GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist DJ ASHBA On The First 'Real' Rock Star He Ever Met

March 14, 2012

Leslie Michele Derrough of GlideMagazine.com recently conducted an interview with SIXX: A.M./GUNS N' ROSES guitarist DJ Ashba. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GlideMagazine.com: You came from kind of a religious family. How did you discover rock and roll?

Ashba: You know what's weird? My mom is a classical piano teacher so before I could even reach the pedals on it from the piano bench I was playing piano. I started when I was about three. So even though it was a very religious family, I grew up without TVs and stuff, my mom was a big music influence on me. She was huge into Elvis so I grew up kind of cutting my teeth on all the old Elvis songs. So I guess that's where it kind of started.

GlideMagazine.com: When did piano and drums turn into guitars?

Ashba: Well, my mom made me practice piano so I never liked playing piano when I was young 'cause it was something I had to do. Then I started playing drums when I was probably six and I was just banging on everything. I'd set up, like, garbage cans and buckets and anything I could beat on. Then I was in the little high school pep band, I think it was called, and I would always break my sticks at home on garbage cans and come back and I'd have no sticks for the class. So they ended up basically letting me go from that class 'cause I never had drumsticks to play. (laughs) Then that got frustrating so I detasseled corn all summer and I was turned on to people like Eddie Van Halen and people like that and it just kind of changed my life when I heard guitar. It was just something that my mom was kind of against. Nobody really was for me playing guitar so it was one of those things where it was kind of cool. This is something my mom will never make me practice so it made me want to play it more, you know. So I first started playing guitar when I was about nine.

GlideMagazine.com: Who was the first real rock star you ever met?

Ashba: I remember just getting to L.A. and I remember walking into Tower Records on Sunset and I was in there just shopping and a big black limo pulls up and Elton John jumps out with like ten people with him. He grabs a little cart and he's just flying through the CD store and he's just filling up this thing and he said "Hi" to me. He was really cool and nice. I think he was probably the first rock star I ever met, thinking back. Yeah, he was really cool. He was in the store for probably five minutes flat and it was all timed and the car pulled back up and he jetted right out and I was like, "Wow, how cool." (laughs)

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