To say that megalomaniac Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose operates with a regular level of decorum isn’t entirely accurate, heck, to say he lives on the same planet as the rest of the rock world is a bit of a stretch sometimes.
Given his long running feud with former bandmates, and especially Slash, to the point of ordering fans wearing his shirts out of his shows – Rose is better known for his eccentricities than his music these days.
That being said, Guns N Roses to seem to be edging their way back to normality, including recording a ‘ton’ of new material for a forthcoming album; and following on from his duet with Neil Young at his Bridge School Benefit Concert, Axl Rose showed up (on time) for his first television interview in 20 years when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night to discuss his band’s upcoming residency, joking about his punctuality, and his ‘Halloween Tree’.
Though cold about his past, saying very little about the early days of Guns N Roses. Kimmel mentioned that the studio was “just a few minutes from your old rehearsal space, do you ever think about it when driving by?” to which Rose replied “not in a while.” Asked if he remembered it, he retorted, “unfortunately.”
He was surprisingly jovial about other topics however, including his famed non-shows and late appearances, most recently at Young’s Bridge School Benefit, where their late arrival prompted Eddie Vedder to fill in a surprise two-song set. Speaking of meeting Neil Young for the first time for their duet of Young’s ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’, he called him “such a powerhouse, it was amazing… he’s the real deal.”laughing at Kimmel showing him the Oscar Wilde quote hanging in his home, which states “punctuality is the thief of time,” before adding “we’ve been doing a lot better recently.”
Rose joked it was a “miracle” that he’d turned up for Jimmy Kimmel’s chat show on time, laughing at Kimmel showing him the Oscar Wilde quote hanging in his home, which states “punctuality is the thief of time,” before adding “we’ve been doing a lot better recently.”
Offering a rare insight into the Howard Hughes of rock’s lifestyle, Rose happily also talked about his home life, including having a fir tree done up with Halloween decorations as “one of the most evil things I’ve ever done.”
Saying that he pranked children with his ‘Halloween Tree’, “we have these Halloween parties… so we did the tree, put the presents… and families come with their little kids, and the kids stand there and I would go ‘you don’t have a Halloween Tree?’ and then their parents would call me for about three months, ‘you son of a!'”
Yeah, we wonder what kind of irresponsible parents are actually letting their kids enter Axl Rose’s home too, but the frontman was in surprisingly good form, with Kimmel thanking his guest by saying “I didn’t know what to expect… I thought I’d be the only one talking.”
In related news, Guns N Roses begin a 12-night residency at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Cafe from Halloween, and the latest reports suggest that the band have a large portion of new material written and recorded. Which will surely come as a relief to fans that endured the 17 year wait for GnR’s previous 2008 effort Chinese Democracy, still if Rose can make good promise that his band are getting better with punctuality – we might not have to wait another 17 years to hear it.
