LETTER OF THE MONTH

From page 5 of Classic Rock Magazine August 2007



Cover of August 2007 issue.
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GUNS N’ MEMORIES Reading the great July issue of Classic Rock commemorating the release of Appetite For Destruction , I had to dig out some old records and

diaries to relive a June ’87 day.

Wardour Street, about 4pm on the afternoon of Guns’ second Marquee gig (postponed from June 11 to the 19th, due to some scuffle between Axl and the local constabulary, if I remember correctly). Remarkably Slash sits down on the kerb next to me, where I’d rested me butt to have a little refreshment. He offered up his red-label Thunderbird bottle in exchange for my can of McEwan’s Export – he liked British beer and wanted to try it.

His Thunderbird was putrid, but I chugged the stuff down like the happy little star-struck groupie I wuz. We chatted for a while, sipping on our swapped beverages, until along trots none other than Duff, Izzy, Steven and their roadie Todd Crew; no Axl – and no surprise there.

They all signed the record sleeves I’d brought along: the Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide EP and the newly released It’s So Easy/Mr Brownstone 12-inch single. (Is that the greatest single of

all time? With the two greatest GN’R songs on one record, I believe it is.) Even Todd Crew signed. He hesitated, and asked if I was sure he should sign, not being a band member an’ all. “Sure. More the merrier,” I slurred, still clutching the Thunderbird bottle. ‘Roadie Crew’ is how he penned it on the reverse side of the

... Suicide EP. Kinda weird standing in the second or third row of the following October

’87 Hammersmith show, to hear Axl relay the tragic story of his demise.

As you well know, those Marquee shows were prior to the release of their debut album.The band were loaded with excitement over what they’d laid down, especially

Duff. As he wrote on my It's So Easy 12-inch: ‘Wait for the record – Duff.’

The show sizzled – watchin’ Slash sway as he blazed thru these knife-edged blues solos bamboozled me. And was he swaying to the Steven and Duff back-beat, or the T-Bird/McEwan’s cocktail swilling about in his brain?

Oh and après -gig I nabbed the poster off the sweat-soaked wall, advertising the 12

inch and these Marquee shows. Thought you’d like to see the pics (above). And thanks for such great in-depth articles taking me down a fantastic memory-bricked lane.

Simon, Portland, Oregon

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