said:

Of course, Slash wouldn't allow any other guitar player to me more than just the second fiddle. However, I would say that Fortus enjoys more creative freedom than any other guitarist who has worked with Slash during the last two decades. 

 

4 hours ago, Ant said:

Sidoris might not have creative freedom but he's definitely learned how to differentiate from Slash the most tastefully.

Fortus on some visceral level just does not want to be a rhythm guitarist. 

Sidoris has creative freedom; he came up with all his parts on LTD. Slash didn't dictate to him what to play for each song.

[PatrickS77]

41 minutes ago, Gackt said:

Yeah. That. Some people should just not be on a GNR forum.

[Sosso]

1 minute ago, PatrickS77 said:

Yeah. That. Some people should just not be on a GNR forum.

Bullies like you? 

[PatrickS77]

4 hours ago, blackrose87 said:

I would love to know his (and everyone's) status in that band as of now. Are they all just contract for hire workers (excl. Axl) or is he a fully fledged member with an actual stake in the band. I'm not sure if this has even been disclosed publicly for Slash and Duff.

Is there anything that remotely suggests he is more than an employee??? Why would anyone make him a partner and/or let him have a stake in the band? That makes absofuckinglutely zero sense to do that.

2 minutes ago, Sosso said:

Bullies like you? 

Nah. People wanting to take leads from Slash to give them to a musician for rent. Not sure where you seee a bully here.