In a new interview with Eric Blair, ex-Guns N’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson revealed that some GNR guitarists he played with were ‘pains in the ass.’ Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.
“I’ve known Josh [Freese] forever it seems. He’s a fantastic drummer, and he’s a funny guy, corky guy. I love him, everyone you know that has played with Josh Freese will tell you he’s funny, love playing with him, he’s a monster drummer.”
“I wasn’t the musical director for Guns N’ Roses. What I became in the early stages of the new Guns N’ Roses, was I would try and organize a bit. You’ve got 6 guys, Axl too, I would just do my best to try and just keep us all on the same page. We had some different guitar players who were alternately either good friends of mine, or an absolute opposite of a friend, and a pain in the ass, who we dealt with, and I had to deal with.
I just did my best to try to make whatever situation that was in front of us work. I’ll be honest with you, I did my best with all of that, and it got to a point where there were too many moving parts. I kind of asked myself out of a position that I really never wanted anyway. In fun, I’ve been called the general and all of this stuff, but no, I never wanted to be the musical director, I never wanted to be the point guy.
But I was the point who was like, ‘let’s meet at 4, let’s do this. Hey, why don’t we work on this guitar and bass part together, and drums together? Let’s work this out.’ For the first part of me being in Guns N’ Roses, I had a lot more experience in some ways than some of the newer players had, so I did that. If I had been the musical director, I would have asked for a whole lot more money.”
Paul Huge, Robin Finck, Buckethead, Bumblefoot, and DJ Ashba all played guitar with Guns N’ Roses during Stinson’s tenure with the band. Richard Fortus did as well, but the two have discussed their friendship numerous times in interviews.
