More "Spies"

Today's update comes courtesy of DJ Will (KNAC) who posted this on the Metal Sludge Gossip boards. The info comes via Rancid Punks over at MyGNR

"I'm shocked this guy brought a camera & reported anything ... after the head production manager made two announcemets ... No Cameras!

I was there one night and it was pretty cool I must say.

No Axl of course.

Well, without giving away the full set (I promised Del!), they did a complete run through of about 17-18 songs for about a week. Lots of visuals that complement each track - pyro, spots,etc. Nice lighting truss design plus a fucking bad ass re-working of a theme song that leads into "Live & Let Die" written by Richard Fortus. Overall well done.

I loved "Shackler's Revenge," "Better," "Prostitute" & "Rocket Queen" live.

FYI: That middle ramp/riser has Axl's grand piano under it for quick access."

Thanks to Rancid Punks and DJ Will for this sneak peak into what is shaping up to be a "monumental" stage show.

What the Spies Said

Notes from the arena dress rehearsals in LA:

Richard Fortus is playing through a 1973 Jose Marshall along with a Friedman "Marsha" amp and some modified Randall modules, all driven by a Randall RT-2 power amp. His pedals are incorporated with all of the above (pictured) and are racked and switched through a custom system built by Dave Friedman of Rack Systems Ltd. Fortus has 2 Randall isolation cabinets with Celestion Golds and Celestion G12H loudspeakers. He's playing a Chet Atkins Gretsch guitar, a Gibson ES-335 and a bunch of Fender Telecasters and Gibson Les Pauls.

DJ is also using a "Marsha," as well as a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier tube amp. The Mesa Boogie plugs into a 4x12 with Golds and the Marsha is using V30's. DJ has a ton of different Les Paul's he's playing with.

Ron is sticking with his Engl heads played through Marshall 4x12s. He's using Vigier guitars. He has a double-neck Vigier with a fretless.

... And, just in case you were wondering, the lineup is still: Axl, Dizzy, Tommy, Chris, Richard, Ron, DJ and Frank

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=628969

Slash @ Game 2

Thanks to rbaly79 for the video.

(Go SOX ! Go Beckett!)

Scott Weiland Suffers Seizure

Scott Weiland Has Seizure on an Airplane

TMZ has learned Stone Temple Pilots front man Scott Weiland experienced a seizure during an American Airlines flight just hours ago.

Sources close to Scott tell us he suffered the seizure while flying from Los Angeles to Miami. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

TMZ has been told that Scott has a history of seizures - he was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures. Despite the seizure, we're told Scott plans on attending the launch of his clothing line "Weiland for English Laundry" on Saturday.

A rep traveling with Weiland tells Rolling Stone exclusively that the airplane staff called for medical assistance over the loud speaker and had to administer oxygen to Weiland. Shortly after, Weiland had come to and was “in good spirits” as was taken off the plane for the hospital.

Weiland was traveling with his Scott Weiland Band to Miami for a performance and the launch of his clothing line Weiland for English Laundry at the club Mansion. The rep said the singer has a history of seizures, but is now “doing great” and expects to leave for Miami tomorrow and appear at the club as scheduled.

Duff's Story (Part I)

Part one of Duff's life story, from his Seattle weekly blog.

I packed my bags and cut my ties with my hometown of Seattle in September 1984. The idea of driving to New York in my beat-up 1971 Ford Maverick became moot as soon as I realized that, on a budget of $360, the East Coast was just too far away. I decided Los Angeles was a safer place for me than the heroin-infested punk scene of the Pacific Northwest. I was badly mistaken.



There was really no discernible rock scene there in the fall of '84--only the palpable hangover of a once-thriving punk movement, mixed with "cow-punk" and really bad heavy metal (Metallica had just moved back to S.F.). I met Slash and Steven Adler shortly after my move, through a "musicians wanted" ad I saw in a newspaper. Izzy Stradlin moved into an apartment across the street from me. (We lived on one of the most drug-infested lanes in Hollywood, visited nightly by dealers, hookers, and cops. Stories of this street alone would make a GREAT book.) Axl, a childhood friend of Izzy's, soon moved in around the corner in our cheap-rent neighborhood. We formed our band shortly thereafter, a happy bunch of malcontents!

My new musical comrades and I shared an uncanny similarity in the "fuck-everyone-except-us" approach to writing, playing, and living our music. We sought to do this thing on our own terms and in our own way. This was simply a way of life. At that point in life, you've just got nothing to lose . . . a relatable point to anyone reading, I am sure.



The first gigs we got back then were with bands like Social Distortion, Tex and the Horseheads, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The "glam" scene across town seemed to be a private club that had some mysterious secret handshake. The Troubadour was always packed on weekends. At the time, I think that we were thought of as a little too dirty to get an opening slot on those most-coveted Friday and Saturday night bills. We would have to get there on our own.

Our social circle soon included a group of recently transplanted New Yorkers who moved out West to--I always suspected--escape legal problems. "Red" Ed, Petey, and Del melded nicely into our lifestyle, which included 24-hour alcohol consumption, scoring any available drugs, sundry debauchery, and plenty of Rolling Stones, Motorhead, Sly and the Family Stone, and Rose Tattoo (Sly lived in the apartment right above me, as it turned out, but that's another story). West Arkeen was another co-conspirator who became valuable not only for his friendship but for his songwriting. West co-wrote "It's So Easy," which became a dark anthem for a legion of disenfranchised youth. West died a few short years later from complications stemming from acute crack and heroin use.



In 1985-86, AIDS was definitely something to think about, but not a huge threat yet in the heterosexual psyche. The scene in Hollywood became an orgy of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Perhaps there has been no other time in recent history when the doors were so wide open to EVERYTHING. Needles were shared as well as girlfriends and boyfriends. Everyone seemed to be living in and for the moment, and it seemed as if nothing was off-limits. A real feeling of camaraderie was felt within our band and small group of friends. "Live fast and die young" was our unspoken credo. Sounds corny now.

Our living and rehearsal arrangements became one and the same as we became closer-knit. We found a 10x14 foot bathroom-less space behind the Hollywood Guitar Center that became the center of our musical universe and HQ for all things hedonistic. We raided a nearby construction site for some two-by-fours and plywood that we used to install a ramshackle sleeping loft in our tiny new home. We rehearsed twice daily in this space. For $1.29 a bottle, we could supply ourselves with enough Night Train wine to get us by. Food was always optional in those days.



We slowly began to be a draw at local clubs, and our song craftsmanship really started to get a solid base. We were soon on weekend bills as opening slots gave way to headlining. A&R staff from major labels started to pop up at gigs, and our shows were now selling out. We settled on a record deal with Geffen Records that gave us free rein as far as artistic freedom went. At the end of the day, no one was going to tell us how to make our record. Our songs were by far the most important thing to us.

REVERB

Thanks to Emma [YouTube | deviantART] for the great artwork!

La Grange (Slash with ZZ Top and John Mayer)

From Slash's twitter: "I think this is the coolest show I've seen at The HOB so far, definitely the best vibe. That was a gas last night, Billy was phenominal & John Mayer is a pretty bad ass player as well."

From John Mayer's twitter: "Sometimes I hear myself say something and I feel like a liar even though it's true. 'Last night I jammed with ZZ Top and Slash.' Finally met Slash. I had to keep reminding myself that I'm sort of cool too and that I shouldn't feel like a gnat. Worked half the time."

Here's "La Grange"



And here's some more music from the same night, this is the transition between "Waitin' on the Bus," and "Jesus Just Left Chicago."



This last video is of Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top jamming with Slash at his Vegas birthday bash on July 23 of this year.

Les Paul: A Total Fuckin' Maverick

Yesterday after learning of Les Paul's death at 94 years old, LA Weekly caught up with Slash, a guitar legend in his own right, for an exclusive chat about the loss of not only a brilliant musician and innovator, but also a friend and mentor. "It's important for kids to know who Les was because when I first started playing, I thought Les Paul was the name of a guitar," Slash says of the days before he was schooled by other players like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton on who Les Paul - the man - was. Eventually the two icons met, Paul took Slash under his wing, and they became fast friends. Slash remembers Les Paul as a "total fuckin' maverick" who was upbeat and funny, both polite and perverted, and who lived life to its fullest.

Slash: So, with Les...

LA Weekly: Yeah, sad day.

Slash: Les Paul invented the guitar that I use. The first guitar I ever got was a Les Paul copy [laughs]. First and foremost, he's an amazing fucking musician and jazz guitar payer, but he also invented a whole bunch of recording techniques that we use: reverb, multi-tracking, overdubbing, echo, delay ... He invented them because they didn't make them back then. He thought he needed different things so he built them. He was a total fuckin' maverick. He was awesome. I've known him since 1991. The first time I met him I jammed with him at the club where he had a residency, Fat Tuesdays, in New York. Meeting and jamming with an icon like that was pretty overwhelming. He promptly just wiped the stage floor up with me [laughs], you know? It was one of those humbling experiences. But he sort of took me under his wing after that and we became friends. I would always gauge my progress as a guitar player by how well I did jamming with Les on any given day. [Laughs] He was like the barometer for my evolution as a guitar player.

It's an honor for me to have Les Paul models with my name on it. He's going to be missed. He was such a great guy, really warm, funny, very to the point, didn't mess around, didn't mince words, but had a really great heart and tons of energy. He was one of those people that set out to do something and accomplished things. He didn't sit around and wait for things to happen; he just went for it. He lived to be 94, always stayed true to his school as a musician, and kept inventing the whole time. He was a landmark influence on all us young musicians [laughs]. One of the reasons Jeff Beck, one of my favorites, is such a bitchin' guitar player is because he was so heavily influenced by Les Paul. I'm just paying tribute to the guy.

LA Weekly: Are there any particularly memorable moments that stand out above the others from when you'd hang out or jam together?

Slash: I just had a gig with him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few months ago, a tribute to Les Paul, where a dozen guitar players all got together and jammed and then Les played at the end of the show. It was really one of those special events where some phenomenal guitar players got together and each one of them did their own little show, [laughs] including myself ... it was another humbling experience ... and when all that was done, Les got up there. And this is only a few months ago, so at 94 years old he gets up there and makes jokes into the microphone and has his whole band with him and fuckin' plays phenomenally. For the last 60 years he's had this major influence on guitar playing and the recording industry. So there he is, this little guy, so fuckin' full of life and vibrant and doesn't seem 94 years old, jamming out to this huge audience. It was really a special moment ... it's hard for me to verbally explain it. Les was the kind of guy that anytime you were in his presence, he was always very upbeat, always cracking jokes, always making comments about the women present ...

Very polite but very perverted at the same time, you know? [Laughs] The fact that he took a liking to me and took me under his wing was a huge honor. We always talked on the phone and that kind of stuff. It was special. It's important for kids to know who Les was because when I first started playing, I thought Les Paul was the name of a guitar. I didn't know it was a real person until I learned from guys like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Obviously from that point on I researched and then finally got to meet him. Kids nowadays don't even really know that kind of history but it's important to have an understanding of that delay pedal that you're using and where the original concept came from [laughs]. Whenever you hear guitar harmonies recorded, like Brian May used to record harmonies on all of Queen's records, that was all Les Paul stuff. He invented the technique where you could layer guitars. Before that people just had to play live and that was it.

LA Weekly: Yeah. It's a sad day but for someone that lived such a full life ...

Slash: Yeah, it's a drag that he's not here. I would have loved to have seen him again but at the same time he was such a great example of a life fully lived that everybody should just celebrate the fact that a human being could have such a great life and accomplish so much. You can never complain about being bored when you think about a guy like Les Paul, you know?

LA Weekly