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Old GNR Interview
Hit Parader: How did the five of you get together?
Axl: This lineup has been together for two years. Izzy and I have been playing
together for about 12 years. He started out on drums, then switched to bass and
finally guitar. At one point he was singing and I was playing keyboards and
bass.
Izzy: I couldn't sing, so that didn't work out! (Laughs)
Axl: Then, about three years ago, I was in a band called Hollywood Rose and then
another one called LA Guns, which is how I got to know the rest of the guys.
Eventually we decided that this was the right lineup and that we were gonna
stick together.
HP: But isn't LA Guns still around?
Axl: Yeah, but during the time I was in LA Guns, Izzy and I started doing stuff
on the side and calling it Guns N' Roses. Meanwhile, the other band I was in got
sick of me sitting around and saying, "Slash would be great for this..."
Finally, I got myself kicked out of that band by putting on a pair of ripped up
black jeans and a spray-painted pink and black biker jacket, doing my hair,
putting full makeup on and running all around the stage and out into the crowd
one night. The guitarist freaked out 'cause it was his band and he was used to
getting all the attention. So, before I could say, "I quit," he kicked me out. I
said, "Yeeahhhl" It was great!
Izzy: Some of the songs on our EP were written during that time.
HP: Speaking of Live Like A Suicide, why did you release a 4-song EP on your own
when you'd already signed with Geffen Records for a full-length LP? Why not just
put out the album with some of the songs from the EP included?
Slash: Because we wanted an inexpensive dedication to all the kids who helped us
get by when we were really low and had no money and were living in abandoned
apartments. The kind of record that not everyone will have, because we're only
printing 10,000 copies initially.
Izzy: Also, there was some material which won't be on the Geffen album that
people who have been going to our shows from the very beginning like to hear.
Some of them are cover tunes -Aerosmith and Rose Tattoo stuff.
HP: What is the truth behind the rumor that Paul Stanley of Kiss was going to
produce the EP?
Axl: Well, we worked with Spencer Proffer on our demo tape, then Paul came to us
because he was interested in producing. Slash had him come over and I sat down
and talked production with him and played him the demo. He wanted to rewrite two
of our very favorite songs, so it was over right then and there.
HP: Is it because you don't want anyone tampering with your individual style?
Izzy: We do what we want. We have a raunchy type attitude. I don't wanna say
"punk" attitude, but we definitely are raunchy. Now that we've gotten signed,
there are all these bands coming out, trying to be tough. We've already changed
the music scene in LA.
Axl: But we don't do something specifically because we know it will work. We
just go out and do what we want. We walk into any place we play and kick ass.
HP: You mentioned that the EP is a tribute to those who helped you when you
were broke. How tough was it for you in the beginning?
Slash: We lived in a one room studio with holes in the ceiling. We got rained on
a lot.
lzzy: Which is good 'cause we had no shower.
Axl: We stole wood, built a loft and slept above the equipment. But, you know,
we almost miss it. Every weekend, the biggest party in L.A. was down at our
place. We'd have 500 people packed in an alley and our old roadie was selling
beers for a buck out of his trunk. It was like a bar and everyone had their
whiskey. We could get away with whatever we wanted, except when the cops came.
HP: Did things ever get carried away?
Axl: If there was a problem with someone, we'd escort them out. By "escort," I
mean we'd drag 'em out by their hair down the alley, naked.
HP: How nice! What about your shows? What was the most outrageous show you've
done so far?
Axl: We played the Los Angeles "Street Scene" concert for 5,000 people in
downtown LA. We only got to do 4 songs before the crowd went crazy on us.
Izzy: They knocked the place down and they were climbing up onstage.
Axl: We did a song called They're Out To Get Me and the kids started throwing 60
gallon oil drums at the cops. The crowd went fuckin' bananas. All these kids
-punk rockers, heavy metal kids, everyone - just going nuts. If I would have
said, "Tear up downtown!" all of downtown L.A. would have been rubble. But the
fire marshalls made us stop playing 'cause all those oil drums were spilling
liquid into the electrical system and we were gonna get fried if we stayed
onstage. That would have been really heavy!
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