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Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
I enjoyed it. Really feel bad for the guy. To have six federal agents knock on your door with pistols raise to your face over a copyright infringement is appalling. Sickening.
And, if this is all accurate, Fernando is a major asshole.
There are tidbits about new songs. There are ten in circulation amongst traders and upwards of 40 completed tracks of which we will probably never hear.
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
My guess is Jimmy Iovine intentionally had the disc leaked, or conveniently ensured it was taken/stolen to then be leaked. I would guess that there were a couple of motivators for him to do this. It helped forced Axl's hand to just release the damn album since it was essentially out there anyhow. They then used the spike in interest for the leaks to sell Best Buy a pup.
So they cleared the decks of the album and got UMG to recoup some significant dollars. But they failed in the final step of their plan which was to force Axl's hand into a reunion. I didn't think they anticipated his stubbornness. Financially tho I'm sure they were thinking they could bring him to his knees to force the reunion.
I would love to know how much Azoff new of all this (my guess is probably most of it). He came out of this relatively unscathed (aside from burning any opportunity for future exclusive releases with Best Buy). Iovine takes most of the flak for what went down. If the reunion happened then Azoff benefits, if it didn't (as it played out), then he skulks off to his many other artists and projects and Frontline, with barely a dirty mark on him.
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
While I was still working at Universal in 2005, I met a guy that had been working with Axl, who told me that he had touched over 90 songs, 40 of which were “some of the best songs he’d ever heard.”
It just makes me hate this band even more if all this is true .
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
The Feds came out pretty daft, considering they nearly incriminated Billy Howerdel for leaking discs burned in 2006. He'd been away from the project for around... six years.
We started with a list of people that had a copy of the record, according to the FBI’s information. It was very short. Three names: Andy Wallace, whose relationship with GNR was apparently strained for a time due to money owed to him; Merck Mercuriadis, Axl’s former manager, who had played the songs for Interscope in 2006; and, impossibly, Mister Saint Laurent, who had claimed to have gotten a copy from “some guy in Portugal.” One of these things is not at all like the others, and as I said, MSL’s claims were discredited and removed from this list... At some point in 2008, I’m not sure when, we found an email from Laurie Soriano to Jensen Penalosa, telling him that it had come to her attention that Jimmy Iovine “does in fact have a copy” of the tracks, and that his name should be added to the list of possible sources.
It's nice to get confirmation that them leaks were in fact Wallace's mixes, the ones Rolling Stone bragged about when there were x Tuesdays left in 2006.
The Iovine connection does tickle the funny-bone, when one takes into account how Guns were walking on eggshells when commenting on the leaks as they happened. Axl showed unusual restraint, just having the usual "leaks are devastating to the band", while the official line was something along the lines of "we don't really care about the AntiQuiet guys, our concern is the original source". If Iovine was the guy, those remarks were squarely aimed at him - and given Laurie Soriano is Axl's lawyer, Guns had their sights set on Jimmy as the culprit for a good while. Move on to 2009, Axl gives out interviews voicing his disenchantment with the label, while Tommy ups the ante by telling the world it was Iovine who sunk the album.
Looking back, both Axl and Tommy pretty much shovel the dirt at Iovine's feet by blaming him on everything aside leaking the album, and they do it because, well, Iovine may have leaked the album, but they can't say it outright.
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
Iovine was also the guy who made them go back and re-record the album when Axl was ready with it in, what, 2002? If I'm not mistaken, he suggested bringing in Roy Thomas Baker also, who by all accounts severly fucked the entire project up and down.
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
Fascinating article, confirming a lot of things we've heard rumored over the years. What I read between the lines is that if they would have had to take this to trial, it would have came out that the leaking was a calculated backdoor business move made behind the scene by label forces (presumably Iovine) to force Axl's hand.
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
Skwerl: 'While I was still working at Universal in 2005, I met a guy that had been working with Axl, who told me that he had touched over 90 songs, 40 of which were “some of the best songs he’d ever heard.”'
It just makes me hate this band even more if all this is true .
The number of songs worked on has been the stuff of legend for years now. The most coherent numbers come from people who were actually there. Josh Freese and Sean Beavan both confirm that 40 or so songs existed in 2000, the year they both left the project. This jives with what Axl, Robin and others have said about there having been enough material to cover two albums or more since then.
When I left, there were two lists, the Master list ('Here's the 20 songs we're concentrating on') and the B list ('Here's the other 20 songs, we'll finish them one day and we'll see what happens'). (Podomatic, 04/13)
I think we worked on thirty-five songs or something. (Antiquiet, 08/13/08)
Even so, 90 songs in total is probably the most ambitious number I've ever seen on the subject. What's known is that the band did write new material with Bucket and Brain, which would pile upon the 40ish songs from the Beavan era. But the numbers are fleeting, again.
I went to the studio [in mid-February] and heard 41 songs [...] from the 60 or 70 [Axl]'s working on... You're gonna be blown away when you hear them. (Interscope executive, Kerrang, 03/07/02)
Over a decade later, we're still to be blown away. Even so, you'll notice the 41 songs to be consistent with the above quotes. But now, there are some pesky 20-30 songs, which exist below the B-list, and one can only assume they are in a very loose state, perhaps not even songs at all. Going back to 97, the raw material was already there.
"The story goes that Moby [...] went in to soak up some music compiled on nearly 300 DAT tapes that the band had filled with what the source described as 'ideas, loops and sketches,' and was duly impressed with what Rose and crew had come up with." (Addicted to Noise, 03/19/97)
"'I found it difficult to chart a linear development of the songs that they were working on,' recalls Moby. 'They would work on something, it would be a sketch for a while, and then they'd put it aside and go back to it a year, six months later. He became a little bit defensive when I asked him about the vocals. He just said that he was going to get to them eventually,' Moby continues." (Rolling Stone, 05/11/00)
So, this was before Robin, Tommy, Josh and co. Whatever they had on those 300 DATs may have been used as a foundation for the around 40 songs that ensued, and the remaining tens of songs still unaccounted for may partially be based on them as well. Curiously, those DATs were done during the partnership shakeups in 95/96.
"I was down in a rehearsal studio recording ideas with a couple other guys, a guy named Paul Huge who was in the band for a little while, and basically that's what I did five days a week. Five or six days a week, I was just down there recording ideas. A lot of great songs came out of that. It's all still there. Something will happen with that stuff eventually. That was a very cool creative period and it was great working with Paul." (Dizzy, Rock Journal, 07/11/04)
"You played in a rather bizarre version of Guns n Roses in the mid-90s - Sid Riggs was on drums I believe, who else was involved? Paul Tobias?
KB: Well now, keep in mind Sid and I were recording on demos. Paul was involved. If you talk to him, tell him to call me too. He’s a great guy. As for the recordings, across the mixer were such people as Slash, Zakk, Matt, Duff, Dizzy, and a host of others. We were all a part of putting tracks down on the demos. So, it was never a "version" of the band. It was fun though... The only time I really talked to [Axl] was up at that particular Halloween party at his house. He was never there when I was doing any playing. He told me he liked the bass parts and asked if I was getting paid on time, gotta love that. " (Krys Baratto, Sp1at, 04/15/05)
So, there you have the likely source for those 300 DATs. Ideas, loops and sketches, courtesy of Dizzy, Paul Tobias, Krys Baratto and Syd Riggs. That stuff may be the below the line material that keeps getting rumored about. No-one ever raves about how cool that stuff is for some odd reason - every insider seems to have their heart set on the 40 Beavan songs 
Re: "The Full Story Behind Our ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak" (Antiquiet.com)
Did Bucket come in after Beavan left? If I remember right, Bucket and Brain lived at the Studio pretty much writing, such as: Sorry, Shacklers and Scraped. I always heard The General was a Brain song, but who knows if that started out as one of the "sketches."
We don't know how productive those Bucket & Brain writing sessions were and how many songs it actually produced after Sean left.
