Slash interview (Classic Rock): More re-recorded CD leftovers are coming (no details)

[B5Redeye]

6 hours ago, mystery said:

It's an industry wide thing where artists are making a killing touring and the prices for tickets has shot through the roof the past 20 years. The NITL tour has managed to become one of the top grossing of all-time because of this.

This. When I see people complain about GNR ticket prices I wonder how long it’s been since they’ve been to a concert of any magnitude. Not all but I can tell you everyone we’ve seen the past year has been in the same ballpark.

[mystery]

On the flipside recorded music is kind of an afterthought now. Much less reliance on album sales which is why you see brand new albums put on YouTube and other streaming services when they're released. Same with Absurd and Hard Skool last year.

Edited January 12, 2022 by mystery

[oneway23]

3 hours ago, WhazUp said:

I was gonna say I would be surprised it came out because to me there is nothing great about the song itself, but Asburd came out so anything goes at this point I suppose lol

Not that I'd call it a toss-off, as that'd be a bit disrespectful, but, that's exactly why I like the song. 

Not a direct comparison, but, it's a bit like a "Used to Love Her", in that, barring the little drum machine bits, it sounds like one of the only songs from that era that they could feasibly just sit in a circle and jam on.  It doesn't sound like it has the weight of the world on its shoulders.  I absolutely love the CD era for a lot of reasons, but, much of the material ended up stiff and overwrought, and, Goin' Down just wasn't.

Plus, it has just a touch of the snotty defiance Tommy had in The 'Mats, if maybe just slightly a bit more mature. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by oneway23

[StrangerInThisTown]

6 hours ago, Nintari said:

I guess my argument is that Izzy was obviously responsible for building the bulk of the music (outside of Axl's piano stuff, of course), and that Slash and Duff were more complimentary. Sort of like a Christmas tree. Izzy provided the tree. Slash and Duff provided the ornaments. 

If you go by sheer quantity, but not quality. They simply chose to work on Izzys material because he wrote so much, that wouldn't mean without him they couldn't have written and filled the albums with insanely great songs too: they wrote Civil War, Locomotive, Don't Damn Me, Coma without him. On 2 of these he didn't even play. And I'd say all of those songs belong to the best in GNRs catalogue and have the signature sound. UYIs would have been just as great if they filled the album with more like that.

Edited January 12, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[Blackstar]

8 hours ago, Cosmo said:

They’re re-recording songs their replacements wrote and putting “Guns N’ Roses” on the songwriting credits so I don’t know how singing would be too different from  that, especially if he changes up the lyrics and melodies a bit like they’ve been doing with the instrumental parts. It’s not like these guys are not doing all of this for the money. 

The two songs that have been released so far were not written by their replacements.

[betterman]

Do we know who originally wrote Hard Skool? Its listed as Axl Rose only now? 

Absurd/silkworms was written by Dizzy, Pitman and Axl (Pitman no longer credited)

[rumandraisin]

31 minutes ago, betterman said:

Do we know who originally wrote Hard Skool? Its listed as Axl Rose only now? 

Absurd/silkworms was written by Dizzy, Pitman and Axl (Pitman no longer credited)

Arent they just credited to GNR now

[betterman]

44 minutes ago, rumandraisin said:

Arent they just credited to GNR now

I remember the press releases stating that Hard Skool was written by Axl Rose, but I guess that maybe Robin and Tobias was involved in the writings originally. 

Even Slash could (but doesnt seem to have) have writing credits as he has written an entirely new bridge and solo

[Blackstar]

33 minutes ago, betterman said:

I remember the press releases stating that Hard Skool was written by Axl Rose, but I guess that maybe Robin and Tobias was involved in the writings originally. 

Even Slash could (but doesnt seem to have) have writing credits as he has written an entirely new bridge and solo

Yes, Hard Skool is credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, and according to the press release it was written by Axl.

Absurd is also credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, but Slash and Duff (along with Axl and Dizzy) have credits on ASCAP and the other similar databases, which are about who gets royalties for writing it. Hard Skool hasn't appeared on any of these databases yet (which is odd, but maybe they saw we were looking and asked for the data not to be public?) However, there were writing credits for HS in the Billboard chart (which seem to be legit, based on the credits for other songs) and Axl, Slash, Duff and Dizzy were listed as writers.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Blackstar

[Tom2112]

8 hours ago, Nintari said:

I am basing my opinion on my own ears, not the accepted "mythology". As I said, I hear bits and pieces of GNR in Slash and Duff's music. But only bits and pieces. I don't hear complete songs that sound like anything on AFD and UYI. However, on Izzy's records, I do. And it's quite often.

But the part I think I failed to make clear is that even if Izzy's music sounds more like GNR on the whole, that doesn't mean those songs sound like complete GNR tracks. They don't. They sound like what they are: complete skeletons of what could be GNR tracks if Slash and Duff and Axl were apart of it.

I guess my argument is that Izzy was obviously responsible for building the bulk of the music (outside of Axl's piano stuff, of course), and that Slash and Duff were more complimentary. Sort of like a Christmas tree. Izzy provided the tree. Slash and Duff provided the ornaments. 

But I don't believe that was the case. On AFD Izzy was more involved? but by UYI he had taken a bit of a back seat and Slash was leading the pack. I'm going by Slash's book, so maybe he downplayed Izzy's role.

You could say what you're saying about a lot of Slash songs. Like if you listen to Withered Delilah, Avalon, Wicked Stone as a few examples (because I'm mainly familiar with WOF) both of those could easily be GNR songs, just imagine if Axl had sang them and maybe the others tweaked a little here and there! those songs could easily fit into the GNR catalogue. Withered Delilah has riff that could easily fit on UYI, Wicked stone is a clear descendent of Locomotive with that circular style snakey style riff... like I said though, in present form these are 100% Slash, add in input from the other guys and it gets a whole lot more familiar. It's the same thing with Izzy's solo music (which I haven't really dived into), it's very much song skeletons that could become GNR songs like you said, I view this as the same thing.

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, Hard Skool is credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, and according to the press release it was written by Axl.

Absurd is also credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, but Slash and Duff (along with Axl and Dizzy) have credits on ASCAP and the other similar databases, which are about who gets royalties for writing it. Hard Skool hasn't appeared on any of these databases yet (which is odd, but maybe they saw we were looking and asked for the data not to be public?) However, there were writing credits for HS in the Billboard chart (which seem to be legit, based on the credits for other songs) and Axl, Slash, Duff and Dizzy were listed as writers.

Also to add: Some Hard Skool credits that appeared on various sites crediting all the 1999 lineup are not the real/official credits. These fake credits originate from Genius.com (which works like wikipedia) from when the Village discs were leaked. Apparently fans added the HS leak to the Genius database and added credits they pulled out of their arse.

[themadcaplaughs]

On 1/11/2022 at 12:56 AM, mystery said:

Axl's kind of consistently said the band is his music so he didn't see much of a difference in going solo. There's also an interview Chris Vrenna (early CD member) gave where he asked Axl this and even Axl realized the brand that is Guns N' Roses.

I could see it being a lot like the 2009-2014 period if the reunion was a one-off. He wouldn't have made anywhere near the money he's made the last 5 years though. Probably still no record and probably an easier decision to retire around 60 without the massive draw of the reunion.

He said the exact opposite in the chats back in 2008. He said Chinese Democracy was a Guns N' Roses record, and that something solo would be more experimental and likely instrumental to a large degree. He did say he saw himself as the person to move GN'R into the next era after the Use Your Illusion albums, but that he felt Chinese Democracy very much represented a "band" record. 

[mystery]

6 hours ago, themadcaplaughs said:

He said the exact opposite in the chats back in 2008. He said Chinese Democracy was a Guns N' Roses record, and that something solo would be more experimental and likely instrumental to a large degree. He did say he saw himself as the person to move GN'R into the next era after the Use Your Illusion albums, but that he felt Chinese Democracy very much represented a "band" record. 

He's probably gone back and forth on this and may have said that as a hypothetical, I recall him saying that too. The discussion I was referring to was back in 1997 when CD was in its early stages so the context was different. It would've been cool to see Axl make a solo record like a lot of the other guys have but it'll probably never happen.

On your last part, I think he was honest in his intentions there. He let whoever was in the band record their own stuff and make contributions to the tracks he worked on. Axl did this sometimes to a fault which is why the final CD tracks are so overdone with parts by guys who weren't in the band at the same time. 

[ZoSoRose]

HS is a Lennon/McCartney song probably 

[Blackstar]

23 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, Hard Skool is credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, and according to the press release it was written by Axl.

Absurd is also credited to Guns N' Roses in the release credits, but Slash and Duff (along with Axl and Dizzy) have credits on ASCAP and the other similar databases, which are about who gets royalties for writing it. Hard Skool hasn't appeared on any of these databases yet (which is odd, but maybe they saw we were looking and asked for the data not to be public?) However, there were writing credits for HS in the Billboard chart (which seem to be legit, based on the credits for other songs) and Axl, Slash, Duff and Dizzy were listed as writers.

21 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Also to add: Some Hard Skool credits that appeared on various sites crediting all the 1999 lineup are not the real/official credits. These fake credits originate from Genius.com (which works like wikipedia) from when the Village discs were leaked. Apparently fans added the HS leak to the Genius database and added credits they pulled out of their arse.

Well, there are writing credits on the database of Universal Music Publishing, and the credited writers are Axl, Slash, Duff, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson and Josh Freese. But since the press release said it was written by Axl, maybe the NuGnR helped arrange it and now Slash and Duff rearranged it.

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Blackstar

[Blackstar]

The full interview:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t6732-2022-01-dd-classic-rock-interview-with-slash

[Rayno]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:53 AM, Nintari said:

I am basing my opinion on my own ears, not the accepted "mythology". As I said, I hear bits and pieces of GNR in Slash and Duff's music. But only bits and pieces. I don't hear complete songs that sound like anything on AFD and UYI. However, on Izzy's records, I do. And it's quite often.

But the part I think I failed to make clear is that even if Izzy's music sounds more like GNR on the whole, that doesn't mean those songs sound like complete GNR tracks. They don't. They sound like what they are: complete skeletons of what could be GNR tracks if Slash and Duff and Axl were apart of it.

I guess my argument is that Izzy was obviously responsible for building the bulk of the music (outside of Axl's piano stuff, of course), and that Slash and Duff were more complimentary. Sort of like a Christmas tree. Izzy provided the tree. Slash and Duff provided the ornaments. 

The christmas tree metaphore is a nice one. Duff says in his autobiography very clearly they were not able to write the old GNR way without Izzy. Slash said repeatedly the preVR sessions instantly and organically morphed into creating the best GNR record ever (Izzy came with skeletons of songs and they worked on them together). On the other hand Izzy's role in the band became smaller and smaller as years went by but we all know that.

[6lake sa66ath]

Can’t help but think the editors of the mag putting this quote in as very tongue in cheek with a reference to GN’R and the lack of new output

[DTV88]

13 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Well, there are writing credits on the database of Universal Music Publishing, and the credited writers are Axl, Slash, Duff, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson and Josh Freese. But since the press release said it was written by Axl, maybe the NuGnR helped arrange it and now Slash and Duff rearranged it.

 

I wonder if that just means that Axl wrote the lyrics himself. In that case, it would appear their replacements wrote the music before Slush rearranged it to their liking. Then again this is GNR so who really knows 

[WhazUp]

One thing that will be interesting to see is, if any of the locker leaks are worked on, how many of them will be changed massively chord progression-wise.  The bridge of Hard School is fairly different compared to the leak, it would be interesting to hear a Slash-ified Perhaps or Atlas

[StrangerInThisTown]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

One thing that will be interesting to see is, if any of the locker leaks are worked on, how many of them will be changed massively chord progression-wise.  The bridge of Hard School is fairly different compared to the leak, it would be interesting to hear a Slash-ified Perhaps or Atlas

A Slash-ified State Of Grace >>>>>>>

It's interesting we can compare these songs to earlier versions, we will probably never hear the original The General if they release it (other than it leaks from some hoarders)

Edited January 16, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[WhazUp]

27 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

A Slash-ified State Of Grace >>>>>>>

It's interesting we can compare these songs to earlier versions, we will probably never hear the original The General if they release it (other than it leaks from some hoarders)

I could totally imagine Slash rocking the hell out of SOG, adding cool little fills in the verses and a Slashy riff when it gets more rocking in the latter half!

[Chuzeville]

On 1/11/2022 at 8:53 PM, Nintari said:

I am basing my opinion on my own ears, not the accepted "mythology". As I said, I hear bits and pieces of GNR in Slash and Duff's music. But only bits and pieces. I don't hear complete songs that sound like anything on AFD and UYI. However, on Izzy's records, I do. And it's quite often.

Are any of these songs on the first Juju Hound record?

Back then, I remember being quite surprised that it didn't sound like GnR at all, even though Izzy was supposed to be the main creative force in the band.

[Gordon Comstock]

On 1/11/2022 at 5:53 PM, Nintari said:

I am basing my opinion on my own ears, not the accepted "mythology". As I said, I hear bits and pieces of GNR in Slash and Duff's music. But only bits and pieces. I don't hear complete songs that sound like anything on AFD and UYI. However, on Izzy's records, I do. And it's quite often.

But the part I think I failed to make clear is that even if Izzy's music sounds more like GNR on the whole, that doesn't mean those songs sound like complete GNR tracks. They don't. They sound like what they are: complete skeletons of what could be GNR tracks if Slash and Duff and Axl were apart of it.

I guess my argument is that Izzy was obviously responsible for building the bulk of the music (outside of Axl's piano stuff, of course), and that Slash and Duff were more complimentary. Sort of like a Christmas tree. Izzy provided the tree. Slash and Duff provided the ornaments. 

 

Izzy's album Like A Dog might be the closest to the "classic GNR" sound out of all the solo albums, but there's songs on CD and Slash/Duff albums that also sound like "skeletons" of what could be "classic GNR songs" IMO.

[WhazUp]

I think that ultimately none of them really can capture the same amazingness apart as they could together, just either elements or basic skeletal versions of what could *potentially* be given the GNR greatness bump

 

With Izzy's solo material you have the skeletal aspects of what could be turned into some nice bluesy rockers or acousticy type jams such as AFD and Lies

With Axl you have the scope of epicness he wanted to go for, and the overall grander visions but only sometimes could reach the heights he did with old GNR

Slash has the riffs, overall rocking vibe and his signature guitar sound and style in every aspect, that screams GNR

With Duff, similar to Izzy but to a slightly lesser extent