Gun Rose (commonly known as Gun Flower) did not land gorgeously on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard in 1988 with the power and charm of singing the popular "Sweet Child of Mine" with great charm. It was only in the mid-'80s, after this classic five-player lineup appeared, that they got their right rough and delicate proportions.
Long before that Appetite for Destruction appeared, Axol Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin from Indiana had just honed their careers in bands like Axl, Hollywood Rose and L.A.
Translation: Busy Sister
Editor: Echo
The big rock bang in Los Angeles in the '80s
Eventually, the duo formed GunFlower with guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler to write history. It took a long time in between, and what impressed the band members most about this past was their perseverance and not giving up any opportunity to perform in a small bar.
Members of the Gun Flower, including Tracii Guns, are L.A. Pistols.L.A. Guns) and the musicians of the first edition of Gunflower's lineup put vivid details from past crazy memories into this book, Nöthin' but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, documenting the decades-long decline of hard rock.
Written by two famous writers from Rolling Stone Magazine, the book presents readers with an oral history of the founding of Gunflower, interspersed with anecdotes about a series of famous bands of the 1980s, including Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Cinderella, Mötley Crüe, and many other famous bands.
The book also reveals the memories of a man named "Bill" who performed in various tribute bands. This Bill later changed his name to "Exo Ross" and became the lead singer of the most dangerous band in Los Angeles.
Axl Rose
The lead singer has been a fine since childhood
Ace Stadlin – Bassist of The Shire; Guitarist of L.A. Pistols and Gun flowers:
Before I met this person, my first impression of Axor was that on the first day of the second or third year of junior high school, I was sitting in the classroom, and I heard a noise in front of the classroom, someone fighting, books flying around, and then a scream sounded, and I saw Exo in the riot. A teacher crashed into the door frame, and Exo ran down the hallway with a cigarette, followed by a group of teachers chasing him. It was the first time I saw him and I will never forget it.
Izzy Stradlin
Tracy Gunns – guitarist of L.A. pistols and gun flowers:
Ace would keep telling me, "You've got to meet my friend Xor." "He was still using the name Bill. He would say, "You two will get along." He'll be the kind of screaming you like, and he'll love Nazareth( Scottish rock band). "He kept telling me that Exo liked Nazareth. I said, "Okay! I love Nazareth too! ”
Tracii Guns
Ace Stadlin:
I was only 17 when I went to California to develop... I grew up in Florida and later moved to Lafayette, Indiana with my mother. I used to beat drums, and after meeting Exo, we used to play together. But I never made a difference. We later decided to form a band.
But Lafayette is not a good place to make music, and people, especially girls, are particularly conservative. The girls didn't know what to wear to the concert. We don't think there's much prospect of staying here. We both liked the music of the restless, and we survived in this way.
Look at the line head to know the rock man
Tracy Gunns:
I went to the Roosevelt Hotel to see the Shire band perform, and this guy named Ace was their new bassist. He was wearing a leather jacket, a pair of white cowboy boots on his feet, and black hair.
I was full of telepathy with him. I thought this guy must be a fan of the Crewe Clown, so I went to him after they were done and said, "Hey, bro, I'm Tracy." He said, "I'm Ace." That's when I thought, "Well, we're brothers now!" ”
The Shire band The Shire
Billy Rowe – Jetboy guitarist:
The Jet Boys went to Los Angeles in '83, when I was still in high school. We had a friend who was very fond of W.A.S.P., and at that time W.A.S.P. was not very famous. So once we went to the bar to see their show, and after the show there was a guy standing outside, dressed in a particularly appetizing way, that dirty punk style, a black, muffin shoe, and he was wearing a black leather coat with the pink he sprayed with shoe paint. His Hanoi Rocks (American rock band) style made me feel like I could hit it off with him, and he was Ace. Then we started playing together, and the base camp was at Chris's parents' house.
Jetboy
Two guitarists began to write songs
Chris Weber – Hollywood Rose guitarist:
I took Ace home, my mom kept calling him by the wrong name, and we wrote some songs together. I don't remember exactly when, but I remember when Aerosmith had just released Rock in a Hard Place, because I remember the album's "Jailbait" that gave us the inspiration to write Anything Goes (a Hollywood rose, which later became a gun flower). We were listening to this from the beginning.
Hollywood Rose
Billy Rowe:
One of the albums Ace has listened to a lot of is Access's Restless and Wild album. If you listen to the songs on that album, especially "Fast as a Shark," you can hear the shadows of Hollywood roses and gun flowers, like the song "Reckless Life." Exo's singing voice is also learned Access. You won't read about the connection between these two bands anywhere.
Accept "Restless and Wild" 1982
Chris Webb:
Anyway, we wrote some songs, and I remember the same thing that Ace said, "You know, this friend of mine is a singer, and I want him to be our lead singer." "So this guy named Bill Bailey is obviously going to be the lead singer of our band.
Finally looking forward to the destined lead singer
For almost six months, they kept saying, "This man, Bill, is the lead singer by fate." When he comes back, we'll form a band and we'll be like Hanoy Rock. I said, "That's great! ”
Exo had been to Los Angeles a few times with a band called The Fast Guns, but I remember him returning to his hometown in Indiana for a while.
He had been here about three times before he settled down in Los Angeles.
When he finally arrived with Exo, he stayed with Ace's ex-girlfriend, an odd arrangement because Ace was staying with me at the time. Absurdity is dead.
You can feel that Ace and Axor have a very good relationship. This seems to outsiders. I never felt like I could get that close to them. Maybe it's because I'm a native of Los Angeles, and they both grew up in Lafayette.
Laura Ryan John – Los Angeles Courtesans:
Ace and I picked up Xor at the bus station in the city center and we drove him to his apartment. I cut his hair for the first time. At that time he had long red hair.
Hollywood Rose
One day Ace took me to Xor's apartment, a somewhat old-fashioned apartment with a sliding door. So we went upstairs and walked on the roof. I saw a miserable white man sunbathing on the roof. It was a particularly hot day, and I remember him being particularly white. Ace said, "This man is Bill." ”
Rob Gardner – L.A. Pistol, Hollywood Rose, Gunflower Drummer:
Then they formed the Hollywood Roses.
Hollywood Roses
The band's first name was AXL, and I don't know who thought of that name, but it wasn't me anyway. But Bill hadn't changed his name to Exo at the time. I remember he and I never called him Exo during a band, just Bill. So I, Ace, and Bill formed a band, but then there was a bit of a disagreement, and I remember Ace saying to Bill, "Let's get this band regrouped." Bill replied, "Then we'll have to change our names, I don't want to play in this AXL band." ”
Then our band was called "Rose", but we went to the store that sold imported records and looked around and found that there was already a band called "Rose", so we changed our name to "Hollywood Rose". We changed our names a lot, much like in the movie Spinal Tap.
Hollywood Roses performs in Hollywood's regular venues, such as orphanages, nightclubs, Ms. Wong's Western Concert Hall...
(To be continued)
Ref: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/guns-n-roses-excerpt-nothin-but-a-good-time-book-1130385/'