Original Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler discussed his involvement in the Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime tour in a new interview with Mitch Lafon. Note that Adler had complimentary things to say about all of his former Guns N’ Roses bandmates, and even current members, and generally had a positive but candid tone throughout the interview. Alternative Nation transcribed Adler’s comments.
“The understanding was I was going to do all the Appetite, the live, and three or four of the Use Your Illusions songs, and then Frank [Ferrer], who is a wonderful awesome guy, he was going to do like the Chinese Democracy stuff and a couple of the other songs. I was going to start it, he was going to come in the middle, and I was going to end it, and I was cool with that. Even a psychic 9 years ago in Australia I talked to, she said, ‘You’re going to be back with them, but you’re going to share the stage.’ I went, ‘That’s cool, as long as it’s not Matt Sorum, I’m fine.’ Boom! Just kidding Matt, I love you (laughs).”
He added, “That would have been cool. I was ready to do the Troubadour show. Like I said, I had been playing like 25 songs twice a day for almost two years, every day, so I was ready to go. Then the second rehearsal, I came into the rehearsal in March, and fuckin’ second day, I just stretched, all I did was stretch. I pulled my arm and went ow. I went, I just did something. Then we played another 7 songs, and then my back was really sore, and I came home at about 8 at night, then by midnight I couldn’t even stand up. It was just terrible.
I was out for two weeks, and then I got the epidural after about a week, and then I had the surgery. I was ready when they did the Troubadour show, and Duff called me and said, ‘Dude, you’re not going to play with us anymore, you’re not going to do these shows.’ I went, ‘You’re the worst fucking person in the world,’ and I hung up on him. I called him back and left a message saying, ‘I’m so sorry I said that.’ When I said he was the worst person in the world, I didn’t mean he was, I was thinking I was the worst person in the world. I couldn’t even get back with my fuckin’ guys after they gave me this opportunity, but I said it to him. When you have resentment you say things that you’re feeling, and I was feeling it about me, and I said it about him. I couldn’t apologize to him enough, because he knows I love him more than anything. Obviously I got to apologize, because we did shows together, and he understood.”
