I recently got Richard to answer a few questions. I've copied the whole Q&A from my forum, Appetite for Discussion:
Q: Congratulations on the kick-ass tour! What's your personal highlights so far?
Thanks, So far Moscow, Lima, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires have been stand-out cities for me. Amazing crowds and great shows.
Q: This was GNR's first concert in Peru, Equador, Panama, Uruguay and El Salvador. How has the response been from these "neglected" audiences?
It's very expensive and hard for a lot of bands to travel to those countries. It was a great opportunity for us to play there and the audiences were very responsive. They were incredibly energetic audiences and gave so much back to us. That type of reaction always makes for great shows.
Q: GNR seems to have a special bond with Brazil and the Brazilian fans, is this obvious from the concerts?
Absolutely, i don't know why, but all over South America, it was just crazy. The love and support we felt from the fans was pretty overwhelming.
Q: On the Asian "warm-up" concerts in 2009 the setlists were longer and contained songs that were not played in Canada and South America. Why was that?
The Asian ticket prices were higher and we felt they deserved more songs (just kidding). I think we were trying a lot of the new songs out to see how they felt to play them in front of an audience and also to see the response. I think some of the newer songs will re-appear on the next legs.
Q: How has DJ Ashba worked out and how has his entry in the band changed the dynamics of the live guitar playing?
DJ is working out great. He's a great guy and is very easy to get along with. He's brought so much to the live show and has been really well received by the audiences.
Q: With three extremely adept guitar players, how do you choose which ones get to play what parts of the songs? No fighting over who gets to play what?
For the most part, we are playing the parts that were handed down to us from our predecessors. DJ is covering most of the parts that Robin used to cover, Ron is covering Bucket's parts (as well as the parts he did on the record), same with me.
Q: Are there any guitar parts that are more tricky or have required more care in getting right live?
Some of the new songs are pretty tricky. Scraped and Shacklers can be pretty tricky.
Q: Your James Bond theme solo has been very popular. Will you stick to it or choose another solo for the coming European leg?
I'll probably stick to it for Europe, as I don't know that we will have much time to rehearse before the next run.
Q: Who chooses which songs are played at each concert?
Axl usually calls the songs, however, he is open for suggestions.
Q: At rehearsals, sound checks, and general jamming in-between concerts, do you have any songs you usually play but that is never played in the concerts?
Rhiad.
Q: Any concerts on the European leg that you look especially forward to?
Rome and Zagreb.
Q: Do you know the opener bands for the European concerts?
Not yet.
Q: Do you know if the European leg will be followed by more concerts somewhere else, or does this tour end in Europe?
This tour is far from over!
Q: When touring with GNR, do you put everything else on hold or are you able to keep up with all your other projects?
I go to a lot of museums and I run every day, which is a great way to see a city. That's my favorite part of touring, being able to get out and run for 10-20 k in a new city
Q: Can you tell us a little bit of any new projects you are involved with (collaborations, guest appearances, other concerts, etc).?
There is a band called Saivu from Norway whose album i played on. I'll be playing with them at a festival in Norway in July. I recently wrote some songs with Michael Monroe for his new record. I also worked a lot on Dizzy's new record. I hope that comes out soon, there is a lot of really amazing stuff on it. Fantastic songs and his voice sounds great. I'm also working on a new video game score and some other tv catalogs.
Q: Have you discovered any new bands or artists lately that you want to tip us about?
That Norwegian band, Saivu has some great songs and I'm really proud of what i did on the record. I have been listening to
NASA
Sleigh Bells
Broken Bells
The XX
LCD Soundsystem
Caribou
Wolf Parade
The National
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