Ryan Ritchie of OC Weekly recently conducted an interview with original Guns N' Roses and current Adler's Appetite drummer Steven Adler. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the fact that many people — including Adler — argue that his Guns N' Roses replacement Matt Sorum could never fill those shoes:

"Yeah, I know that. And all the other guys know that. It's just Axl doesn't want to admit it. That's why the songs work — because of all five of us. 'Use Your Illusion' would have been bigger than 'Appetite For Destruction' if it was recorded the way the demo tapes sounded. But every record they did with less members sold less and less."

On "Chinese Democracy", the latest Guns N' Roses record that's essentially Axl Rose and a revolving door of other guys:

"He should have called it 'WAR.' W-A-R. W. Axl Rose. It only went gold, and that's not Guns N' Roses They go double platinum in the first week."

On his current band ADLER'S APPETITE, which performs material from Adler's stint in Guns N' Roses

"Axl's one-fifth of what the band was. I'm one-fifth of what the band was. He's doing it by himself. I can do the same thing. At least I'm showing up for the shows."

I think Adler is one to something WAR is an awesome name for the current GNR line up. I think if the band was called WAR, the comparisons to Guns N' Roses would be limited and allow people to listen to Chinese Democracy with open ears and eyes. This would eliminate the comparisons of Chinese Democracy to Dark Horse by Nickelback.

This quote is awesome:

"At least I'm showing up for the shows."

But to Axl's defense, he hasn't booked any shows recently so we can't say for certain he isn't showing up to the gigs. But judging on past performance, he probably won't show up.