The long awaited Guns ‘n Roses album has taken 15 years to be released. It will finally see the light of day in November.
The long awaited Guns ‘n Roses album has taken 15 years to be released. It will finally see the light of day in November.Drummer Brain has revealed to EQTV how more than $300,000 was spent over a 7 month period on redoing the drum bits note for note after Josh Freese left the band and how he now has the record for the duration that a single drum kit had been set-up in a studio.
“I think I have the record for how long drums were set-up in a studio and I think it was five years that my drums were set-up at the Village Recorders in Los Angeles,” Brain said. “It was five years and it went through three different producers. It went through Sean Beaven, Roy Thomas Baker and then I guess Axl is the producer now. Five years my drums were set-up.
Brain said his predecessor Josh Freese played on 30 songs and then left the band. Axl Rose liked Brain’s feel but wanted what had Josh played so he had Brain replicate exactly note for note everything Josh had done.
Brain says he spent 7 months putting down the drum pieces in a studio that was costing $2000 a day.
To learn the parts was a chore in itself. The drums pieces for 30 songs had to be transcribed. That job went to a guy at Sony who was handed two CDs of all of the songs and had to transcribe them note for note. “It was every song written out note for note. Some were seven minute songs including Josh doing solos,” he said.
And remember this was a G ‘n R project. The ordinary everyday studio was not good enough for ‘Chinese Democracy’. “It was recorded upstairs in an auditorium that used to be a Masonic temple. “It had a huge Bonhamesque sound”.
‘Chinese Democracy’ will be released on November 22.
Watch the EQTV interview here
