Ashba says Axl didn't do anything with his demos

[themadcaplaughs]

9 hours ago, Stress Fracture said:

So Ashba was Axl’s first choice over Richard for NITL. Pitman was given the chance of staying on too.

Things could have been so much worse.

In some random interview (forget if it was Trunk), the interviewer directly asked Ron about the rumor of DJ Ashba being part of the "reunion". IIRC Ron speculated (but made it clear he did not know) that it would have been like when Axl considered having both Brian and Frank drum on the tours following the release of Chinese Democracy (the rumor at that time was that Brain would drum on the Chinese Democracy material and Frank would drum on Appetite and Use Your Illusion songs). So, Ron's guess was that DJ would have played on Chinese Democracy stuff, and Slash would have played all of the songs on which he originally played. Bear in mind that Axl, Duff, and Slash have all said the plan, up until the last minute, was for nothing more than the Coachella shows. So, DJ being DJ, probably transformed "Axl offered me a glorified cameo at a few shows" into "I was asked to be part of the NITL tour". 

[Italian girl]

Too much hate for a kind guy

[Beto 22]

10 hours ago, Stress Fracture said:

So Ashba was Axl’s first choice over Richard for NITL. Pitman was given the chance of staying on too.

Things could have been so much worse.

I don't think Ashba was chosen over Richard. I believe Richard would be there anyway filling for Bucket/Bumble parts and Ashba would replace Robin solos with slash doin' his parts and continue with the 3 guitars approach 

[Seb91]

32 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

In some random interview (forget if it was Trunk), the interviewer directly asked Ron about the rumor of DJ Ashba being part of the "reunion". IIRC Ron speculated (but made it clear he did not know) that it would have been like when Axl considered having both Brian and Frank drum on the tours following the release of Chinese Democracy (the rumor at that time was that Brain would drum on the Chinese Democracy material and Frank would drum on Appetite and Use Your Illusion songs). So, Ron's guess was that DJ would have played on Chinese Democracy stuff, and Slash would have played all of the songs on which he originally played. Bear in mind that Axl, Duff, and Slash have all said the plan, up until the last minute, was for nothing more than the Coachella shows. So, DJ being DJ, probably transformed "Axl offered me a glorified cameo at a few shows" into "I was asked to be part of the NITL tour". 

I wouldn't be surprised if the plan was to have the same three guitar setup with Slash replacing Bumble who'd quit and Duff replacing Tommy who'd left (Duff was pretty much in the band then anyway though). I think if the reunion hadn't have worked out that would have been it for Axl/Guns really. They'd milked the touring dry pre-reunion and anything less of a Slash/Duff/Axl lineup post-reunion would have been a disappointment to many. I'd still loved to have seen a full reunion of the UYI lineup though just to make things different. Would be weird to have DJ purely playing on the nuGuns stuff considering he's not on Chinese but I guess with Bumble gone that was it pretty much.  

 

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

My guess is that the reasons Ashba was brought in didn't have so much to do with either his writing ability or his guitar chops. I think he was chosen because he was a relatively known name and had an image that could be appealing to a younger audience, so that he could be a "star" in the touring band. The fact that he's from Indiana may have had something to do as well; Axl seems to feel a bond with people who are from there.

Tommy said he wished he could take Going Down back, so he doesn't own the rights to it.

Yes, that's it.

Yeah, he did seem to really bond with Axl and the fact that he was offered a slot in the reunion does show Axl enjoyed having him around. Shame Tommy can't take the song back but c'est la vie, I suppose at least people have heard it now so it didn't completely go to waste. 

 

5 hours ago, CubanSkies Dummy said:

So, Ashba has a great gem in his hands (even Bach and Rose praise that tune). But well, that's life. 

 

I would prefer Bumblefoot to Richard.

And I certainly prefer Pitman to that girl.

Agreed re Bumble - next to Bucket he's my favourite of the nuGuns guitarists and thought he was a great replacement - really enjoy his musical output as well. Seems he was sick of playing other people's parts night after night though so can't imagine a reunion would have changed that and indeed he left knowing one was in the works. Agree Pitman's talented, I guess he regrets getting drunk and going on Twitter! 

Edited January 6, 2022 by BassistSeb

[Blackstar]

40 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

In some random interview (forget if it was Trunk), the interviewer directly asked Ron about the rumor of DJ Ashba being part of the "reunion". IIRC Ron speculated (but made it clear he did not know) that it would have been like when Axl considered having both Brian and Frank drum on the tours following the release of Chinese Democracy (the rumor at that time was that Brain would drum on the Chinese Democracy material and Frank would drum on Appetite and Use Your Illusion songs). So, Ron's guess was that DJ would have played on Chinese Democracy stuff, and Slash would have played all of the songs on which he originally played. Bear in mind that Axl, Duff, and Slash have all said the plan, up until the last minute, was for nothing more than the Coachella shows. So, DJ being DJ, probably transformed "Axl offered me a glorified cameo at a few shows" into "I was asked to be part of the NITL tour". 

This scenario, even if it was just for Coachella, doesn't add up much, considering that there were also negotiations with Izzy to play at those initially planned shows, so how many guitarists would be there, four?

[Sweersa]

Just now, Blackstar said:

This scenario, even if it was just for Coachella, doesn't add up much, considering that there were also negotiations with Izzy to play at those initially planned shows, so how many guitarists would be there, four?

I've heard rumors that Fortus was originally not considered for the reunion lineup. 

[Blackstar]

4 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

I've heard rumors that Fortus was originally not considered for the reunion lineup. 

I don't know about the rumours (from "insiders", I guess), but Fortus himself said that he didn't know if he would be there because they could have gotten Izzy. However, given that Axl would want CD songs in the set, I don't know if that could work with Izzy. I don't know, maybe in the very beginning Axl didn't know if Slash would be willing to play CD songs (or he didn't think he would), so he thought he'd have someone else for those, but since Slash played them it ended there.

[rocknroll41]

3 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I don't know about the rumours (from "insiders", I guess), but Fortus himself said that he didn't know if he would be there because they could have gotten Izzy. However, given that Axl would want CD songs in the set, I don't know if that could work with Izzy. I don't know, maybe in the very beginning Axl didn't know if Slash would be willing to play CD songs (or he didn't think he would), so he thought he'd have someone else for those, but since Slash played them it ended there.

Axl said at the China Exchange 2016 interview that he didn’t think they were gonna do ChiDem songs but then Slash suggested they should during the January rehearsals at Mates that year. So then Axl offered to sing Coma again as a way of saying “thank you” to him for that.

[Blackstar]

Just now, rocknroll41 said:

Axl said at the China Exchange 2016 interview that he didn’t think they were gonna do ChiDem songs but then Slash suggested they should during the January rehearsals at Mates that year. So then Axl offered to sing Coma again as a way of saying “thank you” to him for that.

Well yeah, but I don't think it happened exactly as Axl said regarding the CD songs Slash said that these songs would be part of the set anyway since they were part of Axl's catalogue, so they rehearsed them. My guess is that Duff had told Slash beforehand that Axl would want those songs to be played and would be pleased if Slash played them.

Axl didn't say that about Coma along those lines (i.e. that he sang it as a reward for Slash playing CD songs). He just said that apart from CD songs the other song he enjoyed singing was Coma, and he brought it in the set thinking it would make both Slash and the fans happy, and it was also a "suitable" song for him to sing while sitting on the chair.

[themadcaplaughs]

47 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

This scenario, even if it was just for Coachella, doesn't add up much, considering that there were also negotiations with Izzy to play at those initially planned shows, so how many guitarists would be there, four?

None of it adds up to much; lots of conflicting stories with 2015/16 negotiations, and we'll probably never have a clear answer on the whole thing. Knowing Axl (and honestly Slash as well) I am sure many different ideas were being thrown around at different points, and if you took it all at face value, you would have had a band with Frank/Izzy/DJ/Steven/Matt/Gilby  

I know certain wrestlers at different points said (and @Blackstar, before you jump in I do not claim that we should take anything at face value; just stating up front before you make an obligatory post saying that) throughout 2015/16 that: 

-Steven and Izzy were, at different points, definitely 100% "in"; 

-There was at least one instance in 2016 where all of the Appetite five were in the same room together;

-At the outset, Duff and Slash both really pushed for Matt Sorum, but were told after a few attempts this was a no-go for Axl; 

-One of Slash's big demands were that he, under no conditions, would be on stage in a situation where three guitarists played (which either debunks DJ entirely or means Slash would have sat out Chinese Democracy songs); 

-At one point, Slash made some last minute monetary play at the eleventh hour that almost made Axl walk away from the whole thing. 

Again, take all of this for what you will. Point remains that, we have a lot of competing memories and interests and are bound to get some conflicting stories. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by themadcaplaughs

[Blackstar]

17 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

None of it adds up to much; lots of conflicting stories with 2015/16 negotiations, and we'll probably never have a clear answer on the whole thing. Knowing Axl (and honestly Slash as well) I am sure many different ideas were being thrown around at different points, and if you took it all at face value, you would have had a band with Frank/Izzy/DJ/Steven/Matt/Gilby  

I know certain wrestlers at different points said (and @Blackstar, before you jump in I do not claim that we should take anything at face value; just stating up front before you make an obligatory post saying that) throughout 2015/16 that: 

-Steven and Izzy were, at different points, definitely 100% "in"; 

-There was at least one instance in 2016 where all of the Appetite five were in the same room together;

-At the outset, Duff and Slash both really pushed for Matt Sorum, but were told after a few attempts this was a no-go for Axl; 

-One of Slash's big demands were that he, under no conditions, would be on stage in a situation where three guitarists played (which either debunks DJ entirely or means Slash would have sat out Chinese Democracy songs); 

-At one point, Slash made some last minute monetary play at the eleventh hour that almost made Axl walk away from the whole thing. 

Again, take all of this for what you will. Point remains that, we have a lot of competing memories and interests and are bound to get some conflicting stories. 

Well, as I said the other time, I think there may be truth to some of these (namely about Sorum and the three guitarists) , because I can guess who the original source was (I know there were other people who had had the same info after talking to someone who had talked to that original source). However, some of the things that person (the original source) said were proven wrong.

[themadcaplaughs]

16 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Well, as I said the other time, I think there may be truth to some of these (namely about Sorum and the three guitarists) , because I can guess who the original source was (I know there were other people who had had the same info after talking to someone who had talked to that original source). However, some of the things that person (the original source) said were proven wrong.

Couldn't help yourself huh...

In all seriousness, what was proven incorrect? I distanced myself from all that b.s. shortly after NITL started. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by themadcaplaughs

[Blackstar]

14 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

Couldn't help yourself huh...

In all seriousness, what was proven incorrect? I distanced myself from all that b.s. shortly after NITL started. 

I'm not talking about the wrestler, but about the person I suspect was his source (directly or through someone else) for that information. That person said some things in public later regarding Izzy that turned out to be rather false. Also Adler said in 2017 that he hadn't seen Izzy since 2008 (they'd only talked on the phone), so it doesn't seem that the AFD 5 were ever in the same room in 2016.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Blackstar

[Coma16]

Wasn't one of the rumors that the other guitarist from VR was going to be involved?

[StrangerInThisTown]

5 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

Wasn't one of the rumors that the other guitarist from VR was going to be involved?

Yes, and he tweeted about how excited he was when he heard that rumour

[WhazUp]

It would have been hilarious to look onstage and see this exact situation in person

 

[Gordon Comstock]

1 hour ago, themadcaplaughs said:

-One of Slash's big demands were that he, under no conditions, would be on stage in a situation where three guitarists played (which either debunks DJ entirely or means Slash would have sat out Chinese Democracy songs);

 

Slash: under no circumstance will I play a song in a GNR set with 2 other guitar players.

Axl: hey guys, this is Angus, he's joining us for a few songs.

Slash: well played, you ginger bastard.

[Beto 22]

I believe that the Izzy, Steven were guest spots. Like Izzy did in 2006/12 and Steven in 2016.  In a bigger picture Steven would play Appetite songs with Izzy, Izzy would play some songs with Slash and Fotus  and the rest would be what we're seeing since the reunion.

I never believed Slash demanded the  no 3 guitar players . It sounds bullshit. The money play is something he would do and could have damaged the whole thing

[WhazUp]

3 hours ago, Italian girl said:

Too much hate for a kind guy

I liked his enthusiasm in the band, but at times he seemed a bit try-hard to me - like that "badass hotel" story he shared in an interview.  That and his Patience solo really was it for me lol

[Freightrain]

Shocking!!

[Live Like a Suicide]

14 hours ago, Blackstar said:

When Fernando was asked the last time he was on here, he seemed to rather mock the notion that DJ Ashba was ever considered for the reunion, so I don't know what to believe about it:

 

It may be more likely that Axl rang Ashba up knowing he wouldn't be a part of the reunion, but still mentioned considering him for it as a way to soften the blow.

[Ixtlan]

5 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I don't know about the rumours (from "insiders", I guess), but Fortus himself said that he didn't know if he would be there because they could have gotten Izzy. However, given that Axl would want CD songs in the set, I don't know if that could work with Izzy. I don't know, maybe in the very beginning Axl didn't know if Slash would be willing to play CD songs (or he didn't think he would), so he thought he'd have someone else for those, but since Slash played them it ended there.

I don’t think Izzy wanted to be in the band, much less play CD material. 

[-W.A.R-]

9 hours ago, Blackstar said:

My guess is that the reasons Ashba was brought in didn't have so much to do with either his writing ability or his guitar chops. I think he was chosen because he was a relatively known name and had an image that could be appealing to a younger audience, so that he could be a "star" in the touring band. The fact that he's from Indiana may have had something to do as well; Axl seems to feel a bond with people who are from there.

I just think he wanted to fulfill his Dave Navarro fantasy and have a guitar player that wears eyeliner

Edited January 7, 2022 by -W.A.R-

[Pele]

Ashba says Axl didn't do anything with his demos

What a surprise.

[Bitchisback]

Somewhere in a landill there is a demo with a GnR album written by ASHBA.  Start digging fellas