Billy Sheehan Recalls Hearing Guns N’ Roses for the First Time, Shares Opinion on Duff McKagan’s Playing
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Bill Sheehan remembered hearing Guns N’ Roses play in their early days and described what they were like back then.
In an appearance on the Appetite for Distortion podcast, Sheehan spoke about his introduction to Guns N’ Roses. The Mr. Big bassist remembered hearing about them from an acquaintance while on tour, and not thinking too much about the subject (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“I was on the ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’ tour with the amazing David Lee Roth, who I love completely, and our security guy was Doug Goldstein. He was on our bus. It was me, Steve Vai, Gregg Bissonette, Brett Tuggle – our keyboards, Doug, our wardrobe girl Robin Lemon, maybe about six or eight people on our bus. And we had a great time together.”
“Doug says, ‘Yeah, I got this band.’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah, okay, Doug.’ ‘No, I got this band. You gotta come out and see them.’ ‘Well, you know, when we get a chance.’ I don’t even know if he said it was Guns N’ Roses because they were brand new, so I wouldn’t have heard of them anyway.”
A short time after, Sheehan visited a rock club in which Guns N’ Roses were playing:
“We should go to the Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard, and Doug said, ‘My band’s playing,’ and we were all going to go out on a day off. So we would sit in the front bar, and it had glass windows so we could see in to see the band.”
“But it wasn’t like deathly loud. So we’re going there just to meet girls and drink. We weren’t necessarily going out.”
“But I remember seeing them and Doug’s like, ‘You guys gotta come on.’ I go, ‘We can hear from here. It’s okay.’ But I remember thinking, ‘Hey, these guys are pretty good. These guys, Doug is on to something here.'”
Sheehan continued, praising the band:
“Through the early years, I’d often go to the Rainbow Bar and Grill, and I sat with Axl one night. We had a wonderful conversation, great guy. Duff and I, we’ve had some great conversations as well.”
“Wonderful guy, great bass player. And I just had nothing but positive to say about that band. I’m so pleased with the mind-blowing and very deserved success that they’ve had.”
