Dave Grohl and Axl Rose photo by Katarina Benzova
Guns N’ Roses hit “Chinese Democracy” tour was a subject of controversy ever since Axl Rose failed to attend the opening show. This had caused the audience to riot. The remainder of the tour would likewise be marked by Rose arriving several hours late for most shows before it eventually got scrapped after another last-minute cancellation provoked the second riot in Philadelphia.
Brain opens up on Axl Rose and 2002 tour
In an interview with the Rolling Stone, the former Guns N’ Roses drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia recently opened up on the matter and admitted that he enjoyed some of the chaos which marked the 2002 tour. Brain commented’ on Axl Rose’s approach at the time:
“If he didn’t feel like playing, for whatever reason, he just wouldn’t show up. He knew it would likely invite a consequence like a riot or a canceled tour, but he didn’t seem to care back then.
“That’s on the biggest level. And I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s kind of like the stories I’d hear about Bernie Worrell and George Clinton getting into their shit. He’s willing to throw it away. In the end, I don’t know. I saw Bernie towards the end when I heard he was sick. I went to one of his last shows. In the end, I don’t know if it’s worth it.”
Brain had joined Axl Rose & Co. in 2000 after Josh Freese left to join Billy Howerdel and Maynard James Keenan in A Perfect Circle, and the drummer told in a new interview how he found out about the position from his former employer Buckethead. One of the first tasks that Brain was met with upon joining GN’R was having to re-record Freese’s drum parts, which soon made him acquainted with the extent and the sophistication of Axl Rose’s vision for the album and gave him a taste of what Rose was like to work with.
