The Smoking Section is all too aware that our column, on stands now, features an item wherein Eagles of Death Metal’s frontman Jesse Hughes talks about how stoked he is that his band will be opening dates on Guns N’ Roses current tour. But, alas, how were we to know that on opening night Axl would hop onstage, refer to his opening act as the “Pigeons of Shit Metal,” and fire them on the spot? Are we not but mere mortals? If you prick us, do we not bleed? After the jump, read the inside scoop on what happened behind the scenes according to Hughes– and his theory as to why Axl flew off the handle (again).
Although he boasts friends on G N’ R’s crew and in the band — who welcomed him onto the tour with open arms — Hughes began noticing bizarre behavior upon arriving at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena last Friday. “Every employee had a face on like a Stepford Wife,” he told us last night from the San Fernando Valley studio where he’s currently laying down vocal tracks with Josh Homme for a new Queens of the Stone Age album. According to Hughes, when the Suicide Girls got onstage to open the show, the audience (“not a single kid there could have been alive when Appetite came out”) started throwing things at the Girls. “That was odd,” says Hughes. “We’re at a rock show and people are throwing things at hot, naked chicks! What the hell?” He add that when he and the Eagles hit the stage, they were met with some minor jeering, but it died down quickly.
Hughes — who claims that Axl arrived at the arena after the Eagles’ set had ended — tells us he was stoked to watch G N’ R from the side of the stage. Then out of nowhere, Hughes says, “[Axl] called us the Pigeons of Shit Metal and said, ‘You gotta feel sorry for them fellas because this is their last night on tour.’ I just started laughing. [G N’ R bassist] Tommy Stinson threw down his bass and walked off the stage. It was one of the most bizarre scenarios I’ve ever seen.”
Hughes has a few theories. “What seems to happen is, when he goes off his meds, you’re not Paxil Rose anymore, you’re Waxil Rose.” He also tells the S.S. about a conversation he had with Sebastian Bach, who has become a close confidante of Rose over the past few months. This is, we believe, the root of the drama: “I saw Sebastian Bach twenty minutes before we went onstage,” Hughes says. “And I accidentally called him Savage Animal.” Those who watched the VH1 reality series, Supergroup (with Ted Nugent and Scott Ian) may remember that Savage Animal was the band name Bach proposed for the group, for which Bach was subsequently (and mercilessly) teased. “When I said it to him, it was a casual burn, but I didn’t mean it in a bad way at all,” Hughes hedges. “I was trying to be like, ‘Savage Animal! I backin’ you, bro!’ But I guess it didn’t come off that way, because I couldn’t possibly have meant it.” Ergo, we suspect that Bach may have conveyed a less-than-glowing report to Axl about the Eagles.
The band quit the G N’ R tour the following day, and Hughes reports that he’s currently in a San Fernando Valley studio with Josh Homme recording some vocals for the next Queens of the Stone Age album. He also says he got some consolatory words of wisdom from Dave Grohl — Nirvana had an altercation with Axl at the VMA’s years ago. “Dave said, ‘Disappointment from Axl is like being knighted.’”
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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