GUNS N' ROSES Drummer BRYAN MANTIA On Making Chinese Democracy - "I Think I Have The Record For My Drums Being Set Up For The Longest Time In Any Studio"
April 12, 2009, 15 years ago
GUNS N' ROSES drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia is featured in a new interview with Modern Drummer. An excerpt is available below.
MD: It must have been quite a switch going from doing two takes per song with Tom Waits, to the Guns N’ Roses album, which took about ten years to make.
Brain: "[laughs] I think I have the record for my drums being set up for the longest time in any studio. I think they were set up at Village Recorders in Santa Monica for six years. Six years. That was another process entirely."
MD: How did you get into that situation, and what was that process like?
Brain: "The Guns album was in the works for fifteen years. Matt Sorum started it, then Josh Freese did it for four or five years, and then Josh quit. Then [guitarist] Buckethead got in there, and he and I have been friends forever. He told me that Josh had quit and said, 'Axl’s an awesome dude. You should come check it out.' So I went in there, and I didn’t hear back from them for a while. And then one day I remember Axl calling me and saying, 'You know, if you want the gig you can have it, and you can still be on other stuff. You can still do Primus or whatever you want to do.'"
Go to this location for the complete interview.
