Latest news with #AlanNiven
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Guns N' Roses ex-manager reveals what the 'nightmare' rock 'n' roll band were REALLY like as he exposes antics
Alan Niven, the former manager of Guns N' Roses, is pulling back the curtain on his time with one of rock's most infamous bands — including how Slash's charm convinced him to sign on, why 'narcissist' Axl Rose abruptly fired him, and how rampant drug use impacted the group. The New Zealand-born mega-producer, songwriter, and manager — who's also worked with the likes of Great White, Dokken, Berlin, and Mötley Crüe — is detailing the wild ride in his upcoming book Sound N' Fury: Rock N' Roll Stories, out August 5. Speaking exclusively to ahead of the release, Niven recalled how he turned down the job three times before finally agreeing to manage the band—whose unhinged reputation was already well-established long before their 1987 debut Appetite for Destruction hit shelves. At the time, Guns N' Roses consisted of Axl on vocals, Slash on lead guitar, Izzy Stradlin on rhythm guitar, Duff McKagan on bass, and Steven Adler on drums. 'No one wanted Guns N' Roses. They'd been through at least two other management situations… They couldn't get rid of them fast enough. No one wanted to deal with them. They were a nightmare,' Niven said. 'So the question is, "How did I get sucked into that?"' he quipped, claiming it was Slash who ultimately drew him in. 'It was Slash because I found out, one, he was English, and two, he was not just articulate, he was eloquent, he was smart, he was incredibly charming. And I'm going, "This is not just a knucklehead drunk like I saw on the stage of the Troubadour where he was just a knucklehead, Sunset guitarist drunk. This is a really interesting guy. He's smart, very charming."' 'That was the beginning. That's where it all started to go wrong,' he joked. 'And of course then I got to know Izzy and simply put, Izzy Stradlin… for me… personified rock and roll.' Niven said he only began to understand Slash and Izzy during their first truly bizarre meeting — the moment he reluctantly agreed to try and bring some order to the chaos surrounding Guns N' Roses. 'I turn up for a band meeting and I park my bike outside and there's this broken toilet by the front door and I go, "That's interesting symbolism." Most people put a big old pots of beautiful flowers, but they've got a broken toilet by the front door. That's a different message.' Inside, the eccentricity continued, per Niven. 'The door opens and out wanders this quite well-known stripper and she smiles and walks past. I go in and there's only two people there at the meeting — Slash and Izzy… And then there was one, because Izzy nodded out. He's sitting at the table and literally he just slowly goes like this,' Niven said, mimicking someone passing out face-first. 'So that just leaves me and Slash, and Slash says, 'Let me show you something in the bedroom.' Oh, that's an interesting invitation. I go in and I freeze 'cause there's this enormous snake in there and I hate snakes.' Then came the kicker. 'He goes, 'Watch this.' And he takes a perfect beautiful little white bunny and feeds it to this legless monster.' Even with their outrageous antics, it was clear to Niven early on that the band was becoming a sensation. 'You're driving down to Electric Ladyland Studios one afternoon and you see that there are some kids in leather jackets running after the car because Slash is sitting next to me,' he recalled, describing one of Slash's first brushes with fame. 'And we pull around on Eighth Street, I dive out of the car, get the front door of the studio open and go 'Curly, get your ass in here!' And he leaps from the car and zips in, and we close the door and look at each other and go, 'Whoa, that's different. Things have changed, haven't they?'' He added, 'Because the one thing about fame is everybody knows you're famous before you do.' Still, not every band member handled fame the same way, according to Niven. 'It didn't change Axel one bit. It amplified him. He was always that way. He's a narcissist,' Niven said. 'And I think if you go and look at the employment forms for 'Front Man in Band,' the first box that you have to tick is, 'Are you a narcissist?' Tick. Okay. Now you can answer the rest of the questions.' The weight of managing the band's meteoric rise hit Niven almost immediately. 'My sense of lighthearted joy of what I did evaporated in September of 1986 when I signed a contract with five individuals collectively known as Guns and Roses,' he joked. 'From that point on, we had stress, we had pressure every day.' That included alleged pressure from Geffen Records co-founder David Geffen. 'David Geffen getting right in your face. I mean, this close,' Niven said, holding a hand to his face. ''When am I going to get my record?'' Niven recalled him asking. ''When it's done, David!' You had to give as good as you got from him.' Regarding the band's well-known struggles with addiction, Niven offered a deeper perspective on which member was most affected. 'I had this perception that in most bands, all those who were band members usually came from dysfunctional childhoods and families and a part of the motivation of forming a band was not just to make noise, not just to get laid, but to create your perfect family that substitutes that,' he said. 'So there's that aspect of it in that everybody who comes into the band brings familial dysfunction with them. Now, in terms of how does that relate to recreational drugs use or addiction? I believe people from dysfunctional circumstance are prone to addiction.' He continued, 'Now, with Axel, his sense of dysfunction… and I'm not talking outta school here, I mean, he's talked about this. He had a rotten childhood. I'm aware of some of the rottenness of his childhood, and he's had to deal with that. So that absorbed Axel, as he was not one really for getting f***** up and out of it.' 'Now Slash, bless his heart, he had an appetite for anything.' As for Izzy, Niven said he was 'incredibly street smart and cool' — and once confessed that he had sold drugs to Aerosmith frontmen Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. 'When we were going out with Aerosmith, Izzy sidled up to me in the office one day and he said, 'Now, I think we're gonna have a bit of a problem.' And I said, 'Oh, why?' He said, 'Well, I should tell you this, but I used to deal for Joe and Steven. I was their dealer once.'' 'I turned around to Izzy and I said, 'If you don't mention it, I'm sure as hell they won't mention it.' Because they were in super rehab mode. So everybody was on the down low.' Niven insisted addiction wasn't what ultimately wrecked the band — it was ego. 'It became about power. It became about control,' he said. As for the end of his relationship with Guns N' Roses in 1991, Niven said it came without warning. 'There was no breaking point except for a phone call from Axl,' he recalled. 'I was on the East Coast, he was on the West Coast. I was gig at Meadowlands. There was a phone call in the production studio, 'Axl's on the phone for you.' Axel says, 'I can't work with you anymore.' 'Okay, Ax, I'll be back in a couple of days. Let's go have dinner, talk about it, and if you still feel the same way, then we'll deal with what we have to deal with.'' 'I never heard from him again. He did not have the courage, the grace, the appreciation to even sit down and say, this is why.' Twelve weeks later, Izzy also left the band. 'I get a phone call. I'm in Switzerland at a gig in Switzerland, and I go get a phone from Izzy and he goes, 'I'm out. I can't deal with this anymore.'' 'And I said, 'Well, you better tell me about it.' And he told me about it. And I said, 'Well, what have you got left on the calendar?' And he said, 'Well, you've got Wembley left.' I said, 'Well, you are playing Wembley. You cannot not turn up for Wembley.'' Izzy indeed played Wembley in August 1991 with the original lineup, sans Adler, who had already been fired in 1990 due to his drug use and was replaced by Matt Sorum. By 1997, lead guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan had also departed, leaving Axl as the sole original member. The band's lineup continued to shift throughout the 2000s, culminating in the long-delayed Chinese Democracy album in 2008 with an entirely different cast. In a shocking turn, Slash and Duff officially rejoined in 2016 for the Not in This Lifetime... reunion tour, marking the first time the trio had shared a stage since 1993. The band's present-day roster includes Rose, Slash, McKagan, Richard Fortus on guitar, Isaac Carpenter on drums, and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese. Although his relationship with Axl remains fractured, Niven said he still cares deeply for Slash, even though they lost touch after Slash ended his feud with Axl. 'I considered Slash a friend for life until he reunited with Axel,' he said. But Niven believes they'll reconnect eventually. 'I didn't hear from Slash from '91 to '98. I didn't hear for seven years, and then he called me up and we spent some time together. And the cliché is there are certain people in your life that you can be separate from them for a long time, but the minute you're back together, it's as if it was just yesterday.' 'He's one of those people in my life. I may not see him for two or three years. I know I'll be in a groove with him when I do see him again.' Looking back, Niven admitted that walking away from Guns N' Roses may have been for the best—despite the years of toil and dedication he poured into the band. Under his leadership, Appetite for Destruction became a landmark release and the best-selling debut rock album of all time, launching the band into global superstardom. His role in shaping their legacy is indisputable. 'I don't think I've ever said this to anybody else before, but in some ways I'm really glad that I got outta GNR when I did,' he said. 'Because sometimes I have the honesty to sit in a tub and think, 'What kind of an ass*** do you think you would've been if you'd been multimillions rich?' 'What makes you a character that you can live with? What gives you a persona that you can live with when you are going through the tough times. 'So as I can live with myself, I can look at myself in the mirror.' Alan Niven's Sound N' Fury: Rock N' Roll Stories hits shelves August 5.
Fox News
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Former Guns N' Roses manager exposes unbridled chaos of 'the most dangerous band in the world'
Alan Niven had zero desire to look after Guns N' Roses, a rock band discovered "from the gutters of Los Angeles." "I thought they were a disaster from everything I heard on the street," the group's former manager told Fox New Digital. "Their reputation was dreadful. There were arrest warrants. There was drug abuse. There was just unbridled chaos." Niven has written a new book out on Aug. 5, "Sound N' Fury: Rock N' Roll Stories." It details what it was like managing GNR, as well as Great White. Fox News Digital reached out to the members of Guns N' Roses for comment. Niven claimed that Tom Zutaut, the A&R man who signed GNR and Mötley Crüe in the '80s, asked him to manage the group on three separate occasions. With gritted teeth, Niven eventually agreed. "I was not particularly interested in being part of a cattle call of management," Niven explained. "I had another band that I had just brought out of the ashes of a disastrous relationship with EMI, and we were getting that into proper shape." "The second time he asked, I did some research on the band, and I thought Tom had lost his mind," Niven admitted. "I thought the band was going to be a disaster for him. And the third time he asked me, he said it was a disaster, and he couldn't get Eddie Rosenblatt, president of Geffen Records, to allow him to start recording until they had a manager." "He said, 'Would you please pretend to manage them?'" Niven recalled. "I said, 'Pretend I'm out of my mind? OK, I will go take a meeting and see what happens.'" Niven claimed on the day of the meeting, only guitarist Slash showed up. He was impressed. "He was very English-eloquent," said the New Zealand-born Niven. "He was very charming and intelligent… I looked at him and went, 'There's more here than appears on the surface. I'm interested now.' That's how it started… But why did I end up managing Guns N' Roses? Because no one else would do it. They could not get anybody to work with them at all. I was their last chance at them getting a manager." The group's debut album, 1987's "Appetite for Destruction," is one of the best-selling albums of all time. But before its release, Niven said he was worried about going into debt. Between drugs, mood swings, and other salacious indulgences, Niven was in charge of wrangling the bandmates into the studio and getting them to record on time. "In those days, a band might only get an advance of $50-$70,000 to make their debut record," said Niven. "It was extraordinary that Geffen would've spent $365,000 on a debut record for a band. And it's not just the cost of the record. You also have the cost of the videos, the tour support. God knows what debt you would build before you even sold record No. 1." "That's when I learned how to get insomnia," he said. "I would lay in bed and go, 'We're going to be half a million dollars in debt on this record. God knows if we're ever going to dig out of that hole.' And we got no airplay for the first six months of the record's release. MTV ignored us as well. It was a slog." But Niven's lack of sleep eventually paid off. "One afternoon, Slash and I were in a town car being driven to Electric Ladyland studios in New York," said Niven. "We were about to turn left, and I noticed there were a group of kids in leather jackets running after the car. At that moment, I thought, 'Things are a little different.' That's when it all changed." GNR earned the nickname "the most dangerous band in the world" due to their antics on and off the stage. And managing them came with more responsibilities than Niven bargained for. In his book, Niven recalled how he once put Slash in his spare bedroom to "make him go cold turkey" because "he was not one for rehab." "My wife and I took turns watching over him, wiping the vomit from his mouth and counting out the Valium," Niven wrote. It didn't get easier with drummer Steven Adler. "Stevie had to be forced into rehab," Niven wrote. "Exodus. Hazelden. Sierra Tucson. [We] came to know the rehab centers of America as well as we knew the concert venues. You have to fight the battles of addiction alongside the addicted, even if only they can win the war." WATCH: DUFF MCKAGAN'S WIFE REVEALS SECRET TO LASTING MARRIAGE WITH GUNS N' ROSES ROCKER In the book, Niven also remembers the group preparing to leave for their tour of Japan. On that day, frontman Axl Rose was late. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin held up a "small boom box" and said, "I don't care. I'm set. I've got my stash." Niven was hoping Stradlin was referring to "his stash of preferred tunes." Under the battery compartment was "a lump of crumpled foil." Niven ordered him to flush it. "Well, that's a f----n' waste of good smack," Stradlin replied. Reluctantly, he gave in. "Izz had indeed gotten rid of his stash — he'd swallowed it," Niven wrote. "He should've been excited to be going to Japan for the first time. He was, however, waiting on Axl. Again. Dope helps deal with that stress." Niven told Fox News Digital he made sure the band followed "the absolute rule of the road." "I don't know how people are today, but back in the day, we had a rule while traveling on tour: Don't carry. Don't buy, and don't stick it under your hair and think it won't be found," he said. "I think we did a pretty good job at catching them when they tried to break the rule." Niven said one music executive later remarked, "They might do well if they stayed alive." "I tried to keep that out of my head because my responsibility was to make sure they did stay alive," said Niven. "It's one of the things I'm proud of — nobody expired under my watch." It was in 1990 when Niven was "nursing feelings of dread about Guns and Axl," the book claims. He claimed that Rose increasingly complained about his bandmates, but "his worst vitriol was reserved for Slash." "In terms of the strain and stress between Axl and Slash, I might suggest that it's between Axl and the world," said Niven. "[Axl] had a tough childhood... And I think he's still dealing with the consequences of that even now. People ask me, 'Did Axl change with success?' My response is always the same: No, success didn't change him at all. It just amplified him. He's always been that way. And with Axl, he has control issues. It's not a matter of trust issues. He wants it his way, or he'll invite you to take the highway." "[There was] a power play," Niven continued. "The [2008 album] 'Chinese Democracy' is an Axl solo record. I think he did himself an incredible disservice by claiming it as a Guns N' Roses album instead of claiming it as his album. I think people would've been far more inclined to respond better [if it were] a solo record and presented as such. I think people were disappointed..." In 1991, Niven received a phone call from Rose. The singer told him, "I can't work with you anymore." "That's why I parted ways with the band… control," Niven claimed. "I signed a contract with five individuals… I didn't have a contract with Axl." Decades later, Niven still wonders about the rockers. "I wonder how [Axl] feels running across a stage in his 60s yelling, 'They're out ta get me!' and then going home in his limousine to his mansion in the hills of Malibu. I wonder what that means to him because the world has not been out to get Axl. He has been favored with incredible privilege… I don't know what he's going to look forward to except maybe writing a book saying how everybody's messed things up for him." "When you're in your 20s, you're in the back of a tour bus, living the free life," he reflected. "We escaped. The whole point of being in rock 'n' roll was not to have a miserable stiff job… It was going out and playing. Now you're in your 50s and 60s. You're not out there at the back of the bus anymore."
