2019.12.13 - Riki Rachtman's Cathouse Hollywood Podcast - Interview with Gilby

Excerpts from Ultimate Guitar and Blabbermouth:
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During an appearance on Riki Rachtman's Cathouse Hollywood Podcast, guitarist Gilby Clarke looked back on his time in Guns N' Roses, going from the day he found out he was in the group to ultimately parting ways with the guys.

Gilby was a member of the fold between 1991 and 1994, heavily touring with the guys and performing on the 1993 covers record "The Spaghetti Incident?".

When asked, "You found out you were in Guns N' Roses by seeing a picture of yourself on MTV News?", Clarke replied (transcribed by UG):

"On MTV News, that's the first thing that I found out... I'm not a nervous person, but there were so many things I was thinking of. I mean, the reality of what I was thinking of was, 'I got to learn 50 songs in a week and play an arena show with these guys. Next Monday is my first show with them, I got to learn 50 songs'. And by the way, I didn't rehearse with them, they just said, 'Learn the catalog' and left with me with that. It wasn't, like, 'Learn the setlist,' which would be 25 songs. No, 'Learn 50 songs.' That's what I was thinking of, and I wasn't nervous, I was just thinking, like, 'If I want this gig, this is what I have to do to get it.'"

The guitarist added:

"The Guns guys from back then - it wasn't one of those bands that really talked a lot amongst each other. Everybody was kind of in their own world. I mean, the band, besides Axl, hung out a lot together, but it's not like I can go, 'Hey, Slash, what do I wear tonight?' That's not cool, it's just not cool. So, it's just things like that, that was the stuff that was on my mind. 'What do I wear tonight?'. These guys have already been out for a couple of months, you know, and the 'Illusion' record was just coming out but, you know, I didn't have enough guitars, I really only had four guitars to my name. Slash probably had 20 on the road with him."

Were you nervous walking out there?

"No, never. I'm not nervous. It's so odd because I'm just not a nervous person. Like, I was excited, I was anxious, I was ready, I mean, my whole life - like you said, everybody else got gold records, this was my moment. What was odd is when I got out there, the audience was so receptive, and I really believed that just because Izzy and I don't look that different, people didn't really know Izzy wasn't in the band. Slash had always said back then, he was really amazed at how that transition went so smoothly. It was just kind of accepted, people didn't rebel about it and stuff, and it was a big move for the band.

"What I didn't realize was, what I've never done before, all the bands I've ever been in we barely played even a headline set, 45 minutes, maybe an hour... we played for three hours. What I didn't realize about that as a musician or a singer, you rarely eat before the show because you don't want to feel heavy and stuff like that so, like, I hadn't eaten for a couple of hours before the show. And the show is going on, and I got hungry. You know, we were drinking, I go, 'This is a different buzz,' and finally, I said to my guitar tech, I said, 'Hey, man, I'm starving, can you get me some pizza or something?'. Of course, he went and got me a pizza. Matt is doing a drum solo, and one by one all the guys, whether it was Duff, Slash or Axl, was coming up, like, 'Dude, are you okay? Is everything going well?' And when Axl came to check on me, I literally had a piece of pizza in my mouth. I'm going, 'Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm just starving, that's all.' That's what I remember about the first show. I had a terrible hangover, I was hungry, and it was really fun."

There wasn't a lot of time between Gilby who didn't have a golden record to Gilby being in GN'R. Did it really hit you quickly?

"Um... no, it didn't hit me quickly. To be honest, I don't think about things like that. Also, you know, we go through our lives - you are recognized more, and you get used to it. You get used to when you go to the gas station and somebody is looking. You don't always assume, 'Oh, everybody knows who I am,' but even in the early Hollywood days, I've been around for a while, I knew guys at the gas station, the guys at the grocery store, so I was kind of used to. Granted, this was a whole different level, that band was huge."

You played how many shows with GN'R...?

"I've been with them for maybe a year. Also, that tour was so long, we never had long breaks, ever. Like, the longest break was maybe two weeks in between, like, the American run to European run or something, we never had a lot of time off. We had an unexpected break. We're playing in the Midwest somewhere, and something happened and the show was cut short, so we went home before we were about to start the next leg of dates."

So were you on good terms with Izzy? When was the last time you were in contact with him?

"I haven't talked to him recently. I know Matt Sorum talks to him every now and then but, I mean, I did talk to him, even when he was in Guns, we still were in contact. I'd run into him at places, we'd hang out and talk. But I knew Izzy before Guns, so we definitely had a good relationship."

As much as I love GNR, I don't see the camaraderie on stage.

"Yeah, look, there's a lot of positives about the band, don't get me wrong, I really believe that the strong individuals make what made 'Appetite for Destruction' such a great record, and I'm not saying, 'Hey, the guys don't get along.' They get along, it's just that the band never was that brotherhood kind of thing, you know, everybody had their own thing and stuff. I never really felt that brotherhood thing with them. Maybe Slash and Duff felt that between the two of them. I was really good friends with Slash, spent a lot of time with him, did records together besides Guns and all that kind of stuff, but it never felt like that."

How many years did you spend in Guns N' Roses?

"Like... four or five years. I felt on the tour, as the tour was ending that the band was over. That was my honest intellectual conclusion: the band's over. Duff physically looked terrible, you know, his alcohol abuse was terrible, he was bloated, you know? I didn't think he had many days left. Axl and Slash were not seeing eye to eye; Axl saw the band one way, Slash saw it another way, I didn't see them meeting. It's not like I was trying to be in the middle or whatever; it was fractured, you know?

"So, towards the end of the tour, I got an offer to do a solo record. Before Guns, I had a deal with Virgin Publishing, I was a songwriter, and they offered me a record deal once I got the Guns gig, to do a solo record. Look, I didn't want to do a solo record, I'd much rather do a Guns N' Roses record, but the band was not gonna make a record for a long time. So, I got the offer, I asked the guys, 'These are my songs, do you have any interest in them for GN'R in the future?' They said no; I said, 'Is it okay if I make a solo record?'; they said, 'Absolutely, keep yourself busy.' So, I did, I made the solo right after. I was already on tour doing my solo record, and during my break, I made the Slash's Snakepit record with Slash and was gonna go on tour.

"I was on the road for five years straight. The Guns thing, you know, basically, Slash said, 'Meet me at Casa Vega.' He goes 'Axl doesn't want you in the band anymore. I don't know what it is, I honestly don't, just go with it. I'm not saying this is permanent, I'm just saying this is what it is. He wants to work on some new music, he doesn't see what we're doing as viable.' And that's also the time when Slash decided to make the Slash's Snakepit record. He [Axl] didn't like Slash's stuff either, but he wasn't kicking Slash out of the band, so basically they didn't fire me, but my paychecks stopped. And then a week later Slash had this revelation, he goes, 'What the fuck are we doing? Are we going to replace Gilby?'. And he called me, 'Everything's fine, you're in the band, don't worry about it.' But my paychecks never came back, and that was it. I was never officially fired from the band, but it just kind of ended, and I was busy, I had my solo record, I had Slash's thing. And also, remember, it's not like I was not in the band and the band was doing anything. They didn't do anything [after I was stopped getting my paychecks]."

Gilby Clarke was asked if he had felt any bitterness once his time in the group had ended nearly 25 years ago. He responded: "No. Honestly, not at all. I would tell you if I did."

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/gilby_clarke_recalls_strange_way_he_found_out_he_was_joining_gnr__even_stranger_way_he_was_fired.html

https://blabbermouth.net/news/gilby-clarke-how-i-found-out-i-was-no-longer-a-member-of-guns-n-roses/

Note: Riki Rachtman has deleted the original episodes of his podcast from 2019. He recently relaunched the podcast and has shared some of the original episodes (the audio above is the recent reupload).