Axl Rose Unreleased Nine Inch Nails Inspired Cover Revealed
In a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview, engineer Dave Dominguez said that Axl Rose has an unreleased Nine Inch Nails inspired Elvis Presley cover where he plays every instrument. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.
“He had a version of the Elvis Presley song that he did all himself- guitar and everything. It was a ballad. Yeah, it was an industrial, Nine Inch Nails style he did all himself. So he took me into the Pro Tools room and was like, ‘Hey Dave, check this out.’ And played me a bunch of stuff.”
In a recent AL interview, former Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson drummer Chris Vrenna discussed what Axl Rose told him, Robin Finck, and Moby when they were working on the earliest days of the new album at the time that would eventually become Chinese Democracy. He wanted the album to sound like Nine Inch Nails and other 90’s music.
When “Chinese Democracy” was finally released in 2008, did you recognize any music from the period you were working with Guns N’ Roses?
Nope. Not a thing. Because by then they’d gone through nine drummers, 14 guitar players, seven producers. Because I kept up with it after I was there. When I was there, Moby was going to produce. Axl didn’t come in very often. He’d show up about once a week. So sometimes we jammed. Sometimes me and Moby just sat and drank coffee and talked about music. Moby was rad. Can you imagine a Guns N’ Roses record with Robin Finck and me and Moby producing? And Axl really wanted it to have an electronic element. He kept referencing the Passengers album that U2 did and it’s wonderful. It’s so good. That and Nine Inch Nails.
He thought that was where he could see the sound of Guns N Roses going, modernizing it: ‘We’re not a bunch of ’80s, strung-out-on-heroin dudes on Sunset Boulevard anymore.’ And I applauded Axl and that’s why I stuck with it for as long as I did, and I got Axl’s vision.
NIRVANA MANAGER RELEASING NEW BOOK ON BAND, KURT COBAIN’S LIFE
The latest book will give fans insight they’ve never known before.
A Nirvana manager is releasing a book about his memories with Kurt Cobain and the band that have never been heard before.
Danny Goldberg worked with Nirvana from 1990 to 1994 and he will go into detail about his experience with the band in SERVING THE SERVANT: Remembering Kurt Cobain.
Read more: Aaron Lewis tells Texas crowd he can’t speak Spanish because he’s “American”
The beginning of Goldberg’s career with Nirvana was before the band was even close to becoming cultural icons. He was with them when Nevermind changed the alt-rock sphere forever.
He was also there for Cobain’s relationship and marriage to Courtney Love and the birth of their daughter, Frances Bean.
Goldberg was also there for Cobain’s battle with addiction and eventual death by suicide that shocked the world. He goes into detail about Cobain’s legacy that still resonates with music lovers today.
The book releases on April 2, almost 25 years to the date of Cobain’s death. You can check out the cover of it below.
This isn’t the only new content treating Nirvana fans lately. Last month, an unheard demo featuring an early cut of “Scentless Apprentice” dropped and excited fans.
On the other end of the spectrum, we reported in December that the band was suing Marc Jacobs for ripping off their iconic smiley face design. Nirvana has owned the trademark for the design since 1992.
Black with a nearly identically drawn face on it, the Marc Jacobs shirt basically exchanges Nirvana’s dead eyed ‘X’s with an ‘M’ and a ‘J’ and calls it a day.
If that weren’t enough, the company exchanges Nirvana’s band name for the word “Heaven” in a typeface that is indistinguishable from the “Onyx” font used in the original design.
ROB ZOMBIE’s New Album Is ‘A Monster’
John 5 spoke to WRIF‘s Meltdown about ROB ZOMBIE‘s forthcoming studio album, which will arrive later this year via the iconic rocker’s new record label, Nuclear Blast Records.
“It’s completely finished, all ready to go,” he said (hear audio below). “I don’t see the artwork, ’cause [Rob] does all the artwork, but the music is mixed, mastered — everything. It’s all ready to go. And it is a monster.
“I was just talking to Rob‘s manager yesterday, and we were really, really excited for it,” the guitarist continued. “And we’re really excited to play new songs. That’s the other thing. It’s so fun to get out there and play new songs. It’s fun for the band and it’s fun for the crowd too.”
Asked how long the ROB ZOMBIE band has been working on the new record, John 5 said: “We work on it every little once in a while and we tweak on it. But everything is scheduling. Rob‘s working on a new movie right now. So everything is scheduling, and he is the master of that stuff. ‘Cause he gets everything done. He’s not one of those people that says, ‘I’m gonna do this,’ but you never see it happen. If he says he’s gonna do something, it will always come out. And I’ve learned that from him big time, that’s for sure.”
John 5 also talked about how the upcoming ROB ZOMBIE album compares to the shock-rocker’s previous efforts. “Let’s see how I can explain it,” the guitarist said. “So, how we used to make records — and maybe I’m just letting the cat out of the bag — but how we used to make records [was] we would come up with music, me and Rob would just come up with this music, and then he would write lyrics to it, and melodies. And that’s traditionally how most do it, I would say. So what happened this time is there was very, very, very basic music written and he would write his lyrics and melodies first. So then I came in and then wrote all the stuff. He was absolutely 100 percent perfect and happy with his vocal and melody, and they were phenomenal. Because there wasn’t any other music getting in the way, so he could really do exactly what he wanted. And then when I came in and I put all the music around it, it was, like, ‘Woah! It took us 15 years to figure this out.’ And it is so great. And it’s heavy, and it’s hooky, and it’s exciting.”
John 5 went on to say that he hopes other people like the new ROB ZOMBIE record as much as he does. “Because coming from me, I’m a Zombie fan, I’m a WHITE ZOMBIE fan, and I listen to things like that as well, and I’ve heard it a bunch, and I’m, like, ‘Man, this is, like, really something special,'” he said. “If WHITE ZOMBIE came out with this record, I’d be, like, ‘This is incredible. This is rad.’ It’s heavy. It’s hooky. It’s all the things that we want a ROB ZOMBIErecord to be. He really hit it out of the park this time.”
Last year, John 5 compared ROB ZOMBIE‘s upcoming album to THE BEATLES‘ groundbreaking LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, saying that it is “by far the best Zombie record that he’s ever done.” He added: “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s just our greatest record,’ and I don’t say that. Whatever I say is so honest when I’m doing interviews. So I think it’s our best record.”
2016’s “The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” was the second consecutive effort to feature Zombie and John 5 alongside bassist Piggy D. and drummer Ginger Fish.
Zombie told Loudwire about his upcoming album: “I think it’s the best record we’ve made. Parts of it are the heaviest, parts are the weirdest, it’s the most complex record we’ve ever made, but at the same time, it’s always very catchy and listenable, but it’s the most intricately structured record.”
He added: “There are those songs that go in a direction we’ve never even gone near before. Personally, I like records that are very varied in sound. Not just like, ‘Oh, here’s 12 super heavy tracks,’ and they’re all the same tempo. I like records that are all over the place. That’s why I think my favorite BEATLES record was always The White Album.”
