Bryan “Brain” Mantia Talks Chinese Democracy
Brain gets asked to do a lot of interesting things these days, like playing time on a wagon wheel while recording with Tom Waits in an abandoned country church, or keeping a drumkit set up for six years in a haunted Masonic hall while working on Guns N’ Roses’ long-awaited latest album, Chinese Democracy. “Those situations are kind of opposite, but in a sense they’re the same,” the drummer suggests. “They’re different scenarios, but they’re both overblown. Somehow I feel comfortable in those situations. I don’t do too many studio sessions where I just show up with my set and read a chart. I’m used to getting involved and being part of the production and the ridiculousness of whatever it is. I just gravitate more toward that.”
Mantia was born in 1964, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Cupertino, and was first alerted to the skins by stickmen like John Bonham and the drummers of James Brown. He got serious in high school and cemented some chops at PIT in Hollywood, and in the late 1980s he played in the popular San Francisco party band Limbomaniacs. In the ’90s he hooked up with producer Bill Laswell for several interesting projects and did a stint with his longtime pal Les Claypool in Primus. Brain now lives in the Oakland hills with his wife and two-year-old daughter, near his recording space at Studio 880, where he spends time on turntables and traps.
Today Brain is developing a new funk project called SociaLibrium, and he hopes to be on the road this summer with Guns N’ Roses in support of Chinese Democracy.
MD: I’ve never heard anything quite like Tom Waits’ Real Gone album.
Brain: Yeah, it was Mark Ribot, me, Larry Taylor, and Tom. We recorded in this old…it was kind of a cross between a church and a barn. Tom says, “Show up at this place, this is where we’re going to do it.” I’m like, “Okay, is there a studio there? Should I call the studio owner?” He says, “Aw, no, nobody’s really there, there’s no phone service.” “Okay, is there a bathroom? A kitchen? Anything?”
Basically he just brought the studio in there. The producer kind of set it all up and made it pretty comfortable. We sat around and just started jamming. He’d come in with an idea and go, “Okay, so maybe it goes like….” He basically told me, “Don’t bring a drumset, don’t bring anything that you can buy at Guitar Center.” So I went to some pawnshops and some junkyards, grabbed whatever sounded cool, and brought it. And he has his own stuff. We’d make a drumkit out of, like, a manhole, a carburetor, maybe a traditional cymbal that was broken, a 1930s Ludwig 26" kick drum…. The snares were old, vintage, whatever was lying around. The other thing was, he asked me to bring hard leather-soled shoes. There was a bathroom that had a really nice-sounding ambience, and the tile on the floor sounded really good when you stomped on it. Most of the backbeats on that album were done by stomping on the bathroom floor.
MD: It definitely doesn’t sound like a traditional kit on Real Gone.
Brain: Tom had given me a cassette of him making all of these percussion sounds in his bathroom at like four in the morning. I took the cassette, blew it into Peak, which is a two-track editor, chopped it all up, and exported the WAV files. I have this program called MPC Maker, which allows you to create the programs on your Mac to put onto your MPC 3000. And so I just grabbed them, dragged and dropped them, threw them on the zip drive, and put them in my MPC. So when you hear [makes beatbox sounds] and all those weird vocal sounds, that was Tom. Next to the kit—which could have been me playing a log with a piece of metal in one hand and a mallet in the other—I also had the MPC 3000 with all those sounds set up. So that hip-hop-based beat stuff was me playing the MPC live—no programming—just live on the pads with his voice cut up from the cassette.
MD: It must have been quite a switch going from doing two takes per song with Tom, to the Guns N’ Roses album, which took about ten years to make.
Brain: [laughs] I think I have the record for my drums being set up for the longest time in any studio. I think they were set up at Village Recorders in Santa Monica for six years. Six years. That was another process entirely.
MD: How did you get into that situation, and what was that process like?
Brain: The Guns album was in the works for fifteen years. Matt Sorum started it, thenJosh Freese did it for four or five years, and then Josh quit. Then [guitarist] Bucketheadgot in there, and he and I have been friends forever. He told me that Josh had quit and said, “Axl’s an awesome dude. You should come check it out.” So I went in there, and I didn’t hear back from them for a while. And then one day I remember Axl calling me and saying, “You know, if you want the gig you can have it, and you can still be on other stuff. You can still do Primus or whatever you want to do.”
MD: What were some of the more memorable things you recall about that session?
Brain: [Producer] Roy Thomas Baker drove us around L.A. in his Rolls Royce to try to find the exact drums that we wanted for the recording. We went to every company, and it wound up being a mash-up of all the best drums we could find around L.A. We pretty much gathered the most ridiculous kit you could ever have, to rerecord Josh’s parts. Josh had come up with some pretty good parts for the album. Axl was like, “Hey, I like what Josh did, so could we start out by you doing his parts, but with your feel? Because your feel’s different.” So I went over to Sony Music and found the dude who did their orchestrations for films and asked if he could transcribe the drums on the thirty songs. He’s like, “All right, yeah, I’ll let you know when they’re done.” He would do about six a month—literally these six-page drum transcriptions of what Josh had played.
So we brought all those drums into the main studio at Village, where Fleetwood Macrecorded Tusk. I set up and started playing, and I was like, “Wait a second, man. We’re doing Guns N’ Roses here.”
I talked to Jeff Greenberg, the owner, and said, “Jeff, man, we gotta have something better than this. I mean the room sounds great and this is cool, but you just had, like,Kenny G in here. We gotta get a vibe.”
He tells me there’s an old haunted Masonic temple upstairs where the Masons would give their speeches, and nobody ever goes up there. It was a theater. So we go up, he opens the door, and I’m thinking, We’ve got to set up here. We found the sweet spot and I set up the drums there…and that’s where they stayed for six years.
This was a Guns N’ Roses album—it had to be overblown.
I wasn't going to just sit in the studio. I was kind of coming from the school of Tom Waits. One of the best studios I ever recorded in was Bill Laswell’s Geenpoint Studio, just an open cement building, and the only baffling that he had were these little foam pillars, and it sounded amazing. We recorded the first Praxis album there, with Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins. Bucket, and Ali from The Jungle Brothers, and it was the best -the drums sounded killer. I was using Steve Jordan's Yamahas, and they just sounded incredible. It sounded so much better than the studios I had worked in, which were built for acoustics. So going into the Guns thing, it just felt like we had to do something better that what you'd normally get in a studio that's built to sound good. All of a sudden them was a vibe, and it clicked. I got the album then. I started getting what the drums should sound like. Josh's drums were kind of tight and precise, and we loosened it up. The sound became a little bigger, a little sloppier. And that became more of what the album is now.
MD: What were you guys listening to while you recorded your stuff?
Brain: We listened to some prerecorded tracks that Josh had already played on. Sometimes we did some stuff all together, but most of it was done when there were already bass and guitar tracks. And whatever feel that we put on it, maybe they'd go back and re-record to that. I took one song at a time, learned each as an orchestra piece literally note for note, every fill, every crazy thing. I replayed it with my feel and the new sound in the new building. And that process happened for a few songs, so it took a while. After that was done Axl said, “Okay, that was cool, now do your thing.” So I went in, forgot all of what I'd just done, and did my thing, and I think it became a combination of both. In the end I redid it again by kind or doing half my thing and some of what I remembered from Josh's original drum parts. We were also writing as a new band with me and Bucket. We had some songs that we started from scratch, where I just recorded myself without charts.
MD: It sounds like some different kits were used on Chinese Democracy
Brain: It was a constant sound thing. Each song started from scratch, so it was like. "Okay. here's 'Madagascar.' This DW 13” tom, a Timeless Timber model that my drum tech had - sounds huge. And it sounds really great with this Gretsch floor tom. And this aluminum DW snare sounds great with this particular setup...." Then, next song… “Okay, this is a tighter kick drum, let's use this one.” And every cymbal would change. That was fun. Like I said, I’m kind of a studio tweaker, and it was fun to be able to do that. We had the budget, so I was like, lets just do this. When am I ever going to get a chance to do this again?
At one point I probably had four snares lined up on the ground...twenty different kick drums…cymbals just thrown all over the place - it was insane. But then I’ve got pictures of the Tom Waits thing, and it's the same thing, but it's just junk. All of the great albums that I’ve been lucky enough to play on have always had that kind of overblown type of tweaking. I feel comfortable and at home when it's like that. I was a chameleon or every song, just like on the Tom Waits stuff. Every song I was like, Okay, now I'm this, now we're in this situation.
MD: And like you said, by nature a Guns N’ Roses recording has to be over the top.
Brain: Yeah, it's that rock 'n' roll thing, which I guess everybody wants to live at one point. I figured that was my chance to live it. But I'm studio geek, so I had to live it in the studio. I'm not really a rock star in that way, you know. l'm not going to go pose in front of a plane – I’m just going to tweak on fifty different snares.
MD: You must have recorded to a click with Guns N’ Roses.
Brain: Oh, yeah, we definitely used a click, and even live on some of the new songs I'll play to a click. We don't really have any backing tracks - though if there's something that we can't re-create they might add that. "Riad N' the Bedouins” and “Madagascar”
are done with clicks Iive because they start with loops. In the studio I think everything was done to a click.
Now, with Tom Waits, if you ever mention that, I dont think he'd be in the room. There's no such thing, ever. And if they‘re going to splice something together, it's done with a razor blade. I don't think Pro Tools is allowed with him.
MD: You always manage to make a groove swing, even on a driving rock tune like “Shackler's Revenge” off Chinese Democracy.
Brain: Yeah, I’ve always been a fan of Mitch Mitchell and John Bonham. Then there’sBernhard Purdie, I’d listen to a lot of R&B, a lot of Stax recordings. My dad was heavy intoCurtis Mayfield and Shuggie Otis when I was growing up, and he'd play those records all the time. He took me to the Keystone Korner to see Tony Williams when I was really young, and I think I gravitated toward that kind of swing and groove. I think [Josh] Freeseis the precise, technically proficient, perfect kind of punk drummer - I saw him with Nine Inch Nails recently and it was incredible. He was killing it. But my style is a little looser, and I've always had that kind of swing to my feel, even if it's rock. I just hear music that way. I think that’s what Axl heard and thought. Okay, Brain puts the pocket in a different slot, a different place.
“Shackler’s” was a song that Bucket and I wrote a Iong time ago, just jamming. Axl asked if anybody had any songs or grooves, so we brought that in. It was a riff that we'd been jamming on since the Praxis days with Bill and Bootsy and Bernie. Axl loved it and put some lyrics to it, and it became “Shackler's.” That one might have more of a swing because it came more from me.
MD: The tune “Better,” and several others, list you and Frank Ferrer as the drummers. How did it come about that you now share the drum chair in Guns N' Roses?
Brain: I was having a baby girl at the beginning of a tour in ’06, and l told them before I started that I would have to leave early. I got Frank Ferrer, who had played with [Gunsguitarist and bassist] Richard Fortus and Tommy Stinson, to fill in, and that was cool. When I got home, I was kind of diggin’ being home. The album wasn't out yet, and Frankwas doing a great job and I was getting a lot of production gigs just staying home. I'm really into computers and music, and I have my own studio. I rent a room at Studio 880,and I built this MIDI studio with all these MPCs and outboard gear, and I just started doing production - commercials for TV, that kind of stuff. And I kept getting more and more gigs and making almost as much money doing that as I was from touring and being a drummer. I also started taking theory lessons, piano lessons, ear training, computer and music lesson, going that route.
When I left I was only supposed to be gone for two weeks, and then that turned into a month, and then that turned into three months, because I was getting a lot of studio work. "Hey, can you do this Gatorade commercial?” “Hey, we’ve got this Best Buy commercial." Write the music or make the beat for this...." I do a lot of work with Bootsy Collins on that side of things, the commercials and stuff. “Hey Brain, can you put a beat to this?” We're working on a Gatorade commercial right now. I’ve been a Bootsy fan for years, so I'm just honored to be working with him on any level. Anyway,
I started doing more of that, so I was like, “Hey Frank, I’m kind of doing this and they're digging your playing. Would you mind hanging out and staying?”
He was thrilled - "Oh, man, this is the greatest gig in the world. I’m so happy, this is awesome." And nobody else in the band was complaining, though they were like, "Well, are you ever coming back?" I told them, “Well, yeah, we’ll see what’s going on, but right now letFrank do it" Frank is more rock. He's more like the original Guns N' Roses drummer [Steven Adler], which is more like straight-up rock, open hi-hat bashing, hitting as hard as you can.
So I think Axl wins like, “Hey. Frank plays this way, let him play the chorus to 'Better,’ because that's supposed to be open. Let’s see what it sounds like.” So I think it's me playing all the way up to the chorus, then it's Frank in the chorus, and then it goes back to me. We never actually played together. It was all done after the fact. I asked the engineer how much Frank is on it, and he said, “It’s mainly you, with Frank playing a chorus here or a bridge there.” So that’s why I'm listed first on those tracks.
MD: I like the way it goes to the toms on the chorus.
Brain: That song was brought in after Josh and was written by the band. It was Robin Finck's song. We jammed it for a couple weeks, and then went into the studio and recorded it. So that tom part was kind of written by me more than Frank, but it could beFrank playing it because he plays more bombastic. Or … oh, who knows.
MD: The tune "Scraped” is a vicious groove, and it sounds like you’re playing of the guitar a lot as well as staying with the bass.
Brain: That's another Buckethead song, I was keying off the guitar riff- we've been playing that style for years, so when he came in with the riff I knew what to do. Bucket and I have been playing for twenty years now. Before I was even in Primus, Joe Gore, the editor ofGuitar Player, turned me on to him. We've been playing together since Bill Laswell andPraxis. So to get into that song was so simple - right away I hear his style, and I know what to play and what to feel.
MD: I love the groove where you're playing quarter notes with your right hand and there's other stuff going on with your other limbs. It feels slow, but fast at the same time.
Brain: Yeah, that’s based off some Zeppelin-type licks. I noticed with Bonham that he’ll play something straight up top and then it'll be kind of busy underneath. But that straight thing in the hi-hat kind of keeps it together, holds it back and makes it bigger sounding than it really is. From the beginning, the reason I played music was from watching [the Led Zeppelin concert movie] The Song Remains the Same, and that Bonham style was one of my first influences. And that song in particular and that feel are kind of based on that.
MD: "Madagascar" is another tune with some great grooves.
Brain: Yeah, it’s got that Bonham thing too, the big long fills. The loop at the beginning I just created from the MPC. Then we went into the main parts where Axl comes in, and that's when we added the drums, played live. It was the first we we had the drums set up in that theater, and it just sounded really Bonham-esque. In the spoken-word section we took away the baffles and had it completely opened up because we wanted it bigger. That’s totally my style and the way I like to play. I was just biting off Bonham the whole time on that track.
MD: You've brought Guns N' Roses up to the minute with these drum tracks, like the break-beat intro before the big grooves come in.
Brain: Axl is really interested in having everybody bring what they do into the picture. I just did a remix of "Shackler’s,” - made it kind of more club. And I think he wants to put out a remx album of some of the other songs we did. The great thing is he lets you do what you do. He still has the final say and wants it to work as a Guns N’ Roses cut. But he definitely will let you stretch it out in that way, and I think that’s where my influenes come in. I listen to a lot hip-hop and R&B. I listen to all of Questlove's productions. Every time aRoots album comes out I'm in line at the store, I’m still a fan that way.
MD: I’ve never seen three people credited for a drum arrangement before on an album.
Brain: I think Axl really went back and thought about who added what where, and gave people credit for it. It's incredible. He wants me to add what I know about modem music and what I'm into. I’m not just a rock dude. Somehow I get the rock gigs, but I really listen to every style, and I'm on top of of whatever's happening in hip-hop and R&B.
MD: That leads to me the topic of your new funk band. SociaLibrium, with Bernie Worrell, T.M Stevens, and Blackbyrd McKnight.
Brain: Blackbyrd is the closest thing to Jimi Hendrix that you're going to run into. AndBernie is the Jimi Hendrix of the keyboards. I don't know who's heavier than Bernie as musician, or anybody that I could pick right now, other than Prince that I'd like to play with. We did a gig in San Francisco and we were learning some old songs and revamping them. Everybody brought in some jams that they had played before, some Praxis ones that Bernie and I had played, T.M. brought in some, Blackbyrd brought in some of his stuff. We listened to it very quickly and decided: Let's make this a band. Don't copy... don't learn "Super Stupid" or “Red Hot Mama" the same way they were played on the albums. It would be more about, which way would you play it, what is your favorite beat right now, or what are you listening to? Just play a beat.
So we just made up new grooves, and then those started morphing into more jamiming, almost like the band-jam thing, but more Miles-y. I love the’70s miles stuff. Agharta - I’m a huge fan of that. Al Foster. I love the open hi-hat rawness, and the fact that it’s these jazz people trying to play rock and twisting it in a weird way. So anyway, it started to get more into that, and I can't tell you how awesome it's been. Musically, I’ve been so happy … I hope we can make an album and continue it. Because I really see this thing stretching into that Miles side, and that's my favorite stuff.
MD: You’re also into selling your own beats these days.
Brain: I started the web site BrainBeatz.com and before that I made a beat DVD with Big Fish Audio, Pro-tools 24-bit. I just went to a studio, played all my grooves, and did a deal just selling it for producers, people who just want to have the tempo. Now with time stretching and stuff it can pretty much he any tempo, but back when I made it I had specific tempos and specific grooves. Now, I am trying to do that on my own through my site, just because I have a whole HD Pro-tools rig in the studio and a place to play the drums. So every time I get bored I just make a new beat. I flip it, do some weird stuff to it, and then try to sell it. I'll probably make another DVD set. hopefully through Big Fish and try to sell that to producers and stuff. I'm really trying to get more into the production side.
My heroes in drumming have been the John Bonhams, the Keith Moons. the Tony Williamses. But in terms of longevity and having a career it's been more about Stewart Copeland and Narada Michael Walden, the people that have gone from drumming into production...and into doing soundtracks and writing songs. So during that whole Chineseperiod I was studying up on technology, reading evert music magazine that I could get my hands on that had to do with Iogic, taking private lessons, and just learning everything I could about that stuff.
I'm just starting to do what Questlove is doing, but I really enjoy that. I enjoy tweaking on a kick drum for six hours, playing with sounds and synths and learning how synthesis works. After taking the two years off front play ing live since my kid was born, I kind of miss playing now. The SociaLibrium thing was kind of like, "Man! -- you know, getting that rush, that kind of Zen feeling of being on stage and just being comfortable in what you're doing. I don't know if I just want to be a road dog for the rest of my life. Doing a little bit of both is where I'm trying to head.
By Robin Tolleson
Source: moderndrummer.com
[UPDATED] Axl interviewed by fans! The only interview that matters
Axl Rose
Taken from heretodaygonetohell.com
So you can all read the after hours interview that Axl gave early the morning of Fri Dec 12th. The following is everything that I have saved so far.
This is also so that people don't have to ask the same questions. I will post more as we go.
Axl on performing late and being late to gigs?
I've been an after midnight type since I was sneakin' out of my house in Jr. High. With old Guns we preferred 12am or so. When we moved to theaters etc obviously that changes but it's never changed inside me. Doesn't matter what I do so generally that's when I'm more myself. This isn't to mess with anyone that has an early schedule to keep it's just personal preference.
And in regard to the size venues I'm on record as preferring what ever venues allow for our schedule but management and promoters can do a lot in their own interests behind the scenes that can rarely be avoided and their greed or whatever leads to a lot of double talk and ugly behind nonsense that generally eventually ruins things for everyone. Translated once a tour is scheduled however it's like parting the seas to change.
As far as being late, I've been that way my whole life. It drove Izzy crazy but he would check himself and freely admit I was generally actually doing something that had to get done rather than watching basketball etc.
On a video for Better?
THE BETTER MUSIC VIDEO WILL BE OUT IN A WEEK OR SO"
MONUMENTAL PROMOTION WILL START VERY SOON!
Who do you listen to for hardcore blues? I'm a blues singer and I can tell from your work that you have at least got way into a couple of blues records.
Bessie Smith, Zep 1, Robert Johnson, Tumbleweed Connection, Janice.
Regarding multiple albums...
For now we'll concentrate and keep our focus on this album but I will say I've always thought of it as a double.
And no offence but no one's trying to talk in parables. The issues are a bit more complex than anyone would like.
Hey Axl, is the song Atlas Shrugged as epic as the book? Who is your favorite character from the book?
Song doesn't have all that much to do with the book other than trying to do what you believe in and a line about shoulders not being wide enough.
Axl was their ever a cover B and cover C for chinese democracy?
Yes there are. There are 2 more covers/bk cover combos and the real booklet that is all artwork that will be out shortly in some form. It's been an ugly battle that hasn't made any sense to anyone and whether anyone cares about such things the booklet or artwork has always been something I've been passionate about and to release the album with unapproved and unseen final artwork with a !st work only error filled draft when others more recent were readily available still has not been explained but is finally getting cleared up. My fave is the How Are You Grenade cover.
Axl how do you feel about Kanye outselling Chinese Democracy? Do you like Kanye's music?
I met Kanye at the Versace awards. He was very gracious. I love Gold Digger and told him so. I'm a big fan of his stage performance as he seems to go for it physically which I relate more to. B4 r release I sent him a msg that any nonsense from the media had nothing to do with us and wished him the best. I'm humbled we've done as well as we have considering.
Axl do you control the weather or is that solely Oprah?
Oprah
Jarmo, do you know the reason behind the name Dexter? Is he a fan of the show (on Showtime)? Just curious...No need to reply if the reason is deemed private/personal.
could be because of the guy from The Offspring, too... but I'd rather it be the TV show.
The show and my cat named after the show, she's a methodical killer.
Hi Axl, how's it going?
Just wanted to ask if you had any fond memories from the UK leg of the tour from 2006, particularly the concert in Glasgow in July?
Glasgow was great. I think that's where I got to do a lot of slides on the stage. Was like a race track or something rt?
Axl, thanks for Chinese Democracy which i personally think is your best work.
what's your pick for album of the year?
and have you heard the new MetallicA album?
Ours of course!!
Yes, I like it.
Axl will you tour Australia next year, and when are you looking at doing so?
If you could work with buckethead again, would you have him just in studio, or also would you welcome him in the touring lineup?
Austrailia's great and the crowds are really alive. No plans yet but I'm sure there will be.
I have no issues with Bucket. It's hard to tell what was real or not in things we were told by Merck. He's more than welcome to tour with us in some form or other provided we're both interested at the time and come to some type of reasonable terms. Personally I have a blast w/Bucket on tour and get a big kick out of the guy. A lot of feelings were hurt on this side of the fence in how things went down and unfortunately others used our silence and the public's not knowing for their own purposes at both Bucket's and our expense.
Now that you said that please tell us if Robin's out or not... because, otherwise, we'll be reading several 'Axl wants Bucket back and Robin/Bumble/Richard out' type of threads for the entire '09 year and these threads annoy us, the new lineup fans.
It really is what it is. No decisions have been made by either him, I or us that I'm aware of.
When we're touring or working in the studio or there's social things like a friend's dinner or party whatever we would hang. But as people get older they have their own lives. The Stones aren't going bowling every Tuesday etc.
Robin leads one of the most different lives I know of starting with the trapeze in his backyard to the tv in his closet. Robin's work on the next is done so there's not lots for him to do here except the elusive promo and he'd rather be on stage.
It's more about seeing where things are when Guns decides it's right for a tour and if we're able to make agreements we both are comfortable and can live with at that time.
As a native Colombian I must ask:
In 1992, while performing November Rain in Bogota (in November), it rained.
Wait no....it poured.
How weird was that, eh?
Very surreal and religious feeling. So was being chased by the military in our plane down the runway gettin' outta Dodge there!!
Hi axl!
just wondering what stops you from playing more guitar live?
skill
Hey Axl,
Are you checking your PM's???
Not rt now. It's a bit slow getting around on here rt now.
Let's talk about Catcher!!
Who's 1st?
Axl/Dexter, I'm fixing to pack everyhting I own into my car and drive out to L.A. from Arkansas to give a career in music a shot. Any advice? Or should I just shit in my pants, dive in and swim?
Follow your heart, don't sell out and read every book on the biz u can find.
Catcher is one of the best songs on the album, why no Brian?
There's a few reasons and none of them all that big and definitely not in spite or to slight anyone.
1st off obviously I knew people liked the song but the Brian appreciation really only showed up in force publicly after we had moved on in Guns. In fact Not many seemed to care and most comments were aimed at why Slash in their opinions should be here.
Brians solo itself is a personal fave of mine and I really couldn't understand as he's such a rock legend why it wasn't openly appreciated more at the time.
In actuality all that feel and emotion referred to now had a lot to do with Sean and I and the parts I chose out of Brian's different runs, versions, practice runs etc to make sure we had those elements in one version. It's entirely constructed from edits based around one specific note Brian hit in a throw away take. And though Brian seems to have warmed a bit to it at least publicly he was unfortunately none to pleased at the time with our handiwork.
I remember looking at Brian standing to my left and him staring at the big studio speakers a bit aghast saying "But that's not what I played."
Sean Beavan and I were not in any way tring to mess with Brian we just did what we do and then try and do our best to stand up for our decisions.
Axl are you still thinking of suing Dr Peppers ass?
Sure but the actions taken so far had nothing to do with me and I was taken off guard as I had specifically told our team who fucking cares rt now we have a record to deal with.
My feelings are after their public response. It was cute.
Maybe the guy who got it rolling originally meant well but it turned out sour and maybe it's just me but he seems like maybe he wants a bit too much attention so...
I'm sorry for posting this again! It's just..I don't get this chance everyday! Ever still think about working with Jeff Lynne I think you two would be fuckin awesome together. Would you ever give an unkown band a chance to open for you guys? How do you feel about Double Fantasy? I could see u covering watching the wheels Have you seen the movie The Aviator any thoughts it is my favorite of all time.
Not presently but he's a true hero of mine. Absolutely. I think we have or at least relatively but I could be mistaken Big Lennon fan. I piss in jars all the time only I throw them at people!! j/k
when are the online shop opening?
I haven't been involved much in any of our merch and the reasons are it's been a mess legally for years. Unbeknownst to most of you I was recently sued again by Duff and Slash for some murky Merckiness that I was unaware and not involved in. Fortunately that was resolved but it got ugly and took a while going into arbitration.
Merck shifted our merch from some of our newer styles to incorporating more of the old with some scam that actually and surprisingly lost sales in comparison but that's old news.
What I look forward to is incorporating the new artwork into our merch and getting some for myself. I think u'll like a lot of it. My vote's for the How Are You grenade and the Sorry automatic rifle artwork on shirts etc.
?
I do like the lyrics.
I wrote a paragraph or so on the new booklet and more on the story of what's out now but it got lost in the traffic jam.
DEXTER/AXL,
How do you feel about artists covering your songs ?
Depends but in general it's great.
Hey Axl , whats your favourite song from either Chinese Democracy, or from an unreleased album?
The bridge in "Elvis Presley and the Monster of Soul aka The Soul Monster (working title Leave Me Alone)" which will no doubt end up "Soul Monster".
I think it's r most Black Sabbath moment. Sang it on a Christmas eve. Imo the meanest section of anything I've sung to date. Which having said that I'm sure when it's heard others may disagree but we felt it was a Christmas card of unadulterated venom so to speak. I felt a lot better afterward.
Axl, how is your relationship with the former members/friends of GNR???
Not sure I understand the question.
Axl, do you know of any steak house in the Los Angeles area better than The Cut?
Haven't been but I hear it's great. Maestros T.O. is pretty good.
Someone give me a list of all the alleged song titles at once and I'll tell what's real or not. Most from the past like cockroach soup or eulogy aren't.
Atlas Shrugged
No Love Remains
Take That
When Love Collides (I believe that was the name)
only Atlas
I know this is jumping the gun big time, but any tentative idea when you would like to see the next CD come out?
No, maybe same bat time, same bat channel next year but we'll have to see.
Hey Axl,
Is there anything in the past that you have now looked back on and thought maybe I culd have handled that differently, also what are your ongoing hopes for GnR in the future?
I have cyclothemia and sometimes get this feeling that I cant be around people and need my own space and area, how do you find the bipolar effect you, if you dont mind me asking that is?
thanks again for doing this.
Alex
Of course but in the world of sports and litigation....
I've not been diagnosed as being bipolar though many misconstrue statements I made earlier as alluding to such and unfortunately there's been an abundance of misguided or unqualified speculation of various events but I definitely can relate to needing my own space.
In my world all bi polar means (and not to offend or make light of those suffering from a genuine condition or involved with those who are) is that someone can try to take cheap uneducated shots or try to claim I'm bipolar thus justifying why they should get paid a financial settlement for whatever nonsense they're up to. Fortunately that hasn't proved successful.
Axl,
- What is your honest opinion on why the old lineup disintegrated ?
- What is your honest opinion on why it took so long for CD to come out ?
I think that's what most people want to know but dare not ask ...
2 great but complicated questions and I agree that people would like to know at least my take on things.
Not avoiding them here but they deserve more than I can give as we've been at this a little while. But I'm attempting to speak out on several issues these being a major focus over the coming weeks and months. What I can say now is u've been told a lot of things in order for others to promote themselves that factually they cannot backup in regard to either. They are complicated legally, financially and have devoured a good portion of my life.
The record Chinese u may have is nothing short of a miracle in almost each and every way that either it or I exist imo under the bizarre and ugly conditions of the last over 15yrs.
Thanks everyone and thanks for all the support and the positive comments both 2nite and over the years. I hope to do this again soon, maybe sooner than u'd think! And u didn't scare me off I'm just burnt and would rather not mispeak on issues that may mean a lot to some.
Thanks again.
Peace,
Axl-
And Checkmate is a bogus title.
The working title is Jackie Chan.
