Guns N' Mystery

UPDATE: Just moments after posting this, Guns N' Roses officially announced they will, indeed, be performing tonight at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, their old stomping grounds. 

Tickets are $10. Venue limit is 250 people. No April Fool's joke!

I enjoy a good mystery. Add one of my favorite bands from the '80's to the plot and you've got my attention.

I have to give them credit, the Guns N' Roses hype machine has played this one masterfully, thanks to social media. We are one week from the reunited band's return to the stage in Las Vegas and still no one is 100% sure who exactly is going to take the stage. 

We know this much: Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, three-fifths of the original "classic" line-up, are already on board. Original guitarist Izzy Stradlin is definitely out.

Based on circumstantial evidence, most people have concluded the remaining line-up will include keyboardist Dizzy Reed (who has been an associate member of the band since 1990), with Richard Fortus (guitar) and Frank Ferrer (drums), who are/were the most recent members the GNR line-up.

But here is the best part: no one knows for sure because the band has been so secretive about everything, including rehearsals.

Recently on social media (this is when social media is fun, by the way), the band has been publishing black and white photos with no captions or explanations. These are meant to be bread crumbs for the fans, tiny hints for what is to come with the big reunion just days away.

The biggest tease and most telling of these black and white posts was the image of a collection of drumsticks; any self-respecting GNR fan knows these are Ahead brand drumsticks which were used exclusively on the Use Your Illusion tour by Matt Sorum, who joined the band in 1990 replacing original drummer Steven Adler.

Sorum has been absolutely silent about any reunion talk. He's neither confirmed or denied anything other than he no longer uses Ahead drumsticks (he is now sponsored by Zildjian).

Could this be just a random stock photo of drumsticks? Of course not.

Frank Ferrer quickly took to Twitter (as you can see in the above post) to state he currently uses Vater drumsticks.

So why this particular photo of this particular brand of sticks? 

Many are speculating that Adler is now sponsored by Ahead drumsticks.

And it gets even more interesting. On March 6th, Steven Adler said in an interview with Loudwire.com that Matt Sorum would not do a reunion tour without him. Adler said the two of them have talked about it and Sorum told him "You're the original guy. You're the sound of GNR. I'm not."

This is an important revelation because just about every GNR fan feels a reunion wouldn't be complete without Adler, who has been vocal in past about getting everyone back together again. By all accounts, he'd been the emollient in the band in the early years before he fell deep into drug addiction. 

Unfortunately, he had a stroke in 1996 after an overdose and many think he is not capable of playing an entire GNR show, much less grind out an entire tour.

But there's an even bigger problem: Matt Sorum is in a completely different universe than Adler when it comes to pure skill. Adler has nowhere near the chops Sorum displays on the Use Your Illusion I and II albums. Think of Ringo Starr (who I love, by the way) trying to play Neil Peart's drum fills in "By-Tor and the Snow Dog." 

Ugly.

Steven Adler (left) and Matt Sorum. Could they be sharing the stage together on April 8th? I will be disappointed if the answer is no.

At best, Adler would be a "special guest," which makes things kind of awkward because he's one of the original members (don't do drugs, kids).

But back to the reunion rumors...

Adding more to the speculation: Adler's band was scheduled to play the famed Whiskey A Go Go on Sunset Strip tonight, April 1st, but that show was cancelled several weeks ago without explanation other than there was "big announcement" forthcoming (which has yet to come).

Interestingly enough, tonight at the Whiskey, replacing Adler's band, is "Hollywood Roses," a Guns N' Roses cover band.

Is this an elaborate April Fool's joke? Or could the original Guns N' Roses appear onstage at the Whiskey, like they did back in the good ol' days?

For the Whiskey's sake, I hope Rose, Slash, McKagan and Adler take the stage together tonight. Otherwise there just might be a riot... just like in the good ol' days.