Guns N' Roses 2009

 

Dizzy Fucking Reed

via Blabbermouth
DFR, the band featuring Dizzy Reed and Richard Fortus, Mike Duda and Mike Dupke (W.A.S.P.) and Todd Youth (Danzig, D-Generation, The Chelsea Smiles), will perform this Saturday, September 26 at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ages are 15 and up. Tickets are $18.00 in advance. Tickets will be $22.00 at the door. Also appearing on the bill is Vains OF Jenna.

For more information, visit www.ClubVodka.com

For further discussion: DFR: Dizzy F!n' Reed & Richard Fortus @ Club Vodka

Slash and Steven Adler at the Viper Room

Slash and Steven Adler joined Aces & Eights on stage!

Slash: "Going to the Viper Room is like going back in time a couple decades everytime I go there, like a time warp. Cool, but disorienting."


"It's So Easy"

Richard Fortus: "Playing the last show at the Viper Room tonight with Dizzy at midnight"

Dizzy Reed: "Viper Room tonight. Playing some new original songs with Richard Fortus and other surprise Guest Stars. You don't wanna miss this! Come and rock!"


Photos via twitter by T.J.Roe. http://twitter.com/@intr0vert

Please Stand By

Q&A with Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal

Appetite for Discussion

Are you on Dizzy's solo record?

Yes.

What future music projects will you be involved in?

I have a new band that's coming together quickly; we should be out there by the Fall. More info as soon as we have something recorded and shows booked.

You can read the full interview here.

Richard and Dizzy at the Viper Room, Part Deux

It's a Guns N' Roses reunion!



[Part One]

Thanks to: Matt Larsen.

Tribute Bands the Beneficiaries of a Bad Economy

Imitation as a Form of Flattery
No Longer a Parody, Tribute Bands Pay Homage to the Original
By Mario Iván Oña

Who knew that tribute bands could be the beneficiaries of a bad economy?

Given the chance to pay $50 to see the original Journey or $12 to see the Frontiers, a band that covers Journey songs, fans may well be opting for the low-cost alternative. And that alternative may also be high in entertainment value.

We're not talking about Elvis impersonators here or other similar parodies. We are talking about talented musicians who may, in fact, put on a better show than their aging counterparts.

"The Rolling Stones are obviously in the twilight of their career or farther," says Chris LeGrand, 47, who is Mick Jagger in the Rolling Stones tribute band, Satisfaction, which is performing in the area next week. "Our shows give fans a slightly younger version of what they're used to seeing, and we're looking to do some shows with a '60s look, a '70s look and a modern-day look."

Musically, Satisfaction is dead-on. But for the full effect, it might not hurt to squint to convince yourself that LeGrand's pouting lips really belong to Jagger.

Joe Pascarell, 48, lead vocalist of the Machine, a 21-year-old Pink Floyd tribute band, says: "I think we've probably done as many shows as the real Pink Floyd at this point. We've performed about 2,000 gigs."

And it shows. During a recent acoustic set (a departure from the band's typical high-octane, laser light show), the musicianship permeated with hypnotic effect. During "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," the classic Pink Floyd tune dedicated to founding member Syd Barrett, Pascarell sang with such genuine sentiment and visible emotion, you would have sworn Barrett was Pascarell's pal.

Chad "NotQuiteAxl" Atkins, 33, lead singer of Appetite for Destruction: The Ultimate Tribute to Guns N' Roses, thinks a hardcore fan should catch both bands. "We would quench your thirst for that old Guns N' Roses with Slash and Axl Rose wearing a bandana instead of sporting cornrows or braids," he says.

The band has learned Rose might not be touring in support of GN'R's long-awaited album, 2008's Chinese Democracy, and though Atkins says he likes the album and his group has learned it, "we're kind of sitting on it until we see how people respond to it."

So far, so bad. Though it has gone platinum, the album received tepid reviews and hasn't been selling as well as expected. If Rose does go on tour, fans will have to decide between forking out bigger bills to watch an older Rose perform some unrecognizable songs or watch younger, more nimble look-alikes perform vintage GN'R.

In most cases, the impersonators have not met the impersonatees, though they've often come close.

Current GN'R keyboardist Dizzy Reed has played with Appetite for Destruction, and saxophonist Norbert Stachel, who has toured with Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters, has played with the Machine. Although Waters's son, Harry, can't recall watching the Machine, he says from his London flat: "I think tribute bands can be great, particularly for bands that don't play anymore, like Pink Floyd. I can only see this as a way of honoring the band."

Steven Kurutz, author of "Like a Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of a Tribute Band" agrees: "My sense is that most famous musicians are flattered by tribute bands, and in a way, they keep the flame alive and help promote the music. I'm certain the extensive touring of Badfish, a Sublime tribute, has helped push sales of Sublime's recordings."

Dizzy Reed at the Viper Room

Try as I might, I can't seem to find much information on Dizzy Reed's shows at the Viper Room.

I was able to find this blurry picture from his performance there last Saturday night, but that's it so far. Apparently, he's showcasing some new songs from his "upcoming" solo album. I haven't been able to find out any song titles yet.

I also found this:

August 15

Summer Fest 2009 featuring Natasha Bedingfield, 3 Days Grace, 7 Bridges, Draw the Line, Tessane Chin, Dizzy Reed and Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses and Secret Po Po at the National Stadium. General admission $75, $105 reserved on the field, and $205 VIP. Doors open at 5.30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Go to www.bdatix.com for tickets. (The Royal Gazette)

Alex Grossi Interview

In a brand-new interview with Icon vs. Icon, South Windsor, Connecticut-born rock-guitarist Alex Grossi talks about his stint with Adler's Appetite and his work on Dizzy Reed's solo album with producer Del James.

Interview by Jason Price.


For those how might not know, how did you get involved with Steven Adler and Adler’s Appetite?

I have been working with Steven on and off for about five years now. I initially got contacted by Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot, to do some solo show before Quiet Riot reformed in 2004, that turned into the Bad Boys of Metal tour. It was a summer package that featured Joe Lesté of Bang Tango, Jani Lane of Warrant, Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses and Kevin DuBrow, with me playing guitar for all four bands. I was literally on stage for four hours a night. During that time, Steven and I became really good friends and after the tour we kept in touch. I did some solo shows with him and after his stint on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, he decided to reform the band and called me. The rest is history!

Adler’s Appetite parted ways with one singer and now you have brought Rick Stitch in to handle the vocals. What does Rick bring to the table?

It is really, really difficult when you are trying to emulate something that people are so familiar with. Appetite for Destruction sold well over 30 million copies worldwide and people know every note from that album. We just played over in Argentina. They don’t speak English but they can even sing the guitar solos! So, we needed someone who can be true to the music but we also don’t want to be a tribute band. The drummer in this band, Steven, wrote a fifth of the music playing on that album. When we made the singer change, a lot of people would contact me or Steven through Myspace. They were wearing the bandanna and one even went so far as to have the fake Axl Rose tattoos put on. That wasn’t what we wanted. We wanted a guy who can hit the notes and do the stuff but at the same time is not a clone. We’re not Steel Dragon, ya know! [laughs] Rick has been great. It is nice to have a guy who is on the same page off stage as he is on stage. What people don’t realize about a touring band that works as hard as we do is that you have to live with these people twenty four hours a day. You may have two straight days off in the middle of God knows where or Iowa and you have to be friends. Certain people get along, certain people don’t but that is the nature of the beast. Instead of being married to one person, try being married to five or six! That’s basically what it is like.

You mentioned recording guitars for Dizzy Reed’s solo debut and I know Del James is serving as producer on that release. What can you tell us about this project and any idea on when it may hit stores?

I have no idea about it’s release date. I know that they are mixing it right now. Once Chinese Democracy came out, I am sure it took a little bit of a back burner. Working with Del was great. For a guy who doesn’t really play an instrument he has a really great ear. He will walk into the room and say “No, no! Do it more like…” and then throw out some crazy analogy that ends up making perfect sense at the end of the day! It was really great working with those guys. As a Guns N’ Roses fan, and I am sure not too many people will be a fan of me saying this, but it is cool to work on every end of the spectrum. By that I mean, I am working with a guy who was there at the very beginning, Steven Adler, all the way up to the guys who are in the band now. Whether that ties the two things together, I can tell you 100% that it does not, but it is really cool to hear the stories and the history of the band. If you think about it, as far as I am concerned, they are the band of my generation. You had The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles for previous generations. As far as rock bands and anyone that is in their early thirties to forties, our band is Guns N’ Roses or Nirvana but definitely one of the two.

Have you had a Spinal Tap Moment on stage?

[laughs] This entire tour has been a Spinal Tap Moment! [laughs] The most recent one was about a week and a half ago. We played a show called Cornstock. It was held in a huge corn field. Big, big show! Tons of people, great show! However, when we got there the promoter came onto the bus and said “Fellas we have a little bit of a problem here. See that there inflatable beer can?” because it was sponsored by Budweiser and they had one of those giant fifty foot beer cans. They had to tear down the entire stage and move it around this beer can. All I could think about was Stonehenge! It was what Stonehenge should have been if it were a can of beer! We had to wait four hours in the sun due to a giant inflatable beer can, so that was very Spinal Tap. Whoever wrote that movie must have been in a band or followed a band around because they were dead on. They actually predicted the future in a lot of ways. They always say watch Spinal Tap and then go on tour for ten years and then watch it again, you will be laughing so hard your ribs hurt! [laughs]

What should we be on the lookout for from you in the coming months?

Definitely the new Adler’s Appetite record! Right now, I have a song out in the new Sandra Bullock movie The Proposal, so if you feel like hearing a song by Beautiful Creatures in a Walt Disney picture, a family movie, that was written by a very un-family band, check that out! [laughs] It is pretty cool! Also look out for possibly some more Paul Reed Smith Road Show dates and a ton more of Adler’s Appetite dates, that’s for sure!

There's much more to this interview, and you can read the entire thing here.

Dizzy Reed and Friends

Dizzy Reed & Friends will be appearing at The Viper Room every Saturday in August at 10PM.

The Viper Room is at 8852 West Sunset Boulevard, in West Hollywood, California.

I'm going to go ahead and guess that this latest Dizzy Reed project is in someway related to his "upcoming" solo album.

Featuring keyboards and vocals by Dizzy Reed, and lyrics by Del James and Dizzy Reed, the album was recorded over the past 5 years or so in California.

It features guitars by Richard Fortus, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Alex Grossi (Bang Tango, Beautiful Creatures, Adler's Appetite), Todd Youth (Danzig, Murphy’s Law, D-Generation), Whitey Kirst (Iggy Pop), Ricky Warwick (The Almighty), Jeff Duncan (Armored Saint, DC4) and Bobby Hamble (Biohazard).

Bobby Hamble plays on the track "Cheers To Oblivion."
Jeff Duncan plays on the track "Mother Theresa."
Alex Grossi seems to be the "main" guitarist, he claims to have played on every track.

Tommy Stinson, Mike Duda (W.A.S.P.), Greg Coates (The Bangkok 5) and Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot), all share bass duties on the record.

On the drums, Dizzy has Frank Ferrer, Frankie Banelli (Quiet Riot), Mike Dupke (W.A.S.P.) and Adrian Young (No Doubt). Anthony "Tiny" Biuso (The Dickies, T.S.O.L.) also plays drums on two tracks.

The disc is due out sometime this century.

I've been looking forward to hearing more of Dizzy's material ever since I heard these 2 tracks of his from The Still Life Soundtrack.

I really do like his voice and I hope the new material he's got has the same "glam" feel as these 2 tracks.

Did I mention that I love Bowie and T-Rex?

"The Air"


"Silent Light"

Happy Birthday Diz

Darren Arthur "Dizzy" Reed, was born on this date, June 18, 1963 in Hinsdale, Illinois.

He is best known as the keyboardist for Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured and recorded since 1990.

Aside from frontman Axl Rose, Reed is the only member of Guns N' Roses to remain from the band's Use Your Illusion era.

These days you can catch Dizzy playing with his newest project, 'Empty V.'


Empty V plays once a week at the Dragongly in Santa Monica, California.

In 'Empty V,' Dizzy is joined by Eric Dover (Slash's Snakepit), Scott Griffin (LA Guns), and Troy Patrick Farrell of White Lion. They play the "hottest hits of the Eighties," everything from Huey Lewis to Prince.

You can listen to Dizzy's Glam-Rock masterpiece, "The Air," by clicking on the video below.

Happy Birthday Diz!

Rolling Like a Square Wheel

Dizzy Reed has a new project called 'Empty V'
Starting this Wednesday, June 3, Empty V will be playing once a week at Dragongly in Santa Monica, California. Dizzy will be joined by Eric Dover (Slash's Snakepit), Scott Griffin (L.A. Guns), and Troy Patrick Farrell of White Lion. Empty V will play the hottest hits of the Eighties, everything from Huey Lewis to Prince.


Tommy Stinson and Soul Asylum have a couple of dates booked this Summer. July 2 at the Minnesota Zoo, and July 3 at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.


Chris Pitman was last seen on April 20 at the Key Club, where he played with his band SexTapes.

Richard Fortus recently recorded some guitar tracks for singer Anina Stang


Bumblefoot's played more shows with Duff McKagan than Axl Rose since the release of Chinese Democracy last November.

Frank Ferrer played at Don Hill's in NYC Fiday, May 22. Bumblefoot showed up and played with them too.



DJ Ashba hasn't been heard from since March 21 when he officially joined Guns N' Roses. Here he is in March 2007 with his buddies Alice Cooper, Nikki Sixx and Slash.


"We have some exciting things in the works this year for GN’R, I’m looking forward to it." -Irving Azoff, March 4, 2009.