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Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIekyH5Voc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2HZDM8Vf0E
I haven't had time to listen to either yet. If no one writes a summary, I will.
I'm hoping there will be a nugget or two about the CD era / songs.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
Sean Beavan interview highlights:
- Sean's background, early life
- The role of a Producer explained
- Early interactions with GNR via NIN
- Working with Brian May on CD was a fanboy moment
- Came to CD project via Howerdel and Finck, each attempting to recruit him separately
Chinese Democracy tidbits:
- Confirms Axl's trilogy idea "had idea for these three records at one time"
- 35 songs in first month of project ("instrumentals without vocals")
- Mentions wanting to cut down budget but Axl said no because he was taking care of crew
- Tom Waale and Jimmy Iovine "came in a couple times"
- Confirms most CD vocals were from 1999
- Axl played guitar on "loopy" songs like Madagascar, was likely replaced by other players
- Loop based songs were done in Billy Howerdel's small studio
- Jimmy Iovine wanted "Oh My God" on End of Days, not a band/collective decision but Axl was agreeable
- Names The Blues / Street of Dreams as the most epic or complicated song to put together
- Album stalled in vocal department, mutual decision to leave, and he recommended Ezrin but RTB replaced him
- Says Axl wanted the creative emphasis, was uneasy about Brian May being involved
- Confirms Chris Vienna's audition and that he was around when Slash and Duff were still around
Other GNR tidbits:
- Live Era mixed by Andy Wallace, Sean didn't work on it at all
- Doesn't remember working on Appetite re-recording
- The song he didn't work on that he mentioned during the interview was "This I Love"
- Didn't work on "The General", thinks Tommy told him about it though
It's a bummer they didn't ask about other CD songs, unreleased CD songs, etc.
The fever is still strong with this one.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
Youth highlights:
- Youth background, professional life, where he got the nickname from
- Not much that wasn’t said before on Whispers; Axl depression, Axl spiritualism as attempt to heal, Youth getting Axl to sing again, Prostitute as standout track. Very little new.
- Axl wouldn’t let others hear vocals until entering the booth
Beavan mentioned being excited about RTB taking it in a different direction. You’d guesstimate it was grittier vs polished and high end.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
Good stuff, really interested in what Sean Beavan said. Pretty shocked he recommended Ezrin with Ezrin wanting to basically ditch everything he did. And that Axl was wary about May.
How it went was that Beavan and Ezrin had done some stuff together and had rapport. Had Ezrin come in at that point (around March '00), he would've overlapped with Beavan from two weeks to a month (as they did with RTB). This could've gotten things going in a different way.
"It started off when Jimmy Iovine (ed: producer, chairman of Interscope/ Geffen) asked me for a big favour. They were stuck, they were stuck in a studio in North Hollywood for years with Roy Thomas Baker (ed: Queen’s producer), and nothing was happening." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)
So they took RTB instead of Ezrin and ended up going for Ezrin anyway, only for him to say, this album is lacking.
"I agreed to help out if Axl would agree to work with me, which he did. He had the idea that the only person who could finish the album with him was me, based on what I don’t know." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)
The reason might've been Sean Beavan's high opinion of him, which he'd expressed to Axl.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
Sounds like the subplot to a Califorication type show at this point.
Ezrin as a star player??? Zzzzzzzzzzzz.... We have finally scrapped the bottom of the barrel regarding CD & who is to blame. What a waste. All those wasted years, for Bob Ezrin & the whims of Axl. A cocktease. A waste of time & resources.
Axl was a spent force singer clawing on for dear life to justify his existence. That’s CD. + squandering opportunities & individualitiies like Bucket, even Bumble. Ugh. We wasted our lives downtime for this? I wasted my youth on this?!
FWIW killing joke have slayed this GnR last decade.
I mean we’ve all made mistakes professionally, & prob some of us have ripped the piss. But Axl’s inability to steeer the ship takes the cake.
Maybe in the context, at the time, the pressures seemed significant. But from the outside looking in its like, jfc you sacrificed slasher duff Izzy popcorn bucket for THAT? Oh man. & for those involved it seems like a punch to the gut. What I thought was true before were lies I couldn’t see..
Forfucks sake I’d have made a BETTER hash of tuning the show than the big head honcho himself.
Time to listen to OIAM.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
- Confirms most CD vocals were from 1999
What a strange journey this album was on. It's practically on the launch pad in 99-2000 and should've launched in 2001. If most of the vocals are ready in 1999, which vocals were done in 2001? Fortus mentioned it in an interview a couple years ago.
The question I always asked is more valid now with this info. Why was Oh My God chosen as the song to introduce new GNR to the world? If most vocal tracks have been laid down, they had so much more to work with at the time.
Mentions wanting to cut down budget but Axl said no because he was taking care of crew
No offense to Axl as I'm sure he meant well but that sounds like the birth pangs of an out of control project.
- Names The Blues / Street of Dreams as the most epic or complicated song to put together
I suppose the fact there were different versions of the song played a role.
- Album stalled in vocal department, mutual decision to leave, and he recommended Ezrin but RTB replaced him
Oh boy. We all know what this led to. I do find it interesting that a common theme among those involved(Beavan, Moby, Youth, etc.) is issues with vocals.
- Confirms Chris Vienna's audition and that he was around when Slash and Duff were still around
This is interesting. Are we going to find out Slash and Duff were still involved with GNR to an extent much later than previously known? Maybe part of one of the shadow lineups.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The meat of the story is 1999-2001. Its when everything came together and when everything fell apart. From that point forward the project was coasting on fumes with a label pouring water on it.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
If most of the vocals are ready in 1999, which vocals were done in 2001? Fortus mentioned it in an interview a couple years ago.
A guestimation combined with facts
2001-2002
Better
Riad
Silkworms
2006-2007
This I Love
Shacklers
Sorry
Overdubs
The question I always asked is more valid now with this info. Why was Oh My God chosen as the song to introduce new GNR to the world?
The impression one gets is that they put less thought into it than the fans did.
It's a pretty ballsy and aggressive song and equally ballsy and aggressive choice. Stake your territory, maybe.
It fits alongside the nu-metal thing at the time. Eh. Win some and you lose some. Shoulda continued to come out swingin'.
I suppose the fact there were different versions of the song played a role.
This is interesting. Are we going to find out Slash and Duff were still involved with GNR to an extent much later than previously known? Maybe part of one of the shadow lineups.
Jackie is an old Guns track with Brain on it. You wonder how many others...
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The meat of the story is 1999-2001. Its when everything came together and when everything fell apart. From that point forward the project was coasting on fumes with a label pouring water on it.
I don't think there's really much else hiding in the wings, we at least have the general thrust.
1997 - Album is done musically
1999 - Axl depressed, spiraling, rising, not recording vocals, rotating guitar players pt. 1
2000 - RTB replaces Beavan, rotating guitar players pt. 2
2001 - Label now questions material, not just production style
2002 - Tour cancelled, label throws GNR into the pile with the other dead bodies
2006 - Axl tries to personally resurrect himself and the project, rotating guitar players pt. 3
2008 - Azoff throws hail mary, ties the game but it's double overtime and the game ends in a draw
2009-2014 - Axl thinks its 1987 and he can get CD over by forcing it down people's throat, the car runs on fumes for years
The only thing that really interests me is the different iterations of the record and I guess what happened between 2001 and 2002 to take fit Axl ready to go to fat Axl I don't know soon's the word although the principle of parsimony would say fear and mental health issues.
Every major milestone could arguably be interpreted in the light of the label trying to help Axl to the mountaintop but he didn't want the help.
Re: Youth and Sean Beavan interviews
Beavan needs to be interviewed again. The Slash/Duff thing really has me intrigued. As you guys know, I've always believed the real truth about Axl and Slash has been kept under the radar for years. I think there were at least feelers put out in the 2000s several times and it may have got closer to reality than anyone knows. There was something up in 2004-05 which wound up leading to what I call 'plan B', the leaks to fuel the hardcore base and the tour.
There's something weird about 2000-01 as well. Axl's attempt to bring Izzy into the fold, who balked immediately, and his interest in including Slash on Chinese Democracy if he apologized. We have the incident where Slash wasn't allowed backstage in Vegas and of course the anti-Slash rants and interviews that dominated the 02 tour.
1997 - Album is done musically
Not sure I buy the album being done musically but if true, we've got a new can of worms in our hands. It means Sorum is potentially in the mix. Before leaving he claimed an album's worth of material was ready to go. Blowing smoke up our asses? Probably. If its close to reality, some of his work might have remained for a brief period of time.
If Sorum's GNR career was on life support but not over yet, Slash and Duff involvement in the early period of the Beavan years, and Izzy is on the outside but potentially in contention, we're getting awfully close to reunion territory yet the Chinese years are just getting started.
The Beavan comment takes it back even further than we thought possible. What makes it even more interesting is the fact Slash never commented on any of these incidents.
2002 - Tour cancelled, label throws GNR into the pile with the other dead bodies
This is the moment the label deserved to start taking most of the blame. I wish Axl would've been more proactive to the unfolding saga and kept the fans informed. He went silent and shouldered most of the blame when he shouldn't have. He might could have forced a release with a different approach.
2009-2014 - Axl thinks its 1987 and he can get CD over by forcing it down people's throat, the car runs on fumes for years
As you know, I care nothing about this period of the band. Ashba just killed my interest completely.
You're right as far as 2009 goes. Those CD heavy set lists were years overdue. One problem. It was too little, too late as far as putting new GNR on the map. He needed this approach in the early years. Once it didn't work, it became more about marketing the lineup to a casual crowd and this IMO is when it morphed into a nostalgia act.
The Best Buy deal saved and ruined the album. There was no chance of any deluxe editions, bonus discs, etc. with a ton of copies lying dormant across the country. Two years in and you could buy a copy at a dollar store. I was not surprised by that interview a couple years ago when that tour manager said Axl was already thinking about a reunion in 2011. New GNR had simply run out of road and he knew it.
