Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Ian Astbury, Ghost

I've known Ian for years. The Cult were the first band Guns N' Roses ever toured with. The Ian Astbury song Ghost was a direction I might not have predicted.


Ozzy Osbourne, Crucify The Dead

this is an interesting one. He wrote those lyrics.... I was sitting beside him in the studio when he was putting it together and it had something to do with a relationship he'd been in. I'm not going to specify with who, but it's one of those vocals that could relate to a lot of people. Which is kinda funny because it reminded me of alot of relationships I've been in as well.


Fergie, Beautiful Dangerous

Fergie I've been friends with for a long time. I jammed with the Black Eyed Peas at one of their fundraisers in Hollywood. They're cool, y'know Fergie did a medly of Live And Let Die, Black Dog and Barracuda and it blew my mind. She's got this killer rock n roll voice. People are going to trip when they hear this! I might actually do a rock record with Fergie. She wants to do a rock record so i might get involved with that


Myles Kennedy, Back From Cali/Starlight

A couple of the VR guys mentioned his name when we were looking for singers. I had this one piece of music which i feel is the best song on the record and i was trying to think of a singer that wouldn't be too predictable. I didn't want to have someone like Bono sing it, it would be too obvious. So Myles came to mind, I sent it to him, he recorded some vocals and sent it back, It was amazing. It was perfect.


Chris Cornell, Promise

I had no lyrical ideas or melodies set aside for any of these songs. Chris's song for example I sent him the demo and he put a vocal on it at home. He sent it back and i was really amazed at the direction he took. The music is unconventional and he made it sound very bluesy. I thought it was a great take on it.


Andrew Stockdale, By The Sword

I'm a fan of Andrew but we'd never met. But we got along real good. He's a great personality. Very genuine kinda guy, wears all his influences on his sleeve. He's very particular about what he likes and doesn't like and what he'll get behind. The song he and I did together is one of the coolest on the record.


Lemmy, Doctor Alibi

Lemmy's such a great lyricist, and these words are probably some of the greatest rock n roll lyrics i've heard in recent times. It's all about your doctor telling you you're living too hard and you're going to die and then you go see this other doctor - called the shaman - and he tells you you're gonna be fucking great, just keep drinking and doing your thing. It reminds me alot of how my life has been up to this point. I love that song.


Dave Grohl/ Duff, Watch This

This instrumental was pretty spontaneous live thing that Duff and Dave and I did. It was an idea I had and we learned it that day and it was very off the cuff. I'm happy with the way it came out; it was a spontaneous guitar solo so it's all about feel. It wasn't about trying to blow anyone's mind with how many notes we could fit in.


Kid Rock, I Hold On

Along with Ozzy, Kid Rock is the one other person who didn't come down to our studio. We went up to Detroit to record that one.


M Shadows, Nothing To Say

He came down and worked really dilogently with me to get the arrangement and he was really fun to work with. Performance wise he was amazing. Very professional


Iggy Pop, We're All Gonna Die

Iggy was the first person to come in and he kinda set the pace for the record. I've worked with Iggy alot over the years; he's one of the ultimate rock n roll icons. He's had a major influence on everybody. I sent him the song and he called me, singing the lyrics over the music on the other end of the telephone. It was very energetic and enthusiastic and he came in one day and did this great lyric and this great performance.