Original Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler discussed Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, and Nirvana in a new interview with Eddie Trunk.
“There’s not too many people who actually left their established band and became very successful themselves. There’s a couple, you’ve got Lionel Richie, Phil Collins, The Beatles of course. Dave Grohl is fucking God as far as I’m concerned, I hail that man. He went from the biggest band in the world [Nirvana] to putting the bigger band in the world together [Foo Fighters], even bigger! He’s the coolest guy as far as I’m concerned.”
He said he’s open to joining an established band.
“Hell yeah, if Aerosmith called me I’d jump right at it. Fuck, if REO Speedwagon called me I’d jump right at it, I love REO Speedwagon. Shit, if Loverboy gave me a call I’d do some shows with them.”
Adler also discussed reuniting with Guns N’ Roses.
“Well, it was January 2, 2016, and Slash and Duff both texted me and said that they wanted to get together and talk to me. So I went down to Duff’s house and we had a nice little talk. They had me sign some contract thing and whatnot just so they could talk to me, which is cool; I don’t care. Then in March I came down to rehearsal, and the second rehearsal, I got a pinched nerve in my L4 in my lower back. But I was only out for ten days.
By the time they did The Troubadour show, I was ready to go. I called Duff up and I said, ‘Dude, I’m ready to rock. Can I do these shows?’ They had The Troubadour and they had, like, seven other shows. And he said, ‘No, you’re not gonna be part of this.’ I was, like, ‘Fuck you!’ and I hung up on him. And I called him back and I said, ‘I’m sorry. I was just angry at myself. I feel like I ruined it for myself, and I was just saying mean things to you because that’s how I felt about me.’
You know, I [was] trying to move forward. And so one day, I think, like, July 3rd or July 4th, they called me and said, ‘You wanna come down to Cincinnati and Nashville?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. When?’ And they said, ‘Tomorrow.’ So, of course, I got on a plane, I went, I got to jam with them, and it was great. It’s just not the same. I was thinking it was gonna be the same as it was twenty-five years ago, but not having Izzy [Stradlin] there, and just playing one or two songs, it was very hurtful and heartbreaking for me. And Richard [Fortus] is a phenomenal guitar player — he’s a great guitar player — and the crazy thing is, from ten feet away, he fucking looks like Izzy. And they asked me to go to… they said either Japan or Australia or Thailand, and I said I’m not gonna fly twenty thousand miles to play one or two songs. It’s just too much.”