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- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
It sounds like Brain did ALLOT of work recreating his drum parts based off what Freese had played, so I hope he is the drummer on the album.
- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
The thing is, was Brain asked to redo Josh Freese's work because he left, or was Axl that particular about getting Brain on CD?
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
The thing is, was Brain asked to redo Josh Freese's work because he left, or was Axl that particular about getting Brain on CD?
Probably both.
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
Emphasis on 'band'. Band sounded great... the vocalist...
maybe not his best performance but i prefer this version of madagascar to anything he did in '06 any day of the week and hope he sounds more like this on the album although i fear he won't.
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
my painstaking transcription for those not on highspeed or note wanting to watch the vid 
Drum Master Brain EQTV Interview
Ok so with, um, Chinese democracy which, um, I think this is the, uh, first time I'm telling this story um in any kind of interview or anything but um that was uh its, I think I have the, the record for how long my drums have been set up in a studio and I think it was 5 years the drums were set up at the village recorders in Los Angeles.
My drums were up there for five years, I think it went through 3 different producers. It went through um '¦ uh Sean Beaven, Roy Thomas Baker and '¦ then '¦ I guess Axl is the producer now so uh ,that's, so, (laughs) but, 5 years my drums were set up and um '¦ Basically how it started was, Josh Freese was the drummer before and he had basically played drums on about 30 songs and when he had left Axl really liked my '˜feel' so he was like 'Well I really liked what Josh played but I want your '˜feel'.' And I was like 'OK so I'll learn these songs and go in and, and re, re-play '˜em' and it was like 'NO I really LIKED what Josh played but I want your feel.' And I'm like 'well what does that mean?' and Roy was the producer at that time and he's like 'well basically what you are gonna have to do is play exactly what Josh played. Exactly note for note but you play it like how'¦'. So I'm like 'so I'm gonna have to transcribe every like 30 something songs?!' and I'm like 'pfft, oh man I'm not getting paid enough for this.' So I'm like, 'I don't mind doing that but you're gonna have to get someone else to transcribe it' so went to the head transcriber at Sony Studios and I brought him 2 C.D.'s worth of like 30 songs and I said, 'Dude, I want, note for note, for you to transcribe everything that's on this drum-wise'
So about a month later he calls me and I get back, I go and pick it up at Sony Studios I get like '¦ it, it must have been like that thick (holds hands about a foot apart) of sheet music and it was every song written out note for note and these were some seven minute songs. With like, at the end, Josh doing soloing. Actually like (starts air drumming) Ba-budda-bah-pssh-budda-bash. Like every note was written out and he had like the exact solo of the end of 'There Was A Time' maybe that was like literally '¦ I dunno '¦ like 2 minutes of the vamp at the end of Josh just going crazy. All written out!
So basically I went in and we set up at the top of this like... In, in the Village we, we decided to record'¦ I went in and I heard the room, uh, in the 'Studio C' and I was like 'Well, y'know this is cool but, y'know we're making like, the Guns N' Roses Album! C'mon we can't just be in the studio where like, everybody else records. You gotta have something better than this!' And the owner, Jeff, was like 'well, we have an auditorium that used to be a Masonic Temple upstairs'. I'm, 'Well there ya go! Now we're talking ya'know, like Led Zeppelin! We're getting into somethin' here!' so we go to the top and it's all cold up there, it's like ya'know just '¦ really eerie feeling'¦and, and I'm like, 'This is it, this is where we, I'm recording all the drums' so we basically ran everything up to the top of this, of this Village Recorders and we set up the drums in this auditorium, and so it really just had a huge kinda Bonham-esque sound.
We set up all the drums in the corner and we literally put. When I opened the charts (?) there were like one page, two page, three, four, fi '¦ like six pages! And they wanted'¦ Roy didn't want me to do it in sections. So it wasn't like, 'OK, here's the verse and I'm playing it'. Its like, 'No, you gotta play it as one piece'. So I'm like, 'Dude I gotta like practice this! and get'¦' So each song we had up, like, we had this like this huge like banner made where we could have the whole chart across. So I would look at it from like here all the way to like, like almost like a 90 degrees (Points high Left side and swings arm around to high Right side). I would just see this huge chart. And I learned every song for like, I dunno, maybe 2 weeks. Learned all the parts, I sat there and like got it down like I, like it was orchestrated. Like I just practiced until I got it. Then I would say 'Roy'¦' and while everybody down at the studio, and it's $2,000 a day studio, would just be sitting there like watching, like, cartoons or the exorcist or something'¦its like'¦while I'm upstairs practicing and I would call downstairs and be like, 'Uh, yeah man, I think I got it so '¦ maybe we should try it. Two weeks have gone by I think I got it' we'd try to record'¦track it for 2 days until I got the '˜perfect' take'¦one song done. 'Ok let's start the next one!' About seven to eight months later I was done. And that's how that album was recorded. (Laugh)
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
Jesus Christ. I now completely understand Brain and why he was so detached from the band... And why no one can say if he is still in or not. And even Robin for that matter. It sucks. Let the dude play the way he plays. That was bullshit.
Points I picked up on: Brain really dug being a part of GNR until he bascially became Josh's stand in. And Roy Thomas Baker was much more involved than what people were lead to believe (that he was fired before recording a single note). And that GNR is the most unstable, unorganized, weird-ass band on the planet.
If Axl listened to that interview, maybe it would tell him why Brain, Robin, Josh and Bucket aren't in the band anymore.
I only watched the video once, but didn't Brain say it was HIS idea to record his parts in a Masonic Temple or whatever? They put him in a studio and he didn't think that felt right, needed something more grand for a GNR record, something more Zepellin-like. That certainly added to some of the craziness, didn't it? And I don't think it's accurate to say Brain loved being in GNR before he became Josh's stand in. It sounds like he was told up front that Axl loved his feel and wanted him to replay Josh's parts but with HIS feel. If he had a problem with that, he could've decided to bounce at that very moment. But he agreed, had someone transcribe the music, and then went to work.
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
What was wrong with Brain wanting to record up there? How did that add to the craziness? That struck me as him being really into being in GNR.
Go back and read, he was told by RTB to rerecord Josh's part note for note AFTER he was in the band, and more over, AFTER he started drumming already.
Don't know where you're coming from on that post.
Re: Brain talks Chinese Democracy
Jesus Christ. I now completely understand Brain and why he was so detached from the band... And why no one can say if he is still in or not. And even Robin for that matter. It sucks. Let the dude play the way he plays. That was bullshit.
Points I picked up on: Brain really dug being a part of GNR until he bascially became Josh's stand in. And Roy Thomas Baker was much more involved than what people were lead to believe (that he was fired before recording a single note). And that GNR is the most unstable, unorganized, weird-ass band on the planet.
If Axl listened to that interview, maybe it would tell him why Brain, Robin, Josh and Bucket aren't in the band anymore.
This is essentially Axl's record, and he controls what sound he wants, and it's obvious he's willing to do that at all costs. He let some of the most amazing musicians walk out the door.
The difference between Brain and Bucket is that Axl let Bucket write what he wanted. Of course, Axl got the final say.
