ANOTHER CHANCE OF ‘RAIN’
We’ve come across plenty of cool clips of Guns N’ Roses fans covering the L.A. band’s classics, but this one by Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom is one of our current faves. Check out her awesome acoustic take on “November Rain.”
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REVIEW: VIPER ROOM’S APPETITE TRIBUTE SATIATES GN’R FANS
Last night, it felt like the Viper Room froze July 1987 in time. The GN’R tribute show was far superior to the show Axl Rose and his GN’R Part Deux gave at the Forum a few months back. The Room rocked with a great house band, the awesome Lonely Drunks Club Band (right) and six different singers from L.A.’s hottest local bands.
It was also very cool to spot members of our favorite L.A. band, Warner Drive, including frontman Jonny Law and bassist Elvis James, checking out the show.
In addition to the kick-ass Lonely Drunks Club Band, Brando’s Island (left) really stood out in the night’s multiband lineup and had the place groovin’ to a fantastic set of original tunes before frontman Brandon Wardell later grabbed the mic during the GN’R tribute for a couple more powerhouse performances.
Throughout the tight set of spot-on covers of classics like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Wardell and the various singers chatted between songs about how GN’R’s major label debut changed their lives, including one who said he was 10 when the album dropped! Another mentioned that he was 12 when Appetite debuted! Doh!
Despite how great all of the Axl imitators were, it’s doubtful anyone on stage can remember what Rose looked like before the Botox and cornrows.
But they all perfectly captured W.A.R.’s vocal inflections, held the mic the same way, whipped their hair back and forth like him and, of course, when the band did “Paradise City,” the ENTIRE ROOM broke into the serpentine dance. It was a very cool, fun Spinal Tap-like experience.
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VIPER ROOM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
If you’re a fan of the original Guns N’ Roses — you know from the Appetite for Destruction/Sunset strip days, when they were awesome — then there is nowhere else to be tonight, July 20, than the Viper Room! The iconic club is hosting a multi-band lineup to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Appetite! Yep, it’s been 25 years since Axl and the guys launched their superstar career from the Sunset Strip.
Tonight’s Viper Room lineup includes Inside the Black, Coma, Brando’s Island and, performing Appetite in its entirety, the Lonely Drunks Club Band. Plus, there will be special surprise guests. We’re crossing our skull-ringed fingers that at least one of those guests is either Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy or Steven! (OK, hell, we’d even be happy to see Matt and/or Dizzy. But please, no lame GN’R newbies!)
Guns N’ Roses’ full-length studio album debut actually dropped on July 21, 1987, but with the Lonely Drunks Club Band likely rocking past the midnight hour, it’s all good!
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and cover is a cheap-o $15 at the door. Tonight is gonna rock for sure.
And if you’re an L.A.-based diehard GN’R fan but don’t plan on being at the Viper Room tonight, well, you’re crazy, hey, hey. You know you’re crazy, oh my! You’re f**kin’ crazy, oh child. You know you’re crazy Ay,ay,ay,ay,ay,ay,ah,ah,ah,oooh, yeah!
JOE ELLIOT BLAMES DEF LEPPARD WANNABES FOR THE DEMISE OF HEAVY METAL’S POPULARITY IN THE AWESOME EIGHTIES
Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliot gives his theory on what led to the demise in popularity of heavy metal in the late ’80s/early ’90s in an interview with Vanity Fair.
“When Kurt Cobain came along and tried to kill off the ’80s, he wasn’t trying to kill off Def Leppard. He could have lived with Def Leppard. What he couldn’t deal with was the hundred of other sound-alikes. And that was the problem. And that’s why the ’80s imploded and started eating itself. There were bands that sounded like GN’R, bands that sounded like Bon Jovi, [and bands that sounded like us] — it was one of those three, copied maybe 20, 30 times. It was just a weaker version. And the novelty wore off pretty quick.”
SUNSET STRIP LANDMARK & EARLY GN’R HAUNT BECOMES RUBBLE
Iconic Sunset Strip landmark Tower Video, the timeless neon-lit hub of hipster activity that was the main spot to head to for concert tickets and music videos, has become a pile of rocks. Earlier this month crews began to deconstruct the famous spot that once employed a pre-rock star Axl Rose as its night manager and Guns N’ Roses bandmate Slash as a counter clerk.
In the fall of 2006, as Internet music piracy and iTunes began to claim their stake on the Net, Towers’ chain of music and video stores filed for bankruptcy after 46 years as the go-to place for discovering exciting new bands and picking up tickets to L.A.’s hottest shows.
Tower Video was located at 8844 Sunset at Larrabee, across the street from the defunct Tower Records. The split-level video store also served as a concert ticket venue, classical music annex and sold rock novelties. The store’s small back parking lot, where the photo on the left, of Tower Video rubble, was snapped, is the infamous location where Rose once challenged Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil to a fight over some trash talk. The incident sparked the singers’ well-publicized, longstanding feud.
R.I.P. Tower Video.
Check out what remains of the landmark location as it becomes rock and roll rubble.
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