Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Is that true?

Looks like it. Never liked 2 keyboardists... always thought it was dumb.

Whatever though

She's worked a lot with Brain.

Brain is the man.

and Melissa is there because they need her for the CD songs. And check out her resume! Nor roo shaby! A musical prodigy actually.

It doesn't bother me one bit.  Apparently she wasn't even on the stage for the songs she wasn't needed for.  What's the problem ?

question is : why not Pitman?

Maybe he was sick. I don't know. But this girl is obvious a true talent, she's been doing quite a lot. So I be surprised if she's a fulltime member, because she seems like a busy woman. Anyway, Axl always find the best musician, and this is another one  : ok:

Maybe those stupid tweets got him fired just sayin...

She's pretty hot

She Not keyboardists

I cant believe the sexism towards her. Really. Disgusting.

Welcome to GNR :peace:

You know she is going to get a ton of attention and interview requests asking how she got involved will be curious to see if she is going to be able to talk about it.

She's Brillant Writing & Compositor

 : ok:

She's a babe, she fits right in.

I think it's cool. They need someone to do those samplings and stuff!

Meet Melissa Reese, Guns N? Roses? New Keyboard Player

Read More: Meet Melissa Reese, Guns N' Roses' New Keyboard Player | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/melissa-reese-guns-n-roses-keyboards/?trackback=tsmclip

Sexism?  Where?

Please, open your eyes.

No idea about this woman at all, but congrats and welcome to the band, never was a fan of Chris

Give me an example?  I would like to see your definition of sexism?  I've seen one comment in this thread that could resemble sexism...and that's questionable.  Most of the comments are talking about Pittman.  

Sexism IS a thing people.  But let's not get carried away and throw it around every chance you get like the term racism. 

That comment made it sound like this thread was filled with sexist comments.  In all reality, not so much...if any at all

yeah, weird, because if you need some keyboardist, why don't you keep the one who worked with you all these years?

anyway, if she's a new member as alternativenation claims she is, that's cool to have a woman in the band.

I wouldn't trust anything Alternativenation says.....

I never said it was here. Saw it around, in another board, in Twitter and in Facebook. Won't direct you to the links, but it shouldn't be hard to find. Its things like "oh, she's great because she will iron the clothes and cook the foods for the guys".

No, you interpreted that way. I never suggested it was comments here. I actually posted it here because I thought Jarmo and the mods would actually delete and act against people making comments like that.

Fair enough.  And yes, that is a sexist comment you pointed out.

ooooh exciting...a talented, hot, young musician.  :love:

Definitely ! Exciting times for GNR !

My guess is she is there more for backing vocals than keyboard, but she adds the ability of a classicaly trained pianist to help round out the sound on certain tracks.

Check out her work with Brain and Buckethead. The albums "Best Regards" and "Kind Regards". Awesome  :love:

Anybody know the name of the song at 1:54.
It sounds cool.

.???
One person states "she's hot"..doesn't sound sexist to me..Even if 10 people saying d she is hot shouldn't constitute such a statement....

Wasnt talking about that. Read some posts earlier.

Fair enough than....But she is hot....here is sought of a sexist comment..http://youtu.be/bS8CP1A6OCQ

Whether its In this Moment, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Evanessence, Halestorm most of these women in rock music are extremely attractive whether you use the words hot, sexy, stunning it is what it is I think the artists or musicians know it as well that they are going to get alot of attention

I already have some of her CD's Best regards and Kind regards they were a 3 piece with Bucket and Brain

She seems cool

It wasn't that long ago that some people on this board got very antsy about people discussing Axl's appearance.  She is a musician, like the rest of the band, and we should show her the respect of focusing on her as a musician first and foremost. 

she's a model, too

Meet Melissa Reese, Guns N? Roses? New Keyboard Player
By Dave Lifton April 02, 2016

n addition to welcoming back Slash and Duff McKagan for the first time since 1993, Guns N? Roses also unveiled a new keyboardist, Melissa Reese, at their warm-up show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles last night (April 1). With her profile presumably about to increase as the band embarks on a new tour, this is a good time get to know a little bit more about who she is.

According to the bio on her website, Reese received piano and vocal training in jazz and classical from an early age in her hometown of Seattle, and has been composing and songwriting since she was 14. Her music has been heard on television shows as diverse as Inside the NFL, Gossip Girl and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She has also played on commercials with such artists as Bootsy Collins, Chuck D and Vanessa Carlton. ?Girlfriend,? one of the songs from her 2007 EP Lissa, was featured in the ad campaign for Just Fab Shoe.

Her connection with Guns N? Roses likely comes via Bryan ?Brain? Mantia, who drummed with them from 2000-2006. As Brain and Melissa, the two have collaborated extensively, composing music for video games (Disney?s Fantasia: Music Evolved and Infamous 2, for which they were nominated for an award in composition by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences), commercials (NASCAR, Johnny Walker Blue and Audi) and the score for the horror film Detention. They?ve also performed on Best Regards, the five-CD set by another former Guns N? Roses member, Buckethead, and its follow-up, Kind Regards. In addition, they?ve provided remixes for Green Day and Taylor Swift?s Grammy-winning ?Bad Blood? video.

Pd. Thanks Melissa By Me 4500 Post  ;D Congratulations To Me  ;D

 :love:

Hopefully. Unlike the last keyboard guy, she knows how to handle her liquor.   

His cell really did get him fired....note....do not text, email, twitter, or rant when hammered.

Chris was super cool but I also think Melissa seems like a good fit
Wish to welcome Melissa to the band

Her backing vocals (with Duff) in WTTJ were really good.

And you're a little bitch......true gnr answer for ya'

Grow up.

or better just - Shut up! :hihi: some people just never stop whining and making complete idiots out of their dumb selves ::)

Words to live by. Drunk+cellphone=bad.

Still recall those Metaledge magazines with full page Lita Ford pictures..To young to buy Playboy etc, pre-internet, I can't begin to tell you how much Lita Ford helped me out back than....those were the days...

True. And if they're going to make new music, I believe having female vocals would open them many new possibilities.

Impressive resume (IMHO)- and her coming aboard (whether permanently, semi-permanently or whatever) has a very authentic feel to it (rather than PR stunt, etc.) in that she legitimately comes out of Brain's circle. Very cool- and welcome Melissa! :peace:

Frank and Brain are like brothers...There's a podcast somewhere on youtube with an interview of Brain, he talks about Buckethead and also his friendship with Frank. She is there because of the link Frank - Brain - Axl.

This is old news now but I still wonder if that tweet is the reason Chris is gone.

I don't think that's the actual reason. I think it was decided earlier that he's out and that pissed him off and he had a few drinks and posted that stuff. But who knows, I might be wrong. If it was just "hey, you're out" out of the blue, then I kinda understand the frustration. But it might be that something happened way before, something that we have no clue about and that led to kicking him out.

Melissa's signature wasn't on the drum skin..

It might be a clue to when she actually joined?

maybe they wanted to keep it a secret until the first show . that would be my quess.

Or maybe she isn't a full time member, we'll just have to wait and see

Could be a touring member yes.

I don't think that she is just a touring member. Chris Pitman wasn't just a touring member too.

She sure has  :)

To think that his ridiculous wobbling keyboard and crappy backing vocals are gone makes her presence worthwhile!  : ok:

I guess technically, Ashba was a touring member. Melissa's obviously accomplished - I just don't think that Guns N' Roses needs 2 keyboardists. Hell, with Axl on keys, there are now more keyboards than guitars in Guns N' Roses.

With Slash and Duff back in the band I think they'll steer towards a more classic rock n roll sound if they're to record new material. There might not be a need for a permanent member in Pitman's old position.

I think she's part of the shows now to provide backing vocals, sampling and effects.

I think that she will play a important role not only at live shows... but also at songwriting and recording.

What makes you think that?

- Vocals
- Synthesizers
- Support For Axl
- Support New Sound
- Female Voice Lyrical Style

Guys... Understand, This Year 2016 !!! NOT 1985.

 8)

I definitely think she's needed for the Chinese songs live. A nice addition for the backing vocals on all songs as well.

But it all depends on what they want to do in the studio from here on. Do they want to build on the Chinese sound and create songs with a certain electronic element to them or not?

If not, she might not be working with them in the studio.

Don't know what you mean by "support for Axl"? Moral support?  :hihi:

AjajAJajAJja, Not, Vocals Effects, Corus, New Sound & Style... Understand HEADHARD !!!

 :hihi: :rofl: :hihi:

Spirit

 :beer:

she is a musician since she was three or four , and she also has a lot of experience in terms of writing, recording and producing of music.

I thought vocal effects were done by the sound engineer.

I understand that, but most of the music she's done is a very different style of music than GN'R right?

I'm not very familiar with her previous work, other than I know she's worked with Brain in the past.

If I were to guess, I think the main songwriters for a new album would be Axl and Slash. If Izzy is lurking somewhere in the curtains, he would be involved as well. Duff and Richard would probably have writing credits to some songs as well.

I hope she can do intro to better. Axl sounds creepy there...
while talkin bout better... do we have any info as to how Slash played it? was it any Better :D?

It is. But people have this misconception that Pitman/Melissa are responsable for any effects. And they even complain because of that. :P

I just have to point out that GN'R toured with female musicians over 2 decades ago...why have some people felt the need to sensationalize the fact that the new keyboardist is a woman?  Doesn't anyone remember Tracy, Roberta, or the 976 Horns?

If she can sing and play, who cares?

Samantha Fox too.

I don't see the point.  I mean it's a reunion tour........ it should be how it was back then.  For future recordings, maybe, but the old songs don't need her and that will more then likely be the bulk of the set list.

I wish I still had my Samantha Fox Poster

It's not a reunion tour.  It should have been, but it's not.

Even if it was, there were 2 keyboard players for most of the UYI tour as well.  In fact there were lot more musicians on stage then, than there are now.  I'm not saying it's necessary or that I like it that way (the '91 UYI tour lineup is in my opinion the pinnacle of GNR), I'm just stating fact.

What's extremely funny is that Melissa has gotten more attention and/or coverage in a few days than Pitman EVER had  ;D

For someone who feels the need to point out that he had been 'in the band' for over 18 years, this just proves that he's not very interesting and VERY replaceable.

By the way, who says Melissa is a band member ?  I've never considered Pitman a band member.  Teddy wasn't a band member.

At least they got rid of the third guitar player !

Melissa Reese<Twister

I hope she becomes a full time member.... she's quite pretty!  : ok:

It should have been... says who?


This is actually a very good point, I'm surprised it's coming from you.


But that's just you. I could say that I never considered XXX a band member, but it makes no difference to what someone else thinks. Considering that Pitman was with the band from the late 90's to at least 2014 and he's credited on CD, I'd consider him a band member. It's stupid to make a comparison to Teddy who only appeared on UYI tour from late 91 to early 93.

Says who ?  Anybody in their right mind.  Anyone who has a brain at all. 

I'm gonna assume Izzy and Adler/Sorum weren't interested or weren't wanted.  That's the only way to make sense of the current lineup.

Anyway this thread is not about that !

Oh, and it makes no difference what ANY of us think, not me and not you.  But it's a discussion forum and I'm entitled to my opinion.

Ok, so you're entitled to your opinion, but if someone thinks different or questions it, he must have no brain to begin with.

Got it!

Just my 2 but I think it is kind of odd bringing her in to the mix....as for needing her for Chinese tunes, don't ya think it would be kinda cool to see those songs stripped down? I do.... :P

Maybe bringing her in is a sign that this band is not just focused on the past.  I don't know too much about her...I know she works with Brain and he's cool (I've liked him since his Primus days) so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.  IMO, her inclusion bodes well for hearing new music, and makes this lineup something else other than a nostalgia tour. 

I can see why Pittman was so pissed.  He got straight up replaced. 

There's opinions, and there's preferring hired guns over the original lineup...

Back on topic !

I don't know what is so difficult about this.

She's not confirmed to be in the band, and it makes 0 sense to have 2 keyboardists really. They won't be playing heavy CD songs, and she's a younger pretty off the wall choice. I know she's like Brian's wife but it is definitely strange to have a female keyboard player unannounced in the band.

I don't consider her a member unless she actually contributes something to history aka... an album.

So DJ and Bumble were never members...and Frank too, right?  How is she not confirmed to be in the band?  Did she just roll up to the Troubadour with a keyboard and sneak up behind Slash?  Perhaps I'm looking at this too simplistically, but my confirmation was seeing her play with the band. 

Whether the band needs 2 keyboardists is a separate discussion...clearly Axl thinks so since there has been for the past couple decades.  I thought it was pretty cool that this was completely under the radar...with all the "inside info" and rumors swirling about, no one saw this coming.  Kudos to the band and management for keeping it under wraps.

Frank and Bumble actually contributed to ChiDem ;) the only member who didn't was DJ, because he joined the band after ChiDem release. if you want to go to the extreme, you can consider him a live member, who appeared at the only official live album (AfD). all the others left some footprint at ChiDem.
and about Melissa, give her a fucking break, we will see what happens next :peace:

Obviously she was invite to be there.

She's not recorded ANYTHING with Gn'R... and the huge thing for me if that she WASN'T announced or confirmed by anyone. She was just there.

Bumble played on CD, and toured. DJ barely a member to me. He just toured with them. He was a member. He was confirmed to be ya know. Don't make it so complicated. Until she's confirmed to be in the band on a consistent basis, she isn't a member.

I would love to see CD songs stripped down. One of the main reasons I was never into CD is the big production. I'm not a musician myself so I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well. But it's just not my style, too much happening at the same time.

Looking at Melissa's resum?, it doesn't seem to me that she's someone who would be in a band, like a full time member. She seems to have too many different interests. I think she will probably be there only for the tour

Believe me, I am not trying to over-complicate the matter.  To me, if you are on stage playing with a band, you are a member of said band.  Period. 

It would be very weird if they just had her play the Troubadour, so I expect her to be in Vegas and on the summer tour.  And I dig the fact that nobody knew.  I find that incredibly hard to pull off nowadays.  Who knows what her ultimate role and/or contribution to the band will be, but right now, hard to say she's not a member IMO.

The question is if she's purely a touring member, or an official member.

I never considered Teddy Zig Zag, Tracy and Roberta or the 976 Horns to be members of GN'R.

Where is that Zig Zag dude these days? What a legend.

I agree with this. she seems to be into quite a lot of different projects, she would hardly bury herself in a classic rock band, which releases 1 album each 16 years.

Whoa, this seems to be an important factor to some :D I think we'll find out what her status is going to be in the near future. This was just the first show.

But I don't really understand what's so weird in having two keyboardists in a band. And as it was already pointed out, GN'R has been touring like that since the late 1991 (excluding the Skin N' Bones tour in 1993).

And if someone doesn't know, Dizzy is not there just to play the keys, he does other stuff too.

It's not that I'm opposed to having Melissa in the band full-time, it would be no problem really.

I just think that she's here now for the tour, and probably future tours as well.

If they're recording new music, I think (guessing really) that they will scale back on the electronic elements of the sound and that was really Pitman's role in the studio. She might not be part of the band in a studio capacity. They are probably aiming for a more classic hard rock sound.

They've already gone back to having two guitarists in the band.


I remember Axl's answer back when Loder interviewed him in 1999. Axl originally wanted to do a new Appetite-style record and Loder asked him what prevented him from doing that. Axl simply answered: Slash.

That's a long time ago now, but it might still be valid for Axl. Now that Slash is back, Axl might want to go back to the classic GN'R sound for future songs.

how old is this girl? she looks young

They wanted to be a two guitar player band back in the late-90's. They added a third guitar player (Robin) because of Buckethead.

 :hihi: : ok:

Yeah, it made sense for the type sound they were going for. One lead player to play the more traditional guitar solos, and one to do the shredding type.

I think it's safe to say there won't be any super-fast shredding solos on any songs recorded from here on out. It backs the argument they might now go for a more classic hard rock GN'R style of sound.

That was not my point. They wanted to keep the two guitar player concept even without Slash.
And I believe that there are two lead guitarists in GN'R now  Slash and Richard.

At one point that changed though, they went with three guitarists in 2000 and has stuck with it ever since. When Buckethead left, they brought in a replacement for him. They could've continued with two players, but didn't.

I don't know if Richard is classified as a lead player now?

He has played some lead guitar parts on Chinese Democracy and Better according to some reviews.
He plays rhythm guitar on the old songs and some lead guitar on songs from CD.

But he's always played some lead parts in GN'R right?

Rocket Queen, November Rain, You're Crazy and KOHD comes to mind.

I guess both sides are making concessions to make this happen.
And if they plan on keep working together, maybe release new material, they'll have to keep doing so. That's why Melissa being in the band doesn't seem very feasible (if her role has to do with effects and stuff like that as I imagine). I can't see Duff and Slash persuing that kind of sound and they also have been quite vocal about having 20 people onstage in the past. It's fine to have her now, since they've agreed on playing CD songs, which is something that Axl must have insisted on doing.
But then Axl joking about the setlist and how he was just following their lead, maybe shows that he's more manageable and ready to make a few concessions to them. So it's working both ways. But who knows?

In 2005 they wanted to tour and reached Bumblefoot for that, but it went sour. In 2006, Richard and Robin actually rehearsed to have only 2 guitars in the band  but then something changed right before the Hammerstein shows, so Bumblefoot was called again and got the gig. As far as I know, Richard was supposed to play Bucket leads in 2006 just like he's doing now.

yes, but like this it looks weird. Buckethead was in fact Robin's replacement (his contract ended, so he went back touring with NIN), Paul Huge was the other guitarist. so they had Paul Huge and Buckethead. but after NIN tour ended, Robin was interested in getting back into GNR so they ended up with 3 guitars. Robin in fact wasn't out for long, just a few months or a year at most, he left in late summer 1999 and in 2000 he was already back. see the link in my signature for details and enjoy the reading :)

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/robin_finck_ive_been_very_blessed_with_the_opportunities_and_ive_enjoyed_saying_yes_to_them.html

yes, that's right. Buckethead (and Bumblefoot) were solo virtuosos, the additional spice of their music. not replacements for lead guitarist, but adding something completely different. interesting times :)

Yeah, Lead Guitar Was Robin /// I Believe From 2009-2014, Lead Guitar Was BBFT & ASHBA