ADLER On SLASH: 'I'm Thankful That He's Proud Of Me Enough For Me To Be A Part Of His Life'

Anthony Morgan of Metal Forces recently conducted an interview with ADLER members Steven Adler (drums) and Lonny Paul (guitars). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On ADLER'S APPETITE:

Steven: "That's no longer. That was just something… the whole GUNS N' ROSES just happened and ended too soon for me, and I just had it in me to keep playing those songs. Those songs are very important to me, and they mean so much to me. I wanted to just play them out of my system, and plus, I got an opportunity to travel around the world. Believe it or not, I played every foreign village around the world. I figured that after ten years of doing that, if I wanted to still be a part of the whole rock 'n' roll game then this is gonna prove it, and it has proved it. Lonny came into my life right when I was done doing this ADLER'S APPETITE thing. Lonny came into my life, and he was like Thomas Edison. He brought a spark back into my life, and it's just been very exciting. Plus, I don't like talking about the whole drug thing anymore. It's kind of old and everybody already knows. but once I took responsibility for my life and started making amends to people everything became very easy. Like I said, Lonny Paul came into my life, and Jacob [Bunton, vocals] and Jeff [Pilson, producer], and all of these wonderful people. Doing the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame [on April 14th, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio] was the best way and the perfect way for me to end that chapter of my life. If anything with GN'R would've happened again, it would've happened that night, and it didn't. Now I'm okay with that, and now I'm starting the second chapter of my life. It's been very exciting. We finally did our first show on the Kiss Kruise II. People reading this can go on AdlerRocks.com, and videos and photos of that are there. Like I was saying, there couldn't be a better way to start the second chapter of my life. I couldn't be more thankful."

On the title track for debut album "Back From The Dead":

Steven: "I'm back from the dead, baby, and literally. [laughs] I had this big GN'R poster from the first time that we went to England, one of those really big ones that they put on wooden boards. I've walked by it for the last 20 years — it is right on the way as you walk to my bathroom, so I have to walk by it. I would look at it, and say, 'One day we're gonna do this again. It was too great.' After the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, now I walk by it and say, 'I'm so glad I was a part of that, and it was an exciting time in my life. I'm very thankful to have known and worked with those guys.'"

On performing on Kiss Kruise II:

Lonny: "Some of the best compliments that we got were people coming up to us after the show, saying, 'We came out here not knowing what to expect, expecting to see some GUNS N' ROSES songs. By the end of the set though we couldn't care less about GUNS N' ROSES.' That's not me saying that; that's what some of the people were saying to us. We couldn't have asked for a better compliment."

On "Just Don't Ask" featuring a guest solo from Slash:

Steven: "To have Slash come down, that was something that meant so much to me. We've known each other for so many decades, even before we were teenagers. We've done so much together; we started our rock 'n' roll life together, and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was just so great. Of course, I wanted everybody in GN'R to be there, but Slash is the most important one to me. Having him finally be proud of me, and believe in me because of my experiences with drugs… He saw me making a change in my life and come to think of it, the fact that he wanted to be a part of something I was doing means so much to me. He wouldn't let me even watch; he made me leave the studio — he made everybody leave the studio. I was hiding in the laundry room right next to the studio. He didn't realize that, but to have him come down and be a part of it was so wonderful. He means so much to me. I'm thankful that he's proud of me enough for me to be a part of his life."

On "Good To Be Bad" featuring ROB ZOMBIE/ex-MARILYN MANSON guitarist John 5:

Lonny: "John 5's wife and Steven's wife knew each other, and Steven basically just reached out to him. He said, 'Hey, we're recording a record. Do you wanna come down and play on something?' He heard the track 'Good To Be Bad', and he said, 'I'm in.' He came down, and practically the first take that he did we kept. There were some other things he did on the song too. We couldn't be happier with what he did."

On performing in Japan during March 2013 with DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED:

Steven: "I'm waiting for the right moment, but I wanna see if Slash will come with us. We could have Slash's band, Duff's band, and ADLER all perform on one show. We could go to Japan together, and call ourselves THE THREE KAMIKAZES. [laughs] For now, it's just me and Duff, though."

Read the entire interview from Metal Forces.