Axl Voice could have a comeback?

[SoulMonster]

On 8/7/2023 at 12:25 AM, Jw224 said:

I doubt Axl has done anything to preserve his voice.

We know he rigorously does warm-up and cooldown techniques for every show, and we know he has worked with a coach irregularly over the years when he has felt is was needed.

[DeNfr]

 

who was his coach in 2006? I wanna talk to that guy

[Ratam]

5 hours ago, DeNfr said:

 

who was his coach in 2006? I wanna talk to that guy

If Axl coach was Anderson i think he is dead.

[kingcanyon]

2 hours ago, Ratam said:

If Axl coach was Anderson i think he is dead.

i thought it was Sebastian Bach's vocal coach? and then Ron Anderson was in 2016

[DeNfr]

“But I have to say Axl Rose’s voice is amazing, truly one of a kind. I’ve changed hundreds of singers in terms of tone and technique over the years, though he definitely tops the list. I was there for a lot of the classic Guns N’ Roses years and tours, which was pretty wild!”

Ron Anderson 

+ Axl said he knew him for 35 years when he passed away in 2021

 

[Blackstar]

6 minutes ago, DeNfr said:

“But I have to say Axl Rose’s voice is amazing, truly one of a kind. I’ve changed hundreds of singers in terms of tone and technique over the years, though he definitely tops the list. I was there for a lot of the classic Guns N’ Roses years and tours, which was pretty wild!”

Ron Anderson 

+ Axl said he knew him for 35 years when he passed away in 2021

 

Axl started working with Ron Anderson when GN'R were signed in 1986.

54 minutes ago, kingcanyon said:

i thought it was Sebastian Bach's vocal coach? and then Ron Anderson was in 2016

Sebastian Bach's vocal coach just gave him some vocal exercises. He didn't actually work with him.

[IrishgunnerII]

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Axl started working with Ron Anderson when GN'R were signed in 1986.

Sebastian Bach's vocal coach just gave him some vocal exercises. He didn't actually work with him.

Was that that vocal coach that helped axl after the first Hammerstein show where I think he lost his voice ?

[evilfacelessturtle]

What are people's thoughts about Axl using a distortion effect on his mic?

I have to say, if Ron Anderson was there from day one, he oversaw Axl ruining his voice. Doesn't seem like a great coach, unless Axl just ignored his advice every time. This means Anderson told him it was okay to go onstage at the Ritz 1991 sounding like that? Or destroying his throat like that Indiana 1991 Perfect Crime performance? Maybe a new coach is just what he needs. Not that I'm happy the guy died or anything, of course.

On 9/12/2022 at 6:10 PM, Billy Cundy said:

now the bitching and complaining has ceased, but so has the rasp. Maybe that’s the pay off. Axl’s voice is something of an affect, his gift was being able to create that sound and keep it in tune. It wasn’t his natural voice. Steven Tyler still sounds remarkably good because his singing voice is basically his speaking voice, they’re tonally very similar. Bon Scott was the same, he could belt a set because he was amplifying his speaking voice/register. Axl had this crazy demonic screech he could affect but it was so physically taxing that it came and went, and now he’s approaching retirement age, it likely will not return.

I agree, the only thing that baffles me is that Brian Johnson puts on a crazy rasp and only got more raspy with age. Axl should ask him what his technique is. It may not sound like classic Axl rasp, but it would be better than Mickey. Cornell had to change his technique to save his voice and nobody complained.

On 8/12/2023 at 3:40 PM, Gordon Comstock said:

As hit-or-miss as Axl is, at least he hasn't resorted to... whatever the fuck is going on with Baz.

 

 

Obviously the rhythm guitarist doing a backup.

[Blackstar]

46 minutes ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

I have to say, if Ron Anderson was there from day one, he oversaw Axl ruining his voice. Doesn't seem like a great coach, unless Axl just ignored his advice every time. This means Anderson told him it was okay to go onstage at the Ritz 1991 sounding like that? Or destroying his throat like that Indiana 1991 Perfect Crime performance? Maybe a new coach is just what he needs. Not that I'm happy the guy died or anything, of course.

Ron Anderson was also Chris Cornell's and many others singers' vocal coach (iMyles Kennedy's, too), so there's no question about his credentials.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/ron-anderson-interview-singing-tips

I think Axl often just forgot about the technique in the heat of the moment when he was on stage. He actually admitted it in this interview from 1988:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t4361-1988-11-dd-blast-axl-rose-explains-how-he-has-guns-n-roses-by-the-throat

Edited February 11 by Blackstar

[Blackstar]

2 hours ago, IrishgunnerII said:

Was that that vocal coach that helped axl after the first Hammerstein show where I think he lost his voice ?

I don't think I have heard the story about Axl losing his voice then. But Don Lawrence (Sebastian Bach's vocal coach) has mentioned that he first met Axl in a hotel room in Manhattan (after Bach recommended him):

“If anyone’s serious about singing, they should work with Don,” says rock vocalist Sebastian Bach. When Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose asked Mr. Bach how he gets his pipes ready for touring, Mr. Bach recommended Mr. Lawrence and made Mr. Rose a copy of his warm-up tape. (Both singers are known for their high-pitched screams.)

A decade ago, Mr. Lawrence met Mr. Rose in a Manhattan hotel room just a few hours before a gig. After some reluctance, Mr. Rose took to Mr. Lawrence’s exercises; they’ve worked two more times since. “To this day, Axl warms up to [a tape of] me—warming up with Don,” Mr. Bach says.

https://archive.ph/KgpoM

[W. Axl Kev]

On 9/12/2022 at 5:47 PM, darkside259 said:

We witnes the fenix nature of Axl voice in 2006/10 when he went full god mode, and then again in 16s  we saw the fenix with AXL/DC n GNR.

Now we facing a dark time for Axl in terms of vocal range and this could be atributed to the extension of the tour, some might said is becouse the voice is "shot" due to the "way of sing" or "technique" Axl used all this years an in specific  16s with AXL/DC, That this could be terminal to his vocal chords  but if this were true....  is permanent? 

migh be a way for Axl to gaing back his signature voice? an operation? rest? time? 

 we saw Axl in darks times and the people give him for death in terms of voice like in 2001 or 2013/14.

i know the actual state of axl s voice is worst than ever, but could be a rebirth? a fenix era again?  

the death of his all life vocal coach Ron Anderson doesn t help to the matter but is another coach in contact with Axl? 

i personally think that Axl is a rocky case and always has surprises under his many hats.

 

 

I'm not sure if I get the point of this but I guess the fun is in discussing it. I liken it to an athlete. Typically (outside of the NFL) and athlete is their prime between the ages of 28 and 32. Beyond that the physical talent begins to diminish. In this regard you'd have to consider Axl like a sprinter in running, a striker/winger in football/soccer or a sprinter in cycling. His supreme skillset lay in performing the extreme. Some singers have preserved that over time by slowing down songs, dropping octaves but few (and none that I can think of) have managed to maintain that grit in their voice. Rod Stewart still has an element of that but he's pushing 80 and the crowd does most the work for him.

Anyway, taking all of that into account, realistically Axl's voice has never sounded like 1992/93 ever again. We look back now on 2002/2006/2010/2016 and talk about how great it was but a number of us were on this forum for all those years (me being one of them) where his voice was slaughtered then for not being what it was. It's just recency bias. I saw them live twice last summer and he sounded tremendous. I'm sure YouTube can prove me wrong but my (and our) memory is what matters.

[Original]

Anybody read about Jon Bon Jovi?  He had pretty serious vocal surgery about 2 years ago.  He has only sang live since and wants to tour again but knows it might be over.  He said he needs to get the voice to be able to handle 2.5 hours a night 4 days a week to make touring possible again.  Not sure if any type of surgery would help Axl or if father time has just caught up with our hero.  No matter- the artists that actually sing live are dwindling, so we best appreciate them. -      https://ew.com/jon-bon-jovi-vocal-cord-surgery-recovering-tca-8575667#:~:text=The Grammy-winning Bon Jovi,19 months ago%2C PEOPLE reports.

 

[El Nono Pololo]

On 2/10/2024 at 9:19 PM, evilfacelessturtle said:

I agree, the only thing that baffles me is that Brian Johnson puts on a crazy rasp and only got more raspy with age. Axl should ask him what his technique is. It may not sound like classic Axl rasp, but it would be better than Mickey. Cornell had to change his technique to save his voice and nobody complained.

Brian has always sounded like a pirate when not singing, even when he was much younger, so his vocal cords must have a lot of natural scar tissue. He's denied ever having nodules, though.

Also, Brian apparently hates vocal coaches (thinks they're all fakes), and his technique boils down to never actually warming up or practicing (except by screaming "whooooOUP!" before going onstage, as he demonstrated to Jim Breuer during one of his radio shows). In any case, Brian's lost a LOT of power, range and flexibility over the years (esp. after Flick on the Switch), and his increasing nasality made him start sounding Donald Duck-esque during the Blow Up Your Video years onwards. He did sort of learn to make the best of what's was left. He came back with force with Stiff Upper Lip, IMHO. Over all, probably not the best singer to get technical tips from. (Not so long ago an interviewer asked him how he could sing like that for so long and he basically just said something like: "Ah me son, you've got to be very STRONG, you see", which is probably as detailed as he's willing to go).

[evilfacelessturtle]

20 hours ago, El Nono Pololo said:

Brian has always sounded like a pirate when not singing, even when he was much younger, so his vocal cords must have a lot of natural scar tissue. He's denied ever having nodules, though.

Also, Brian apparently hates vocal coaches (thinks they're all fakes), and his technique boils down to never actually warming up or practicing (except by screaming "whooooOUP!" before going onstage, as he demonstrated to Jim Breuer during one of his radio shows). In any case, Brian's lost a LOT of power, range and flexibility over the years (esp. after Flick on the Switch), and his increasing nasality made him start sounding Donald Duck-esque during the Blow Up Your Video years onwards. He did sort of learn to make the best of what's was left. He came back with force with Stiff Upper Lip, IMHO. Over all, probably not the best singer to get technical tips from. (Not so long ago an interviewer asked him how he could sing like that for so long and he basically just said something like: "Ah me son, you've got to be very STRONG, you see", which is probably as detailed as he's willing to go).

I believe Brian has admitted to working with coaches occasionally, and I think his claims about not warming up are a bit of exaggeration (the whole band is prone to it). But yes, he is generally not a trained singer.

I've never heard him deny nodules. He almost certainly had them removed in 2003/2004. There's no other way his voice could have suddenly gotten so clean and regained so much range. He definitely has admitted his lungs were drained of fluid in 2003.

I just don't understand why the damage would make Brian more raspy, but Axl less raspy.

[IrishgunnerII]

On 2/11/2024 at 1:30 AM, Blackstar said:

I don't think I have heard the story about Axl losing his voice then. But Don Lawrence (Sebastian Bach's vocal coach) has mentioned that he first met Axl in a hotel room in Manhattan (after Bach recommended him):

“If anyone’s serious about singing, they should work with Don,” says rock vocalist Sebastian Bach. When Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose asked Mr. Bach how he gets his pipes ready for touring, Mr. Bach recommended Mr. Lawrence and made Mr. Rose a copy of his warm-up tape. (Both singers are known for their high-pitched screams.)

A decade ago, Mr. Lawrence met Mr. Rose in a Manhattan hotel room just a few hours before a gig. After some reluctance, Mr. Rose took to Mr. Lawrence’s exercises; they’ve worked two more times since. “To this day, Axl warms up to [a tape of] me—warming up with Don,” Mr. Bach says.

https://archive.ph/KgpoM

Went and found where I must have seen it. GNRontour is the source of this. The second Hammerstein gig in 2006 this is what it says about axl. “Axl tells the crowd how Sebastian Bach saved the day, as when he woke up, he'd lost his voice, and he saw a vocal coach to get his voice back.”

[Voodoochild]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:38 PM, evilfacelessturtle said:

I just don't understand why the damage would make Brian more raspy, but Axl less raspy.

I think it's like when you smoke a lot and your voice sounds like you're a washed up and tired old Donald Duck. In Axl's case, it would be a different damage, more to do with his vocal cords not stretching as much just because he's older. 

[jamillos]

Or it's like any other organ that reacts differently in individual cases. I love broccoli, and there are people who are alergic to it. 

When I stretch, my muscles hurt. When a gym guy doesn't stretch, his muscles hurt (I imagine). 

Bad examples, but you know what I mean. 

[IrishgunnerII]

Was Axl’s always destined to end up like it is ? I mean during the UYI tour, there are times where it sounds like he gargled bleach. Obviously he didn’t but that can’t have been good regardless of how amazing his voice was. 
 

Maybe it’s been mentioned before, but does anyone think the fact he didn’t sing live from the RNRHOF in 1994 until whenever he sang with Gilby in 2000 played a part ? 
 

 

[evilfacelessturtle]

12 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

I think it's like when you smoke a lot and your voice sounds like you're a washed up and tired old Donald Duck. In Axl's case, it would be a different damage, more to do with his vocal cords not stretching as much just because he's older. 

Good point. Do we know when/if Axl stopped smoking? He was obviously never a smoker quite like Slash or Brian Johnson.

 

10 hours ago, IrishgunnerII said:

Was Axl’s always destined to end up like it is ? I mean during the UYI tour, there are times where it sounds like he gargled bleach. Obviously he didn’t but that can’t have been good regardless of how amazing his voice was. 
 

Maybe it’s been mentioned before, but does anyone think the fact he didn’t sing live from the RNRHOF in 1994 until whenever he sang with Gilby in 2000 played a part ? 
 

 

 

This is something I never understood. How does his voice get the most damage when he's not touring? Did it just take that long for the UYI tour damage to fully take effect? That's one way he is similar to Brian Johnson; the change in voice seems to happen between tours in their down time. Strange.

[Tom2112]

18 minutes ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

Good point. Do we know when/if Axl stopped smoking? He was obviously never a smoker quite like Slash or Brian Johnson.

 

 

This is something I never understood. How does his voice get the most damage when he's not touring? Did it just take that long for the UYI tour damage to fully take effect? That's one way he is similar to Brian Johnson; the change in voice seems to happen between tours in their down time. Strange.

If you're not exercising your voice regularly the muscle weakens, so then when the tour comes around and you haven't sang a 2.5hr show in 6 months the muscles are not going to work the way they did. 

Some singers are freaks of nature and they can not tour for months and then hit the stage without even warming up... others have to work, Axl is on the latter side of things, and the guys that don't practice and warm up generally drop keys. Like Sammy Hagar, he sings his full show at home when he's off the road just to keep things oiled. Use it or lose it. What the hell do I know though, it's possible Axl sings every day off tour... it just doesn't like that.

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

Good point. Do we know when/if Axl stopped smoking? He was obviously never a smoker quite like Slash or Brian Johnson.

We don't know exactly when he quit smoking (cigarettes), but it was somewhere between 1994/95 and 2000. He was smoking cigars after that, not sure if/when he stopped that.

[Gordon Comstock]

22 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

We don't know exactly when he quit smoking (cigarettes), but it was somewhere between 1994/95 and 2000. He was smoking cigars after that, not sure if/when he stopped that.

 

He probably still smokes weed and cigars sometimes. We have no idea obviously, but he was taking puffs from joints that were thrown on stage as late as 2017... but wouldn't his penchant for tequila be more damaging than occasionally smoking?

[evilfacelessturtle]

21 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

If you're not exercising your voice regularly the muscle weakens, so then when the tour comes around and you haven't sang a 2.5hr show in 6 months the muscles are not going to work the way they did. 

Some singers are freaks of nature and they can not tour for months and then hit the stage without even warming up... others have to work, Axl is on the latter side of things, and the guys that don't practice and warm up generally drop keys. Like Sammy Hagar, he sings his full show at home when he's off the road just to keep things oiled. Use it or lose it. What the hell do I know though, it's possible Axl sings every day off tour... it just doesn't like that.

I get that, but if that were really the issue, his voice would have gotten better from 2010-2014. I'm not talking about how long he can last onstage, but how his voice sounds.

[Tom2112]

5 hours ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

I get that, but if that were really the issue, his voice would have gotten better from 2010-2014. I'm not talking about how long he can last onstage, but how his voice sounds.

I don't think there's a silver bullet issue explaining 201-2014. Why did he sound dramatically different in 2011 I have no idea, but I think it's a combination of things technique being one of things