It’s not to often that you get to have a phone conversation with one of your musical icons and rock and roll hall of fame musicians. Empire Extreme got to talk to Dizzy Reed of Guns N Roses and Hookers& Blow and talk about GNR among other projects that Dizzy has been fortunate to be able to do.

EE: So Let’s talk about the Rock N Roll Ain’t Easy album?

DR: It was fun making it, but it was also difficult. I took a very long time, but it was satisfying. We wanted to capture everything more live and not use computers as much. A lot of great musicians came down to play on it.

EE: Who was you’re favorite guy to work with on that album?

DR: Well if I don’t say Richard Fortus he would be upset (laughs) He added so much to the record. He played so much stuff. Frankie Banali came down and I wanted him to do the title track and I wanted big drums like John Bonham but lucky I had Frankie. He found a sweet spot to set the drums.

EE: How was the tour with Dead Daisies with your band Hookers & Blow?

DR: Man they were fantastic, they worked with us go greatly. I spent some time in that band, so we are all friends, it worked out very well. I went on before them I got to play 40 minutes which was great I’m use to playing 3 plus hours. Fans seemed to love it, sold a bunch of CDs and Vinyls, was a great tour.

EE: How was it like doing the GNR reunion tour?

DR: it’s been amazing, I can’t say enough of how pro those guys are, and the fans loved it. We start rehearsals soon we play overseas for 5 weeks. It’s been great and unbelievable.

EE: Yeah me and my gf are huge GNR fans and seen the show in DC and Hershey and both shows were amazing, you guys sounded awesome live.

DR: Yeah that’s seems to be the thing, it’s still relevant, it’s not nostalgic like others things that are going on like that. It’s cool to see generations of young and old going to the show.

EE: How was it like joining the band for the Use Your Illusions Albums when the band was such a big band?

DR: Well I knew everybody in the band before they got signed, I was in a band in Colorado called the Wild and Guns moved next to us in this recording studio in LA, so we all hung out. We became close, and they became gigantic, and Axel told me he wanted to be his keyboardist at some point and had this vision in his head, and made it Happen. When you’re that big you have a chemistry together and Axel threw me in and the other guys went to keen on it at first. I wanted to stick this out and do what I can to make things better. It’s been 28 years now.

EE: Which one of the Illusions do you think is the better album?

DR: people always ask me that, and to be honest I don’t even know what songs are on which album.(laughs) there is so many great songs on that collections. For a while we didn’t play any of those songs and then we looked back and was like there soo many great songs on them.

EE: I couldn’t imagine seeing you guys Live and not playing songs of those albums

DR: Yeah, there’s a lot to choose from, and songs that I wish we would do live.

EE: Is there a song that is your favorite you did with GNR?

DR: That’s a tough one, but if I had to choose I would say Civil War. That was the first song I ever recorded with them, before the Illusions album. That was the first time I was involved with a song of that magnitude, I was driving down in LA and it came on the radio and I was like “oh shit”.

EE: Is there a possibility of working on a new GNR album?

DR: ahh the eternal question, I’m not sure. I hope so, there’s a lot of music out there. I’ll be working on my stuff as well.

EE: What all do you have planned for your stuff?

DR: Well the label loved the first album, and they want another one. I’m always writing.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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