Being a rocker, to me, is equal to living as much of the truth as possible.
It's funny: when I started playing bass in 1984, you had guys like Paul Simonon fron the Clash, John Paul Jones, Lemmy, and Nikki Sixx was the head guy in Motley Crue, and you had all this post-punk stuff like Magazine and Killing Joke where the bass sort of lead the way. Not that I picked it to sort of be a main dude, but it intrigued me.
I made money in my 20s, became sober in my 30s, looked around, and didn't know who I could trust for money advice.
One of the first 45s I ever bought was the Stooges' 'I Got a Right.' Probably one of my favorite singles, ever.
I think after 9/11, here in America, I saw something extraordinary. I saw neighbors looking after neighbors. I don't think anybody asked who anybody voted for. It was people taking care of other people.
Not to name names, but a lot of pop female artists you see, they don't write their own songs. Lot of top male artists and boy band artists, they don't write their own songs. They're just a product. They sell, they sell, they sell. They don't care about musical integrity, any of that kind of stuff.
By the time Guns n' Roses spent 28 months from 1991 to 1993 touring the 'Use Your Illusion' albums, the tour staff sometimes approached 100 people. We were carrying not only backup girl singers, a horn section, and an extra keyboard player, but also chiropractors, masseuses, a singing coach, and a tattoo artist.
Being from a big band is great because you can do other bands.
Being in a band is the best place I can think of to be as up-front as possible. If you let something stew, it'll grow into a mountain of nonsensical black mud in no time.
I've had a panic disorder since I was sixteen, and they always said that's a subset of depression. And I'm like, 'I don't have depression.'
The thing is that business and success, and how hard it is, doesn't look any different whether you're playing a gig at eleven o'clock at night or you're going to work at nine in the morning at a law firm.
That connectivity with the audience that I get to enjoy, that's my church. It's not one of ego or anything like, 'I'm on the stage and the lights.' It's just this connectivity, and it's always been that way for me.
My twenties were tumultuous at best... I think.
I never had a personal beef with Axl, truth be told.
Rock n' roll is a volatile thing; at least, it's supposed to be.
'The Joshua Tree' was the soundtrack of my life when we were making 'Appetite.'
One of my first memories is marching with my mom. I was in kindergarten with with the Catholic ladies when Martin Luther King Jr. got shot. We wore the black armbands and marched downtown.
Lemmy Kilmeister is most certainly a rocker.
When you're in a band, a marriage - whatever, it's kind of the same deal - there's a lot of things that you see, and people trust you with information about their lives. Call it a 'bro code' or whatever you wanna call it, but there are certain things you do not tell. At least, I don't.
I have always been a huge sports fan, but more of the pedestrian and 'homer' sort.
