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

  MARC CANTER The first time The New Hollywood Rose jammed together was at Fortress Rehearsal Studio in Hollywood. "Anything Goes" was the first song they played. The lyrics were different from those that were eventually recorded, and the song was played much faster with double bass drums. Izzy didn't seem very happy working with Slash and Steven -- he had a problem with the fact that Steven played double bass drums -- and soon quit to join "London," a band that was then bigger on the Los Angeles scene. The New Hollywood Rose started rehearsing at Shamrock Studio because the sound system there was much better. Axl began putting lyrics to Slash's songs.

  STEVE DARROW Izzy faded out again. He was out of the picture and was looking to do something else. He ended up joining the band London right after Hollywood Rose. Axl was the one who got the ball rolling again. Izzy was more the glam kind of flash-talker, and Axl was like, "Let's do all that same stuff, but I want to make it more street, more denim, you know straight-up Nazareth-meets-Motorhead-meets-Aerosmith." And he was convening with Slash more. Axl and Slash were bouncing sounds and riffs off each other. The next time we got together, it was basically the same lineup except for Izzy. It was really cool. A lot of old songs that Slash had put his influence on were a lot more dynamic, flashier, and more complex. From that point, we had- a couple of jams and realized we could do it. Slash knew the owner of this rehearsal place and he booked it from midnight to 3am because we could get it for three bucks or five bucks an hour as opposed to eight bucks. We had these marathon graveyard shift rehearsals. We played until we're really fast, learning all this new stuff and falling asleep while we did it.

  But we did it!

  DESI Axl was working at Tower Video on Sunset when Izzy introduced us, even though there was bad blood between them at the time. Later that night, Axl showed up at our apartment, knocked on our window and said that he wanted to talk. Izzy was ready to go back to Indiana and give it up because he had been out here for five years. The band Hollywood Rose had never been signed and he was ready to give up. I encouraged him not to give up and Axl convinced him to give it a shot.

  A visual road map to the creation of the Appetite for Destruction lineup of Guns N' Roses.

  ROSE

  Axl Rose's first gig in Los Angeles was a Friday night show at the Orphanage in North Hollywood on January 3, 1984, with a band billed as Rose, which included Izzy Stradlin, whom he had known in high school back in Indiana and who had settled in Los Angeles some time before. In these early shows they were generally billed as Rose, but occasionally appeared under the name Hollywood Rose (it sort of went back and forth).

  Axl was working at Tower Video on Sunset around this time. He eventually became the manger of the store. He sometimes slept in the parking lot under the stairs after the store closed for the night. He told me that one of his goals was to get a membership at a health club so he could always have a place to shower. The band used to hang out in the store after closing and watch porno movies while the staff was cleaning up.

  From left to right: Izzy Stradlin, Axl Rose and Chris Webber. Photo courtesy of Cleopatra Records.

  HOLLYWOOD ROSE

  The flyers and advertisements for some of the early shows are self-explanatory. The flyer for the March 16th show at Madame Wong's belongs to Axl, as he managed to hold onto it all this time despite not having a steady place to live for the first couple of years he spent in Los Angeles. It appears in the video for "Don't Cry."

  In those days, "Anything Goes" used to begin with a bass intro and guitar feedback. During performances of this song, Axl would introduce the members of the band and Slash would open up and play a five-minute lead with the band backing him up. This is how they did it all the way up until 1987. "Rock N' Roll Survivor" was another Roadcrew tune written by Slash that Axl added lyrics to, while "Rock N' Roll Rose" was a song Axl wrote after playing his first gig in Los Angeles. "Back Off Bitch" was a Rose song and Slash changed some guitar parts. "Cold Hard Cash" caused some creative disagreement between Izzy and Axl. Izzy wrote a riff, but decided he didn't like it. Axl liked the riff and insisted on keeping it. It was one of the things that caused tension serious enough to make Izzy decide to leave Hollywood Rose barely a week after Slash and Steven joined. "Hair of the Dog" was an old song by Nazareth, performed by Hollywood Rose with the intro to the Stones' "Honkeytonk Woman." On "Reckless" Slash would create sounds using feedback that resembled motorcycle gears shifting for the intro to that song.

  This was the first performance with Axl, Slash and Steven Adler on stage together.

  BAND MEMBERS: Axl Rose (vocals), Slash (guitar), Steve Darrow (bass), Steven Adler (drums)

  L.A. GUNS

  L.A. Guns was a stepping stone for Axl during the transition from Hollywood Rose to Guns N' Roses, which originally began as a side project of Axl's and Tracii's. At the time the shows were booked, it wasn't yet certain who the drummer would be.

  LA Guns: Tracii Guns (guitar), Axl Rose (vocals), Rob Gardner (drums), Ole Beich (bass)

  The original Guns N' Roses band members from left to right: Rob Gardner (drums), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Axl Rose (vocals), Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Ole Beich (bass).

  Act I

  Chapter 2b: Slash in Transition

  I drove Slash out to Radio City to see Poison. I think Vicky Hamilton was managing them at the time. Matt Smith, the old guitar player was leaving because he got his wife pregnant and wanted to start a family. And Matt really liked Slash and wanted Slash for the job. Poison was an established LA band that could sell out almost any club they played and were getting ready to sign a record deal.

  Slash went to three Poison gigs to check out the scene, and the band gave him their demo tape to learn their material. Slash showed up at a rehearsal but couldn't bring himself to join. He didn't like the Silly String act at the end of the show, nor could he stomach saying "Hi, my name is Slash" during the moment of the set when the band would introduce themselves. He hated their image and considered the music lame. C. C. DeVille was hired a few days later.

  Slash joined Black Sheep. Guns N' Roses had a show booked on June 6th at the Troubadour, but Tracii Guns had quit the band to start up L.A. Guns again, leaving GNR without a guitar player. A few days before the Black Sheep show, Axl stopped in on Slash on his day job at Tower Video to ask if he wanted to join up with his old pals again. This posed a hard decision. Black Sheep was a big L.A. band on the verge of getting signed. Even though Black Sheep was more of a heavy metal band than a rock n' roll band - that is, musically -- it was less to Slash's taste. Slash's heart wanted to be in Guns N' Roses, but the question was: could they stay together long enough to make it? My wise advice was to stay in Black Sheep, even though I knew that, musically, GNR was a much better match for Slash's style. However, I didn't give GNR more than three months together.

  WILLIE BASSE Tracii Guns and C.C. Deville auditioned for Black Sheep and I said no. I hired Slash. Black Sheep was a musician's band and Slash, even at his young age, could hang with any of the neoclassical guys. He's a serious technical guitar player. We were like Black Sabbath meets Bon Jovi meets Purple; neo-classical rock. It was pretty awesome to have two guys of color fronting a metal band. We rehearsed for maybe a month at the most and it was a really good line up at the time. We only did a few gigs like the Troubadour and the Country Club. When Slash was in Black Sheep he was using a B.C. Rich Warlock and he had Risson amps. I told him, "Dude, you're not going on stage with me with Risson amps," and I got him to go with Marshall.

  Axl, Izzy and Steven showed up at the Black Sheep show to hang out and try to persuade Slash to join them.

  THE APPETITE LINE UP

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  Like Lightening Hit the Place (2:02).

  Guns N' Roses had a gig they were planning to get to in a station wagon to Seattle. I remember calling Slash's mom and saying, "You can't let him join the band. They're
all a bunch of heroine addicts." I tried to get her to talk him out of going. Slash told me that his mom didn't speak to him for a year after I called. I was trying to block it but it was fate. He left Black Sheep and joined Guns N' Roses.

  "We had one day of rehearsal. It really was like a synergy. It was like we'd been playing together for years."

  -- SLASH

  DUFF Izzy and Axl and I were just like, "Yeah, let's do it. Let's go on the road. Let's do this thing." Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner were more concerned with where they were going to stay or how we were going to get there. They got cold feet at the eleventh hour for doing a tour of the Northwest. Izzy, Axl and I just didn't care. When they pulled out, we asked Slash and Steven to be in the band and the Troubadour was our first gig as a band.

  SLASH Rob Gardner couldn't cut it; he was scared to go. I called Steven. He came down and we had one day of rehearsal. It really was like a synergy. It was like we'd been playing together for years.

  STEVEN ADLER I guess Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner didn't want to do these shows up north. So Slash calls me and says, "We have two empty shows you want to do them? One's at the Troubadour and we're going to go up to Oregon and Seattle for the others. And I said, "Fuck yeah, of course." The two other guys didn't have it in their hearts to do it and we did.

  DUFF The first rehearsal day that we had as the five guys was at a studio in Silverlake. Playing the first few chords was like thunder had hit the room; like lightning had hit the room. That day was probably the most important day of the five of our lives, as players and musicians. It definitely ranks up there because that's when we all knew it was solidified. This was the best band that any of us had come close to being in.

  SLASH It was just a conversation for a few days and then it became a reality -- all of the sudden we were going to Seattle. But first, We did the Troubadour show.

  First show with APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION lineup. Band members in include: Axl Rose (vocals), Slash (lead guitar), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), Steven Adler (drums).

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  Hell Tour (3:10).

  HELL TOUR

  SLASH After the Troubadour show, we packed up an Oldsmobile and a U-Haul and set off. It was Duff, Izzy, Axl, Steven and myself, and we set out to do this Northwest tour of Seattle and Oregon.

  DUFF It wasn't just Seattle -- it was a whole west coast tour starting in Seattle and coming down. There was Portland; there was Eugene; there was a Sacramento gig; and there was a San Francisco gig. I had toured in a punk rock band so I knew the clubs and the club owners and I booked this tour. So a few days after our first show at the Troubadour, we were playing our first gig on the west coast "Hell Tour," as it was later dubbed.

  SLASH Duff had booked us in all the clubs he was familiar with, from playing in the bands he was in like The Fastbacks. So he booked us gigs in Sacramento and a couple gigs in Oregon and a couple gigs in Seattle. We got as far as Fresno and the car broke down.

  STEVEN ADLER We were in Danny Biral's car and we had a U-Haul and his car broke down. We were determined and that wasn't going to stop us from doing any shows.

  DANNY BIRAL I stole my mother's gas card to get us there. It was a 1977 green Pontiac Catalina. At that point, it was a pretty solid running car, but I was young and was probably taking a lot for granted when I loaded up seven people plus a U-Haul and thought I could make it to Seattle. I remember arguing with everybody. I wanted to get out of town early in the morning, but nobody could just get their shit together. It was taking forever to get everybody rolling. We finally drove out of L.A. and things seemed kind of nice. At that point, everybody was happy; everybody was excited. There were the inevitable fights about what was going to be played on the tape deck.

  As we started to get into the Grapevine, there was a problem. The transmission was slipping as we were going up the hills. I didn't really say anything, but I knew there was going to be a problem. Finally the transmission just slipped and it wouldn't catch. We were stuck; really stuck. There was nothing where we were and nobody was stopping to help. I had a Triple-A card, but there wasn't a telephone in sight.

  We realized that the car would run if there were nobody in it. Imagine, there I am, putting along at five to ten miles-an-hour, which is about as fast as the car would go before the transmission would slip, and the band was just sort of walking behind. This went on for miles. I was impressed with how they just walked. At that point, it came to a head. They were just like, "Fuck this!" So they grabbed their guitars out of the U-haul, left all the equipment, the amps and everything else, and they decided they were going to hitch.

  SLASH We took the guitars out of the U-Haul, told the crew guys to get the car fixed and meet us up in Seattle. We sort of canned all those other gigs because we knew it was going to take us a while to get up there. So we took the guitars and stood on the side of the road and finally got picked up by a semi-truck. Try to picture us, knowing what we look like, and then picture us on the side of the road with guitar cases wanting a ride. It made visions of The Hitcher seem like a cakewalk. We rode with this guy and we were all in the cab and I don't know how many miles we went. This was the first time I was ever exposed to somebody that lived on speed.

  STEVEN ADLER I asked all these truck drivers if they could give us a ride to Seattle. And I got a truck driver who said, "Yeah, no problem." So we left all the gear except the guitars, my sleeping bag and we hopped into this eighteen-wheeler.

  SLASH We had stops here and there, but we didn't have any money, so we would go into these patches of land that were off to the side of the road where people were growing agricultural crops and we would steal food -- onions, carrots and shit like that. Finally we sort of burned out on one driver and then we'd go out on the highway hitchhiking again.

  DUFF We were eating onions from the onion fields outside of Bakersfield on the side of Interstate Five (I-5) because we were hungry. Just being out there was pretty cool. This old Mexican farmer picked us up in a small pickup and we all got in the back. The truck was so beat-up and rundown that the bed started rubbing against the back tires. It started smoking and he said, 'I'm sorry, I can't take you guys.' We were stuck on I-5 in the middle of nowhere.

  STEVEN ADLER This Mexican guy and his kid picked us up. We didn't go further than twenty-feet because he had a low rider and we were so heavy in the back of the truck that it was scraping against his tires and it was smoking. He gave us a ride to Medford, Oregon. We were hitchhiking on the freeway again and these two hippy-chicks gave us a ride.

  SLASH We just kept inching our way towards Seattle. Two chicks picked us up and put us in the back. It wasn't a truck; it was like a pick-up with a cab over the top. We piled in there and they drove us to Oregon. From there, one of our friends from Seattle came and got us. He took us to this guy Donner's house, who was a good friend of Duff's, and we just partied like crazy. The next day we showed up at the venue and used the Fastbacks gear and played our first set. The club didn't want to pay us, for whatever reason, so we cornered the manager in his own office, bolted the door, and threatened him within an inch of his life. Then we got paid. We got a ride with one of Duff's friends all the way back to Los Angeles.

  STEVEN ADLER It wasn't hell, it was fun -- it was great, it was exciting, it was an experience. And we actually played a decent show.

  DUFF When we got back from the Hell Tour, from that shared experience, we knew that we had each other's backs. At that point we knew we were a band. We were ready just to fuck up L.A. Finally, all of us had a solidified band and that was very important. It was very important to the credo of Guns N' Roses. We were like a little family. We were like a little gang of five musicians. We had each other.

  SLASH Having everything that could possibly go wrong, go wrong, and survive it, and to actually make it to Seattle to do our first show; nobody I knew could've handled it and we had the
best fucking time.

  SLASH That trip really cemented the camaraderie between the five of us and that was it; that just set the whole pace for everything.

  This photo was taken by Jack Lue in Canter's Deli upon the band's return from Seattle.

  Act II

  Act II

  Chapter 3: Welcome to the Jungle

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  Hollywood Hustlin' (1:31).

  It was about having a good time; partying, drinking, being on stage on the Sunset Strip, getting your band out there, and letting people know who you were.

  RON SCHNEIDER

  Original, dangerous, rebellious, fierce, transcendent; whatever qualities described the music and attitude of the newly cemented Guns N' Roses, they still had to play by the rules of the Sunset Strip like everyone else. In the 1980's, the Sunset Strip was a thriving, micro-music eco-system, teaming with glam, sleaze and punk rockers; all attempting to bait an audience, land a deal and enjoy the bounty with bacchanalian delight like their rock n' roll predecessors. The Strip (giving its name to the street in Las Vegas) consisted of a small circle of established music venues, either on or adjacent to Sunset Boulevard, each run by eccentric impresarios. They presided over their clubdoms like mini-mafiosos; idiosyncratic personalities who could position bands in favor or ban them on a whim. Whether their power to make or break emerging bands was real or imagined, collectively, they were responsible for launching some of the greatest rock n' roll acts of the twentieth century. They flaunted their claims-to-fame with signed photos, memorabilia and ticket stubs adorning the walls of their clubs and enjoyed the popularity it brought them.