“He (Axl) had taken some ecstasy, and we didn’t see him for, like, a week and he showed up at this gig and he was just like a completely different person. I was, like, ‘Whoa. Who are you? Who’s this guy?’ And that’s when the other side of that kind of kicked in.”
— Tracii Guns on Axl Rose
Metal Sludge — In a new interview Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns talks openly about his former band-mate Axl Rose when they first started out on the Sunset Strip.
Guns, 59, was born and raised in Los Angeles, and Rose grew up in Indiana until relocating to Hollywood in the early 1980’s.
According to Wikipedia, the early era formation of both L.A. Guns and Guns N’ Roses went back and forth, with multiple members coming and going before they would settle on their respective classic era lineup.
It seems as though both were at some point, in each other’s respective bands (L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose) and then ultimately joined forces to become one in – Guns N’ Roses – but soon after within a few short months, Guns left Gn’R to go back to his baby, L.A. Guns.
In a newly released interview, Guns made an appearance on The Bad Decisions Podcast With Scott Nathan, and the subject of Rose and their history came up.
Guns was asked about Rose as a room-mate and replied as follows (Transcription by Blabbermouth): “He was a great roommate. The interesting thing about Axl is he really knows right from wrong. Let’s just start there. He’s smart, he’s responsible, he is not afraid to ask for help when he needs help, he’s always ready to give help. A really solid person. We really had a great friendship. We were inseparable for a few years. The thing that changed — and I had known; he had told me — he had… What did we call it back then? Manic depression is what he called? ‘Well, yeah, I have manic depression,’ blah, blah, blah. ‘I’m supposed to be taking these meds, but I’m okay.’ And I would have never known — until the one day. And the one day was, he was off with a junior high school friend of mine. And he had taken some ecstasy, and we didn’t see him for, like, a week and he showed up at this gig and he was just like a completely different person. I was, like, ‘Whoa. Who are you? Who’s this guy?’ And that’s when the other side of that kind of kicked in.”
Tracii continued: “I knew I wasn’t gonna… I couldn’t deal with that. I loved him on the one side, the person I knew, and we were creative together, we were funny together, but at that time, he really wanted to take control over everything around him. And that’s when we were getting really popular. Before that, he was more aware and taking in information and kind of sorting out what we were doing and how this is going and all that stuff. But once we knew, once he knew that we were locked, that GUNS N’ ROSES was going only one direction… I mean, sometimes he would talk for 40 minutes out of a 60-minute set on stage, stuff like that. And I would look at Izzy [Stradlin, GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist] and Izzy would be very passive about it. I’d be, like, ‘Fuck that, man. I’m here to play guitar.’
“And so that’s when that whole thing started, the platform, the Axl Rose platform, and I think people really connected with it, , obviously, and I think they still do,” Guns added. “The things that he has to say, the things that are interesting to people, and his very — what’s the word? — loud and confident opinions on things like that. People latch to them, and it’s very heartfelt, and he’s very sincere when he says things, even if later he kind of might backtrack a little bit and say, ‘Well, I really meant it then, but humans grow and we move on.’ He’s very in [his head], and that’s what makes him great. But at that point, it just scared the shit out of me. I was just, like, ‘This isn’t a fun rock and roll band anymore. This is something else.'”
Read more of this article at Blabbermouth.
Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for more Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both New Interviews and Classic 20 Questions.
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Wikipedia states: “L.A. Guns was formed by Guns in 1983, initially with singer Mike Jagosz, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner. This lineup recorded the EP Collector’s Edition No. 1 which would be the only release from the band with its original lineup. After Jagosz was arrested in a bar fight, Bill Rose (later known as Axl Rose) joined the band as singer.[9][10][11] Rose had previously fronted Hollywood Rose, backed by Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber. Rose’s stint in the band was short-lived, as Jagosz returned weeks later. Guns joined a newly reunited Hollywood Rose (alongside Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Steve Darrow) for a 1985 New Years show. Shortly afterwards, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose merged bands to become Guns N’ Roses, with the lineup consisting of Guns, Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Beich. Guns, Beich, and Gardner would exit Guns N’ Roses just two months into the new band, with Guns leaving after an argument with Rose, claiming “It just wasn’t fun anymore.” Guns was replaced by Slash, while Gardner and Beich were replaced by Steven Adler and Duff McKagan respectively, forming the “classic lineup” of Guns N’ Roses.”
