Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Wanted to pick some brains here.  But didn't want to clutter up the good vibes in the big room.

When it appeared that Pittman would not be back, I just assumed they eliminated the position outright.  Didn't you?  Did you think there was my chance they keep a second keyboardist...yet not use the guy that's had the gig for 15 years?

I can't imagine it was a money thing.  Axl, Slash, and Duff are making the lion's share here.  I assume the others are just on salary.

So if that is the case, it's got to be a personality thing, right?  Are there any stories that we know of where Chris comes off like a dick?  I can't recall any.

Do you think he blames Axl for not going to bat for him?  Or do you think he and Axl had some falling out?

He would have been involved without those stupid twitter posts. Thats my quess.

I would say that I'm a Pitman fan and I miss this guy but I'm excited about Melissa Reese too.

I heard someone at MYGNR speculate that it was the way he talked about Coachella beforehand that rubbed them the wrong way.

I think the night he posted all that stuff while "drunk" was the night he got the word he was out.  He sounded like a dude that just got dumped.

That might be true. He was super excited about Coachella but didn't realised that his postings are not in line with the bands marketing strategy.

Which is just crazy to me.

Chris Pitman is a first ballot Hall Of Fame "just happy to be here" guy.  How he does anything to even remotely rock the boat defies all logic.

if he was fired after his tweet, that makes sense.

if it was before, it doesn't

Alright, was just double checking the timeline here.

This is is from 1/11/16 :


OK, so the Coachella news broke on 1/5/16.  So word was out.  But they had yet to say anything.  Chris seems to have gone off book.

He then compounds that by being sort of smartass about it, which really, only draws more attention to it.


Then on 2/26/16, this happens late at night :


It seems to me, that earlier in the same day, Chris got the word : Everybody doing this upcoming tour, take one step forward...not so fast, Chris.

He lashes out like someone who did not see this news coming.  Like a guy with an engagement ring already in his pocket instead gets told that she thinks they need to take a break.

That wasn't because he was "drunk".  He was hurt.

I took those comments to be towards the segment of fans he was upset with. Like for years they called every tour a money grab because there was no new music on the horizon. I thought that was his way of saying, "same thing here, but now it's ok?" Sort of in that vein.

But I agree, something must have gone down. He was definitely in months ago, at least he thought he was. And now he apparently is out. And that apology tweet either signaled he was out at that time or he was trying to save himself and it didn't quite work. That's the way I read it at least.

He also did the GNFR teaser that came up with the Star Wars movie.

I was never bothered like many here about his presence. Didn't think the band would call someone to replace him, much less a girl. And I really like the idea now, even though I couldn't really have a fair opinion on her because I just couldn't hear anything from those Instagram videos.

Yeah, that seems likely (and sad). I dunno.

Hmm, that's a good point.

I wasn't bothered by him.  But I thought you could lift him right out and not miss a beat.

But while I could see the elimination of the slot outright, I never in a million years thought they'd keep it...by go to the trouble of replacing him.

I think the fact they did stick with a 2nd keyboardist shows they intended to do so, and Chris might have just fucked himself out of the highest profile gig he would have ever had.

Had to have been something behind the scenes that we're not privy to.  Pitman may not have exactly been a key component, but 20 years is 20 years, so I'd be surprised if he was cut loose just because of a dumb tweet. 

Does seem harsh.

About all I can figure is that maybe he and Slash and/or Duff didn't exactly hit it off.

So when he screws up, do they maybe turn to Axl and ask "What's with your boy, man?  Is he stupid or something?"

It's things like this that make me wish I could have been a fly on the wall since 1997ish... Once you had Paul, Bucket, Robin, Brain, Bumble, Tommy, and DJ gone did he lose his cheering section? Also once Duff and Slash were in place full time what were there thoughts on him? Was he ever part of rehearsals? Did they hate his backing vocals?

Backing vocals are the one thing you can get after the CD Era lineup for... they were amazing musicians... but potentially one of the historically bad backing vocal groups ever.
Robin's voice was nails on a chalkboard, Chris was awful, Tommy was ehhh. Maybe Slash and Duff pulled Axl aside during rehearsal and were like 'WTF?'

In the few decent clips we have of Friday, you can really hear her in the background of WTTJ doing the Ooo Ooo Ooo's... I would love to hear what she did on Don't Cry and KOHD.

I came to the same conclusion.

I'm not upset he's gone...

but this will go down as one of the great or not so great mysteries in GNR land... because you know we will never get a straight answer !

I seriously doubt Slash or Duff came in and started making lineup "suggestions" to Axl right out the gate...

Don't ya think they would have pushed for one of the drummers if they had that power?

This is what it is....

He was a member of Gn'R and seemed like a useful guy, but he didn't contribute that much ya know? I mean he just didn't do that much.

He co-wrote 2 songs, which is nice, and played sub-bass on ALL of the songs, which isn't really needed in my opinion. PLayed keyboards on like 1/2 the tracks, and did guitar on a couple.

Yeah he was important for that album, because of CD's style and sound, but overall, out of the members on CD, he was the least important member or towards to bottom. For me he just wasn't someone that I got into. I do love Madagascar though, but I'm saying Pitman was just passable for me.

Then his rude comments about the band really set me off, I didn't like that. For the most part he was defended here to the death... where Steven says 1 thing people blast him and it's all okay and tolerated mostly.

I'm very surprised they had a female keyboardist in his place. I just don't think Gn'R needs 2 keyboardists. It's whatever I guess. Not like what I think is going to change it.

I'm not trying to be rude or disrespecful, but for someone that played a couple instruments and sub bass/keyboards on an album I just don't factor him in as that relevant. If Dizzy wasn't in the band, and Pitman did ALL of the keyboards then sure that is very different.

At the end of the stay he was an important part of Gn'R's 1997-2014 era, but to me he was the least important member in the band besides maybe Ashba, who didn't write anything as we know of.

Could be, but there are so many possibilities.  Maybe he had drug/alcohol addiction issues.  Maybe he and Dizzy had a king of the keyboards dispute and Chris was the odd man out, who knows.  What we can rule out is the speculation that his role was superfluous, because they replaced him. 

 I'm thinking the #GamesForDays didn't help his cause much

Totally.

The whole thing had a vibe of "where does this guy get the fuckin' balls", and then he just kept compounding it and drawing more attention to it.

What if Pitman is just busy for the moment, and Reese is only replacing him temporarily ?

I know what her sister said, but it's not like she'd be in on all the details.

It'd be kinda weird for someone to pass on an opportunity like this just because they're busy with something else, but it's possible right ? 

I do agree with what someone said earlier, I don't think Slash and/or Duff said 'get the fuck out of here', I don't think their renewed working relationship with Axl works that way (yet).  If it worked like that, no way they would have settled for Fortus and Ferrer.  It's no coincidence that Reese has a connection with Brain.

What did her sister say? That she's a full time member I'm guessing by the context?

IF Pitman is indeed out, and I would say he is, I think it relates to his tweets. More likely, the initial ones about Coachella. Maybe his behavior after that, whatever that may have entailed sealed his fate. But my guess is we'll probably never know the full story.

She tweeted something to the effect of 'my sister just joined GNR'.

Settled? Fortus is the best rhythm player GN'R has had. I get digging the history with Izzy and if they were to write new material I would LOVE for him to be a part of the process, seeing Izzy's aversion to being a part of a big touring rock band, in my opinion, I don't think he would have done a full tour.

And Ferrer is a damn good drummer, especially for this band, he can bridge the gap between laying a groove and being technical.

I think you hit the nail.

Let's talk about rythm guitar replacements. Richard Fortus is without any doubt way more capable than Paul Tobias (who also doesn't seem to like to tour) and Gilby Clarke. I'm yet to hear his approach in a two guitars band and with Slash, but I'm pretty sure he's flexible enough to get his sound to wherever its needed.

I thought Gilby was fine. Didn't see any problem with him. I really like Fortus though.

I could barely hear him in the Illusions tour, but when I did, it was always dumbed down versions of Izzy's rhythm and little leads. Listen to any Rocket Queen live: it's really outrageous how Gilby didn't play what he was supposed to play. He had plenty of time on tour to learn it properly, but didn't. Maybe that's why in the Live Era version they didn't bother to have a 2nd guitar at all in this song.

And on TSI he only plays bland power chords with no real contribution whatsoever. His solo album is ok, IMO. Not even close to Richard's skills, tho.

Settled yes.  No way Slash and/or Duff would prefer Fortus over Izzy, if having Izzy back full time was even remotely possible.  That is sadly not the case, for some reason.  So they went with someone who was already there.  Axl probably had a lot to do with that as well.

Is Fortus a better guitar player than Izzy ?  Sure. Big deal.  Izzy wrote half of, and can more than adequately play the GNR catalogue + he co-founded the fucking band, so I know who I'd prefer !

Dude, his own freakin' bandmates used to turn down his amps.

His songwriting chops are undeniable.  But let's not get carried away with how godly a live performer he supposedly is.

Where did I say that ?

Gilby's amps were turned down as well by the way.  Let's see how loud Fortus will be in the live mix !

When you said he could more adequately play the GNR catalogue, 3 posts upthread.

This thread should be renamed The Pitman Incident? 8)

Hahahaha

Damn it.  You are right.

Missed opportunity by me.

No offence, but I never said that.  Here's what I said : 'Izzy wrote half of, and can more than adequately play the GNR catalogue.'

In fact what you misquoted was exactly my original point, Fortus is a better skilled guitarist, and yet I'd still prefer Izzy.

I did misread your post.  My bad.

Back on topic.

Where do you think Chris Pitman's legacy will stand?

Was he that instrumental for Axl in a behind the scenes aspect?

I take no objection to preferring Izzy over Fortus. If they were writing new material I would prefer Izzy as well.

I just think the word settled is not the correct word to use in this situation, to me it implies Slash and Duff had somebody they wanted to play rhythm guitar/drums but Axl wouldn't go through with the reunion unless he got Fortus and Ferrer, so they "settled" on this. We have no idea if Slash and Duff wanted to bring in someone else, we have no authority to say they "settled" on this. If we go under the assumption that Izzy did not want to do a full blown tour (I have no way of knowing this, history leans in one direction) I think the most logical solution was going with the guy who's been playing these parts damn well for the past decade, and if I don't have my glasses on kinda looks like Izzy! Again, I'm not trying to dictate who one should prefer, I just think the word settled has a negative connotation to the 2 respective players.

As for the Pittman situation I think his (mother) Goose was cooked after his twitter comments.

I think he helped set up and show Axl some technology/synth things, I read a snippet of an interview with I believe Pittman that said he set up a synth for Axl and Axl played the intro to Madagascar on it shortly after.

http://www.gnrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=3397

Maybe we'll get an answer through a rant from Axl?

If he was fired because he did something that rubbed them the wrong way that is.

I have the feeling that he was kicked out by himself. I assume that he would have been involved without the tweets.

Fair enough, no worries.