GUNS N' ROSES Keyboardist: AXL ROSE Is Wonderful

GUNS N' ROSES keyboardist Dizzy Reed recently spoke to Debby Rao of Glam-Metal.com about his upcoming solo tour (under the DIZZY REED'S HOLLYWOOD BULLDOZER banner) and his working relationship with Axl Rose, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Glam-Metal.com: Axl seems like a nice guy to work for. Tell me about him.

Dizzy Reed: "Axl is great. He is wonderful. He is the reason that I still do this. You know the new band that we have now is in my opinion the best band that I have ever been in absolutely!"

Glam-Metal.com: Buckethead is gone right?

Dizzy Reed: "Yeah. But, you know Axl sounds better than ever. I support everything that he has been doing. I think the new guys really put in a lot of what eventually will come out. I think it is amazing that we are going to pull this off. Because we are all coming from different backgrounds."

Glam-Metal.com: Who else is in the new GNR lineup? I know you and Axl are, but who is the new guitarist?

Dizzy Reed: "We have Robin Finck, he was in Cirque de Soleil before he was in NINE INCH NAILS. We also have this guy named Richard Fortus, who is phenomenal playing guitar. He actually just sat in with me at the Cat Club Thursday night with the STARFUCKERS. Brian plays drums. Tommy Stinson, who plays bass, was in the REPLACEMENTS. That is the core of the GNR lineup now. Oh, and we have this cat named Mother Goose. He plays keyboards and does a lot of computer programming."

Glam-Metal.com: Will GNR be touring anytime soon?

Dizzy Reed: "When the new album comes out, we will have to tour. I haven’t gotten any word yet as to when that will happen."

Glam-Metal.com: I can hear a little bit of country influences in your acoustic playing, too. Do you listen to different types of music?

Dizzy Reed: "I do. I listen to everything, I think it is important as a musician to listen to whatever you can. It is pretty easy when you are younger to be close-minded and say metal rules, country rules, hip-hop rules. You should listen to everything and incorporate that into what you are playing. It is going to appeal to more people, but at the same time, you are learning more about the music. It is going to make your stuff better. I kind of always have been that way. My parents were always listening to music. They loved music. My dad and mom had a big record collection. My dad listened a lot to NEIL DIAMOND. He got into rock in the Seventies, when the band BOSTON came out with their first record. He fell in love with the song 'More Than a Feeling'. He used to crank that song. Before I joined GUNS N' ROSES, I told him you gotta check out this band, they are friends of mine. They checked out the video 'Paradise City'. They freaked out. They went out and bought the album. Then I ended up joining the band. That was really cool. They were fans before I joined the band."

Read Dizzy Reed's entire interview with Glam-Metal.com at this location.