Slash & Friends Release Album

Saul Hudson probably never planned on being in one of the biggest rock bands of their time. But as Slash that’s exactly what he did with Guns N’ Roses.

I reckon all Slash ever really wanted to do was be a guitar player and since G N’R that what he’s been trying to do. He’ll pop up as a guest player on any number of recordings or as a “surprise” guest at a live show. He’s formed a number of bands from Velvet Revolver to Slash’s Snakepit and tried numerous other collaborations along the way.

The guy just wants to play guitar.

Now Slash is releasing a new album and this time he pulled together a bunch of his famous friends to contribute.

Slash has good friends including  Dave Grohl, Ian Astbury, Ozzy Osbourne, Fergie (huh?), Chris Cornell, Lemmy Kilmeister, Andrew Stockdale, Iggy Pop, Kid Rock, and Adam Levine (from Maroon 5).

Slash said “The idea was really simple in the beginning. These are all artists I wanted to work with — that I thought it would be amazing to do something creative and collaborative. And I was so impressed with what everyone brought to the table. They were all so committed to doing a good job. And we had a lot of fun making these songs.”

In keeping with the G N’ R aesthetic Slash’s album is called ‘R&FN’R’.

Good on ‘ya, I say.

01. Ghost (feat. Ian Astbury)
02. Beautiful Dangerous (feat. Fergie)
03. Nothing To Say (feat. M. Shadows)
04. Crucify The Dead (feat. Ozzy Osbourne)
05. Promise (feat. Chris Cornell)
06. By The Sword (feat. Andrew Stockdale)
07. Doctor Alibi (feat. Lemmy Kilmeister)
08. Saint Is A Sinner Too (feat. Rocco De Luca)
09. Watch This (feat. Dave Grohl/Duff McKagan)
10. I Hold On (feat. Kid Rock)
11. Gotten (feat. Adam Levine)
12. We’re All Gonna Die (feat. Iggy Pop)
13. Starlight (feat. Myles Kennedy)

Guns N Roses New Guitarist

In one of the more preposterous press releases I’ve ever seen the perennial Guns N’ Roses have announced a new guitar player to replace Robin Finck who has returned to his roots with Nine Inch Nails.

DJ Ashba (who is not a DJ, but a guitarplayer named DJ) is the man in question.

But this is when the press release gets silly.

Singer Axl Rose said: “DJ’s a gifted, energetic guitarist that Guns N’ Roses is proud to have on board! We’re very excited to have the opportunity to work together.

“Guns’ radar has silently been aware of DJ’s presence for quite some time. He brings a fresh approach to our particular brand of mayhem expanding the tapestry of Guns N’ Roses live.

“Once DJ’s name was in the hat, the hat disappeared!”

Ashba said: “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to be a part of a band that I have always loved and respected.

“I’m looking forward to working with Axl, who is not only one of the few great front men of our generation, but a true artist.”

What a load of horseshit.

He’s probably a good player though and hopefully the proof will be in the live shows and not in the smoke blowing press release.

Gunners Go For The Doctor

We all know it has taken Axl Rose’s  Guns N Roses a fair while to get their album Chinese Democracy into the stores – about seventeen years to be exact. And we all know that pop culture obsessed American corporation love a publicity stunt.
Put the two phenomenon together and you have a recipe for…. a monumental stuff up!
In recognition of the ridiculous delays in releasing the album soft drink giant Dr Pepper announced that they would give a free can of their product to every American should Guns N’ Roses actually release the album in 2008.
It was a win/win for the brand. If the album did not see the light of a 2008 day then Dr. Pepper still got the benefit of the publicity of their magnanimous gesture. If they were forced to follow through on their promise then the publicity would be probably worthwhile.
Although apparently the band and the brand were not in cahoots in this stunt the band obviously wouldn’t have minded it at all – especially if they were confident that the album would be out in 2008.
At least that was the theory.
When the Gunners unleashed the much-anticipated album in the US on November 23, Dr Pepper announced that fans had 24 hours to grab a coupon from their website that entitled them to their free can -  not exactly the full promise but an acceptable solution. But when punters arrived the Dr Pepper website, they found it had crashed.
Now the band, through their lawyer Alan S Gutman are calling the site crash “a complete fiasco” and are demanding a public apology and more time for fans to get their coupons.
Gutman, a well known and notably aggressive music industry veteran has written an angry letter to the soft drink giant’s CEO, Larry Young: “The redemption scheme your company clumsily implemented for this offer was an unmitigated disaster which defrauded consumers and, in the eyes of vocal fans, ‘ruined’ the day of Chinese Democracy’s release,” he wrote.
“Now it’s time to clean up the mess…As we all now know, Dr Pepper created an expansive and highly-publicised advertising campaign based solely on the exploitation of my clients’ legendary reputation. In and of itself this campaign brazenly violated our clients’ rights in numerous respects. Unfortunately, Dr Pepper has now magnified the damage this campaign has caused through its appalling failure to make good on a promise it made to the American public…
“Had you wished to engage in a commercial tie-in with our clients, you should have negotiated a legitimate arrangement instead of hijacking their rights without payment. Rest assured, this misappropriation will not be free.”
Over to you Dr. Pepper.
Chinese Democracy debuted on the ARIA Album chart at #3.