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| Steven Adler was born
January 22, 1965, in Cleveland, Ohio. 7 years old, his family moved to Los Angeles, and a
rough childhood was waiting for Steven. He started experimenting with drugs and alcohol at
an early age. "The first time I got wasted, I was eight years old. I was in my
grandmother's bathroom, and I smoked a joint", Steven explains. Drugs made no good
effect on the wild boy, and he was thrown out of 8 or 9 schools, and used to get into
fights every day - wherever he went. When Steven was 12, he left home and moved in with
his grandmother. At this point, Steven fell in love with something that possibly saved him
from a tragic ending - music. The first time Steven met Slash was the day Slash found Steven after he fell off his skateboard. Slash thought Steven had killed himself and went over to see if he was alright, and after that they started hanging out together. They both went to Bancroft Junior High, and ended up ditching the entire seventh grade together. Time was rather spent on music - often at Steven's grandmother's place, where Steven had a guitar. He and Slash used to sit there and play together. Steven knew how to play some KISS songs on guitar, and Slash wanted to buy a bass, so he and Steven could play together. Later Steven realised he didn't want to play guitar and he tried singing instead. After a while, he switched to drums, and Slash started playing guitar. Steven didn't have a drum kit, so he started working so he some day could buy one. When he was 18, he finally had enough money, and bought his first kit. Some of his first drum influences were Roger Taylor (Queen), Keith Moon (The Who), and John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). In 1984 Steven and Slash formed the band Road Crew. They didn't have a bass player so Slash put an ad in the Recycler. Duff McKagan, who had just moved to Los Angeles, answered, did an audition and finally joined the band. Road Crew was a short living project that didn't get anywhere. In the spring of 1985, Duff left the band because he was asked to join Guns N' Roses. Duff soon started working with some connections in Seattle and booked gigs there for the band. The band's guitarist and drummer, Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner, said they were not interested in doing the tour, so Duff asked Axl and Izzy if they could try Slash and Steven instead. Axl and Izzy didn't really have any other choice, and the new line-up was finalized June 6, 1985. Adler became the band's drummer, and after two days of rehearsing, Steven did his debut with Guns N' Roses on a Thursday night concert at the Troubadour. Soon, the band went on the tour later referred to as the Hell Tour. Though didn't go good at that tour, things started happening when they got back to California. They played gigs, which eventually resulted in a record deal, and released their successful debut album "Appetite For Destruction". For Steven, trouble came with the success, and he got invovled in big drug problems. His addiction caused problems for the band, and the other members, as well as the management, tried to make him quit several times. Adler was sent to rehab, and ultimatums were made, but after many failed attempts - and broken promises - something had to be done. Steven's last concert with Guns N' Roses was the Farm Aid IV festival, in
April, 1990. The band performed "Civil War" and UK Subs' "Down On The
Farm". Later that summer, Steven was officially out of the band. The band had made a
final ultimatum for Steven, that if he couldn't stop using drugs, he was out. The
agreement didn't seem to help, and Steven was fired. Steven claims the drugs wasn't the
reason he got fired: "They said the reason they threw me out of the band was because
of drugs, but I thought that was the pot calling the kettle black. I was doing drugs with
them. It hurt more than anything. They were my family". According to the other band
members, Steven delayed the recording process, especially on "Civil War", on
which Steven had to do 70 takes to get the drums right. Steven later said this wasn't
true, saying he was sick at the time: "As for Civil War I had to play it
like 25 times until it was useable. My timing was so up and down because I was so weak.
The whole time I kept telling the guys, 'I dont feel good, Im really down' and
they kept saying 'You're just fucked up', 'Im not fucked up!' I was sick from an
opiate blocker I got from a doctor that Doug Goldstein took me too. I think he knew what
effect it would have on me... I wanted to wait another week or so before we went in to the
studio to record. Slash says that we couldnt waste the money, and we had to do it
that day. They all knew I was sick....its a great song, it came out great, but
Im sure had I not been in the position that they put me in I would have nailed it in
one take. (...) If one of them was sick, it would have been postponed! We just weren't a
team anymore." Steven was replaced by Matt Sorum. In the spring, 2002, Steven put together a new band, called Adler's Appetite, to do a tour covering Guns N' Roses songs from "Appetite For Destruction". Steven made a point of playing all cities Guns N' Roses had not been able to play on their 2002 tour, due to the cancellation. The band featured Keri Kelli and Brent Muscat on guitar as well as Robbie Crane on bass guitar and singer Jizzy Pearl. During the tour, Slash and Izzy did an appeareance on the show September 21, 2003. Steven also guested various other bands, like Warrant and other GnR cover bands, as well as playing with Meat Loaf and Sebastian Bach among others. Adler's Appetite kept on touring the following years, and in 2005, Guns N' Roses Revisited was formed, featuring Adler and Tracii Guns among others. The band was however soon dissolved due to Axl's lawyers not being too happy about the idea of having that band playing live. (Updated September 6, 2005) |
Artist Name:
Steven Adler |
| Influences Kiss: Ill always love KISS! Jimi Hendrix: Hendrix is just God! John Bonham: Bonham was solid Other Influences: Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith |
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| Quotes "I know that together the five us can record a album greater than Appetite!" "I wish I had never done heroin, thats my wish. I wasted a lot of my life..." I was always sayin' I just live for the "Three P's - Pot, Pussy and Percussion." "I wouldn't play with Axl by himself. You could pay me a billion dollars and I wouldn't do it unless it was the five of us." "I'm just doin' what Axl was doin'. Y'know, I'm one original member. Only thing is, I'm showin' up." "Axl is a great singer but a lousy, yknow, friend or bandmate." "[Appetite] is a kick ass rock n roll record." "It's gonna be so fucking amazingly funny when I really do die, nobody's gonna fucking believe it! People will be going, "Steven Adler died" - "No he didn't! Stop saying that!" and I really did but nobody will believe that and it will be all "Oh, Steven Adler was seen over here, this and that". That's just great." "No matter what he (Axl) does thats the way he is, and I love him so I accept it." |
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