www.gnrinfo.tkIn Their Own Words:
Slash: I saw the first screening [of Interview With A Vampire] with the Stone's version still on it, and I thought it was fine. Fuck, why do we need to do it? But then Axl went to see it and he loved the movie ? see, I hated it.
Slash: When the movie came (out in the US) a couple of months ago, Geffen called and said, "Could you do us a favor?" That movie coming out was a big issue for me, because the books ("The Vampire trilogy" by Anne Rice) were great. They have a real kind of passion in there - a sort of dark romanticism - and I'm a real heavy-duty, old time vampire horror movie freak. And it was like Tom Cruise AND Brad Pitt? No fucking way! So I got this call saying would we do "Sympathy For The Devil" for the movie. I thought, "well okay, maybe it'll be a vehicle to get the band back together and get the wheels in motion for some
pre-production stuff." So I went to the screening in one of those stiff theatres full of showbiz fucking suits, and I'm half
asleep! I'm not having a good time, and I couldn't just get up and leave, so I was trying to be cool. I started smoking some
cigarettes, which is not something you're meant to do in an LA cinema... it's like murder! So I got up and left before the
lights went out. I have to say Tom Cruise did the best he could, but the film's laughable to me. The Stones' version of the song was playing in the same place ours was meant to be. Anyway, I got up and went home. I called Doug (Goldstein) and said, "Leave it: the Stones' version's fine. There's no need to do a song that doesn't need to be redone." Then Axl went to see the film the next day, and it's inevitable that he likes it and comes out of the movie completely at odds with me! It just goes with the territory - I love this singer/lead guitarist relationship in bands... it's just fucking stupid! So Axl went and saw it and said he loved it. He was ecstatic. "Let's do the song!" he says. So I said "okay". We show up at the studio... who shows up? Matt, Duff and I. That was it. Paul Huge came in with Axl a couple of days later. While we were doing it (recording the song), we had to write down how many bars each section was, because without vocals you don't know where the next change is going to come. But we got it done and the guitar solos on and everything, and then Axl went in to do vocals... and the next thing you know, there's this "answer" guitar going on during my guitar solo! It's Paul Huge! I will probably never forgive Axl for that. But we talked about it. We made a deal that if Paul ever plays on anything, then I should at least be told first, because it really took me off guard. I wasn't there when he did it. Axl likes the song. I haven't listened to it since it was mixed. It's not like it was lousy guitar playing or anything; I think it's how it went down. If people like it, then fine. I haven't gone to see the movie again again because I don't think I could bear it.
I also read that Matt had an arguement with Paul cause he said some bad things about Slash in front of him, Matt asked him to apologize which he didn't, then he walked outside on the parking lot which Axl said to him, "You're gonna quit?" which Matt replied "No" on which Axl responded "Then you're fired". That's how matt was fired...
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