Goodbye Ron (???)

[Spirit]

Actually, the Dizzy interview I mentioned earlier was about the Richard Fortus audition... I was mistaken. Not sure if anyone other than Dj himself have talked about his audition round.

[TheBaconman]

So there was over 100 guitarests audtioning in secret to Guns N Roses, that have all kept there mouth shut about it over the years....

That does seem improbable.

Not sure about 100, but Dizzy mentioned that he was present when they were auditioning, seems like a lot of guys went through the process. Axl wasn't at the auditions.

As for a lot of people keeping their mouth shut about it... I'm sure they would talk about it if it ever came up in an interview (not sure if they auditioned any famous players though), but otherwise, who would willingly go public and say that they auditioned and didn't get the job? It's the same as saying "I wasn't good enough".

I think if the guitarest was an unknown, they would of leaked it, or have been talking about it..   Auditioning for Guns as an unkown would be great publicity, even if you didnt get the gig.  It would be a very cool rock n roll story, that many would share, (If there was many)

And if the guitar player trying out was famous.   That in itself would of been a story.  Just look at Zack Wylde.   He is not shy at all about talking about his time trying out for guns...

If you're unknown, you would have to actively seek out the media to tell the story.. Not sure how good of a publicity it would be as you would come off as an attention seeker. It might put you on the radar, but for the wrong reasons.

Also, since Axl wasn't present at the auditions, the story looses a bit of excitement I think.

By unknown I would think that would be a guitar player that hasn't hit it big yet.  That is "unknown" to the general public

This guitar player would still be "known" to the music world and the media that covers it

I highly doubt gnr were auditioning guitar players that were both unknown to the general public and to the music world.  But what do I know. Mb guns had a secret add on Craig's list and was auditioning every joe blow they could find.  Mb they had travelled to India and like like a Disney movie searched for the million dollar arm

[Spirit]

If they're not known to the general public, the media that covers them must probably cater to a nich? group of people then.

If it did come up in an interview that they auditioned, pretty big chance the general public (us) didn't hear about it then.

[FunkyMonkey]

If they're not known to the general public, the media that covers them must probably cater to a nich? group of people then.

If it did come up in an interview that they auditioned, pretty big chance the general public (us) didn't hear about it then.

Anyone GN'R would consider would be known to the media, or have access to it.  If they mentioned playing for GN'R, and they would, that's going to get picked up, especially if you're talking about auditioning over 100 guitar players. If that's what really happened.

[bazgnr]

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bumblefoot-on-his-guns-n-roses-bandmates-i-dont-know-if-we-ever-got-to-really-know-each-other/

[TheBaconman]

If they're not known to the general public, the media that covers them must probably cater to a nich? group of people then.

If it did come up in an interview that they auditioned, pretty big chance the general public (us) didn't hear about it then.

I would call us more die hard Guns N Roses fans, than the "general public"

I doubt the general public is coming to webpages like this to discuss all things gnr related.

So out of the 100 + guitar players audioned, if just one of them gave just one interiew to one media source....    We would have seen it.   Just looked at the obscure media sources that are posted here nearly daily

[Spirit]

If they're not known to the general public, the media that covers them must probably cater to a nich? group of people then.

If it did come up in an interview that they auditioned, pretty big chance the general public (us) didn't hear about it then.

I would call us more die hard Guns N Roses fans, than the "general public"

I doubt the general public is coming to webpages like this to discuss all things gnr related.

So out of the 100 + guitar players audioned, if just one of them gave just one interiew to one media source....    We would have seen it.   Just looked at the obscure media sources that are posted here nearly daily

So, the bottom line is: Dj is lying.

That's the message you want to get accross?

What's the upper limit of auditioning guitar players where there is reasonable to believe none of them blabbered to the media? Or do you figure there were no auditions?

[D-GenerationX]

So, the bottom line is: Dj is lying.

Well, "lying" is a harsh term, because it implies malice.

But, that being said, does DJ have a real strong record with the stuff he's said over the past 6 years?

[TheBaconman]

If they're not known to the general public, the media that covers them must probably cater to a nich? group of people then.

If it did come up in an interview that they auditioned, pretty big chance the general public (us) didn't hear about it then.

I would call us more die hard Guns N Roses fans, than the "general public"

I doubt the general public is coming to webpages like this to discuss all things gnr related.

So out of the 100 + guitar players audioned, if just one of them gave just one interiew to one media source....    We would have seen it.   Just looked at the obscure media sources that are posted here nearly daily

So, the bottom line is: Dj is lying.

That's the message you want to get accross?

What's the upper limit of auditioning guitar players where there is reasonable to believe none of them blabbered to the media? Or do you figure there were no auditions?

I wouldnt say DJ is lying at all.....

I would say it seems DJ is quite the story teller though.

I think the auditions where minimual, if at all, for the spot DJ took....   They had a guy in mind (DJ) and got him.  

As per your other question about blabbery to the media.   The number of guys would have to be very very low and already known to the band.  Where both partys could sort of have a hush hush mentality..  "Hey Joe come down and play with the boys and see if it work, but lets keep this on the down low K."  

[D-GenerationX]

DJ just seems to sort of stay stuff.  And will often repeat a lot of the same stuff.

I don't think he is lying to try and get one over on anybody.  But the fact checking of his statements over the past 6 years is a bloodbath.

[Ginger King]

DJ just seems to sort of stay stuff.  And will often repeat a lot of the same stuff.

I don't think he is lying to try and get one over on anybody.  But the fact checking of his statements over the past 6 years is a bloodbath.

Seems like a little bit of trickery (which I thought there was supposed to be none of).  Yeah, DJ's said quite a few things that have turned out to be unfounded or not true.  I'd file this under "harmless embellishment"...kind of like when your buddy tells you he drank 30 beers last night.  Does anyone really believe it?

[GeorgeSteele]

DJ just seems to sort of stay stuff.  And will often repeat a lot of the same stuff.

I don't think he is lying to try and get one over on anybody.  But the fact checking of his statements over the past 6 years is a bloodbath.

His pronouncements on things to come have been off, but I don't recall him ever saying anything inaccurate about things in the past.  100 seems high, but that doesn't mean they all came in at Axl's request.  Maybe Dizzy or one of the other members would sometimes ask a guy to come to the studio and play and if they thought the guy was good enough, then they would mention to Axl.  

[D-GenerationX]

DJ just seems to sort of stay stuff.  And will often repeat a lot of the same stuff.

I don't think he is lying to try and get one over on anybody.  But the fact checking of his statements over the past 6 years is a bloodbath.

His pronouncements on things to come have been off, but I don't recall him ever saying anything inaccurate about things in the past.  100 seems high, but that doesn't mean they all came in at Axl's request.  Maybe Dizzy or one of the other members would sometimes ask a guy to come to the studio and play and if they thought the guy was good enough, then they would mention to Axl.  

"We switch up the setlist every night because we know people come to multiple shows.  Axl likes to keep us on our toes."

That is the most maddening one, in my view.  Because its not only untrue, its so easily proven untrue, and can be done with a simple internet connection.

Stuff like saying they are going to tour, then it doesn't happen.  Or saying they hope to get an album out, and it doesn't happen.  That always has the catch all out of the vague "thing's changed".

But to run with something that anyone can disprove in 3 seconds with Google is just foolishness.

[faldor]

I remember quite a few names being rumored to have auditioned for GNR back in the day. 100 may be a stretch, but I'm not sure we have to analyze every word with a magnifying glass. What's the point? Who cares if it was 100, 200, 20? Why does it matter? Things get taken out of context, guys get misquoted, all the time. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but you can't judge context by reading a quote. Maybe he was exaggerating the number a bit? Who knows. And again, who cares? Some people seem to grasp at any little thing to tear down and break apart.

As for the setlist argument, nice to see we've come full circle. There are other bands that literally play the same setlist every show for the entire run of a tour. I'll freely admit that Guns has played the same exact setlist a few shows in a row, but they certainly added songs along the way. Sometimes they switch up the order. Again, you're taking a quote and putting your own spin on it. As if he said, "I love how we go out there and play as diverse a setlist every night than any band in the history of music has ever done. We put Pearl Jam to shame". By just a quick glance, it looks like Sixx A.M. plays a static setlist. So maybe he's comparing it to other bands he's been in. Maybe in comparison, there IS a difference.

They may be exaggerations. I'll give you that. But it's a bold take to paint them as out and out lies. It's all about the vantage point I suppose and you only need to read the screen name to figure out the gist of each post in these parts.

[GeorgeSteele]

DJ just seems to sort of stay stuff.  And will often repeat a lot of the same stuff.

I don't think he is lying to try and get one over on anybody.  But the fact checking of his statements over the past 6 years is a bloodbath.

His pronouncements on things to come have been off, but I don't recall him ever saying anything inaccurate about things in the past.  100 seems high, but that doesn't mean they all came in at Axl's request.  Maybe Dizzy or one of the other members would sometimes ask a guy to come to the studio and play and if they thought the guy was good enough, then they would mention to Axl.  

"We switch up the setlist every night because we know people come to multiple shows.  Axl likes to keep us on our toes."

That is the most maddening one, in my view.  Because its not only untrue, its so easily proven untrue, and can be done with a simple internet connection.

Stuff like saying they are going to tour, then it doesn't happen.  Or saying they hope to get an album out, and it doesn't happen.  That always has the catch all out of the vague "thing's changed".

But to run with something that anyone can disprove in 3 seconds with Google is just foolishness.

The future pronouncements are irrelevant to whether he's generally full of shit, he has no control over whether something he predicts will become true or not.  Perhaps he shouldn't say those things to begin with, but that's a different criticism.

As for the setlists, bear in mind, he was the new guy at the time, so maybe even introducing just one new song into the setlist on a given night felt like a big deal for him.  In any case, I think we need more to go on if we're going to call bullshit on his audition comment.

[D-GenerationX]

As for the setlist argument, nice to see we've come full circle. There are other bands that literally play the same setlist every show for the entire run of a tour. I'll freely admit that Guns has played the same exact setlist a few shows in a row, but they certainly added songs along the way. Sometimes they switch up the order. Again, you're taking a quote and putting your own spin on it. As if he said, "I love how we go out there and play as diverse a setlist every night than any band in the history of music has ever done. We put Pearl Jam to shame". By just a quick glance, it looks like Sixx A.M. plays a static setlist. So maybe he's comparing it to other bands he's been in. Maybe in comparison, there IS a difference.

They may be exaggerations. I'll give you that. But it's a bold take to paint them as out and out lies. It's all about the vantage point I suppose and you only need to read the screen name to figure out the gist of each post in these parts.

As I said, I would never say "lie", because that implies malice.

But as for the setlist, I actually see it the opposite way.  One has to put their own spin on things to make that one work.  How there is all this alleged variety.

CD-WTTJ-ISE-MRB opens every show.  Can you come back with the *one time* it was YCBM and say that proves DJ correct?  Sure.  But I think its hard to make that argument with a straight face.

The fact is that before each night of the tour the past few years, any one of us could make up a setlist before the show then compare it to how accurate we were, both in terms of the songs played and their order.

We would not struggle to score a quite high percentage on both.

Which, in itself, is fine.  A lot of bands have a general setlist for a tour.  I could do a similar thing with the Rolling Stones tour happening right now.

But do they blow smoke up your ass about Mick Jagger is mixing it up and "keeping them on their toes"?

No.  And that's the issue.

[TheBaconman]

I remember quite a few names being rumored to have auditioned for GNR back in the day. 100 may be a stretch, but I'm not sure we have to analyze every word with a magnifying glass. What's the point? Who cares if it was 100, 200, 20? Why does it matter? Things get taken out of context, guys get misquoted, all the time. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but you can't judge context by reading a quote. Maybe he was exaggerating the number a bit? Who knows. And again, who cares? Some people seem to grasp at any little thing to tear down and break apart.

As for the setlist argument, nice to see we've come full circle. There are other bands that literally play the same setlist every show for the entire run of a tour. I'll freely admit that Guns has played the same exact setlist a few shows in a row, but they certainly added songs along the way. Sometimes they switch up the order. Again, you're taking a quote and putting your own spin on it. As if he said, "I love how we go out there and play as diverse a setlist every night than any band in the history of music has ever done. We put Pearl Jam to shame". By just a quick glance, it looks like Sixx A.M. plays a static setlist. So maybe he's comparing it to other bands he's been in. Maybe in comparison, there IS a difference.

They may be exaggerations. I'll give you that. But it's a bold take to paint them as out and out lies. It's all about the vantage point I suppose and you only need to read the screen name to figure out the gist of each post in these parts.

I agree that the set list discussion has been beat to death.......

But the topic of 100 plus guitar players trying out for the spot that DJ got, had just come up yesterday....   I am pretty sure some discussion on a gnr discusion site is fine on a topic that had just been posted.  And not all discussion has to be.  "wooo, DJ sure must be great to have been the best guitar player out of 100 plus!!!"  

I actually get a kick out of DJs storys.....  Its like Uncle Rico on the movie Napoleon Dynamite..   When uncle Rico says he could throw the football over the mountain.  hahaha.  Well we know he can throw a football..  But over the mountain...    

Same goes for DJ...  You are a rock star and a good guitar player, but a moutain.....  Come on...  haha

[faldor]

I remember quite a few names being rumored to have auditioned for GNR back in the day. 100 may be a stretch, but I'm not sure we have to analyze every word with a magnifying glass. What's the point? Who cares if it was 100, 200, 20? Why does it matter? Things get taken out of context, guys get misquoted, all the time. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but you can't judge context by reading a quote. Maybe he was exaggerating the number a bit? Who knows. And again, who cares? Some people seem to grasp at any little thing to tear down and break apart.

As for the setlist argument, nice to see we've come full circle. There are other bands that literally play the same setlist every show for the entire run of a tour. I'll freely admit that Guns has played the same exact setlist a few shows in a row, but they certainly added songs along the way. Sometimes they switch up the order. Again, you're taking a quote and putting your own spin on it. As if he said, "I love how we go out there and play as diverse a setlist every night than any band in the history of music has ever done. We put Pearl Jam to shame". By just a quick glance, it looks like Sixx A.M. plays a static setlist. So maybe he's comparing it to other bands he's been in. Maybe in comparison, there IS a difference.

They may be exaggerations. I'll give you that. But it's a bold take to paint them as out and out lies. It's all about the vantage point I suppose and you only need to read the screen name to figure out the gist of each post in these parts.

I agree that the set list discussion has been beat to death.......

But the topic of 100 plus guitar players trying out for the spot that DJ got, had just come up yesterday....   I am pretty sure some discussion on a gnr discusion site is fine on a topic that had just been posted.  And not all discussion has to be.  "wooo, DJ sure must be great to have been the best guitar player out of 100 plus!!!"  

I actually get a kick out of DJs storys.....  Its like Uncle Rico on the movie Napoleon Dynamite..   When uncle Rico says he could throw the football over the mountain.  hahaha.  Well we know he can throw a football..  But over the mountain...    

Same goes for DJ...  You are a rock star and a good guitar player, but a moutain.....  Come on...  haha

Well, like I said. I do remember a number of guitarists names floating around after Robin left. I wouldn't be shocked if there were around 100. If you listen to stories of guys who eventually joined the band. They were casually asked to come down and jam. Maybe some of these guitarists didn't actually view it as a true audition. They don't exactly find replacement guitar players at a rapid pace. It's quite possible they had quite a few guys come in and jam over the years. As for, why we haven't heard all he names. How many guys do we know that auditioned to be the new VR singer? Maybe it's an unspoken topic in the rock world. Don't talk about auditions, especially if you didn't get the gig.

[D-GenerationX]

I pretty much agree with faldor on the audition thing.

Do actors really talk about roles they didn't land?  The only time I can recall such a thing is when it happens YEARS later when they are asked to confirm a long held rumor.

And they almost always appear unhappy discussing it.

[faldor]

As for the setlist argument, nice to see we've come full circle. There are other bands that literally play the same setlist every show for the entire run of a tour. I'll freely admit that Guns has played the same exact setlist a few shows in a row, but they certainly added songs along the way. Sometimes they switch up the order. Again, you're taking a quote and putting your own spin on it. As if he said, "I love how we go out there and play as diverse a setlist every night than any band in the history of music has ever done. We put Pearl Jam to shame". By just a quick glance, it looks like Sixx A.M. plays a static setlist. So maybe he's comparing it to other bands he's been in. Maybe in comparison, there IS a difference.

They may be exaggerations. I'll give you that. But it's a bold take to paint them as out and out lies. It's all about the vantage point I suppose and you only need to read the screen name to figure out the gist of each post in these parts.

As I said, I would never say "lie", because that implies malice.

But as for the setlist, I actually see it the opposite way.  One has to put their own spin on things to make that one work.  How there is all this alleged variety.

CD-WTTJ-ISE-MRB opens every show.  Can you come back with the *one time* it was YCBM and say that proves DJ correct?  Sure.  But I think its hard to make that argument with a straight face.

The fact is that before each night of the tour the past few years, any one of us could make up a setlist before the show then compare it to how accurate we were, both in terms of the songs played and their order.

We would not struggle to score a quite high percentage on both.

Which, in itself, is fine.  A lot of bands have a general setlist for a tour.  I could do a similar thing with the Rolling Stones tour happening right now.

But do they blow smoke up your ass about Mick Jagger is mixing it up and "keeping them on their toes"?

No.  And that's the issue.

DJ is a salesman. He's trying to spice things up. What exactly do you want him to do? Tell people to go google the setlist so they know exactly what to expect? Maybe he thinks changing one song every 4th show is a big change. Axl is keeping them on their toes too. They don't know what time they'll go on. What kind of mood he'll be in. What kind of mood the crowd will be in. Even though on the surface it may appear to be the same, it could be anything but.