“It’s such an amazing feeling,” declares Ari Kamin – the Argentina-born, self-taught vocalist for original Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler’s solo band. “I grew up listening to his music. I had posters of Guns N’ Roses on the walls of my room. Now, every time I’m on stage with him, I turn back, and I see him smiling, and playing the songs the way they’re supposed to sound. It’s unbelievable how different it sounds when he’s playing those songs. The groove that Steven has is amazing. He sounds like the record every time he plays.”

Ari has been singing for Steven Adler since 2018. He details how he landed this coveted gig. “I was playing with (Guns N’ Roses tribute band) Son Of A Gun, back in Argentina. We started playing around 2012. When Steven went to Argentina in 2016 to play as a guest of Guns N’ Roses, after the show – I mean, he played a big stadium with Guns N’ Roses. After the show, he went to a bar called The Roxy in Buenos Aires, and he jumped on stage with my band! We played the whole Appetite For Destruction with him. We played a couple songs from Illusions – ‘You Could Be Mine’, ‘Don’t Cry’. There was a really good chemistry between me and him. So, after the gig he went back to the US, and he was looking for a singer for his band. He looked for a singer for two years. He wanted something like the guy he met in Argentina. So, two years later, he finally ended up calling me and saying, ‘Hey man, do you want to join my band?’ It was like a dream come true for me, to be able to play in his band. Like the movie, Rockstar.”

Ari is 37 years old, which means he was a year old when Appetite For Destruction was released in 1987. “Yes, that’s crazy, right. I always wanted to be a singer, since I was a kid. When I was in college, I started singing and having my bands. One thing led to the other… I don’t remember what song I was singing but this guy came and said, ‘You sound like Axl Rose, your voice is really similar.’ So, I started listening more to Guns N’ Roses. I fell in love with the music and the sound of the band. Years later, I had my Guns N’ Roses tribute band.”

2012 was the last time Steven Adler released any new music. In fact, he issued two titles that year: the Alive EP with Rick Stitch on vocals, and a full-length album, Back From The Dead, with Jacob Bunton on vocals. To the delight of fans around the world, Aril is currently working on new, original material with Steven. “Yeah. We’ve been recording and we have a lot of demos of songs. So, when the time comes, we are ready to put out a new album.” Perhaps in 2024? “I hope so; that would be ideal. We have a lot of material. For us, to play live, we have that connection with the audience, and the energy. The songs we’ve been recording really capture the essence of the band live.” According to Ari, one of the new songs is called “Beautiful Disaster”. “That’s a Michael Thomas song; the guitar player.” As far as lyrics go, Ari reveals, “I have a couple of lyrics that I wrote, then other ones are collaborations between the guys in the band.”

Looking back upon his early days with Steven Adler, Ari recalls, “The first thing that surprised me about Steven was his connection with the fans. He’s a really down to earth person, and he really loves his fans. Every time we go to soundcheck, or we get to a show, there’s people everywhere asking him for autographs, pictures; and he never says no. He’ll do it all. He’ll be there for half an hour taking pictures with everybody because he’s very grateful for his fans. He knows that he is where he is because of them. For me, it was really beautiful to see that.”

Although Steven Adler and Guns N’ Roses parted ways in 1990, he still shares stories from the old days, which Ari recounts. “I remember listening to Appetite For Destruction with him, and he would point at places where he made a mistake. He would say, ‘I love this. I love to hear my mistakes because they are mine, nobody can make those mistakes.’ I also remember, a few days ago… I don’t know how it came into conversation, but he told us that he could hear the lyrics for the very first time when they released Appetite For Destruction. Because when they used to play live, the sound was really shitty, and he never understood the lyrics. So, the very first time he could understand the lyrics was when he first listened to the record. He said that Axl would never go to rehearsal, and when they played live, the sound was so bad that he could never understand the lyrics; that’s crazy!”

Switching focus to Ari’s original band Wild Shot, the singer states, “We play our original material live, but we still haven’t recorded it yet. We’re working on the pre-production for a couple songs. We’re waiting to release a couple singles in the upcoming months. We have really good material.” Does it sound like Guns N’ Roses? “No, it’s totally different. When I show the songs to people to see what they think, they love it because my voice doesn’t sound like Axl when I sing my songs. If I had to say, it’s more like Aerosmith and AC/DC. We sound something like ZZ Top. We’ve been playing a lot last year, and this year too. We are going to try to get signed. We’ve already been talking to a couple labels, so we’re weighing our options to see what’s best.”

Dividing his time between Steven Adler, Son Of A Gun, and Wild Shot, it’s remarkable that Ari Kamin is also working on solo material. “I do have my own solo stuff; it’s different than what I do with Steven and what I do with Wild Shot. At the moment, I’m pretty busy with Wild Shot and Steven, but at some point, I’d like to release my own stuff. It’s more like a mix with rock ‘n roll and pop. I also love Michael Jackson, for example.”

Catch Ari Kamin live with Steven Adler, alongside Stephen Pearcy from Ratt, on November 10 at Legends Casino Hotel in Toppenish, Washington. The following night, November 11th, Ari brings Wild Shot to Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas, Nevada. To close out the month, on November 30, Ari and Adler team up with Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe at Quechan Casino Resort in Winterhaven, California.

For further details, visit Steven Adler on Facebook.

(Photo credit: Vecc Schiafino)