Izzy Stradlin

Mm.

And, uh, and the, the rhythm guitarist, uh, Izzy Stradlin, who was Axl Rose's friend from high school, uh, I think Axl Rose got kicked out of a Catholic high school in Indiana at some point-

[laughs]

...

For that one, that was kind of a no-brainer for me.

I picked Izzy Stradlin, former Guns N' Roses guitar player.

Yeah, yeah.

For the reason, again, another like... underrated as hell player.

And then you listen to the stuff that he wasn't on and you can really tell that there's an element missing and, And it was, you know, a lot of people think, oh, well, Slash is Guns N' Roses.

Yeah, maybe for like solos and vibe and presence and all that.

But the secret ingredient behind all that was, you know, Izzy Stradlin.

He wrote the majority of that stuff.

I went to see Rat play at the Long Beach Arena.

And I went with Izzy Stradlin of Guns N' Roses.

And I remembered the band that opened up for Rat.

And I told Izzy, watch the singer of this opening band.

Is

he Stradlin' and the Juju Hound, self-titled?

Look, how many of you bitches got that record on vinyl?

Not me, because I have tasty good ears.

Whether that is because most of this album is made up of newer material, rather than the reliance on previously written and played material on the first album, is not something I can ascertain.

Sitting in the middle range of tracks on this album would be songs such as the Piano Ragtime Sensibilities of 14 Years, with lead vocals from Izzy Stradlin, which I alternately enjoy or dismiss depending on my mood at the time.

Yesterday's again is heavily based around the piano, and the tempo probably precludes my total enjoyment of the track.

The cover version of Bob Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door doesn't do it for me like its sister track from Use Your Illusion 1, Live and Let Die, for a couple of reasons.

The great opening of the song of bass guitar, tom bangs and then even guitar riff exploding into the song proper is the perfect way to open up the album.

This is followed by Dust and Bones which slows the tempo down immediately and also introduces the piano into the mix as well, as well as Izzy Stradlin on lute vocals.

It is of a style that mixes in moments of both of the first two albums in its output, and with a modern maturing sound about it.

Then comes this illusion's cover song.

All right.

Well, let's get to the fun stuff this week, well, not so fun for Mastodon, as they are being sued by the estate of their former guitarist.

Um, it's always sad when this happens.

Like, you know, they can't figure it out and they have to air out their dirty laundry in public.

It's huge.

That, that Boston album, you know, everybody knows it, all the hits on there.

Well, there's apparently a bunch of unreleased lost demos, and Impex Records is producing the reissue in close collaboration with guitarist and founder Tom Scholz, who personally supervised the project.

Scholz and Boston guitarist Gary Phil, or Pill, I'm sorry, restored and remastered the original demos from Scholz' personal archive, recordings he once shopped to labels before signing with Epic Records, so early stuff.

And I'm just grabbing pics and I stood up and Izzy was there and I scared the shit out

of him.

Welcome to the podcast.

to the left-hand side because they separated them because of sound, obviously.

But I had gone back there when we had completely torn down and they had all left.

And like I say, Izzy again was in my peripheral.

I don't remember speaking to him.

But I had climbed under the consoles underneath all the outboard gear because I don't know.