Hit Parade - An Incident To Remember

An Incident To Remember
Hit Parade - April '94
By Caroline Mellon

Four studio albums, 10 million records sold worldwide....and now its time for something completely different. Instead of going in and doing that ?kind? of the same of same old same old, Guns N' Roses did what they do so well; they bucked the system. Axl, Slash, Duff, Dizzy, Matt and Gilby (and whoever else may be in the group today) decided to escape from the mass chaos that swirls around the most controversial rock band in the world by just playing music they loved. For those of you yearning for the eternal angst of frustrated youth, what you have on your shelves now is The Spaghetti Incident?, a collection of classic punk and rock songs covered in Guns N' Roses inimitable style.
'Actually we were thinking of calling it the Cover Album,' Explained Duff. 'it's not a punk record; all of it, we did things like Nazareth's Hair Of The Dog, T-Rex The Dead Boys. We did a Fear song, I Don't Care About You. We're paying respect to certain elements of rock and roll that have been overlooked.'
'It was a very spontaneous record.' Added Axl. 'There was no band rehearsal, You just go in and do what you do, sing what you want to sing about.'
The Spaghetti Incident? is a unique collection of angry anthems. you've got an Iggy Pop classic like Raw Power, Steve Jones' Black Leather, and New Road by The Damned. Where did the abitrary aggregation of vital vinyl come from? The whole project came about courtesy of Duff.
'I have a really cool record collection,' GN'R's bassist admitted. 'I turned the guys on to The Stooges and the MC5, and stuff like that. Basically, i introduced the material to them and said, 'We should do this and this, and this, and this.' Axl got real excited and started researching stuff and said, 'We can do this and this and this and that!' Then everybody got into it and asked, 'Can we do this song or that song?' it was very democratic.
'It's a mad record, its fun. There are no airs about it,' admitted Slash.
'The bulk of The Spaghetti Incident? was recorded where the Gunners went in to record Use your illusion records, three years ago. As well, tunes have been recorded here and there, for example, the rendition of Johnny Thunders Can't Put your Arms Around A Memory was originally done for Duff's solo album Believe In Me...But Slash and Axl pleaded 'Lets put it on the punk record' so they went in and recorded it and here is The Spaghetti incident? in your faces.
Figure, The Spaghetti Incident? is to the Use your Illusions albums what Lies was to Appetite For Destruction - something to tide you over until more new material is available but that's where the comparison between the two intermit albums ends.
'I would never have thought of this album in the same vein as Lies,' noted Duff
Lies was some songs we recorded when we were ?broke?
The Spaghetti album is more paying respect to the place we came from.'
For those of you who need the guys in the flesh, the documentary for Estranged, the third video in the November Rain, Don't Cry trilogy is now available.
'We had a documentary crew the whole time we were on the road filming everything,' noted Axl. 'Then we had our director, Annie Moarhan, go through the documented footage that we filmed. We combined reality and fiction tied in with the tree videos'.
As well, you lucky people are going to have access to a parade of Guns N' Roses solo albums. Already Duff's Believe In Me is out and that features appearances from every Gunner expect Axl. Again, Slash, Duff and drummer Matt Sorum have played on tracks on Gilby Clarke's solo album which was recorded in New York last autumn. Slash has no intentions of doing a solo project, saying that he's much happier 'playing on everybody else's album' and dropping in on friends in clubs.
As for Axl, well, there might be some solo work out one day...maybe...it depends what mood he's in
'I want to do some stuff on my own, but not for my sense of identity.' The notorious frontman declared. 'I want to do some things like the song My World on Use Your Illusion II. I want to do a project like that with myself and a computer engineer with anyone who wants to be on it - raw expression.'
Ask him to elaborate on this one-off project, and Axl mentions that he'd like to create with Nine Inch Nails Trent Razor and former Janes' Addiction and current Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro (who if you recall, was once rumoured to place Izzy Stradlin when he quit GN'R)
'Those are the two people I want to work with more than anybody else.' admitted Axl. 'I've talked with Trent about doing this industrial synth thing and if we're able to work it out, we'll do a whole project or at least one song. And I definitely want to work with Dave on something. I've always been curious to see what it would sound like to have him and Slash on at least one song.'
But a solo album is not paramount on Axl's list of projects. he's pretty content not having anyone expecting anything from him at this point in time. He also has no intention of doing a David Lee Roth and using a solo album as a launching pad to become the lone rose.
'It's something I need to get out of my system, but it's not something I want to base my career and future on,' Axl concluded. 'The bottom line is nothing can come between Slash and I. As long as we have that bond we still have Guns N' Roses and however big ?? get can only help the band. I'm not worried about being pulled in other directions because this is where I'm grounded. I need this in my life, Guns N' Roses is my foundation.'