Steven Adler Talks Recovery, GN?R W/Crawdaddy! Magazine

Steven Adler: On Recovery, GN?R, and Eating Well

PUBLISHED October 15, 2010

Crawdaddy!: So your first concert wasn?t just Kiss, but the show where they filmed the performance sequence for their movie Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park. What was that like?

Steven Adler: Holy shit. I was 13 years old, it was so exciting; not only did we get to see Kiss?there were only 2,000 people, it was at [Los Angeles amusement park] Magic Mountain?but we got to go on all the rides for free. It was just a really exciting time for me. It put in my mind and heart what I wanted to do with my life.

Crawdaddy!: And that one experience fueled your passion for wanting to be in a rock band?

Adler: At first, I wanted to be a professional football player, but I hurt my foot?I got it caught in the spokes of my brother?s bicycle. So that ruined the football thing. Then I wanted to be a stuntman, but you had to be really good at gymnastics, so you had to go to school to do that. But I didn?t want to go to school [laughs], so that did it for gymnastics. So I went to the Kiss concert and said, ?That?s what I want to do.?

Crawdaddy!: One of my favorite parts of your book was reading about how you taught yourself how to play drums.

Adler: I would practice at different parks; there?s a dog park up on Mulholland and Laurel Canyon, I?d go up and set my drums up there. I?d play with anybody, anywhere. I just knew every time I hit that drum, I got that much better. That?s all I cared about. I?m here to show all the underdogs you can survive and you can succeed?you just gotta believe in yourself.

Crawdaddy!: And you used to go to a club and watch other drummers?

Adler: When I was 11 or 12, I was hanging out at a club called the Starwood. The staircase went up to the dressing room, and if you stood at the top of the staircase and looked down you?d see right behind the drummer. I learned from watching what they were doing. ?Oh, that?s what they did to make that beat.? Actually, about eight months ago, I started taking drum lessons, ?cause I want to be better. It was great doing what I did and getting away with it [laughs], but now I want to be thought of as not just a one-trick pony. I am a musician, I am a drummer, and have heart and soul.

Crawdaddy!: After you left GN?R they added keyboards, backup singers, and a horn section. Was that a direction you would?ve been okay with had you still been in the group?

Adler: No, that would?ve never happened, so they?re lucky they did kick me out. I would?ve okayed the one keyboard player. It would?ve been a friend of ours named Howard; that was the whole plan, anyway, that was the only change we were going to make. Bit it was going to be kinda like the Aerosmith keyboard player, off to the side. Put a mask on him or something [laughs].

Crawdaddy!: Axl hasn?t changed his ways?

Adler: And it?s only fuckin? rock ?n roll, dude, get over it. Hey, Grandpa said, ?Time heals all wounds.? My wounds are healed?how long does it take to scar up and get over it already? My god. It?s not fair to me, it?s not fair to my fans, it?s not fair to Axl himself, it?s not fair to Slash. I?ve played some pretty cool places, but I?ve also played a bunch of little bars, which were really fun because we were giving them an arena show in a bar. It was really exciting, but I saw posters saying Slash was coming to play there, and I?m all, ?What the fuck is Slash playing here for?? He?s Slash. Me, I have to pay my dues again, so I don?t mind and I love doing it. Slash is one of the greatest guitar players in the world. I saw a twitter a few weeks ago saying he played somewhere in Minneapolis, and he said the stage was so small he couldn?t move. That?s not for Slash. He?s a guitar hero, come on!

Every musician in the world prays every day, ?I want to be in a big rock ?n? roll band, I want to travel around, I want to be loved, I want to be respected.? That happened to us. Yes, I threw that away, I fucked up. I took everything I was doing, I took it too far. I?m not going to say I didn?t appreciate everything I had, I just took it too far. For 20 years, I blamed Slash and Duff and Izzy and Axl for my downfall. I believed in my heart they let me down, and I beat myself up over it for 35 years. It takes time to heal. Once I started to work with Dr. Drew, Dr. Sophie, and Bob Forrest [on Celebrity Rehab] and my body and my mind started to heal, I stated to realize they didn?t let me down. I?m the one who let them down. Then it made my life so much easier to move on. The setbacks are over; they?re all in the past now. Now is my opportunity to create value. I burned the candle with superstars and survived to share the story with you guys.

Crawdaddy!: You weren?t the only member of the band with a drug problem. Do you think that part of the reason they kicked you out of the band first is because they saw the drummer as being expendable?

Adler: Maybe, maybe [it was] the management. My job is to keep the hands clapping and the feet tapping, and when I?m going in and out of consciousness from the drugs, it?s very difficult to do. I wasn?t playing to the best of my ability, I was worn out, really tired, really beat up. If you read my book, you?ll see I beat myself up, that?s why I call it My Appetite For Destruction.

Crawdaddy!: When is the new record coming out?

Adler: We?re working on it now that we got off this tour. We can finally hunker down and put the songs together.

Crawdaddy!: So the material will be fresh because you?ve been playing it for so long.

Adler: Exactly. It?s the hardest thing in the world to get four or five guys in a room and all want the same goal and dreams and want to do the same music. And to know which one is playing before the other one is playing it. That?s what GN?R had. I knew what they were going to play before I was going to play it. It?s chemistry. There are millions of musicians, but it?s difficult to get four or five guys in one room and be able to get the same feel. Younger kids ask me what they should do to get into rock ?n? roll, and I say, ?Play with everybody you possible can anywhere you possible can. The more you play around, the more people you meet and the sooner you?ll find that? serendipity.?

Crawdaddy!: Touring is a whole new ballgame now that you?re clean, I suppose.

Adler: Oh, it?s so exciting, and I?m enjoying it. And being a part of the AA squad, so to speak? I said in an interview I keep eating bar food and that I hadn?t had a home-cooked meal in weeks, which is true when I?m on tour. These wonderful [Alcoholics Anonymous] people will bring me lasagna and ribs and cookies and cake. [laughs]

Crawdaddy!: What have you found to be more difficult: Cleaning up and staying sober or being in a band with Axl Rose?

Adler: [exhales deeply] Wow. Quitting cigarettes. I?m having a harder time with quitting cigarettes than with that asshole and those assholes. [laughs] The reason, I?m telling you right now, the reason he started going off the wall like he [did] was because there wasn?t someone there to focus him and bring him down to earth. If he would throw the microphone and leave the stage after the first song, I would go to him, ?Dude, remember when we were kids and we wanted to go see our favorite rock bands? Remember how long and how hard we had to work to save up the money to go see them? That?s what these people did to see us. You can?t do that.? He?d be, ?You?re right, Steven,? and it would bring him back down to earth.

Crawdaddy!: A lot of bands lose sight of that.

Adler: He talked some pretty goofy fuckin? shit, you gotta admit. He can?t deny it, but he?s also done a lot of wonderful things, and those things don?t get any press. People want to hear the negative.

Crawdaddy!: He was the only one there when you woke up from your overdose [in 1988]?

Adler: He was there many times, but then again, he was there kicking me in the balls for no reason. The little fella?s angry.

Crawdaddy!: Who?s to say he won?t act the same way if you guys have a reunion?

Adler: Let?s cross that line when we get to it. If the five of us got together in a room, there wouldn?t be fighting, it?d be hugging. Everybody?ll get a little teary-eyed, and I think we?d mold back together again. It would never be where we hang out with each other constantly like we use to, but I think we?d be able to work with each other. I believe that. I?m no fool, I?d love to get the money that we would have from doing that, but I wanna do it because my heart desires it, my soul fuckin? needs it, I need to finish what I started. I?m not going to wait for it to happen like I used to. I used to get high out of my mind and wait for it to happen. No, I?m going to do my shit. I got a new band, a new record, I?m on tour. I?m living the dream. [laughs] I?m here to show all the underdogs you can survive and you can succeed. When I got off tour, I built a big fire in my fireplace and threw my book in there because that?s the past? fuck it! Maybe in another 10, 15 years I?ll write another book, but right now I?m leaving my past behind.

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