Hollywood Rose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hollywood Rose | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Genres | Heavy metal, hard rock |
| Years active | 1983–1985, 1985–1989, 2007–present |
| Labels | Cleopatra Records |
| Associated acts | Guns N' Roses L.A. Guns London Road Crew U.P.O. |
| Members | |
| Chris Weber Jimmy Swan Matt Beal Donny Brook Kaptain |
|
| Former members | |
| Axl Rose Izzy Stradlin Slash Johnny Kreis Steve Darrow Steven Adler Rick Mars Andre Troxx |
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Hollywood Rose are a hard rock band founded by singer Axl Rose, after he left L.A. Guns, and guitarists Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber in Los Angeles in 1983. The rest of the lineup was rounded off with live members Steve Darrow and Johnny Kreis. The band is perhaps best known for its merger with L.A. Guns to form Guns N' Roses in 1985. Former Guns N' Roses members Slash and Steven Adler were also briefly members of Hollywood Rose, with Slash replacing Weber after he was fired by Rose and Adler replacing Kreis. Weber reformed the band in 2007 with its current lineup consisting of Jimmy Swan on vocals, Weber on lead guitar, Matt Beal on rhythm guitar, Donny Brook on bass and Kaptain on drums.
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[edit] History
[edit] Formation (1983–1984)
After leaving L.A. Guns, Axl Rose formed Hollywood Rose (Initially under the name AXL[1]) with friend Izzy Stradlin and guitarist Chris Weber (Stradlin and Weber were introduced to each other by L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns[2]). The group recorded a demo with drummer Johnny Kreis who was added to the group along with bass player Rick Mars who was then replaced by Steve Darrow.
[edit] Lineup change, Guns N' Roses (1984–1985)
Guitarist Weber was fired from the band by Rose and replaced by former Road Crew guitarist Slash and his bandmate Steven Adler. Rose thought both Slash and Stradlin would make a great pairing but Stradlin had left the band, apparently unhappy at the firing of Weber[3], to join the glam metal group London[4] (a group which coincidently featured both Slash and Adler). The bands lineup was now Rose, Slash, Darrow and Adler.[5]After an altercation between Rose and a crowd member at The Troubadour, Slash left the group and Hollywood Rose then disbanded. [6] In 1985 Tracii and Rose decided to merge both L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose together to form a new group. Rose named the band Guns N' Roses combining the two names of the bands with the lineup featuring Axl Rose on vocals, Tracii Guns on lead guitar, Izzy Stradlin on rhythm guitar, Ole Beich on bass and Rob Gardner drums.[7] A short time later, bassist Ole Beich was fired, and replaced by Duff McKagan, then Tracii was replaced by Slash because he didn't show up to rehearsal and drummer Rob Gardner quit and was replaced by Steven Adler.[3]
[edit] Second Incarnation, Split (1985–1989)
With the success of Guns N' Roses, as well as the moderate success achieved by the reformed L.A. Guns, there was hope for a new line-up of Hollywood Rose without Axl Rose. After an extensive search for a new singer, Jimmy Swan from Minneapolis was recruited to fill the vacancy left by Axl in the second incarnation of Hollywood Rose, but the band never got off the ground or established a record deal, although it did showcase to the record industry in the late 80s at Prince's Paisley Park studio. Weber went on to form post-grunge group U.P.O. in 1997 releasing major label album No Pleasantries in 2001 and the independent follow up The Heavy in 2004 before the band split after Weber was diagnosed with a brain tumour[8], he successfully underwent an operation to remove the tumour in November 2004[9]. Andre Troxx, who also played bass guitar in Hollywood Rose, can be seen on Izzy's left in a Hollywood Rose video for Shadow of Your Love circulating on YouTube. Troxx later formed Bad Bones and Feast of Joy with singer Jimmy Swan; these two bands were a prominent fixture in Hollywood area nightclubs in the early '90s.
[edit] 1984 Demos, Regrouping (2004, 2007–present)
In 2004, it surfaced that in November 2003, Weber had sold the 5 song demo, recorded in 1984, to Cleopatra Records who released the CD, accompanied with a DVD in the 2005 Japanese release, on June 22, 2004 titled The Roots of Guns N' Roses which, along with the 5 original recordings, featured remixed versions by both former GN'R guitarist Gilby Clarke, featuring guitar overdubs by former L.A Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, and former London and Cinderella drummer Fred Coury, who also played in GN'R filling in for Steven Adler.[10] Earlier in the year, on June 21, former singer Axl Rose had sought an injunction against the release of the album, suing Cleopatra Records for trademark infringement, violation of rights in his name and likeness, and for unfair competition. Former member Slash and former GN'R bassist Duff McKagan were also named as defendants with Rose but on July 6, United States District Court Judge Gary A. Fees denied the motion of Rose and his Guns N' Roses partnership for a preliminary injunction against Los Angeles-based independent record label.[11][12]
In 2007, Jimmy Swan and Chris Weber reformed Hollywood Rose adding drummer Kaptain, who almost made the final line-up of Guns N' Roses and who was the original drummer for New Improved God, another L.A. Band from the late 80s. Guitarist Matt Beal and bassist Donny Brook round up the current lineup.
In 2008, Cleopatra released a Deluxe Edition of The Roots of Guns N' Roses.[13][14]
[edit] Legacy
The group is most likely to be known for its involvment in the formation of Guns N' Roses who featured a number of Hollywood Rose songs re-worked and released on some of the bands earlier albums such as Reckless Life on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide (and later G N' R Lies), Anything Goes, a track co-wrote by Chris Weber initially titled My Way, Your Way[15], on Appetite for Destruction and Shadow of Your Love on the Live from the Jungle EP. All three of the original demo recordings of these songs appeared on the first and only Hollywood Rose release to date, The Roots of Guns N' Roses, along with Rocker and Killing Time. Other rumoured song titles from that are Coldhearted, Cold Hard Cash, Indiana Ain't My Kinda Town, Taxi Driver also known as That Something, International Boys and Rock 'N' Rose. The group also inspired the names of a few Guns N' Roses tribute bands such as Hollywood Rose GN'R Tribute Band based in Hungary and Hollywood Roses based in California, whose debut album Dopesnake, released in 2007, featured guest appearances by Mick Taylor formerly of The Rolling Stones, Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns and formerly of Brides of Destruction, Phil Lewis and Paul Black both also of L.A. Guns fame, Gilby Clarke formerly of Guns N' Roses and Rock Star Supernova, Fred Coury of Cinderella and formerly of London, Teddy Andreadis, Pat Travers and Hollywood Rose founder Chris Weber.[16]
[edit] Discography
- The Roots of Guns N' Roses (2004)
[edit] Band members
[edit] Current lineup
- Jimmy Swan - vocals
- Chris Weber - lead guitar
- Matt Beal - rhythm guitar
- Donny Brook - bass
- Kaptain - drums
[edit] Former members
- Axl Rose - vocals
- Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar
- Johnny Kreis - drums
- Slash - lead guitar
- Steven Adler - drums
- Rick Mars - bass
- Steve Darrow - bass
- Andre Troxx - bass
[edit] References
- ^ Ex-HOLLYWOOD ROSE Guitarist: AXL ROSE Was 'Very Ego Motivated' - Nov. 19, 2004
- ^ Intervju - Chris Weber, Hollywood Rose
- ^ a b Slash; Anthony Bozza, (2007). Slash. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0 00-725775-1.
- ^ MusicMight :: Artists :: HOLLYWOOD ROSE
- ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 38, 40
- ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 43
- ^ Berelian (2005). The Rough Guides to Heavy Metal. Rough Guides. p. 143. ISBN 1-84353-415-0.
- ^ U.P.O. Guitarist Diagnosed With Brain Tumor - Nov. 16, 2004
- ^ U.P.O./Ex-HOLLYWOOD ROSE Guitarist Undergoes Brain Surgery - Nov. 20, 2004
- ^ HOLLYWOOD ROSE: Pre-GUNS N' ROSES Demos To Receive Japanese Release With Bonus DVD - Oct. 5, 2004
- ^ GUNS N' ROSES Singer Loses Motion To Stop Release Of Early Recordings - July 7, 2004
- ^ Rose vs Cleopatra PDF
- ^ :: Cleopatra Records ::
- ^ allmusic ((( Hollywood Rose > Overview )))
- ^ #Davis 2008 pg 166, "Crash into "Anything Goes," originally titled "My Way Your Way" by Hollywood Rose, writted by Izzy and Chris Webber."
- ^ GILBY CLARKE, TRACII GUNS, FRED COURY Featured On HOLLYWOOD ROSES Debut - Mar. 12, 2007
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