GUNS N' ROSES: Video Podcast Focusing On First 50 Shows To Launch In August

Marc Canter, who grew up best friends with GUNS N' ROSES members Slash and Axl Rose, will launch a video podcast called "The First 50 Gigs: Guns N' Roses And The Making Of Appetite For Destruction" on Patreon on August 19 at 12 a.m. EST. To coincide with the podcast launch, a week-long "First 50 Gigs" gallery exhibit will open at the Rosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, hosted and created by Lethal Amounts.

"The First 50 Gigs" had two goals in mind: to recapture one of the greatest origin stories in L.A. rock history — the emergence and breakthrough of GUNS N' ROSES and their debut album — and give the fans, access to Canter's one-of-a-kind archive.

The podcast creators said: "We have enough content to keep you entertained until the end of 2021. Season One will take you from the earliest moments when Slash first picked up a guitar in high school in 1981, to the newly formed 'Appetite' line up of GN'R when they first return from 'Hell Tour' in June of 1985.

"We chose Patreon as the distribution platform for this series as we need support from fans of this project to tell the entire story over five seasons. We've bootstrapped Season 1, but we can only produce Season 2 when we hit our first goal of 5,000 subscribers. At 10,000 subscribers, we'll produce the entire series, so we need your help to get there and bring this entire story to life.

"We have three Patreon subscribers tiers with different benefits. They are:

"General Admission (GA) gives you access to audio only episodes of 'The First 50 Gigs' twice a month on Patreon. This includes show transcripts in English, Spanish and Portuguese. GA is $5 a month.

"Reserved Seating (RS) gives you access to all 'The First 50 Gigs' visual content, including episode videos with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles, episode show posts with additional photo galleries, videos and audio clips. You'll also get two bonus episodes a month that can include interviews, audio clips and behind-the-scenes with the show creators. RS is $15 a month.

"Front Row (FR) gets you everything in the previous tiers, plus you'll receive one piece of merchandise once every three months valued at $25 or more. This includes autographed books, prints, t-shirts and other collectables from 'The First 50 Gigs' podcast, Canter's Deli and 'Reckless Road'. Additionally, you'll join us once a month for a 60-90 minute call with Marc Canter and Jason Porath to ask them anything about the show, go even deeper into GN'R origin story and get advanced notice on upcoming content and merch. Special guests from the show may also join for these live sessions. FR is $25 a month.

"The Reserved Seating and Front Row Tiers include private RSS feeds that will allow you stream the show on your favorite podcast player (e.g. Apple Podcast, Stitcher, etc.)".

The first four episodes for Season One are as follows:

Series Introduction: Hosts Marc and Jason introduce you to the series and discuss Marc's role.

Episode 1: Adam Greenberg, drummer for TIDUS SLOAN/ROADCREW talks about Slash's early bands.

Episode 2: Author Laurie Jacobson takes us back with a history of the Sunset Strip from 1900 to 1965

Episode 3: Author Domenic Priore continues the history of the Sunset Strip from 1965 to 1990

Episode 4: Chris Weber, founding member of AXL, ROSE + HOLLYWOOD ROSE talks about those bands.

Reserved Seating and Front Row subscribers will get 14 bonus episodes that include cutting-room floor interviews, behind-the-scenes footage from "The First 50 Gigs" and "Reckless Road" and more.

Canter photographed the band's entire journey on the Sunset Strip, starting with Slash's garage bands in 1981 and ending when the band releases "Appetite" and leaves on their first international tour with THE CULT in 1987.

Jason Porath, who was his right-hand man in co-writing Marc's book "Reckless Road", will be hosting this series and along with providing a unique outlook on their first 50 gigs, will be sharing content only available through Marc's immense archive.

When teenager and amateur photographer Marc Canter set out to document his best friend Saul Hudson's rise as a rock guitarist in 1982, he never imagined he was documenting the genesis of the next great rock 'n' roll band. His friend became the legendary guitarist Slash, and Canter found himself witnessing the creation of GUNS N' ROSES front and center. The candid shots contained in his GUNS N' ROSES biography "Reckless Road: Guns N' Roses And The Making Of Appetite For Destruction", taken as the band toured in 1985-1987 and made the legendary album "Appetite For Destruction", capture their raw, blood-sweat-and-tears performances as well as their intimate moments. Containing original gig memorabilia including show flyers, ticket stubs, set lists, press clippings, and handwritten lyrics as well as in-depth interviews with band members and the people closest to them, "Reckless Road" offers an explicit, first-person perspective readers won't find anywhere else.

Originally published in America in 2008, "Reckless Road" contains interviews with Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, as well as groupies, failed producers, and former managers and bandmates.

Back in 2016, Canter told the Daily Mail that the GUNS N' ROSES reunion finally fell into place thanks to McKagan brokering a peace settlement between Slash and Axl — but only after Slash left his wife of 13 years, Perla Ferrar. Canter explained: "Duff was a big part in getting them back together. He was working with Axl again and is a good middle man. There was no one else who communicated with Slash and Axl. When Axl was venting about Slash, Duff was able to help him see things through Slash's eyes."

McKagan had been instrumental in getting both ex-bandmates, who had not been speaking since 1996, to sign off on a series of music licensing deals that required both their signatures.

Yet one thing stood in the way of a full-fledged reunion: Perla, who had managed Slash's solo career and was an executive in his various companies.

Canter also claimed that the band originally broke up because Slash and Duff wrote a dozen new songs around 1995 and Axl refused to sing on all but three or four of them — leading Slash to pursue a solo venture.