Gary Sunshine interview (July '21) speaking about GNR

[Twinaleblood]

I don't know if this was already seen/posted here, but it was completely new to me and I couldn't find any mentions when I tried to search in the forum, so hopefully this thread is not a double.

Anyway, there's this YouTube channel called Wasting Time with Jason Green, with the host interviewing a lot of 80s hard rock musicians. One of the interviews, uploaded last July, is with Gary Sunshine from Circus Of Power who, as most of you probably remember, played additional guitar on Oh My God and at the time had been hired by Axl for guitar lessons. I'm not sure if the link can be posted here, I assume it's safe, but you can easily find it on YT with the info I've given. 

The part about GNR starts around the 54 min mark and it reveals very interesting info from those years, some of them I hadn't heard before. This is what I recall on top of my mind:

- He was hired through someone from a musical instruments store who mentioned Gary's name to Axl when he was looking for lessons.

- Gary says Axl had a very good ear and was a good player, but he didn't know what he was playing, so that's why he wanted to take lessons.

- When Axl was playing a sort of blues lick and Gary pointed it out, Axl mentioned he didn't want to learn blues guitar but some different approaches. Gary remembers they "studied" songs by Beatles and Radiohead, but didn't mention any specific songtitles.

- When Axl asked him to play additional guitar on GNR songs, he played on two: one was Oh My God, the other he believes it to be IRS but he's not 100% sure. He was given a cassette with instrumental versions of both songs back then to work with. When he recorded his guitars for Oh My God, Dave Navarro's solo hadn't been added yet.

- During his time working with Axl, Buckethead was in the fold at some point and when Axl gave Gary a tour of the studio they were recording at, he actually saw Buckethead's chicken coop.

- This I had absolutely no idea, but Gary says he had auditioned to replace Paul Huge in 2002. After rehearsing for two days with the band, he was told their final choice was Fortus, but they asked him to be always ready because he was their backup plan in case anything didn't work as expected. So he spent like 6 months "waiting" for a last minute call that never arrived.

- He sort of lost contact with Axl not long after 2002.

- He loves Frank, who he knew from NY.

[Blackstar]

Thank you, @Twinaleblood. I didn't know about the interview

Here is the video (I believe there is no problem with posting video interviews ) :

 

[Twinaleblood]

1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

Thank you, @Twinaleblood. I didn't know about the interview

You're welcome, you're going to enjoy it a lot! 

[Blackstar]

Gary Sunshine has mentioned some of these stories to @SoulMonster, here:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t5025p30-21-september-1997-november-1999-josh-and-tommy-joins-robin-leaves-live-era-is-released#21282

 

[SoulMonster]

16 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Gary Sunshine has mentioned some of these stories to @SoulMonster, here:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t5025p30-21-september-1997-november-1999-josh-and-tommy-joins-robin-leaves-live-era-is-released#21282

Yeah, I talked to Sunshine last year. Great guy.

[Gambit83]

Gary is great. Got a chance to ask him a lot of GNR questions a couple yrs ago in case it was missed. Gary Sunshine talks Oh My God, Chinese Democracy, and recording with Axl Rose - Ep. 97 - Appetite for Distortion | iHeart

[Twinaleblood]

 

1 hour ago, Gambit83 said:

Gary is great. Got a chance to ask him a lot of GNR questions a couple yrs ago in case it was missed. Gary Sunshine talks Oh My God, Chinese Democracy, and recording with Axl Rose - Ep. 97 - Appetite for Distortion | iHeart

 

Thank you, Brando. Yes, I don't remeber this episode, I will have a listen soon. Just seen the info from @SoulMonster as well and they rang a bell, I had read them back then and forgot. Thank you all for doing so much to dig interesting info 

[rocknroll41]

Awesome stuff! Never knew about any of that!

[Tom-Ass]

Never knew the connection but that self-titled Circus of Power albums is pretty solid.. I still listen to it once in a while..

[DownUnderScott]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:57 AM, Twinaleblood said:

You're welcome, you're going to enjoy it a lot! 

Thanks for posting it mate, it was a great watch. I guess it’s not surprising that Axl sent out music with no vocals on it to him,  he would be worried that shit would leak…

Gary seems like a lovely guy.

[denin]

Cool interviews with Gary, who sounds like a swell guy.

Just those stories about the chicken coop made me scratch my head, as I think GS conflated the Rumbo & Village eras a bit. The way I see it, GS worked with Axl/Guns around '98-'99, which culminated with him recording additional bits to OMG (and maybe, IRS) at Rumbo. Around that time, Fortus & Bucket auditioned to replace Robin, I think. A year later Guns switch studios. Another six or so months and the coop is built on the suggestion of Tom Zutaut.

Then, come 2002 and Paul Tobias wants to check out. GS gets asked by Axl to audition at the Village, and that's when he sees the infamous chicken coop. Fortus auditions again, gets the gig, and GS is asked to stay 'available' for a while as the band goes on tour. Axls great guitar player shuffle. The same guys kept coming in for the same slot and then going out again for years on end. And he still couldn't make up his mind.

[GoodOlJohnnyK]

"Didn't want to learn blues guitar."

That sums up music in 2002 pretty well.