A New Zealand musician who was intricately involved with Guns N’ Roses has opened up about working with the “nightmare” rockers.
Alan Niven, who was born in Wellington and moved to the United Kingdom with his family as a child, managed the notorious rock band for five years during their turbulent rise to fame.
He has now recounted the rowdy years in a new memoir, Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories, sharing anecdotes of his time with one of the world’s best-selling bands.
Guns N’ Roses was formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, California.
Founding members included Axl Rose on vocals, Saul Hudson (known professionally as Slash) on lead guitar, Izzy Stradlin on rhythm guitar, Duff McKagan on bass and Steven Adler on drums.
Niven alleged he was approached by the group three times before finally accepting their managerial job offer in 1986 in an interview with the Daily Mail.
“No one wanted Guns N’ Roses. They’d been through at least two other management situations,” Niven said.
“They couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. No one wanted to deal with them. They were a nightmare.”
But the Kiwi, who also produces and songwrites, struck up a friendship with Slash - an English member of the band who he found to be surprisingly intelligent and alluring.
Niven eventually became drawn into the band.
Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite for Destruction, dropped in 1987 to widespread acclaim and remains the band’s most successful album to date.
While Niven tried to rein in the band and control the public narrative as they navigated the period of explosive growth, he quickly recognised the rockers were not too interested in civility.
He recalled a time where he arrived to a band meeting to find only Slash present with Stradlin asleep on the table.
To Niven’s bewilderment, Slash then allegedly picked up a fluffy white bunny and fed it to a large snake stored in a neighbouring room.
Niven said all five members came into the band from “dysfunctional” backgrounds, which he believes fuelled their compulsive behaviours.
“A part of the motivation of forming a band was not just to make noise, not just to get laid, but to create your perfect family that substitutes that,” Niven said.
“Now, in terms of how does that relate to recreational drugs use or addiction? I believe people from dysfunctional circumstance are prone to addiction.”
Rose had been the most difficult for Niven to deal with. Niven referred to the lead singer as a “narcissist” whose self-conceitedness was amplified by the attention the band received.
Ultimately, Niven was fired on the spot by Rose in 1991. He received a call from the frontman to say he could no longer work with him.
“I never heard from him again. He did not have the courage, the grace, the appreciation to even sit down and say, this is why.”
Guns N’ Roses slowly unravelled with the firing of Adler in 1990 and the departure of Stradlin shortly after Niven.
By 1997, Slash and McKagan had also departed - leaving Rose as the only original member of the group for nearly two decades.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said this to anybody else before, but in some ways I’m really glad that I got outta [Guns N’ Roses] when I did,” Niven said.
“Because sometimes I have the honesty to sit in a tub and think, ‘What kind of an a****** do you think you would’ve been if you’d been multimillions rich?’”
Slash and McKagan eventually rejoined Guns N’ Roses in 2016 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band’s current line-up consists of founding members Rose, Slash and McKagan alongside Richard Fotus (guitar), Isaac Carpenter (drums), Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese (keyboard).
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