Reckless Road Guns 'n Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction Read online

  VICKY HAMILTON So many of the kids who were into the Sunset Strip music scene and trying to start a band were not from California. They moved here and they didn't have a background on each other and there were so many of these hard rock, hair metal bands to select from in the early eighties. If they were sporting the same band T-shirts or the same kind of stud jacket, Concha belts and service clothes, they found a way to get together. The camaraderie began with a shared interest in the genre of music that they liked and the time they spent together hanging out on the Sunset Strip and at shows. But when personality conflicts arose, off they went to start or join the next band.

  MARC CANTER I've seen a lot of different musicians over the years, especially during that time in the early eighties, who were members of three different bands at one time. If things didn't work out, they just moved on. Each time, they were looking for something that suited them.

  DUFF Punk pretty much had died and when everybody was searching for a thing to do musically.

  STEVEN DARROW Bands during the early to mid-eighties were basically struggling to get their own version of whatever was the big movement at the time, whether it was commercial metal, or Motley Crue/ACDC/Hanoi Rocks part two or Aerosmith part three. There were only so many people that could play together. Out of a dozen people you might find six bands, with one or two guys at the core. Some of them were competitive, and some of them would try to help each other out by volunteering to play the opening act or something, but most of the time it was competitive like, "We're about the band, we're about the team!"

  VICKY HAMILTON I don't think the loyalty came until time was spent with each other. The life experiences they had together were what bound them. A camaraderie begins where they say, "We are the band that's going to make it." Then there is the music they share in common and when they start attracting fans, that seals the deal.

  RON SCHNEIDER You knew you were on to something if you were packing clubs and you were selling out shows. Why would you want to break that up if it was working? You'd work even harder to try to get signed. If you're still playing the Troubadour after three or four years and you're not signed, then something's wrong. Then I'd say it's time to call it quits. But if something happens for a band between six months to a year of forming and you get picked up and put out a record, you would probably stay together. Everybody wanted to get signed. Everybody wanted a record deal. We wanted to become rock stars. I think that's what was driving everybody back then.

  ADAM GREENBERG We just wanted to play and grow. We wanted the lifestyle. We wanted to be rock n' roll. It's an attitude; a way of life. You have to live it, breathe it, eat it, all day and all night. I wanted to live that and live it with my friends.

  STEVE DARROW The dream was basically the chicks, the limousines, the champagne -- the jet-set lifestyle -- not living in a room with four guys. We wanted the penthouse apartment in Westwood or off the Sunset Strip and none of that was happening for us. We had little moments of it; you know we'd go to parties with those people and we'd hang out at the Rainbow, and we'd go backstage at certain gigs, but it was getting fewer and farther between, compared to the people who actually lived that dream.

  VICKY HAMILTON Most of the bands were after the success: the fame, the money, the cars, the chicks with the boob jobs, the strippers, the designer drugs -- all the perks that success brings. The odds of that happening were finding a needle in a haystack and threading it. One out of a hundred hit that success.

  TIDUS SLOAN

  Slash had been playing guitar for about two years when he formed Tidus Sloan and he was playing a B.C. Rich Mockingbird guitar in those days. Tidus Sloan never started with a vocalist.

  Tidus Sloan's first gig was a birthday party for a girl who went to Fairfax High School. The cops showed up during Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and shut down the party because of complaints about noise.

  Tidus Sloan used to rehearse in the garage at drummer Adam Greenberg's house. Adam's mom, Shirley, would come out and scream, "It's too loud and I can't stand the noise!" Slash later named his tattoo after her.

  ADAM GREENBERG We always cranked it up to the limit. When Slash got his amp, he would really fire it up loud and see what kind of feedback he could get. Whenever he did that, my mom would come out and bang on the door and say, "It's too fucking loud. I can't stand that fucking noise. The feedback is killing me. You have to stop it. Turn it down!" That was my mom. She is the coolest. It would just drive my mom and the neighbors crazy. She let us play in the garage and do what we wanted. Sometimes she'd pick me up at 2am, if I couldn't get a ride. She was a big supporter and she loved Ronnie and she loved Saul. She was cool, she was hip, she knew what was going on and she supported whatever I wanted to do.

  RON SCHNEIDER Tidus Sloan was sort of short-lived. I never really got a clear definition of what that band name meant. One night, Slash called me up at like two in the morning and said, "hey check it out, I gotta talk to you." So we met and went to Canters for some coffee, and he goes, "Listen, I want to change the name of the band." And I was like, "Ok, what are we changing the name of the band to?" And on a piece of paper he had written out, in different styles, the name Roadcrew. And I was like, "Roadcrew?" The only thing I could think of was the Motorhead song "Road Crew", or "We Are the Road Crew." I had to sit on that one for a little while and kick it around. I was like, "Yeah, Roadcrew! That works. I dig that. Roadcrew." So Slash, Adam and I trudged around for a little bit as Roadcrew.

  From left to right: Adam Greenberg (drums), Slash (guitar), Ron Schnieder (bass), Chris Torres (vocals).

  Act I

  Chapter 2a: Laws of Attraction

  "There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your Kindle device. The caption for this content is below."

  Alright! Let's Do It! (2:54).

  Were it the simple laws of attraction that brought Guns N' Roses together? Slash places a classified ad for a bass player and Duff answers. Izzy discovers a drawing of Aerosmith and traces it to a music store where Slash worked. Duff moves into a new pad across the street from a hangout of Axl's and Izzy's.

  The eventual merging of the Appetite line-up of Guns N' Roses can more easily be attributed to chaos theory than a straight forward chronology. Their music, as individuals, was becoming more dynamic and more defined: Slash wrote more original songs, Izzy began to model his look and sound after Hanoi Rocks and Axl became a prolific writer of lyrics. But their efforts to keep a band together kept failing. It didn't take much to upset the balance between a group of talented and hungry musicians; personality clashes, power struggles over emerging differences in style, or the inevitable no-show at rehearsal due to a narcotic hangover. Quitting was often easier than sticking it out. And sometimes, individual opportunities to join other bands with more traction often preceded band loyalty, even at the expense of friendship or playing music that mattered the most. Just like in the city they played, unpredictable seismic shifts brought an end to one opportunity and created another.

  RON SCHNEIDER I wanted to get into more of the metal scene and I jammed with some other guys and nothing ever really clicked the way it clicked when I was working with Slash. So we tried again, and it was still Roadcrew, but this time we decided that something wasn't working and that something was Adam the drummer. So in comes this kid with really long blond hair and the super double bass drums and this guy had the look, he had the drums and he could play the heavy metal beat. That was guy Steven Adler.

  STEVEN ADLER I gave Slash his first guitar. We met at Bancroft Junior High School and I used to bring him over to my grandmother's house where we put KISS records on and I played the Ace Frehley parts. I knew two chords and two scales on the guitar. The guitar was cheap, but because Slash was so natural and talented at it, he learned ten chords within a week and was playing songs. It was too difficult and too complicated for me and I couldn't sing, so I picked up the drums. When I finally felt that I was good enough, I had Slash meet me over at La Cienega Park. And
I said, "Dude, I want to play for you. I'm ready to go. This is it. It's time for us to do our thing." So I set up my drum set and played for him. He said, "'Alright! Let's do it. Let's go."

  SLASH Steven Adler was actually the guy that started me playing guitar in the first place. So when I started playing guitar, he started playing drums and we had an ongoing relationship that went on for years.

  MARC CANTER Steven wanted to join Roadcrew. He was very impressed with Slash's playing and had just moved in with an old friend of his and Slash's named Marc Mansfield. Slash went to check out Steven's playing and was blown away by his fast double bass drums and put him in the band. Slash then wrote a bunch of songs especially for the double bass drums.

  ADAM GREENBERG Steven had resurfaced on the scene after not being around for a long time. He had improved greatly. He had gotten a handle on double bass drumming and catching a closed cymbal. He had taken some lessons and he was good and he was flashy. Slash and Steven had played together once to see what it would be like and I guess it worked out. I remember that I had a phone call with Saul and we talked about it. That is when the transition occurred. He had replaced me in Roadcrew. I remember I was bummed. We were kids and things have to change and evolve in order to become what they are supposed to become. But it was devastating. It took me a while to get over that, but once I did, I realized this is what had to be.

  DUFF When I met Slash, it was when I answered an ad in The Recycler and I came to Canter's. I had like short red and blue hair and I met Slash and Steven. That night we went back to Slash's mom's house, the bottom basement room in West Knoll, and he showed me all these Joe Perry pictures. This guy started playing guitar and I'm lookin' at him, this kid, thinking, "Yeah!"

  SLASH Duff came out from Seattle and answered a Recycler ad I had in the paper. Steven and I met Duff at Canter's and we decided to start something.

  MARC CANTER The only problem was that Chris's singing didn't fit in with the new songs. Now Roadcrew was without a singer. The songs were fast and heavy. With the right singer, this could have been a great speed-metal band. Duff didn't stay in Roadcrew for long, and Slash realized that he was not going to be able to make Roadcrew happen.

  CHRIS WEBER My friend Tracii Guns and I were hanging out at the Rainbow Bar and Grill and he introduced me to Izzy. I was only sixteen. Izzy and I sat in my car for a couple hours, listening to tapes he had in his pocket. He'd say, "this is what I want to sound like" and he'd put in a copy of a Hanoi Rocks album or a New York Dolls album. Littered around my car were the tapes I listened to: Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, and Aerosmith. He'd say "Yeah, that stuff is great, but I want to look like this" and he showed me a picture of Hanoi Rocks. Done deal; I was sold. We jammed for a day or two, and then Izzy mentioned he had a friend from Indiana who had just moved to Hollywood.

  We drove over to an old, crappy apartment building on Whitley in Hollywood. We took the gated elevator to the roof and got out. I could see, way across the roof, something shining in the sun. We walked over and lying on a small towel, on the burning tar roof, with long red hair and skin as pale as a piece of paper was "Bill." We went down to Axl's girlfriend's apartment, laid around, talked and played songs on an acoustic guitar. That was the beginning.

  When I first met Axl at that apartment, I didn't think much of him. He could sing, but his voice wasn't unique. Axl said he had learned to sing in the choir and, at that time, he only sang his stuff in a smooth baritone voice. Then a week, or so later, Izzy and I heard Axl sing "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth while in the shower. Izzy and I looked at each other and said, "That's it! That's the voice." We asked Axl if he'd consider just singing in that voice and he said, "fuck yeah." The rest is history.

  At some point, Axl moved in with my parents and I and after a while, so did Izzy. That's where we wrote all our early songs. We wrote music and rehearsed during the day and we'd go out to the clubs at night. By this time, Izzy had created an image for the band and Axl and I were both spraying our hair to the roof with Aquanet Extra Hold. Izzy made Concho necklaces and wristbands and sold them for extra money. We'd be all clad in tight black jeans, Concho belts, Capezio shoes and bangles all the way up your arm.

  The band was originally called AXL and Bill was still called Bill. AXL was the name he wanted for the band. After a couple of shows, the first one being at the Orphanage in the San Fernando Valley, Axl and Izzy got into an argument.

  CHRIS WEBER A few days later, Axl wanted to bury the hatchet and start playing again. Izzy said he'd only do it if we called ourselves "Rose." We changed our name and played under the name Rose, until we discovered there was another band called Rose. So, we changed our name to Hollywood Rose.

  STEVE DARROW Izzy and I actually ran into Duff in the parking lot of the am/pm across from the Whisky. And Izzy said, "I think I know that guy. I think I met that guy at a party or something." Duff had just moved into town from Seattle and was playing with this guy Michael McMahon in a power-pop band. Izzy started talking to him and asking about what his situation was. Duff described the kind of music he was looking to play; Stones, New York Dolls, Hanoi Rocks. Izzy was impressed and probably thinking in the back of his head that if things don't go well with me, he would definitely call Duff because he wanted to create exactly what Izzy had in mind.

  DUFF Izzy was more in my vein; he was more punk rock. I'd never hung around anybody my age with long hair and who was into Wasp and bands like that. It was all kind of a learning experience for me. Seeing Axl sing for the first time with Rose, he was wearing Chaps. The whole thing, the whole experience was pretty kick-ass.

  SLASH Izzy came down to the Hollywood music store where I used to work because he'd seen this drawing that I did, which I gave to Marc. It was a picture of Aerosmith and it was photocopied a bunch of times and was spread around the neighborhood. Izzy got a hold of one and came to my store to ask where he could get one. It was the weirdest thing. So Izzy and I struck up sort of a relationship and he played me some demos of his band with Axl. At one point, Steven and I went to Gazzarri's to go see Izzy's band and to see Axl because I wasn't looking for another guitar player, I was looking for a singer. I had no intention of working with another guitar player at the time. Although nothing happened at the moment, it was sort of destiny that we'd run into each other later on down the road.

  Slash's rendering of Aerosmith that Izzy inquired about.

  MARC CANTER Slash heard that there was a great singer in a band called Rose. Slash and I went to see Rose at Gazzarri's. Axl and Izzy had lots of energy and a great stage presence. After the show, Slash said, "I would love to get Bill in my band." Axl was still going by the name Bill at the time. Slash and Axl talked and decided to try to work something out.

  DESI I remember when Slash came and auditioned. He came to the apartment where Izzy and I were living on Orchid. Izzy had me hide in the hallway while they talked and played, but I peaked through a crack to see. I remember seeing his high-top sneakers and his guitar case and I knew he would be hired. Our apartment was the central hub for the whole band. We kept the beer there.

  STEVEN ADLER I remember when we first met Axl. Slash and I went to see Axl and Izzy's band Rose at Gazzarri's. I met Axl and he didn't have the make-up or the hair all done up so I didn't quite recognize him. Once I did recognize him, I said, "Dude, weren't you the singer from that band last night? Well, you're fucking great." He then introduced me to Izzy.

  RON SCHNEIDER Slash brought Axl over to my house and said, "this guy is really cool. You gotta check this guy out." And I wanted to hear Axl sing, so he brought a tape of what he was doing and it completely blew me away. It had this big double bass drum, a lot of attitude, fast and heavy. I was like, "Whoa! I've never heard anything like this!" I had never heard anybody sing like this guy. Axl started asking me questions about where I wanted to see the band go, and in what direction. He was interviewing me and was trying to feel him out at the same time. Slash called me a couple days later and said, "Axl thinks you're a really cool g
uy and you're a good bass player, but I think we're going to be looking for somebody else that wants to move in the same direction that we're going in." I was a little hurt, but I said, "That's cool, I'll find something else to do." And that was pretty much the end of my partnership with Slash as far as playing in a band together. We had a good three or four year run.

  MARC CANTER Steve Darrow was a bass player in a band called Kery Doll, which used to gig with Rose/Hollywood Rose. When he joined up with Slash, Izzy, Steve Adler, and Axl, the New Hollywood Rose lineup was complete.

  ADAM GREENBERG When they started playing together with Steven, he had a big honking set. He had double bass and a lot of toms and cymbals. When they finally got together with Axl, Duff and Izzy, they had taken all these pieces away from him and they said, "Listen, you have to get down to basics: bass, snare, floor tom, cymbal, high-hat, a ride and a crash and that's it." The first time I went to see Guns N' Roses, he had that minimal set.

  DESI No one could stand how Steven played because he had so many drums. One day we were in a rehearsal studio and someone got Steven to go outside. They locked him out and smashed every drum, except the basic four that they needed. He was screaming because he could hear all his drums being broken and smashed up, but it worked out for the better. Once they got rid of the excess, he played perfectly, he had more drums than he could handle.

  STEVE DARROW At one point we got a rehearsal together with Slash, Izzy, Steve Adler, Axl and I. And it sounded really good. Slash had added a whole other dynamic, in contrast to Izzy's stuff that was simple, straight-ahead, and fast. Slash thought this would work, that we could be great. We had a few rehearsals, probably about once a week at best. It wasn't anything steady and none of us had a lot of money.