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GUNS N’ ROSES POST CLASSIC LOGO ON THEIR OFFICIAL WEBSITE, SPECULATION PERSISTS

Guns N’ Roses official website has just been updated with one of the band’s classic logos, further fueling reunion rumors.

Some outlets are reporting that there are rumors that the band will be reuniting for the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, which takes places every year in April in Indio, California.

Could this mean something? Could it mean nothing? Only time will tell.

[Dana’s note: Thank you, to Charles, for the tip off in the comments section]

SINGER MICHAEL MONROE DISCUSSES THE POSSIBILITY OF A GUNS N’ ROSES REUNION, SAYS “IT WOULDN’T MAKE ANY SENSE UNLESS SLASH AND AXL WOULD RECONNECT AND REALLY GET INTO A NEW KIND OF THING”

Former Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monrone was a recent guest on Eddie’s podcast.

While Monroe was discussing the likelihood of a Hanoi Rocks reunion, he took took the opportunity to comment about the possibility of a Guns N’Roses reunion. Here is what he had to say (transcribed by blabbermouth.net.

“Reunions suck. People ask me, ‘Do you think Guns N’ Roses will reunite?’ It wouldn’t make any sense unless Slash and Axl would reconnect and really get into a new kind of thing and start creating something new. Who wants to see guys put together forcibly and then go through the old stuff…? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Eddie, then reminded Monroe, that people would pay a lot of money to see that reunion come to fruition.

Monroe replied, “Yeah, I take that back. Of course, everybody wants to see it, ’cause it’s their idea of the band and what, in their minds, it is. But if you’re Slash, truly you have a different point of view on the thing…But, yeah, of course, everybody wants to see it, but, to me, in terms of a band, it’s kind of, like, it’s just for the money and just so everybody can say they’ve seen it. And maybe it will be a great concert… whatever.”

Monroe added that reunion wouldn’t be the same unless original drummer Steven Adler was included in the mix. He explained, “One thing we must not forget was Steven Adler, the original [GN’R] drummer. The first album [1987’s Appetite For Destruction], there’s a chemistry that is unlike anything they’ve done since. Because Steven Adler, he’s maybe not technically as great as [his replacement] Matt Sorum, who is also brilliant, but he had a kind of vibe; he was pushing, and he was playing a bit ahead of the beat. He had a style that was part of the chemistry, to me. The sound, the original sound of the band, he was an integral part of that.”

Monroe, who has known the members of the original Guns line-up for a long time, still considers Slash and bassist Duff McKagan to be “close friends, added, “I think it’s kind of funny that people… In many of my interviews, people ask me, ‘What do you think? Are they gonna reunite?’ [And I’m, like] ‘I have no idea. You’re asking the wrong person. You’ve gotta ask them.’ But the thing is, they’ve said it many times… What’s the latest statement that they made? From my understanding, they’ve made it pretty clear that they’re not gonna reunite and there was no future plans for that band. Then, after a while, people start going, like, ‘Maybe it is [happening] after all. Maybe it is. They’re not denying it now. Okay. So maybe it’s really happening.’ And then rumors start spreading.”

To listen to the Michael Monroe podcast, click here” target=”_blank”>click here and for all of Eddie’s podcasts, please podcastone.com.

GUITARIST CRAIG GOLDY DISCUSSES WORKING WITH BOTH RONNIE JAMES DIO AND DAVID LEE ROTH

Ruben Mosqueda of Sleaze Roxx spoke with guitarist Craig Goldy (Dio, Dio Disciples and Resurrection Kings). Excerpts from part two of the interview appear below.

Sleaze Roxx: You spent some time writing for Warner Brothers. You wound up writing “Lady Luck” with David Lee Roth for A Lil’ Ain’t Enough. Who hooked you up to write with Roth? What was that experience like? And were you considered for the band?

Craig Goldy: Because Ronnie and I wrote the bulk of Dream Evil, Warner Brothers was pretty impressed by that. They signed me as a songwriter. As a songwriter, you get carte blanche. I’m sure you’ve heard of the director, the producer and the star of the film watching it in an empty theater? So that was me. They’d bring me in and they’d say, “We need a song like this for this part of the film and a song like that for that part.” All I had to do was go home, write a song and submit it. There was a weekly journal that would get circulated to songwriters that featured artists that were soliciting songs or songwriters. There was everyone from Diana Ross to Barbra Streisand. They often didn’t write their own songs or the music. I would submit song after song to artists and my songs would continuously get turned down. I needed to find out why. So I began to study hit songs and I began to create templates of those hit songs with my original material. It made me work ten times as hard as I had before. I played everything on the demos and learned how to do everything.

The Roth thing — I recall a call came in and my girlfriend at the time answered the phone. I looked at her. There was this look on her face. It’s either going to be really bad or really good. I take the phone and I hear; “Hey man! Dave Roth here! I love your s–t, man! You got any more stuff, man? Can we get together and write?” I was like “Wow! Yeah!” Dave was working with Bob Ezrin at the time, which was awesome because one of my favorite Pink Floyd records was produced by Bob Ezrin. So, I got invited to Bob Ezrin’s house to present more material to David Lee Roth for his next solo album. Dave liked me so much he invited me to his home for two to three months. I have to tell you it was an amazing experience as you can imagine. That was my first gold record.

Sleaze Roxx: We were talking about Dream Evil earlier. I think that record was a return to form for Dio. What I mean by that is that Holy Diver and Last In Line were records that were on par with the Dio Sabbath catalog but when it came to Sacred Heart, it was polished and perhaps “too commercial” sounding. When Dream Evil came out, it had a little bit more grit to it.

Craig Goldy: Quite honestly, I agree with you. Yes, I see what you see and hear what you hear. I think the fans heard it too. I think the stage set saved that record [Sacred Heart], but there were some very good songs on it. There were a few songs that I was unsure about; a song like Shoot, Shoot. I was like “Hmmmm….I’m not sure about that.” It was more polished. I think Ronnie was caught up in trying to compete with the stuff that was coming out around that time. I think he was starting to feel pressure from the record company. After all, it is a business. I remember sitting in the studio when we were recording Dream Evil and at the end of I Could Have Been A Dreamer, I was supposed to go back to your favorite line in that song “Running with the Wolf Pack…” It was supposed to end with that. It was going to be badass. Then the record company stepped in and said we needed to go out with the chorus because they felt it could be a hit song. Ronnie said, “Okay.” I was so bummed out.

At the time, I didn’t understand how things worked. That was my first introduction into how artists and record companies have to co-exist and how sometimes we have to make compromises. That was a real eye opener. From what I understand there was a little more of that happening during the production of the Sacred Heart album. Ronnie said that when I came in for the Dream Evil album, I revitalized the band. When they were writing the Sacred Heart album, some of the guys in the band had become disenchanted. They weren’t giving it their all. When I came in there was a new fire that was lit because it was such a new thing for me. It was contagious among the band.

Sleaze Roxx: In closing, is there a particular Ronnie story that you’d like to share with us?

Craig Goldy: I remember one time, it was really cold… Ronnie was the first to get there and he was the last to leave. He’d go out with the crew and he’d hang out with the fans afterwards. I’d just hang out with him because I wanted to learn from him. That band [Dio] was run like family and the band members were like family members. I can’t stress this enough. The band was run in such a special way. While the crew was packing up, the fans were gone and the band was gone, Ronnie would go back into the venue and help the crew pack stuff up. He’d talk to the crew, the caterers and the truck drivers. I always thought that was cool. There was this limousine waiting for us at about 3 am I think. We had something like a 6 am lobby call to get on the bus to get to the next city in time for soundcheck.

I remember that it started raining. We’re in this stretch limousine. He’s on one side and I’m on the other. We start driving away and we see these two kids huddling in the corner of the coliseum standing in the rain. Ronnie says to the driver “Wait! Pull over!” Ronnie rolls down the window and calls the kids over. They were waiting outside hoping to meet Ronnie and they didn’t get to. So, one comes over on one side and one on the other. We started talking to them and it started raining even harder and the rain was coming inside! So Ronnie and I looked at each other and we both said “F–k this!” at the same time. The kids look at us and said “We’re sorry! [laughs]” So Ronnie says “No, no, no. If you can stay out in the rain and wait for us, we can stand out in the rain and sign autographs for you.” So we both step out of the limousine. We should have invited them into the limousine, which would have made more of statement. We stood out in the rain with them and signed all their stuff. Somewhere, there’s two kids who have the other side of that story.

Read more at Sleaze Roxx.

Read part one of Craig Goldy’s here.

GUITARIST VIVIAN CAMPBELL CLEARS THE AIR WITH WHITESNAKE FRONTMAN DAVID COVERDALE

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed how a conversation with former Whitesnake colleague David Coverdale cleared the air between them and led to Campbell guesting on the final show of Whitesnake’s UK tour together this week.

He was a touring member of Whitesnake from 1987 to 1989, but recently said that his time with the band “didn’t mean an awful lot” to him. He was dismissed after the bandleader decided he wanted to focus on working with guitarist Adrian Vandenberg.

Asked about his relationship with Coverdale, Campbell tells RockPages, “It’s good. It was strange for a few years. Adrian didn’t want another guitar player in the band. It was nothing against me – when he was hired they didn’t tell him there would be two guitar players. There was a certain rivalry in the air. When the tour ended, David said to us all that the songs on the new record would be written by Adrian and himself, because they had a great working relationship. I knew deep inside that this wasn’t a band I would last in for too long.”

The situation came to a head when Coverdale had his tour manager tell Campbell that his wife wasn’t welcome on the road, because she and the frontman’s wife didn’t get along.

Campbell continues, “That’s the problem I had with David – I always thought he didn’t have the balls to look me in the eyes and say what he wanted to say. Even when he wanted to let me go, he asked the tour manager to break the news.”

Def Leppard and Whitesnake first toured together in 2008. Campbell says, “I had the chance to sit down with him and explain that he’d lost my respect when he did that in the 80s. David was very apologetic, and pointed out that he was in this bad relationship, living in an ivory tower, having people do things instead of doing those things by himself.”

He adds, “All this belongs in the past. We are all good now.”

The bands just completed a UK tour together, and Campbell guested with Whitesnake during the final show. Coverdale this week reported that he’d been planning to retire, but the experience on the road changed his mind.

additional source: teamrock.com