{"id":8595,"date":"2012-11-26T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T00:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=8595"},"modified":"2013-05-29T23:49:30","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T23:49:30","slug":"feature-adler-11-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-adler-11-12\/","title":{"rendered":"ADLER – Back With An Appetite (November 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ADLER – Back With An Appetite<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nNovember 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

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Adler (l-r): Lonny Paul, Steven Adler, Jacob Bunton and Johnny Martin<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nAdler\u2019s Appetite bandmates Steven Adler (drums, formerly of Guns N\u2019 Roses) and Lonny Paul (guitars) met Lynam vocalist Jacob Bunton through mutual friend Jay Ruston at the Key Club in Los Angeles, California on August 29th, 2011, the event in question held to memorialise former Warrant vocalist Jani Lane. Jani had passed away earlier that month, succumbing to acute alcohol poisoning on the 11th at the age of 47. The meeting led to the formation of hard rock outfit Adler.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had this desire to finish what I started,\u201d shares Steven, who lends his surname to the quintet. \u201cI\u2019m just really picking up 25 years later after Appetite<\/em> (Appetite For Destruction<\/em>, July 1987) ; this is what I would\u2019ve done and how I would\u2019ve done it if I had recorded an album after Appetite<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we got Jacob involved, we went into the studio right away with Jeff Pilson and recorded the record,\u201d Lonny supplements. \u201cAfter the record, we then got Johnny Martin. He\u2019s been a longtime friend of mine, so basically we met Johnny over at my place. Johnny picked up a bass and started playing, so that was our bass player. That\u2019s the fast version of how we all got together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterally with Johnny Martin, that\u2019s how he came to be in the band,\u201d augments Steven. \u201cHe picked up a bass, and started playing some Rush and Iron Maiden \u2013 bass stuff. He then says \u2018I\u2019m left-handed,\u2019 so he usually plays left-handed. He was playing it right-handed, and I was like \u2018This is the guy, right here\u2019 (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacob wasn\u2019t subject to an audition process. \u201cAs soon as we saw him and heard some recordings of his \u2013 we just heard one song of his that he recorded \u2013 we said \u2018You\u2019re the guy\u2019,\u201d Lonny recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was that kind of feeling I guess that Paul Stanley (Kiss vocalist \/ rhythm guitarist) and Gene Simmons (Kiss bassist \/ vocalist) got,\u201d observes Steven. \u201cWhen Ace Frehley (guitars) came into the studio, he plugged in his guitar, started playing, and they instantly said \u2018This is the guy.\u2019 When Jacob finally got involved with the band, then everything started coming together. Every day it just got more and more put together, and got closer and closer and more and more fun, and more and more exciting. Life has been so exciting. It\u2019s so great to be part of a rock band, to be part of a gang, a group of guys. We actually hang out together, we work out together, we go out to eat together, we play music together, and we enjoy each other\u2019s company. We actually can sit in a room and not say a word to each other, and be okay with that (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

The formation of Adler signals the demise of Adler\u2019s Appetite. \u201cThat\u2019s no longer. That was just something… the whole G N\u2019 R just happened and ended too soon for me, and I just had it in me to keep playing those songs,\u201d Steven reflects. \u201cThose songs are very important to me, and they mean so much to me. I wanted to just play them out of my system, and plus, I got an opportunity to travel around the world. Believe it or not, I played every foreign village around the world. I figured that after ten years of doing that, if I wanted to still be a part of the whole rock \u2019n\u2019 roll game then this is gonna prove it, and it has proved it. Lonny came into my life right when I was done doing this Adler\u2019s Appetite thing. Lonny came into my life, and he was like Thomas Edison. He brought a spark back into my life, and it\u2019s just been very exciting. <\/p>\n

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\u201cPlus, I don\u2019t like talking about the whole drug thing anymore. It\u2019s kind of old and everybody already knows. but once I took responsibility for my life and started making amends to people everything became very easy. Like I said, Lonny Paul came into my life, and Jacob and Jeff, and all of these wonderful people. Doing the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (on April 14th, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio) was the best way and the perfect way for me to end that chapter of my life. If anything with G N\u2019 R would\u2019ve happened again it would\u2019ve happened that night, and it didn\u2019t. Now I\u2019m okay with that, and now I\u2019m starting the second chapter of my life. It\u2019s been very exciting. We finally did our first show on the Kiss II Kruise. People reading this can go on Adlerrocks.com, and videos and photos of that are there. Like I was saying, there couldn\u2019t be a better way to start the second chapter of my life. I couldn\u2019t be more thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even all these years later, Steven\u2019s musical influences remain the same. \u201cMy influences have always been the Sex Pistols, and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll like Queen,\u201d he cites. \u201cRoger Taylor (Queen drummer) is my biggest influence. Lonny, who are your influences?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are even Journey influences in there, and obviously Guns N\u2019 Roses because we\u2019ve got the backing of it,\u201d responds Lonny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took my drum sound from Appetite<\/em>, and used it on this record (Back From The Dead<\/em>),\u201d Steven confesses. \u201cI feel that that\u2019s my sound, my God-given sound. I figure if John Bonham (deceased Led Zeppelin<\/a> drummer) had played on another band\u2019s record, he would\u2019ve taken his sound with him too, and Roger Taylor, so that\u2019s on the record (laughs). There\u2019s every influence, from Journey to Bryan Adams. We stole from the greatest. You tell me of a band who doesn\u2019t steal from their influences, and I\u2019ll tell you about a rock band who doesn\u2019t have a record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Adler band doesn\u2019t sport heavy metal influences though, Steven insists. \u201cThere\u2019s no metal. This is a hard rock band. People think that Mot\u00f6rhead is a heavy metal band, but Lemmy (Mot\u00f6rhead frontman) himself will tell you that they\u2019re a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band. That\u2019s all we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erstwhile Dokken \/ Dio musician Jeff Pilson (T&N) handled bass and production duties on November 2012\u2019s Back From The Dead<\/em>, the Adler band\u2019s debut full-length. \u201cWe actually look at him as being like a fifth member of the band,\u201d imparts Lonny. \u201cHe came with on Kiss Kruise II, actually. In fact, we had Thanksgiving with him. Some of the best compliments that we got were people coming up to us after the show, saying \u2018We came out here not knowing what to expect, expecting to see some Guns N\u2019 Roses songs. By the end of the set though we couldn\u2019t care less about Guns N\u2019 Roses.\u2019 That\u2019s not me saying that; that\u2019s what some of the people were saying to us. We couldn\u2019t have asked for a better compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the fifth member of the band,\u201d Steven confirms. \u201cI will bet anybody 25\u00a2 that by this time in 2013, he\u2019s gonna be winning all kinds of awards for bass playing on this record. I am so proud of him; I am honoured to play with him. I am honoured to have him on this record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The customary ProTools route was resisted. \u201cLonny, he knows more about this than I do,\u201d admits Steven. \u201cWith the rhythm tracks \u2013 with everything \u2013 it was just \u2018One.. two.. three.. four.. Go\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a bit of a discussion, as far as nowadays,\u201d Lonny remembers. \u201cEspecially with the drums in particular; they\u2019re all beat-perfected to death, and it just pulls the life right out of it. Jeff in particular was very adamant about not beat-perfecting the drums. Those takes are Steven\u2019s takes and they fluctuate a little bit in time, but that\u2019s exactly how you get that feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou definitely cannot use a measure at home to this record,\u201d critiques Steven. \u201cIt\u2019s all feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Feel is something arguably missed in music nowadays. \u201cDamn right,\u201d Steven agrees. \u201cThe world needs a new rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band and new rock \u2019n\u2019 roll heroes, and we\u2019re just the guys to do it. Besides all of the crap that I\u2019ve been through personally and the other guys, and all the dues that we\u2019ve paid, there are other musicians who are older and have time under their belts, or success under their belts. We\u2019re not successful yet; we\u2019re fuckin\u2019 hungry, so we\u2019ve got that going for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always good to be hungry. \u201cYeah, and angry dammit,\u201d laughs Steven.<\/p>\n

Title cut \u2018Back From The Dead\u2019 is a not too subtle reference to Steven\u2019s life and times. \u201cI\u2019m back from the dead baby, and literally,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cI had this big G N\u2019 R poster from the first time that we went to England, one of those really big ones that they put on wooden boards. I\u2019ve walked by it for the last 20 years \u2013 it is right on the way as you walk to my bathroom, so I have to walk by it. I would look at it, and say \u2018One day we\u2019re gonna do this again. It was too great.\u2019 After the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, now I walk by it and say \u2018I\u2019m so glad I was a part of that, and it was an exciting time in my life. I\u2019m very thankful to have known and worked with those guys\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debut single \u2018The One That You Hated\u2019 had been issued on April 10th via iTunes. \u201cWe were still kind of recording the record,\u201d discloses Lonny. \u201cThat was around the time of (G N\u2019 R\u2019s induction into) the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and he just simply wanted something out there. It was a bit random-ish. We were excited about it because it was probably one of the last songs that we had recorded around that time. There was no particular reason behind releasing that track first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not too heavy, and it\u2019s not too soft,\u201d Steven critiques. \u201cIt\u2019s something for everybody; it\u2019s relatable to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Just Don\u2019t Ask\u2019 features a guest guitar solo from Steven\u2019s former Guns N\u2019 Roses\u2019 bandmate Slash. \u201cJacob brought that in, so he could actually tell you more about the lyrics because he wrote the lyrics to that song,\u201d cautions Lonny. \u201cHe told me just as recent as the other day that he actually wrote those lyrics about a friend of his that he met on the road. His friend was cheating on his wife or something. Basically when he got back home, his wife asked him about this, that and the other. His line was \u2018If you don\u2019t wanna know the truth, then don\u2019t ask.\u2019 That\u2019s basically the origin behind that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have Slash come down, that was something that meant so much to me,\u201d Steven confides. \u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for so many decades, even before we were teenagers. We\u2019ve done so much together; we started our rock \u2019n\u2019 roll life together, and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was just so great. Of course I wanted everybody in G N\u2019 R to be there, but Slash is the most important one to me. Having him finally be proud of me, and believe in me because of my experiences with drugs… He saw me making a change in my life and come to think of it, the fact that he wanted to be a part of something I was doing means so much to me. He wouldn\u2019t let me even watch; he made me leave the studio \u2013 he made everybody leave the studio. I was hiding in the laundry room right next to the studio. He didn\u2019t realise that, but to have him come down and be a part of it was so wonderful. He means so much to me. I\u2019m thankful that he\u2019s proud of me enough for me to be a part of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Waterfall\u2019 completes Back From The Dead<\/em>\u2019s duo of ballads (the other being \u2018Just Don\u2019t Ask\u2019). \u201c\u2018Waterfall\u2019 was actually one of the first songs that I played Steven,\u201d Lonny tells. \u201cHe said \u2018This is a great song. We\u2019ve gotta do something with this.\u2019 Of course we brought it to the table, and our method as far as writing and recording is one person brings a song to the table, everybody else jumps on it, and adds their two cents. \u2018Waterfall\u2019 was of course about many, many heartbreaks, and overcoming them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rob Zombie axeman John 5 (ex-Marilyn Manson<\/a>) supplies a guest solo to \u2018Good To Be Bad\u2019. \u201cJohn 5\u2019s wife and Steven\u2019s wife knew each other, and Steven basically just reached out to him,\u201d divulges Lonny. \u201cHe said \u2018Hey, we\u2019re recording a record. Do you wanna come down and play on something?\u2019 He heard the track \u2018Good To Be Bad\u2019, and he said \u2018I\u2019m in.\u2019 He came down, and practically the first take that he did we kept. There were some other things he did on the song too. We couldn\u2019t be happier with what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back From The Dead<\/em>\u2019s lyrical content was authored as a group effort. \u201cThe formula for all of the songs were somebody would bring an idea, and we would all jump over it,\u201d Lonny details. \u201cIn fact, even if there was a song where I wrote all of the lyrics Jacob would still change a word here and there. It was always whatever made the song better. From day one, we all sat in a room and said \u2018Look, we\u2019ve gotta be brutally honest with each other.\u2019 When we bring stuff to the table, we wanna leave with a hit song. We don\u2019t wanna leave with our egos. We\u2019ve gotta be really open to changes, and we stuck to that. That\u2019s why I think the record turned out so well, because we were brutally honest with each other and listened to one another\u2019s criticisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I think Bon Jovi said it best. He said that it\u2019s easier to write songs for movies because you\u2019ve got a subject matter. Now clearly the subject matter is Steven\u2019s life; it\u2019s a story that just wants to be told. You can just be around him, and I\u2019ve never had an easier time writing lyrics. Whether he knows it or not, he\u2019s just full of stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m full of more than stories,\u201d laughs Steven. \u201cThe record is basically about the three of ours\u2019 lives. Lyrically and musically, it\u2019s just our lives. We made it past 25, so we\u2019re old people now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think obviously songs like \u2018Habit\u2019 and \u2018Back From The Dead\u2019, and all those kinds of lyrics would be about Steven because we had a subject matter,\u201d Lonny offers.<\/p>\n

Handling distribution for Back From The Dead<\/em> is New Ocean Media. \u201cWe chose New Ocean Media instead of a record company, because they gave us the freedom to do what we wanted,\u201d compliments Lonny. \u201cAs far as distribution though, they assured us that it was gonna be available in every record store just like any other record company, and obviously iTunes. Jacob had a history with New Ocean Media, so he brought them onboard. We all love everybody over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce me and Lonny started playing in Adler together, we got rid of everybody from the past and started afresh,\u201d Steven explains. \u201cWe\u2019ve had people who we thought we had liked, but it turned out that we didn\u2019t like. Everybody who we\u2019ve kept and is onboard with us we\u2019re very happy with. This is like a new family. It\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really believe in the record, and that\u2019s the number one thing,\u201d stresses Lonny. \u201cWe have to have people excited about our record, and our project. Otherwise, we don\u2019t want them around. New Ocean is right onboard with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey like the record just like you do,\u201d Steven summarises. \u201cIt does help when the people you\u2019re working with love what you\u2019re doing too. Everybody\u2019s excited about it, and I\u2019m proud to get it out there and play it for people. It\u2019s very exciting, very exciting. We couldn\u2019t be happier. We had such a wonderful time, and such a fun, exciting time recording and working with Jeff Pilson. I hope that everybody can hear that in the music, in the recordings. It\u2019s liver than live; it\u2019s liver than (Peter) Frampton Comes Alive!<\/em> (February 1976) (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Further Adler material exists. \u201cWe\u2019re saving songs, because there are other countries like Japan and continents like Europe and South America,\u201d reveals Steven. \u201cSometimes they want B-sides, so we\u2019ve saved a few. Plus, we have new ones that we\u2019re going to record in December. I think we\u2019ve got like three new ones that we\u2019re very excited about. We\u2019re a band, and we\u2019re a band that plays music. Like I said, it\u2019s so cool being a part of a group of guys. I know it might sound weird, but I was alone for so long. It\u2019s nice to be part of a group of guys where we all enjoy doing the same thing, and enjoy each other\u2019s company. Anybody who\u2019s old enough to have either done drugs, or to have never done drugs… Of course I have to include myself. Every mistake any of us has made in the past, we\u2019ve survived. We\u2019ve moved on, and now we\u2019re doing the things we wanted to do which we didn\u2019t know were right or wrong. Now we\u2019re doing them right. It\u2019s so much more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pressed to supply further information regarding these three new tracks, Steven jokes, \u201cIt\u2019s a surprise. Like I said, this is hard rock \u2019n\u2019 roll with a great story \u2013 a cool, great, interesting story. That\u2019s what rock \u2019n\u2019 roll was. That\u2019s what I grew up to, and what I still hear today. We\u2019re gonna hear for the next 100 years the music that I grew up with. They had great rhythms, a great groove, and it was a cool, fun, great story. It wasn\u2019t just talking about sex and this and that \u2013 it was a good story.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal here is the goal I had with G N\u2019 R. What I wanted was to be together like The Rolling Stones or Aerosmith, for 40 to 50 years, and of course go into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. That didn\u2019t happen with G N\u2019 R. With this band though I just want to be together for the next 40 years, and 25 years from now be inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame again. Like Ronnie Wood; he\u2019s been in there twice (in 1989 and 2012, for being a member of The Rolling Stones and The Faces respectively). I wanna be in there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adler\u2019s touring ambitions are global in scale. \u201cThe world. Some musicians were built to just stay at home and record, and some of us were built to travel around the world and play live,\u201d recognises Steven. \u201cThat\u2019s what we enjoy. I love meeting people, new, interesting people. The Kiss Kruise was great; we met people from all around the world on one boat. I hugged so many people, and it was so exciting. We\u2019re addicted to cruising now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adler\u2019s live setlist will inevitably include Guns N\u2019 Roses material. \u201cOut of respect for the greatness of the songs, we\u2019ll play one or two of them,\u201d Steven acknowledges. \u201cThis is all about a new band though. This is new music. In certain countries we\u2019ll go to promoters will probably want us to play a couple of more tunes than one or two G N\u2019 R songs, so we\u2019ll of course do that. Like I said, those songs mean so much to me in the first place. These new songs bring a new excitement though, and a new chapter in my life (laughs). A new chapter of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 7th and 8th 2013 Adler will perform at at Duo Music Exchange in Shibuya, Japan alongside Duff McKagan\u2019s Loaded. Steven and erstwhile Guns N\u2019 Roses bandmate Duff (bass) will likely perform Guns N\u2019 Roses alongside one another. \u201cI\u2019m sure,\u201d admits Steven. \u201cI\u2019m waiting for the right moment, but I wanna see if Slash will come with us. We could have Slash\u2019s band, Duff\u2019s band, and Adler all perform on one show. We could go to Japan together, and call ourselves The Three Kamikazes (laughs). For now it\u2019s just me and Duff though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back From The Dead<\/em> was released on November 26th, 2012 via New Ocean Media.<\/p>\n

Interview published in November 2012. All promotional photographs by Liz Taylor \/ Smackdab Media.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ADLER – Back With An Appetite Anthony Morgan November 2012 Adler (l-r): Lonny Paul, Steven Adler, Jacob Bunton and Johnny Martin Adler\u2019s Appetite bandmates Steven Adler (drums, formerly of Guns N\u2019 Roses) and Lonny Paul (guitars) met Lynam vocalist Jacob Bunton through mutual friend Jay Ruston at the Key Club in Los Angeles, California on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[450,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adler","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8595"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11796,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595\/revisions\/11796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}