DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

James

DJ wasn't even a wart on Finck's ass. That poseur couldn't even play Riad and if I wanted to torture myself and watch a full Ahsba era show now, I could find mistakes all over the place. He was hired to pretend to be Slash. period. Its all he brought to the table. Complain about Finck all you want but at least he was unique, had some good moments on CD, and had the album not been ruined, fans would be raving on the CD of 01-02 instead of using it as a beer coaster.

I had complained about Finck off and on throughout the CD era even though I did like the songs....the nanosecond Ashba joined I realized what we had truly lost.

monkeychow

I rate fink as the main reason people didn't accept new-gnr in the beginning.

I mean you take a band with a literal guitar hero like Slash in it, you drive out those players and do nothing for 5-6 years before launching your comeback shows, then your new guitarist better have some motherfucking chops.

Yet fink played the old band's music (80% or something of the set) worse than my local GNR cover band does.

It was a joke from then on to most people. Now if Axl had some out with a similar blues player to slash but someone who commands a bit of respect from guitarists - say a Doug Aldrich then you'd have seen those 2000-2006 shows get rave reviews.

As DJ said here people sing the guitar parts - and they can't sing them when Robin can't play them.

misterID

Finck never, ever tried to play like Slash. Not only did DJ try, he tried to cop his look and moves. Finck made them their own entity, even playing the old songs. DJ made them a generic knock off.

monkeychow

That was finks mistake though! Not playing like Slash is a stupid idea when your band's setlist features something like 90% of its songs originally performed by Slash.

DJ's mistake was taking it past the sound of the guitar and also trying to emulate Slash's stage moves and costuming. Bad call. If he'd just dressed normal and acted more normal but played like he plays he'd be more accepted. I mean he's not a guitar god like slash anyway but he wouldn't have been hated.

misterID

Not really, like Bucket didn't play like Slash, either. They were their own players, their own style, they didn't need to copy anyone. And to be honest, I never heard anyone outside the forums complain. The reviews always complemented the band.

monkeychow

Interesting, nearly everyone I've ever met complained, at least anyone I tried to get into it (I was a fan cos I liked the new songs), and almost all comments on stuff like internet pages.

Finks 2002 versions of stuff like You Could be Mine were just embarrassing really. Buckethead had the chops but then his general antics with the bucket and raincoat and all distracted most viewers too. Seriously most people can't get past what a tool he looks like with a bucket on his head. Unfortunately they never get a chance to either because the three guitar policy means most of the time bucket was on stage he's not even playing. Maybe if they had ditched robin and let bucket play ALL the solos it would have got a grudging "well they look stupid but hell that sounds good" rather than "they look stupid and my local bartenders 10 yo kid can play these songs better"

monkeychow

In short DJ gets bashed for looking like he's trying to be Slash - he does dumb down the solos but the average fan can't tell.

Bucket gets bashed for the silly outfit.

And Robin gets bashed because he doesn't play the proper melodies of the solos.

The band with Richard in Robin's role from the start would have been a lot more successful with the general public I think.

johndivney

Yea mrID's correct here. The casuals & anyone with a passing interest & blog all connected with DJ. My friends met him walking thru Belfast & were really impressed by him, but one of them is a motley crue fan so I've never been convinced by her judgement on anything..

But to us, the people who care, who give a flying fuck, we all saw it the first moment we googled DJ after it was announced he was in the band. & then we had to endure hearing it, which was somehow even worse.

On monkeys point - this idea of if he'd just acted & dressed normal well.. He kinda did, which was the problem! There wasn't anything different or exceptional about him. He just looked like an emo mall rat or one of those phony generic dickhead twats who hang around city centre on a Saturday like a bad smell. I dunno anything about his life but anyone who tries that hard on their image obviously has too much time on their hands & is desperate for some kind of acceptance. For me GnR were always the antithesis of that attitude; not invited to your party? Fine, we'll throw our own! - tho Axl is probably as guilty of betraying that notion as anyone, given his history of reconstructive surgery, but that's a different debate.. My original point in relation to Monkey was, us GnR fans should embrace those people who aren't normal! For all the fucked up children of the world - that's us mate. Or at least I once thought it was.. I'm beginning to re-evaluate a few things.. We don't need normal. We accepted a guy with a freakin mask, a kfc bucket on his head who'd throw-in a nunchuck routine & a robot break-dance into his guitar solo, because we could somehow relate to him, & he had a fucking soul. These other pretenders well.. That's what they are, pretenders. They don't know, & you can tell straight away. At least I can.. Not too sure abut the rest of you guys anymore..

Tho monkey does make a good point about the 01-02 lineup. If Finck hadn't been there it would've been a whole lot cooler. Also, I thought robins look on stage was more headscratching than buckets. At least bucket you knew what was up with the guy, or at least there was something up with him. Finck tho just looked, again, like a try hard, looking like some tranny robot. Bucket was mysterious on stage back then, Finck just looked like a nob.

monkeychow

I hear ya.

I think though if DJ been more neutral he could have pulled it off.

Like talent wise he is no Slash or a Bucket or someone with exceptional skills. He's just average. But to me the problem wasn't so much that he looked to normal but more that he looked like a guy pretending and posing. So it wasn't a case of him looking average it was more him looking fake to me.

On a related note, or sort of related to your point about GNR's attitude.

Something I wish is that Axl and slash would stop with the constant hats/beanies/anyhead covering all the time. To me it seems insecure. Like I get it - they are old and have male pattern baldness or whatever. But the thing about Axl and Slash is they have always been cooler than other people. That coolness doesn't come from having hair it comes from not giving a fuck. Axl needs to get up their bald and be like "if you miss my hair suck my dick" and that would be 100 times cooler than rocking a cowboy hat like he's from poision suddenly.

misterID

I remember MTV going apeshit over Bucket. They were really going to blow up had it been done right. They even did a little promo how Bucket had garnered his own following within the GNR fanbase. That lineup was cool.

I'm sure Robin never expected he'd be playing the hits for his career in GNR. I also make no bones that im a Finck homer. The worst thing Axl could have done was tried to get a Slash replica for generation Y, when youre fiercely trying to rebrand GNR to your vision. DJ proved me right. And, you know, two of the greatest front men and musical minds in rock wanted Finck in their band, so, yeah, Joe Shmo can suck a dick

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

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Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

Re: DJ ASHBA: 'It's Hard For Me To Play Other People's Songs'

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