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apex-twin

 Rep: 200 

Re: Fortus reminisces on Guns and Australia

apex-twin wrote:

http://www.noise11.com/vinterviews/rich … -daisies-2

Transscribed the Guns bits from the above Fortus video interview, published on 12/23/14. Paul Cashmere is one of the best journalists out there to get GNR stuff on the record, and once again, he lures Fortus into talking candidly about the band, despite the focus of the interview being, nominally, the Dead Daisies.

Paul Cashmere: I remember seeing one of the gigs at the My Music programme here in Melbourne, one of the Guns N' Roses shows you did, with Angry Anderson jumping up there.

Richard Fortus: Yeah...

PC: Who's the fan? Axl is the fan, but is everybody in the band the fan of Rose Tattoo?

RF: Yeah, I think we're all pretty big fans. And then, I played with Angry, with Rose Tattoo, in Sydney at the Rock for Doc benefit, and that was a big honor to go and do that. Yet, Rose Tattoo's opened for GNR a couple of times... The last couple of times we've been here. And, it's great, we love having them. And Angry usually gets up and does Nice Boys with us.

PC: Oh, yeah.

RF: But a lot of times he'll do soundcheck with us and play, like, old Humble Pie songs and stuff. What a voice, that guy.

PC: Ever since Slash got around in the 'No Way Get Fucked Fuck off' -T-shirt, The Angels are obviously another big influence on, y'know, a lot of members of this band, particularly David Lowy from Dead Daisies, too...

RF: Absolutely.

PC: ...he was very close to Doc Neeson.

RF: Yeah. And when Doc passed, GNR was in Vegas doing a residency, and we did Marseilles, in a few shows, we did that... In honor to him.

PC: Yeah, we had John Bruce join in a few days later and we showed him that video footage up on Youtube.

RF: And he was mortified.

PC: Oh no, he was really honored.

RF: Really?

PC: Oh, yeah, yeah.

RF: Oh, that's great.

PC: If anything, Marseilles is the most Angels-sounding Angels song. That's a great song to pick!

RF: I actually, I came down, we were doing a rehearsal that day, and I just heard the news and I told Axl, and Axl... sat at the piano and thought for a second, and he said, 'You know, I was really hoping I would get to see him again.' I actually just started playing and he said, 'Let's do it.' So, we did that night... Without half the band ever hearing it before (laughs). Yeah, some of the guys had never heard it before, so...

PC: Wow. You pulled it off. It worked!

RF: Yeah, it was fun.

PC: When was your first GNR gig?

RF: 200...2, I believe. Yeah, I was just telling about the first outdoor gig. It was that tour, yeah.

PC: Yeah, it rained for November Rain...

RF: Yeah. We were just talking about how it always rains when we play outside, for that song. But, yeah... that was my first outdoor gig, and it was pretty amazing.

PC: Well, you know, I know for a fact that it does happen, because it did happen in this city when you...

RF: I don't know what the deal is. Axl's got a direct line with God, or something. (laughs) But it seems uncanny that it happens a lot.

PC: This has been a very interesting year for you, because you've juggled both Guns N' Roses and the Dead Daisies. Is it pure luck that these two things don't collide?... He says holding his breath (laughs).

RF: Yeah, it's luck, but sometimes, there's been some conflicts, and it's difficult trying to keep them both going. Y'know, I've always dealt with this, doing Psychedelic Furs show, I did a tour with Rihanna, and went back and forth, and was able to work that out... at least, for a while. And I did Thin Lizzy, I did both bands, until I couldn't anymore.

PC: Nena was in there, as well.

RF: That's right. ... Y'know, to do pop gigs, it's fun for a little while. Then, I think it quickly becomes a job and that's when you get bored and say, 'OK, enough.' Because, it's very...

PC: You have to stick to the exact note every night, whereas with Dead Daisies you can play around a bit...

RF: Yeah, that's rock n' roll, that's different every night. Same thing with GNR, it's different every night. We don't even have a setlist. The songs are different. And it's dangerous... that's the difference between pop and real rock n' roll bands, I think. But with Nena, it was different, we had big sections where you never knew what was going to happen.

===

Other things of note include the mention that Fortus used to be a session musician in New York out of financial necessity. He couldn't had afforded to go on the road, as he would've missed out on session work, and touring in general doesn't pay as much. These were his pre-Guns days. He also misses the big-budget album making process, as nowadays, it's just usually people sending him files and he records stuff on them in his home studio. Curious little bits, when you consider where he's coming from with that.