Hard Skool Officially Released at Midnight - Sept 24

[Gunner55]

5 minutes ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

Duff once mentioned they worked on a song for a Jackie Chan movie and the first title for hard skool was Jackie Chan.

This and I swear I read something from Richard pre-reunion that some of the material worked on had Slash's fingerprints on it from those 95/96 sessions. 

Last night I worked overnight. I stayed up 25 hours straight. I slept maybe 5 hours upon getting home. Woke up to this. I ain't even tired. I'm in love with this song. It's what a first new GNR release should be IMO. Slash and Duff really bring a lot to this material. My hopes aren't up for anything else at this point. Just happy something of significance finally happened. Once I hear it on radio and hopefully hear the general population and casual fans accept it as at least a good song, I'll be even happier. I'm tired of everyone outside of this forum shitting on Absurd lol 

[Sweersa]

Anyone else notice the irony of a locker being the background of a song that we first heard as a result of the Village storage locker leaks?

[Twinaleblood]

5 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Duff had mentioned in an interview in July 1996 that they were about to work on a song for the next Jackie Chan movie. 

Just had a look at the Jackie Chan movie chronology and, if anyone is interested, the movie was most likely to be Mr Nice Guy, released in January '97.
Edit: more browsing revealed that, apparently, the one released in January 97 in the USA is First Strike (originally released for the Asian market one year earlier). So it could be either the american version of First Strike or Mr Nice Guy (released in the USA only in 98). 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Twinaleblood

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, Twinaleblood said:

Hopefully it will be added to Ascap soon like it was with Absurd, even if that won't 100% clear any doubts. I mean, Slash & Duff are credited on Absurd so they can get royalties, it could be the case here too. But it will be interesting to see if someone else is credited for this song other than the big 3 and who.

Yes, it'll be probably added in a week or so. But if there are no writers represented by ASCAP (since Axl is on SESAC and Slash/Duff on GMR) it may take longer.

[StrangerInThisTown]

FUCK

[Pele]

12 minutes ago, Homefuck said:

Ok, thanks! What's the evidence supporting the case that it's from '96?

There isn't much.

Duff said back around 96 they were going to submit a song to a Jackie Chan movie.

Axl said on this very forum that the song we know as 'checkmate' is now known as Jackie Chan.

People used that to link them together.

[Homefuck]

4 minutes ago, Twinaleblood said:

Just had a look at the Jackie Chan movie chronology and, if anyone is interested, the movie was most likely to be Mr Nice Guy, released in January '97.

Talking about Jackie Chan I just remembered this clip:

Easily worth five minutes of your time. He's kind of forgotten now, but he was (is?) completely fearless. Amazing stuff!

Edited September 23, 2021 by Homefuck

[AppetiteForDestruction]

Axl's vocals are better then the demo for sure, the song has an old skool GNR sound for sure.

Frank on drums?? I cant tell. 

 Duff killed it. 

 

Nice solo from slash. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by AppetiteForDestruction

[sawchuk111]

definetly more of an old school GNR feel from this chi dem era track

[axlslash]

1 hour ago, RussTCB said:

Do you just keep "99 vocals" on a clipboard or do you type it out every time? 

If you're having song problems, I feel bad for you son

I got '99 vocals and Hardskool is one

Hit me!

[gnrjanus]

They are now rehearsing hard skool wo Axl

[Homefuck]

Talking about it, I kind of miss Duff's tone on the UYI-tour. Mostly mid and treble and a lot of attack. An acquired taste perhaps.

[TheGeneral]

1 hour and 44 minutes to go for me.

I'm really interested in the announcement. I have no idea what it will be. Will they say "more to come", will Axl say that at tonights show? Okay they'll probably say nothing other than "Here it is!" but still...

[thelostrose]

Nice hybrid thing. Keep 'em coming.  

Edited September 23, 2021 by thelostrose

[Malcolm Malcolm]

I don't mind Absurd, but it was very predictable that it would be widely dismissed, and it was also quite predictable that a good version of Hard Skool would probably hit home with the masses. So I wouldn't mind finding out why Absurd was released when it was. It seems like a curio or an album cut to me at best.

Slash and Duff really bring a lot to these two songs, and I didn't like their reworking of Better.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Malcolm Malcolm

[MaskingApathy]

23 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

We can only speculate on that. A strong case has been made that it's from '96.

Hopefully they'll tell us in the near future.

If there's a press release tomorrow maybe there will be some info there.

11 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

Anyone else notice the irony of a locker being the background of a song that we first heard as a result of the Village storage locker leaks?

I think that was on purpose.

Meegan was streaming soundcheck just now and shut it off right as they were going into HS, but the beginning of the song Frank does 4 stick clicks then the snare hit and stops when Duff does the bass intro, so I think the drum hits in the beginning of the recording aren't tied to a different song.

[Sosso]

3 minutes ago, MaskingApathy said:

If there's a press release tomorrow maybe there will be some info there.

New informations from GN'R. 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Sosso

[F*ck Fear]

Now this is fucking badass!

Should have went with this the first time!

[Top-Hatted One]

40 minutes ago, hudsonsaul said:

Glad they are releasing stuff and most of y'all are happy. 

Personally after two listens (one about 30mins after release) and then just now. 

Controversial but I prefer Absurd. 

But regardless of that comparison, the drums sound awful, not the beats themselves, but the tone and mixing, whilst the song itself feels like they just lumped Slash whaling away using his Amplitube plug in, and turned up duffs bass to remind us he is there. Some good vocals albeit old. 

Not much soul and feels to me to be far removed from any GNR sound (in a bad way), the rockers on CD are much better and sound bigger. Maybe it's the mix I don't know but it just doesn't sound particularly real. 

Excited stuff is coming out and I'll continue to spin the song and give my ears a chance to digest properly but initially it's a bit of a 'meh' song and sounds like a demo being polished.

To be fair the leaked demo ages ago I wasn't too hot on and couldn't see the excitement for it, but held hope due to it being a demo. 

Imo they need to just get together and make new music in a studio. 

Underwhelmed, but can understand why a lot of folk enjoy it and glad loads of you are stoked with it. 

 

 

It’s fine as a one off single barring they release a full album of more genuine Axl slash duff material. Like Set Me Free was released immediately.  Before VR even started working on Contraband collectively. This is still like an action movie soundtrack song to me but I think I have to admit it sounds better than what I expected. Thought the original demo checkmate was trash at the time

Edited September 23, 2021 by Top-Hatted One

[HollyWoodRose84]

1 hour ago, MaskingApathy said:

Referring to the bold part, do you mean he's heard the other new tracks that they're planning to release (new album etc)?

 

Yes, multiple tracks. I say multiple meaning more than at least 5 that were mentioned to me (no I don’t know names and I wouldn’t say if I did).  There are 100% new songs finished and waiting to be released. The album/EP was ready to go before COVID.  Regarding the songs heard, his overall consensus was “meh” and after hearing what they did with Absurd and this most recent one, I totally understand where he’s coming from. I’ll never be able to get the “yeah, but do you really?” line he used on me when I said I wanted to hear new music. No way in hell anything is going to come close to what was released 30 years ago. 
 

I’m starting to believe it will be 99% leftovers with the majority of the parts overworked by Slash and Duff but I’m hoping for something completely new with this lineup. I was originally told there were a few all new tracks, mostly Slash ideas, that were recorded but that remains to be seen.

This band never ceases to amaze me. I am still confident, as is my buddy that we will see a full release via EP or a full album (or both) by years end.  Everyone is getting along and that’s pretty obvious so let’s see what happens. Sorry to anyone if I’m repeating myself from previous posts. 

[Homefuck]

So... can we look forward to a "hard skool" emoji on this forum in the near future?

[Free Bird]

Wow that was a long ride reading through this topic.

I like it. It's a bit too much copy/paste but I still like it. It's recognizable immediately as GNR imo and that's a good sign. I really like the chorus, it's catchy and Axl's sounding great. The intro is pure Duff like on It's So Easy, Dirty Little Thing, Sucker Train Blues. Never dissapointed with Slash's work and it's a typical Slash solo, which is never a bad thing, though it's nothing that awes me tbh, and especially in the breakdown, I think he's done way cooler things before in bridges and breakdowns, but it's not bad by any means.

And while I was more impressed with the Absurd lead guitar, Hard Skool is the better track overall and nothing I'm ashamed of playing to other people.

It's just great having Axl, Slash and Duff on the same track and I hope there's more to come. Not only copy pasted work. 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Free Bird

[Martin Riggs]

So finally listened to it…I think it starts a little slow and my ears were used to the leaked demo, BUT once it got going a huge smile came across my face.        Axl, Slash and Duff finally on a kickass new song together! Pretty fucking cool!!

[Voodoochild]

After spend the day listening, I'm way more at ease with the mix and now I believe even more.

The thing is that I had the demo so fresh in my mind. I think the reverb in the vocals and the more apparent space with the more stripped down arrangement made me feel that it was somewhat displaced. It's not. 

Saw someone here saying this song is overproduced. Of course it's not. It's at least 10 layers less than the original demo. 

[hudsonsaul]

9 minutes ago, Top-Hatted One said:

It’s fine as a one off single barring they release a full album of more genuine Axl slash duff material. Like Set Me Free was released immediately before VR started working on Contraband collectively. This is still like an action movie soundtrack song to me but I think I have to admit it sounds better than what I expected. Thought the original demo checkmate was trash at the time

Initially listens for me were via headphones (good quality ones too). But just went for a drive and cranked it a couple times loud with better sound system then headphones - certainly sounded better that way.