Frontman Lakis Kyriacou of the British melodic metal band AREA 54 has answered several "freqently answered questions" regarding the group's cover version of the unreleased GUNS N' ROSES song "Madagascar", laid down during a demo-recording session a couple of years back. The questions and Lakis' responses follow:
Q: Since recording it, have you been threatened by Axl's [Rose lawyers?
Lakis: "No, because we've kept our promise of not releasing it. They wouldn't take us to court for just recording the song, and as we've stuck to our word, there's no problem between AREA 54 and Axl or his manager/label as far as we know."
Q: Are you going to release it on your next album?
Lakis: "If we were to get the go ahead, it could be fun to do that, but I suspect that our new album will be out before 'Chinese Democracy' (unless they really do drop the album in March this time), and they wouldn't let us release a cover of an unreleased GUNS N' ROSES track. We've had so much interest in the song that if we are ever to release it, we'll probably go back to the studio and fix a couple of things, because the pressure is on more than we expected. I consider it a work in progress now rather than something that we just did for a laugh. Everyone wants to hear it, even the Axl haters, which is quite cool and funny to me! It's the first cover we've ever recorded, so I'm not used to the amount of e-mails I've had concerning the track and the people who actually come over to me at gigs to ask if they can hear it ? even at a recent ARCH ENEMY/STRAPPING YOUNG LAD gig!!! So yes, we're better known anyway, that's never a bad thing. Most GUNS fans have been very supportive and have been behind us, apart from those who think we did it as a publicity stunt, which is far from the truth, but people will believe what they want. If we didn't get asked about covers, we might never have mentioned it, so those wonderful users of Blabbermouth etc. who are going to tear into us, don't be so quick to, but if you're going to anyway, get your money's worth, people!"
Q: Don't you think it's going to bother Axl?
Lakis: "Why would it? We've respected his wishes & he should be happy that we've not just done 'Sweet Child O' Mine' like everyone else. It should show him that if it's already being covered, he's got nothing to worry about regarding the release of 'Chinese Democracy'. Come on Axl, release that bad boy."
Q: You've said to Sp1at.com that it was a last-minute idea to record it, so how good is it?
Lakis: "Fucking excellent! Like we said, a couple of things could sound better, but considering it was a silly last minute idea, it's still a seriously brilliant version of the song."
Q: Why did you record this particular GN'R track?
Lakis: "Originally it was purely for fun. I was at the Leeds show back in 2002, they played it there. Hearing it live just blew us away. I wanted to hear a studio version, and at least I have now!"
Q: If you were to do another unreleased GN'R cover, which would you pick?
Lakis: "Haha, good question! 'The Blues' maybe, it's one of those grow on you songs if you like that kind of thing. It wouldn't be 'Silkworms', but I don't want to do anything else, so it's not going to happen."
Q: I heard the Internet buzz about you doing a version of "Madagascar" and the forums were buzzing with talk about your effort. I was wondering when we are gonna be able to hear your track? Are you going to release an mp3? What's the situation there?
Lakis: "No MP3s, sorry!! We don't want it out there until we have permission...If that ever happens."
Q: How different is it to the GUNS N' ROSES version?
Lakis: "We've sort of stayed true to the original. We didn't add any of the orchestra that Axl has added to their studio version, the middle section was a problem, because if you take out the Martin Luther King quotes etc., that section would not work at all, so we changed a few root notes in that section of the song and added a fucking cool solo in there instead, which gave that section a weird feel of the older style GUNS breaking out, which was not intentional, but I'm glad it came out that way. Ours is heavier too, we've put serious heaviness to the guitars, but it's all tasteful, we've just AREA 54'd it up real nice! Even if we can't release it, the new AREA 54 album is going to surprise a lot of people. It's like a different band, and we've come a long way, so add that to your shoplifting list of 2006."
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