Slash - Yeah.

Axl - Yeah, that's why it was on the end of Use Your Illusions, kinda like a hint. 'Cause we did that on the first album too. We gave a hint from "You Could Be Mine".

Steve Downs - Right.

Slash - Yeah, a lot of people been talking, over the last couple of years about the way that Use Your Illusion sounded and how it was… You know, a different kind of direction for us, and I'm going: "No, it wasn't." We do whatever. And we recorded this stuff, which is really raw and they go: "Oh, that's a great departure." [laughs]

Axl - We did it at the same time, it's just different songs.

Steve Downs - Right. We're going back to the phones now. Albany, Georgia is where we're headed. Kelly is listening to us from Rock 104 in Tallahassee, Florida. Kelly, you're on with Axl and Slash.

Kelly - Hi Axl, hi Slash. How's it going?

Slash - Hey.

Axl - It's going great.

Kelly - I've been a fan for quite some time now and I really love you guys.

Slash - Ooh.

Axl - [laughs]

Kelly - I heard that you all were making a home video, explaining the trilogy and other past videos. I was just wondering what it contained and when it'll be released.

Slash - That… that's expensive.

Axl - We released a making of… One for "Don't Cry" and one for "November Rain" and we're making one for "Estranged"… Actually "Estranged" isn't… in some ways a part of the trilogy. It's more like part four. Part three was a mutual self-destruction of the couple that was in "November Rain". And… well, someone had other plans and we were in a position, where something we had worked on for five years had to be rewritten to kinda transcend it. So, it's a video about transcendence of a real life situation, that didn't have a whole lot to do with the story that was intended. And actually I'm kinda glad we made this video instead of the one we were going to make. To know about the story that was in "November Rain", you have to wait on Del's book. It's a story called "Without You".

Steve Downs - Cool. Look forward to that. Thanks for the question Kelly.

Axl - "The Language Of Fear".

Slash - [laughs]

Steve Downs - Philadelphia is where we're off to. 94 YSP is the station and Phil, you're on Rockline with Axl and Slash.

Phil - Hey, what's up guys?

Slash - Hey Phil.

Axl - Talking to you.

Phil - What was the inspiration behind "Civil War" and how did it end up on the benefit album, "Nobody's Child"?

Slash - Umm…

Axl - It ended up on the benefit album 'cause Tom Petty called me and asked me, which was really weird, asked me if George Harrison could call me.

Slash - [laughs]

[laughs]

Axl - And then George Harrison called me and we we're talking, and all of a sudden he started talking about his wife flying to Bangladesh… It just… All of a sudden my mind was like, boom… hyper-space, I'm talking to a Beatle. And he was very Beatle-esque talking about Bangladesh. [laughs]

Slash - [laughs]

Steve Downs - Yeah, of course [laughs]

Axl - It was pretty wild. They asked for the song and the inspiration was… A friend asked me to write a song about just how crazy the world is and certain things and… I just thought it was an interesting subject and just… Slash had this music and it exactly fit what I'd written.

Slash - There's something very unnerving about having George Harrison around, let me tell you. [laughs]

Steve Downs - Oh, I can imagine.

Slash - He came to my house once when I was… I was like: "Whoa". I should have brought the picture with me that he left. This Indian picture, it's hilarious. But, it meant a lot to him to leave…

Axl - Plus, I was trying to be the fifth Wilbury.

Steve Downs - Fifth Wilbury! That's right. There you go.

Axl - I was working.

Steve Downs - Alright. Phil, thanks for the call. ______________________________________________________________

Commercial break
______________________________________________________________

Steve Downs - We go back to the phones now. Lancing in Michigan is where we're headed. Q106 is the station. Shannon, you're on Rockline with Guns N' Roses.

Shannon - Hi Slash.

Slash - Hey.

Shannon - Hey Axl. I almost love you.

[everybody laughs]

Axl - Almost?

Shannon - Almost. Well, I don't know you in person, so…

Axl - Don't love me. People that do usually cost me lawsuits.

Slash - [laughs] That's true.

Axl - [laughs]

Shannon - Well, I won't do that.

Axl - I don't wanna be loved. [in a mock accent]

Steve Downs - What's your question Shannon?

Shannon - I just wanted to know, in what musical direction maybe we can expect their next CD, or CDs may go.

Slash - Umm...

Axl - I'm about to hear it tonight. [laughs]

Slash - Well, that's too much pressure. Musical direction with the band really has to do with what the band… you know, what we do as a group or as an organization of people. You know, the six of us, constitutes.

Axl - And then I throw in the… [inaudible]

Slash - [laughs] No… I mean, it's really simple and it's a lot less complicated than most of the public thinks.

Axl - How about it's like, compared to the "Illusions", the direction will be a shorter direction. [laughs]

Steve Downs - There you go. Shannon, thanks for the call. Sarah…

Slash - It was no answer.

[everybody laughs]

Steve Downs - It was close enough.

Slash - It'll be what we think is good at the present, that's all.

Steve Downs - Well, it's been three years, almost, since the last original material.

Slash - Yeah, but we weren't dicking around. We did tour for two and half years.

Axl - [laughs]

Steve Downs - That's true.

Slash - Just to set that straight.

Steve Downs - You did have a real job. Sarah is in Woodstock, Connecticut listening to 107.3 WAAF in Boston, Massachusetts. Sarah, you have a question for Axl or Slash?

Sarah - Yeah. Actually both of them, whoever wants to answer. I'd like to know what you guys like to do in your like, spare-time? When you're not in the studio recording.

Axl - Slash feeds snakes.

Steve Downs - You have quite a pet collection?

Slash - Yeah.

Steve Downs - I don't know if you call them pets, but…

Slash - To tell you the truth, most of the time I spend, as far as free-time is… Just working with Guns stuff. It's a never-ending thing. He would say the same thing. It's like…

Axl - Yeah, it's like, we… There's no real split between business and personal things, so it's still Guns N' Roses. I mean, I don't know when we'll go out again. We're aiming at '96 and we'll probably be doing a lot of recording, and trying to put a lot of things between now and then. But, we're still trying to move ahead as… And just keep this moving as hard as we can. So, there's not really a whole lot of free-time. I mean, now and then you kick back watching a movie or something.

Slash - [laughs]

Axl - Other than that, it's just trying to keep your life together. And people from taking it away.

Slash - It hasn't been any nude horseback riding or… [laughs]

Steve Downs - None of that, huh?

Axl - Damn!

Steve Downs - Damn!

Slash - I'm really working on my boogie-boarding-style.

[everybody laughs]

Steve Downs - Sarah, thanks for the call. We were talking about George Harrison earlier and…

Axl - I wear drag. [laughs]

Steve Downs - … and we're gonna play the Paul McCartney tune "Live And Let Die", that you recorded. It's funny 'cause you were talking about… Axl, when you met Paul and… you know…

Axl - He came up and… It's like, some guy goes: "Are you gonna get another tattoo made?" And I wasn't feeling very good and just kinda like: "Oh, great. Another…" Ok, "jerk", I'll use that word. And I looked up and it's Paul McCartney. I was like: "No way!".

Slash - [laughs]

Axl - And I was like: "You look pretty relaxed". And he was like, there up until two minutes before the show. Then it hits.

Steve Downs - Here it is. Guns N' Roses. This is from "Use Your Illusion 1". "Live And Let Die".

______________________________________________________________

"Live And Let Die" is played
______________________________________________________________

Steve Downs - "Live And Let Die" from Guns N' Roses, who we are spending 90 minutes with on our first show of the 1994 season here on Rockline. We're gonna take it down to Memphis, Tennessee. Shaun is listening to us on ROCK 103 in Memphis. Shaun, you're on.

Shaun - Hey.

Axl - Hey Shaun.

Slash - Hey Shaun.

Shaun - Hey… Man, I'm tripping here.

Steve Downs - Okay.

Axl - Really? Are you really?

Shaun - My question is for Slash. I was wondering what kind of an influence Joe Perry had on you.

Slash - Oh… In the days when I really started playing and like, getting into the whole thing, amongst other guitar players, Aerosmith and Joe Perry and Brad Whitford were definitely an influence. They're just the coolest, most screwed up band in the world. [laughs]

Axl - [laughs]

Steve Downs - And they're still here to tell the tale, man.

Slash - They love to tell you about it. [everybody laugh]

Steve Downs - Thanks Shaun for the call. We're gonna go to Wheezie. Wheezie is in Austin, TX listening to KLBJFM 94. Weezie, you're on with Axl and Slash.

Weezie - Hey, what's up guys?

Slash - Hey.

Axl - What's up, homes?

Weezie - Listen man, on "The Spaghetti Incident?"… 20 years ago I found myself a big Marc Bolan/T-Rex fan. 20 years later I'm listening to Soundgarden and then boom, I buy the disc and you guys have put a Soundgarden and a T-Rex song together. Whose idea was that and how did that come about?

Slash - Well…

Axl - That was mine.

Slash - Yeah, 'cause I got a phone call… I got a phone call…

Axl - And I played it for him.

Slash - In the middle of the night over the phone. The song was already recorded and Axl was singing the Soundgarden thing. And I was like…

Axl - 'Cause the riff was very similar, if not the same. And I just thought it added something to it and… Plus, we really like the Soundgarden guys, and that particular song is, I think, a song that… I just consider a cult classic, whether it is or not. And it fit together with the T-Rex thing. And when we put the album together, Slash was a big fan of that particular T-Rex song, and I remembered that and I asked if he wanted to that on here as one more song. 'Cause I thought that would balance things out. And get something else out of the closet that was waiting to be recorded.

Slash - So I had to sing it. [laughs]

Axl - [laughs] Yeah, so you had to sing it.

Steve Downs - Yeah, you two guys sing together on that.

Slash - But the combination of the two songs and all that was… The song was more or less done and then Axl sang just real naturally over the end of it, and put the Soundgarden vocals there.

Axl - It's a real sexy song and the end gets kind of aggressive. And so an aggressive sexy song on top of that.

Steve Downs - Aggressive would be an understatement. It pretty much cuts to the chase.

Axl - Cuts right to the chase.

Steve Downs - Absolutely. Alright, we're gonna go to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ROCK 100.5 The Cat is the station. William, you're on with Axl and Slash. What's your question?

William - Hi guys. How you doing?

Slash - Good.

Axl - I'm doing alright.

William - Umm… Hi from Amy. I gotta make this quick.

Axl - Hi Amy.

William - How did you come about to the song "Since I Don't Have You"? I really like that one.

Slash - That's a good one.

Axl - That song, for some reason… When we started rehearsing, living in a little craphole on… Craphole, like that?

Steve Downs - Yeah.

[everybody laughs]

Steve Downs - We can use that one.

Axl - Off Sunset and Gardener. It was just a song for some reason I wanted to do & Slash wanted to do a long time ago, and we don't really know… we felt indicated…

Slash - No, the reason why was 'cause I heard you singing it when you were living at my house.

Axl - Oh.

Slash - And since you sang it with so much… [inaudible]

[everybody laughs]

Axl - I don't know why I really liked that song, I just did and then… We were on the road, we had three days off in Boston, and the song just fit things at the time and we had some time so we went in and did it without having any clue of what it was gonna sound like musically. Because it's a completely different string arrangement and everything in the original. And we went in and just had fun with it.

Steve Downs - Originally done by a group called the Skyliners, out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1958. Here it is, from Guns N' Roses.

Axl - Punk rock at its finest. ______________________________________________________________

"Since I Don't Have You" is played
______________________________________________________________

Steve Downs - Nice little groove towards the end of that and…

Axl - Voodoo, or something.

Steve Downs - Yeah.

Axl - We don't know what, or how that happened.

Slash - There's a good story going behind that song because I think that was one of the first songs that really started to turn this "Spaghetti Incident" thing into an actual album.

Steve Downs - Really?

Slash - And we did it on off time on the road and recorded it in Makeshift studios in Boston. Brought rental gear down there 'cause all our gear was on the track. And that was how badly we wanted to do it. We just… you know, pulled out whatever we had. And talking about Gilby's guitar… We used his practice guitar and we used rented gear and this and that. We couldn't find a guitar store in Boston.

[the rest of Slash's sentence is cut out by a jingle]

Steve Downs - … 90 minutes tonight with Slash and Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses. Lots of phone calls. Let's go to Houston, TX- Actually ??, TX and Christine is listening to in Houston, on 101 KLOL. Christine, you're on with Guns N' Roses.

Christine - Hey guys! What's up?

Slash - Hey.

Axl - Not a whole lot. How's Texas?

Christine - Not a whole lot here either.

[everybody laughs]

Christine - I just wanted to let you guys know that you're my favorite band and I just want to know, are you planning on making any videos off "The Spaghetti Incident?"

Slash - We're talking about it.

Axl - Yeah, we're talking about "Since I Don't Have You", and Slash is working on project for "Hair Of The Dog", actually. I have no idea…

Slash - [laughs]

Steve Downs - We'll look forward to it. Christine, thanks for the call. Moses is in Texas also. El Paso this time, listening to 95.5 KLAQ. Moses, you're on with Axl and Slash.

Moses - Hello Axl.

Axl - Moses, what's happening?

Moses - What's up guys? Quick question, why the release of the "Estranged" video with "The Spaghetti Incident?" album coming out?

Slash - There was…

Axl - It was just planned to make that video for a long time, and it was just the time to put the video out. We got it done and we wanted to put it out, and we also had "Spaghetti Incident" and… Plus, it's Guns N' Roses and it's confusing to everybody…

Slash - I was gonna say the same.

Axl - It's confusing for us and we wanted everybody else to celebrate and join in the confusion.

Slash - [laughs]

Steve Downs - I'm confused. You talked about the video for the song a little bit earlier. Originally, if I understood it correctly, it was supposed to be part of a trilogy and it didn't necessarily end up that way, or did it?

Axl - Umm, my friend Del James wrote a short story called "Without You", that was influenced by me and my ex-wife, in some ways. And then I ended up writing a song that fit that story, which was "Estranged". And so… You know, that was about, I don't know, four or five years ago and… The story started, then a couple of years later the song came about and then we started working on this project. And then in the middle of the project, or two thirds into the project, real life kind of changed all the plans. And we had to make something else and figure out how to rise above… As an artist, I had to figure out how to rise above my own creation that meant a lot to me. That I was kinda stop dead in my tracks and had to figure out how to make something else and… Like, write a whole new thing on top of something I'd been living to make, that I liked even more. And it was a really hard challenge and myself and the director, Andy Morahan was involved in this whole thing all along. And so was Del James and the band and… For all of us, it was a really hard challenge to rise above. Plus, we've spent 2.5 million dollars and we had to put it out.

Steve Downs - Had to do something. [laughs] From "Use Your Illusion II", "Estranged". ______________________________________________________________

"Estranged" is played
______________________________________________________________

Steve Downs - We're back live all over the United States and Canada with Axl Rose and Slash from Guns N' Roses. We got time for one more call. We're gonna head back to Raleigh, North Carolina, to WRDU 106 in Raleigh. We have Arleen, or is it Arlene? Listening to us in ??, North Carolina. You're on with Axl and Slash.

Arlene - Good evening Axl and Slash.

Slash - Hi.

Axl - Good evening.

Arlene - And my name is Arlene.

Steve Downs - Arlene.

Axl - Arlene in Raleigh.

Arlene - Yeah. My question is…

Steve Downs - Hi Jennifer.

Axl - Yeah. [laughs]

Arlene - If you could change a myth, or any of the myths the public may have of Guns N' Roses. What would it be?

Slash - There's too many. Really, when it comes down to it.

Axl - Change one myth? Uuh, wow that's a…

Steve Downs - Something the public perceives of you and the band that is not true.

Axl - I don't know… When Use Your Illusions came out, I actually read a review that said we should have titled the albums "Our Hitler", meaning me, or something. And I would like to change the myth that we want to control the media, and control people. That's not… You know, there's some people that believe that, or something. It's like, I don't wanna control the media, I just want things to be accurate. It's the only control that we want, is that it's accurate and the things that we say and do are there as we say and do them. Not changed around or taken out of context or distorted. A lot of times we don't get an opportunity, or chance to rectify things without having to go through a whole lot of trouble that opens up a whole new can of ones.

Steve Downs - Right.

Slash - Yeah, the main thing about… What I've been seeing since we've been off the road is… The simple fact that the media is the one that's really backwards and very twisted. And I think it's actually sicker what they do than anything they even try to make us out to be. And it's a drag because when it comes down to it… We've been together for a long time and I know these people and it's like… be taken that seriously for one and then, from a completely wrong direction is just… you know, it's a drag and you don't have any control over it. After a while you have to take a…

Axl - We've been working on a book since we started as Guns N' Roses, with Del James. We've been doing interviews for this book for a very, very long time, to try to get an accurate picture with all our own personal mistakes and our own personal nightmares. And actually it's very exposing. But, we wanna show, like, an accurate picture of who we are and where we've been. It's not necessarily favorable for us in some places. It's a lot of times: "I said that? What an idiot! I can't believe I said that." But we're gonna put it all out.

Steve Downs - Well, hopefully… And also to have you in a venue like this is hopefully an opportunity to sort of set the record straight.

Slash - A venue?

Axl - This is what? Third time Rockline? Or is this fourth?

Steve Downs - I think this'll be number four altogether.

Axl - Four, wow.

Slash - Everybody's up at my house right now, so I have to say hi. I'm late. [laughs]

[now Steve Downs thanks the crew and talks about upcoming shows]

Steve Downs - … and finally to our guests tonight. Axl Rose and Slash. It's great to have you guys here, and especially to have you together.

Slash - It's been a great time.

Axl - It's bizarre that we're here together. It's a good thing.

Steve Downs - Bizarre in a good way.

Axl - Yeah.

Slash - Yeah, absolutely.

Axl - Yo, Beta.

Steve Downs - It's been great.