Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I was just wondering who does everyone think Axl actually trust all the way in his band? He once had a great bond with Izzy and Slash and they all screwed Axl over and so did Buckethead. My question is do you think he has that one friend in the band who he is cool with and hangs out with regularly?

del james

Hard to tell if he close to anyone in this band.   Izzy and him had that bond from Indiana before they made it, I think that is something that he wouldn't get from the band members in this band.  Not saying that he isn't close to any of them and have a great friendship but it's something that isn't talked about by any of them in the current band.

I think Tommy, cause Axl said something in 2001-2002 that he had kept the band together during recording and jamming sessions. and they seem to be close friends. Brain may also be a good chance, or everyone I don't know

As far as I know Axl and Slash were not very close friends. Maybe they were party friends in the beginning but I do not think that they were really close friends. And in the making of don?t cry and November rain seems like Axl had his own friends like Del James for example. Maybe between Izzy and Axl there was a closest friendship.

While I am sure he is obviously friendly with everyone, I suspect he has a more business oriented relationship with the guys than he has maybe had in the past. At the end of the day he is still everyone's boss, and anyone on this board who owns a business knows that you have to have some boundaries in your relationships with your employees if you want to keep drama and potential conflict to a minimum.

although hes not in GNR axl and bach are pretty tight these days...its say hes axls closest friend right now. Axl exen took him as his guest to that fashion show thing.

Agree.

I'll bet he's the only who just stops by Axl's house for a beer.

Del James was invited to the Walk of Style awards.  He was hanging out with Baz backstage.  Man, for a writer who hasn't really written that much in his career, Del's sure got it sweet.  He gets to hang out with rock stars and models and doesn't have to do anything... 

 :beer:

yes, because threatening to leave the band unless they sell you rights to the name isnt screwing friends over...

he`s gnr`s touring manager :hihi:

Really? 

How many tours has he been managing since Merck left and the last tour was cut short?

Just because we don't have his daily schedule posted on this board doesn't mean he sits at home doing nothing.

 ::)



/jarmo

No, he sits at home writing in-depth Chinese Democracy updates for the official site.

I wonder what's going to come out first, Chinese Democracy or Del's first  novel...

Interesting info here.

Pitman fan site guys:

Love Chris
Will mention him in as many threads as possible
Don't like Del
Don't like the updates we get.


Why didn't you tell him what you think of him when you saw him at that show?



/jarmo

Is that what happened?  ???

Were you there when this went down??   ???   :rant:

I didn't think so.   :rant:

How the fuck would you know what actually happened?    :rant:   :rant:    :rant:

For all you know, Axl was probably thinking that Duff or Slash might OVERDOSE on MR. BROWNSTONE and then he'd be left with nothing but legal battles over keeping the band going without one of them or both if they were dead.

Ever think of that one? Probably not because you have serious fucking tunnel vision. Right?   :yes:

Dizzy.

Because Axl might have bit me, and I don't have health insurance.? ?:-[

I think Chris Pitman is talented, hardworking and creative.? I don't feel the same way about Del.? Sorry, that's just how I feel.

Liking GnR or Pitman doesn't mean I have to like every single distant planet in the Axl universe.? Sorry.

Fact is, whether it's by Axl's design or not, Del James seems to be the guy in charge of Axl's PR.  I think Axl's PR is bad.  Take a look around his own fan forum.... all you see is bitching.  How can that not be the fault of bad PR?  Do you honestly think all these people just spontaneously decided to criticize the same issue if there wasn't really anything wrong?

Where there's smoke there's fire. 

But that's another topic. 

It doesn't.

But at the same time, I wouldn't comment on a person's job especially if I didn't know the person, never met him/her or didn't know the job he/she does.

That's my point.


Remember how people were saying Robin shouldn't be in the band and then said "Better" rocks? Turns out it's Robin's song....




/jarmo

I'm guessing Dizzy... he's been with Axl through all the shit. Tommy has also been there for some time so he's probably close to him as well. Of all the guys touring with GN'R in the summer those two, Baz, Izzy and Del he's probably most close with (Beta and family and his girlfriend excluded).

Meh, I disagree.? There are plenty of people I don't know personally that I can have an opinion on.

I don't like President Bush, though I've never met the guy and don't really know much about the day-to-day mechanics of his job.

Supposedly, Del James is a writer.? I'm judging him on his writing.? I think that's exceedingly fair.

But it was just pointed out that he's not working as a writer for GN'R......


It's like judging Bumblefoot on his teaching skills and saying "man, for a teacher he sure has a lot of fun hanging out with rock stars and touring the world".


Honestly, I don't care what you think of him. I just think it's lame to attack somebody's job when you don't know the job he does. That's all.



/jarmo

I don't think Axl is that close with anyone in the band, and he is certainly not friends with any of them, but they're absolutely brilliant musicians together.

That's not fair. :'(

I love the updates.
The recent one in particular. Wasn't too fond of Axl's open letter but the Die Mannequin story was cool (being Canadian).


and uhmm...


Chris Pitman.

^ Yea, that an unfair generalization about EMS people.  I don't remember the last time I even mentioned pitman on Mygnr or gnr2k. 

On Topic:
Most likely Mother Goose or Tommy Stinson is Axl's best buddy in the band.  I'm probably wrong but whatever...

No, I don't think it's like that at all. ?Del James is a writer. ?That's his job. ?

He's contributed writing to the Guns N' Roses site.  Whether or not you feel that's his officially designated job title is irrelevant to me.  He's a writer.  He wrote.  And I, as a member of his target audience, have an opinion about it.

If the goal of PR is to create a positive image and convey information, I think Del James has failed -- twice in a row now. ?

Now you might think that he did as good a job as can be expected... that's one argument. ?I disagree though. ?I think it's entirely possible to write good PR for Axl that accomplishes its goals. ?

in the band i think also Del James and ( not a member Izzy ).
but his 2 favorites are dead : Wes Arkeen and Shannon Hoon
Now Sebestian Bach is one of the cloosest...

Umm, did you miss the part that mentioned him being part of the GN'R crew?

Sure, ok. Del is a writer. It's impossible for him to do other jobs!

Looking at all of Del's contributions on the GN'R site, it seems to me like it's not his main job with GN'R to write for the site..... But I guess you know best.

 ::)




/jarmo

he`s the touring manager since 2002, probably 2001 : ok:

that means 4 tours and some random gigs.....

and people really shouldn`t take this too seriously, i mean the whole eat my silkworms thing. some funny comments don?t do any harm. in the past, when saul used to do his "chinese democracy starts now!!!" thing about any little piece of "news" we got, it was ok as well. i don?t see the difference here. there are obviously quite some things we, the gnr fans can`t be happy about right now. i?m sure everyone sees it that way more or less. of course, there are good things as well, but when it comes down to it, we?re all waiting for an album that?s supposed to come out for more than 10 years now. you can?t expect people to simply accept all the delays, without questioning the reasons or even being frustrated at times....    it has nothing to with being a "good" fan or not.

of course it`s great, that we`ve been updated about the recording process and stuff, but there are plenty of things the band could do to hold the fans over. wasn?t there supposed to be video material of the american tour at some point on the official website for example?

some fans will never be happy, that?s right. but that doesn?t mean all the fans are whiny bitches...

and i don?t think a little sarcasm counts as whining or bitching....

'

Jarmo, you're missing my point dude.  Whether or not it's his official job doesn't matter.

He's a writer.  He wrote two pieces for the website with clear goals.  In both cases, I think he failed to accomplish those goals. And the bitching you see on these boards are largely the consequences of Del's bad writing. 

Whether he's writing GNR's publicity as their "official" writer, or he's writing their PR as a part-time writer/"tour manager" even though they're not on tour, makes no difference.

Now I've got nothing personal against Del.  I'm sure he's a good friend of Axl's and that means a lot to him.  I'm just judging him as a writer, based on the things he's written lately.  That's how I judge musicians, painters, and filmmakers... how well does their work accomplish its goals.

Can't agree more. That article he wrote that insulted most of GNR's fans (more with those who have respect for themselves and mainly with a brain) was so great it got ripped off the site in under an hour, never to return. That was great PR work and interaction with the fans! I know it gave a few Axlites boners around here, but someone inside GNR had the good sense to shit can it and fast. If it was Merck good on him.

Why the fuck are we all of a sudden blaming Del? More complaints...

Jarmo - you should start a section for complaining, so all the BS can go there.

a.

Yea, you're right.? Never mind.? Del's articles were well-written, conveyed lots of important information, and did a lot to create good will between Guns N' Roses and their long-suffering fans.

It did everything good PR should do.

I withdraw my earlier comments.

Yes, he does a wonderful job? What was his parting line on the article that was taken down? I forget exactly but it was a very nice thing to say. Kudos to Del for his contributions.

Not gonna happen.

Whiny people usually find out we don't need them here pretty soon.





If the shoe fits, no wonder you're upset.  :-*

Nothing I've said seems to make sense to you since you're stuck like an old record repeating "Del is a writer, Del is a writer....".





/jarmo

I wouldn't have even thought Del James being, there is no doubt he is close with Axl and has been for awhile, if they are still close now, which they prolly are but the thread is who is he closest to in the band...Del isn't in the band last time I looked, pointless to go on about him.

I'd say Tommy and Dizzy.

And Izzy is surely  a friend to Axl.

What about Paul Tobias ?

At RIR 3 Axl commented on him saying he was a very close friend and without him there would be no "Guns N" Roses"

Who the fuck knows? Is anyone here a friend of Axl's?  ::)

I am.


he just doesn't know it  :hihi:

Who the fuck is chris pittman??
and how can he have any fans??

AS for Axl's best friend in the band? Idunno, dizzy?

Jarmo, I'm part of that site and don't fit into that at all.

I've supported Del and I never mention Chris randomly - in fact the only time I recall mentioning him recently was in the Madagascar thread because he wrote the song and is heavily responsible for the synth work on it.

I thought we had to be nice to all members of the band?
Dissing Pitman deserves automatic ban. :rant:

I'm part of the site as well as Russian Roulette and neither have I ever mentioned Pitman totally randomly or love him. I also like that Del does update us but I'd rather see Axl doing that personally, well, I hope he uses that time to work on ChineseD. :]

On topic: As I don't know anyone of them - judging by chemistry on stage I'm going to say Axl and Tommy, they had many "moments" during the gigs I went.