BULLETBOYS' MARQ TORIEN: 'I Would Love To Sing With AXL ROSE'

In a new interview with "Metal Social Sunday" with DJ Britt, BULLETBOYS frontman Marq Torien reflected on the days in the late 1980s when he spent much of his time on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I remember hanging out with Axl [Rose] and the [other GUNS N' ROSES] fellows when we first got signed. And even before that, hanging out at the [famed Hollywood club] Cathouse together and stuff, we would always have those chats, like, 'Man, we've gotta make it. What else are we gonna do?'

"I've just gotta say this: I just wanna proclaim my love to Axl, Mister Rose. I just love him so much," Marq continued. "I haven't seen him in many years, but growing up, playing together on the Sunset Strip and what have you in that time, they'd always come out and see us and we'd always go out and see them. And I just love the band, and I love Slash and Duff [McKagan] — all the fellows.

"I'm so proud of [Axl] that he's out there doing what he's doing," Torien said. "He sang with AC/DC [on tour in 2016]. He was out there every night giving it everything that he has, and those songs are not a walk in the park, my brother. That's some tough singing… I applaud him. Hats off to my brother, and a lot of love sent out to Axl Rose."

With regard to GUNS N' ROSES' much-maligned 2008 album "Chinese Democracy", which took 13 years to make and was only a modest seller, moving just around half a million copies, Marq said: "[Axl is] driven. He has a vision. No matter if it's not somebody else's vision, he has vision, and that is what it's all about. You have to have the vision to create and to create magic. And he's a magical soul, and his voice is still amazing to me."

Marq went on to say that he hasn't seen GUNS N' ROSES perform in recent years. "I would love to," he said. "But I see them on some of the vids, and he looks so happy. And that's the best thing — when you see an artist and they look legitimately happy when they're performing."

As for a possible collaboration with Rose, Torien said: "Maybe one of these days… I would love to sing with Axl. I'll tell you what, I'd be the first one out there… I would love to open up for GUNS N' ROSES. I know a million other bands would. But I would love that opportunity to open up for GUNS N' ROSES. I would do everything in my heart to bring it for real for real, and I think my band would do pretty damn well with that."

BULLETBOYS formed in 1988 at the very peak of the Los Angeles glam metal movement. As a collection of talented musicians, BULLETBOYS were able to quickly capture the attention of music fans around the world. Unlike other rockers of the day, the BULLETBOYS possessed more hard rock-blues fusion than pure hair metal. Thanks to comparisons to the likes of AEROSMITH and VAN HALEN, talent scouts came running and the band quickly received their first major label contract.

BULLETBOYS' self-titled debut was released in 1988 via Warner Bros. and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned two hit singles, a cover of the O'JAYS classic "For The Love Of Money" and "Smooth Up in Ya", both of which charted on the Mainstream Rock chart and saw regular airplay on MTV. BULLETBOYS went on to release two more albums, 1991's "Freakshow" and 1993's "Za-Za", before splitting up.

The new BULLETBOYS lineup, featuring Torien, guitarist Ira Black (OF GODS & MONSTERS, LIZZY BORDEN, METAL CHURCH),bassist Brad Lang (Y&T, BURNING RAIN) and drummer Fred Aching (POWERFLO, BILLYBIO),made its live in January 2022 at RokIsland Fest in Key West, Florida.