How was the band line-up chosen?

[JAC185]

I figured this would have been asked before but i couldnt find anything which really answered my questions.

I was just wondering how well the guys get on personally, obviously they couldnt hate each other as they work together but Tommy obviously had problems with BH and they were in the band together for a while. Obviously an important part of a band, especially one thats going to tour is the chemistry and i was wondering whether the guys are friends or have sort of gotten forced together in a band. Axl must be the one in charge of the band line-up but did the other guys get a say, for example, in Richard Fortus coming into the band.

I noticed that Richard and Dizzy played on Tommy's album so they must get on alright but was the band chosen simply on talent by Axl and then the other members (whomever they may have been when appointments were made) had to learn to work together or would they have all played with the new guys for a bit first.

Also, a different question on a similar theme, how/when did Axl start rebuilding the band? after 1996 the band basically disintergrated entirely and so how did Axl get the Oh My God line-up together?

[badapple81]

I don't really think the real new GN'R started and making the music that we may hear on Chinese Democracy until after 1997 when Duff left. Probably 1998 when I think the line up from Oh My God started working together? (I could be wrong here).

Anyway when people say the album is 12 years in the making since 94 etc.. that's not really accurate at all. I don't think work on these tracks would have really started since 1998. I specifically remember Axl talking about how Duff & Matt weren't really interested in the song (Oh My God) so Axl' ideas would have been there but I think the work really started after Duff left.

I don't know exactly how they were chosen and the relationship they had with Axl, but the HTGTH History on the main page is a great place to start for a timeline 

[jarmo]

Tommy knew Richard so that's how he got to audition.

Axl liked Robin's playing (I think that's what Matt Sorum said) and I think he also picked Buckethead.


Brain and Buckethead have worked together.



/jarmo

[badapple81]

Thanks I didn't know how Richard got the pick.

How did Axl know Tommy then?

[JAC185]

I knew about BH and Brain but not the others, i heard that Matt wanted Finck in with Slash but Axl wanted him in instead of Slash but i cant remember where i heard that, i guess they kinda knew each other then so it wasnt as forced as i thought it might have been

[nesquick]

I heard Axl wanted to hire Fortus in the late 90's before Buckethead joined the band. I read that somewhere a while ago.

[hally187]

Axl saw robin when NIN were touring/opening for GnR and thought he was great, Matt Sorum has been quoted as saying that Axl said how great robin is and matt said "yeah he would be great alongside slash" and Axl said "No, I want him to play lead", whether thats true or not is anyones guess.  Gilby just stopped getting paid, Paul came in, Slash left, robin came (Axl wanted him) Matt left (Josh Freese came in - probably one of the top drummers going around), Duff left and Josh got Tommy (a friend) the audition, Tommy went and bought a copy of AFD and learnt the bass lines, got the job... josh left along with billy howerdel and they became APC, Robin left to tour with NIN, Brian May did some recording because Axl didnt know what to do, or if Robin was coming back... Enter buckethead, whose been working with brain for years... then robin came back so now they had 2 lead guitarists, paul left and richard (who was originally going to audition to play lead) joined (he's a friend of tommy's to) now buckethead has left, and we dont know who or even if anyone will replace him... They've also seen a heap of producers come and go, including Youth (Verves Urban Hymns producer), Moby, Roy Thomas Baker (Queens producer) but I think originally Sean Bevan and Critter were producer/engineer (thats where Oh My God came from) and right now nobody really knows... i think the album might be finished, theyve spent the last 3 years trying to work out the liner notes and credits 

[Bartlet]

i heard that Matt wanted Finck in with Slash but Axl wanted him in instead of Slash but i cant remember where i heard that, i guess they kinda knew each other then so it wasnt as forced as i thought it might have been

I thought he wanted Zakk Wylde to replace Slash after seeing him perform with Matt. Also, was'nt slash long gone by thye time Fink was on board?

Anyway, 'tis nothing in the grand scheme of things I guess. 

[godiva]

Who really knows? They probably know each other from the 2002 tour. I know Tommy and Dizzy did a little interview together with Kurt Loder. Some band members played on Tommy's solo album, so they probably kept in touch over the years. Remember Dizzy saying in some fan interview that he had no idea whether or not Chris is still in the band? Maybe he was just playing the ' I have no idea, so I don't have to answer' card, but if that's true it means he doesn't keep in touch with Chris. Axl was on another flight, so he didn't travel with the rest of the band. There was a picture from the 2002 tour somewhere in GB where Robin, Dizzy and I think Tommy and Richard were standing outside smoking. Maybe that means that they form a little club of friends, maybe it just means they are the only smokers.

I do hope everybody gets along fine, it will make a better show.

[WARose]

They've also seen a heap of producers come and go, including Youth (Verves Urban Hymns producer), Moby, Roy Thomas Baker (Queens producer) but I think originally Sean Bevan and Critter were producer/engineer (thats where Oh My God came from) and right now nobody really knows...

axl is the producer now.

and thanks for your post. it pretty much sums up all the member changes in gnr after 96 (except for chris pittman)

[hally187]

Yeah Pittman is a bit of a snake in the grass, I think he's worked with some guys from Tool, so he probably came into the band through Bevan/Critter.  I imagine Dizzy and Chris Pittman get along, they apparantly wrote silkworms together (although to most thats probably a low point) but yeah, I wonder if Paul will come back so Richard and Robin can concentrate on leads?  Hard to imagine we've had nearly 4 years of no 'Paul broke up the old band' threads 

[jarmo]

Axl saw robin when NIN were touring/opening for GnR and thought he was great

Robin wasn't in Nine Inch Nails in 1991 when they opened for GN'R in Germany and the UK.




/jarmo

[Disco Volante]

Didn't Axl see Robin perform live when he was in Cirque de Soleil?

[Bartlet]

Jarmo - absolutely! Hence my earlier post bout Zakk Wyled.
hally 187 - Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle was aparently Guns N Roses geetar tech at some point so there could be a link with the whole Chris Pitman thing there too.

[1badapple]

buckethead insisted on brain being hired when josh freese left.

[WARose]

Jarmo - absolutely! Hence my earlier post bout Zakk Wyled.
hally 187 - Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle was aparently Guns N Roses geetar tech at some point so there could be a link with the whole Chris Pitman thing there too.

thanks for the first info about mr. pittman

[JAC185]

Didn't Axl see Robin perform live when he was in Cirque de Soleil?

Thats what i had always thought

[jbenzz]

Remember Dizzy saying in some fan interview that he had no idea whether or not Chris is still in the band? Maybe he was just playing the ' I have no idea, so I don't have to answer' card, but if that's true it means he doesn't keep in touch with Chris.

I'm pretty sure that that comment was meant as a joke, if I'm not mistaken.  Does anyone know the extent of Chris Vrenna's (sp - maybe I  have the name completly wrong... NIN drum programmer) involvement?


What I remember about Finck was that Matt said that Finck should play rhythm alongside slash and Axl said they should share lead.  I'm pretty sure that someone in the band knew finck at the time and Axl didn't know that when he saw Cirque de Soleil.  Zakk Wylde came by for a session to rehearse but didn't want to deal with the politics of it.  He definetly wasn't in the band and I'm pretty sure Slash was still around when that happened.

[disease51883]

Not to stir up anything with the Buckethead diehards, but everyone that was in the 2002 band seems to be pretty fond of each other - with the exception of Buckethead.

[JAC185]

Not to stir up anything with the Buckethead diehards, but everyone that was in the 2002 band seems to be pretty fond of each other - with the exception of Buckethead.

Thats why i was wondering if that was really the case, as i had no clue they did not get on until he left, but the way the guys have worked together seems to show they do get on