Observer » Guns n’ Roses

The Observer Goes to a Guns N’ Roses Show, and Fashion Week is Over

Ted Gushue — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:50:44 -0400

Handlebar and all, Axl Rose preaches the rock gospel. (Paul Bruinooge/ PatrickMcMullan)

In celebration of the long desired end of Fashion Week, DeLeon Tequila and Nur Khan hosted what would be the last of their fabled Electric Sessions last night at the Hiro Ballroom (which, for the record, is still open) with Guns n’ Roses.

The Observer plays the waiting game.

Doors at 9 p.m., we pop in around 10:30 hoping to dodge most of the wait for what was rumored to be an 11 p.m. start time. Seems like a decent idea, right?
11:15 hits and we bump into a few friends who had just left the temporary palatial penthouse home of Axl Rose at The SoHo Grand Hotel: “Yeah man, we were just over there and literally 10 minutes ago they ordered a ton of room service.” This did not bode well for a packed house hungry for high school rock.
We spot a glowing Sienna Miller holding court with boyfriend and baby daddy Tom Sturridge, and can’t help but think that dude should lock it down.
Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis host an impeccably attractive table in the slightly grungy Hiro.
Even Jared Leto seemed a bit confused as to where the rock band was hiding.
Checking in with Tyler Winklevoss. We both immediately realize how bratty we feel when we grumble about waiting around for a free GnR show.
Wanting to get the real school, we shoot Nur a text, who is quick to inform The Observer that Axl is in fact slated to go on at 12:15, and relief washes over us like an awesome wave.

Damon and a homeless dude people were freaking out about. (Paul Bruinooge/ PatrickMcMullan)

A bit more mulling about, and we see Nur take the stage.

“Yo, shit, that’s Nur dude! They’re totally about to come on!” remarks a hyper observant party-goer.
In the corner of our eye we spot Justin Timberlake and Matt Damon stopping to strike a pose in front of the camera. Both card-carrying members of the way-more-famous-than-you club.
Ok, wait. Something’s happening – the lights are dimming, cigarettes ritualistically lighting up, the slow rolling “unnnghhhhhhhhhh” of a bass guitar being flicked on.
There he is. Axl Rose himself. Handlebar moustache in full effect: “How are you tonight, fucktards!?!” he asks politely before launching into his first song, ‘You’re Crazy.’
We notice a tweet from a colleague a few hordes of people away: “Holy shit, Axl Rose still has it.” And he did, in fact, still have it.
Warm up out of the way, Axl takes the microphone to his lips, stares deep into each and everyone’s soul, and posits the question: “Do you know where you are?” We were in the jungle, baby.

Slash Mum On Chinese Democracy; Solo Record Will Involve Fergie

John S.W. MacDonald — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:09:12 -0400

As we trudged through Chinese Democracy’s dubious early sales reports and reactions to the record from various luminaries (Jimmy Iovine – likes it, Duff McKagan – sorta likes it; the Chinese government – not so much), we thought we’d check in with that other guy from Guns N’ Roses. With Velvet Revolver in limbo at the moment, Slash (known to his mother as Saul Hudson) is busy working on his solo record. And if his wife Perla Hudson (yes, they met back-stage at a GNR show) is to be believed, Slash’s latest endeavor will involve Ozzy Osborne, Fergie, “and everyone in the middle”—this according to an interview with rockerazzi.com (via nme.com). We’ll leave you to ponder who (or what) exactly falls “in the middle” of Ozzy and Fergie.

As for Slash’s feelings about the new GNR disc, Perla was less clear. “Well, our kids like it,” Ms. Husdon confided. “But they also like Elmo, so…”

Reports: Chinese Democracy Recorded in Many, Many Studios

Matt Haber — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:24:25 -0400

- "If [Axl] Rose ever had a moment's doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count — including the exit of every other founding member of the band — he left no room for it in these 14 songs," David Fricke, Rolling Stone, November 10, 2008.

- "The album credits list 14 studios," Jon Pareles, The New York Times, November 20, 2008.

- "Chinese Democracy's album credits reflect the epic slog that brought it into existence, listing 14 recording studios, five guitarists, and multiple 'digital editors'," Jody Rosen Slate, November 21, 2008.

- "Le livret de Chinese Democracy va le confirmer, le chanteur a travaillé dans 14 studios d'enregistrement avant de mettre la touche finale au disque. Une quinzaine de musiciens - dont Buckethead - et de techniciens y ont travaillé," Marc André Joanisse, Le Droit, November 21, 2008.

- "Now, with 14 studios and dozens of hired hands listed in the credits — none of whom, save Rose, were members of the group that released the phenomenal, 28-million-selling "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987 -- "Chinese Democracy" is finally here," Jim DeRogatis, The Chicago Sun-Times, November 23, 2008.

- "13 Millionen Dollar hat er sich die Aufnahmen für die 14 Songs kosten lassen, heißt es, 14 Studios haben ihn dabei beherbergt," Thomas Kramar, Die Presse, November 23, 2008.

- "The biggest shocker is that Chinese Democracy (* * * out of four) is here at all after 15 years, 14 studios and an estimated $13 million," Edna Gundersen, USA Today, November 23, 2008.

- "It sounds thin, a problem that contrasts with the Chinese Democracy back story – more than a decade in the making, recorded in 14 studios and costing in the millions," Mario Tarradell, The Dallas Morning News, November 24, 2008.

- "Recording for their latest album began in the early 1990s and it took 14 studios and an estimated $13 million to make the album what it is today," All Headline News, November 24, 2008.

- "Singer and songwriter Axl Rose, the band's sole remaining original member, and a cast of characters so voluminous it takes five pages in the CD's liner notes to credit, spent 14 years recording Chinese Democracy in 14 studios from Los Angeles to London," Howard Cohen, The Miami Herald, November 24, 2008.

- "I would love to imagine a solid lineup for Guns N’ Roses, this album credited 14 studios, spanned 15 years and still has remnants of ex-drummers and guitarist 'Buckethead'," Jason Smathers, The Badger Herald, November 24, 2008.

Guns N’ Roses Streaming at MySpace; Chuck Klosterman Likes It!

John S.W. MacDonald — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:40:52 -0400

By the time Chinese Democracy actually comes out, we’ll be sick of all this insanity. But for the moment, we’re pretty flabbergasted that we can simply head to MySpace—a little invention that saw daylight ten long years after Gun N’ Roses’ last record—and hear the entire album for free. All of Chinese Democracy, not just a handful of random tracks, leaked on Tuesday, but today you can hear the full record without risking a run-in with the FBI. Axl finally has what he’s always wanted: all eyes on him and his cornrows.

In related news, many of you may recall Chuck Klosterman’s “review” of Chinese Democracy two years ago—an April Fool’s Joke, and a good one at that. Well, yesterday, the AV Club published Klosterman’s real review, and it seems the guy likes the album even better the second time around. Klosterman is “impressed by how close Chinese Democracy comes to fulfilling the absurdly impossible expectation it self-generated.” Chuck even wishes Axl had indulged in a triple album (a possibility we’re sure the singer spent at least a couple years considering). Still, he (unlike many fans) is glad Slash never showed up. “What's cool about Chinese Democracy is that it truly does sound like a new enterprise…” It also sounds like the last “Old Media album.” Chinese Democracy is “the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file.”

Rolling Stone Pubs First Chinese Democracy Review; Gushes for GNR

John S.W. MacDonald — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:42:23 -0400

Today, Rolling Stone posted the first official review of Guns N’ Roses' (choose your adverb) delayed Chinese Democracy, due out finally and officially and exclusively through Best Buy on November 23. (That’s 12 measly days from now.) The author is, unsurprisingly, David Fricke, and the review is, surprisingly, gushing. Up until this juncture, and with only leaks of varying reliability to go on, the reviews from fans have been mixed to positive. Still, we assumed the logical conclusion to the Chinese Democracy saga would be the arrival of a disappointing record overstuffed with guitars, techno experimentation, and abandoned ideas (though we’ve never been a GNR fan-boy, so our views may be biased).

Well, according to Fricke, it is all of those things and more… and yet the disc rocks. As The Frickster says, paraphrasing Axl’s approach, “Restraint is for suckers.” “Most of these songs also go through multiple U-turns in personality,” Fricke goes on. “As if Rose kept trying new approaches to a hook or a bridge and then decided, ‘What the hell, they're all cool.’” And yet, “If this is the Guns n' Roses that Rose kept hearing in his head all this time, it is obvious why two guitars, bass and drums were never going to be enough.” A single listen to the officially released title track, would seem to confirm Fricke’s diagnosis. Though we’re not so sure all that bombast makes for all that great a listen. I suppose we’ll have to wait till the 23rd...

In other GNR news, our old friend Kevin “Skwerl” Cogill—the 27-year-old who leaked nine-tracks from Chinese Democracy on his blog, Antiquiet, last June—has pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement, according to rolling stone.com. This reverses Cogill’s not-guilty plea from last month. At the time, the blogger faced three years in prison, and five if it had been proven that Cogill leaked the tracks for commercial gain. Instead, with the charges reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, the guy may only face a maximum of 12 months in prison, this on top of the six he’s already served. Back in June, before Cogill arrived in jail, he told rollingstone.com that, “if legal proceedings come my way, I’ll face them 100 percent. I’m not afraid of that. I did what I did, and I’ll face the music if I have to.” Guess a few months in jail will change anyone’s tune.

And there’s no word yet whether Cogill will be forced to reveal the source of the leak—info the FBI claimed was the real motive for their harassment of the blogger in the first place.