Hollywood Rose

Hollywood Rose

Hollywood Rose was a pre-Guns N' Roses band of singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin. The band went through several line-up changes and featured founding guitarist Chris Weber, bass players Steve Darrow and Rick Mars, and drummer Johnny Kreis. When members of LA Guns formed with Hollywood this formed the band Guns n Roses.

Recording history

Hollywood Rose recorded demos that were years later released on the album The Roots of Guns N' Roses. This album features fifteen tracks, the first five of which are the original demos, the second five being (future Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist) Gilby Clarke remixes, and the third five being (Cinderella and former Guns N' Roses touring drummer) Fred Coury remixes. The Gilby Clarke remix tracks of "Shadow of Your Love" and "Reckless Life" feature guitar overdubs by original GN'R guitarist Tracii Guns.

The songs "Anything Goes" and "Reckless Life" were later recorded by Guns N' Roses itself and appeared on the albums Appetite for Destruction and Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide with new lyrics respectively. Also, there are other versions of the song "Shadow of Your Love" which exist in the bootlegging community. This song was practiced in the studio and played at early Guns N' Roses gigs and drummer Steven Adler has stated in several interviews that it was his favorite track played during the sessions and was rather upset it didn't make the final cut of Appetite for Destruction.

The name Guns N' Roses came from the tongue-in-cheek idea of combining members of the bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. With the success of both L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses there was hope for a new line-up of Hollywood Rose without Axl Rose. After an extensive search for a new singer, a talented young singer named Jimmy Swan from Minneapolis was recruited to fill the vacancy left by Axl and Jimmy joined with Chris Weber 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.

In 2007, Jimmy Swan and Chris Weber, have reformed the second line-up of Hollywood Rose, and have recently added Kaptain, a drummer 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.

Andre Troxx also played bass guitar in Hollywood Rose and can be seen on Izzy's left in a Hollywood Rose video ("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.

Tribute bands

Hollywood Rose is also the name of a Guns N' Roses tribute band based in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. There are other Guns N' Roses tribute bands bearing a similar name, such as Hollywood Roses based in California, and Hollywood Rose GN'R Tribute Band based in Hungary.

Known Hollywood Rose songs

• "Reckless Life" - later rewritten by Guns N' Roses for Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide. The original version is featured in 'The Roots Of Guns N' Roses' and was originally named "Wreckless"
• "Anything Goes" - later rewritten by Guns N' Roses for Appetite for Destruction. The original version is featured in 'The Roots Of Guns N' Roses' and was originally named "My Way Your Way"
• "Shadow of Your Love" - later covered by Guns N' Roses as seen in the EP Live from the Jungle. The original version is featured in The Roots Of Guns N' Roses
• "Rocker" - featured in The Roots Of Guns N' Roses
• "Killing Time" - featured in The Roots Of Guns N' Roses
• "Coldhearted (Hollywood Rose song)|Cold Hard Cash" (Demo)
• "Indiana Ain't My Kinda Town" (Demo)
• "Taxi Driver" (Demo) - also known as "That Something"
• "International Boys"
• "Rock N' Rose"