Hey, coming up on the show, we have a very talented musician Michael Thomas. He's currently the guitarist and Adler's appetite, playing with Steven Adler from Guns and Roses, one of my favorite bands, and he's got a great story of playing with Steven and duff and Izzy from GNR two, so that's really cool. Plus, we're gonna chat about some of his old bands, and working with guitarist DJ ashba, another member of Guns and Roses
and also as in 6am. And we're going to talk about Michael's new solo music and also how he gets those six pack abs. So stay tuned
So, Chuck, where are you located?
I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona. Yeah. Oh, you're in Dallas.
Yeah, Dallas, Texas, Dallas, Texas.
Okay, how's the weather? There is a nice
it's getting warmer, man. It was cold a couple of weeks ago. And it's still kind of going through that last winter kind of feel. But it's it's starting to warm up, which is awesome, because we had some really cold weather about two three weeks ago, you know, and I'm not much of a cold weather fan. So it's nice to get back to the warm weather.
Yeah, no, that's it's perfect right here that now's the best time to visit Arizona if you want to come down, as I'm sure you've been here before, right.
I've toured Arizona more times than I can count. I actually almost bought a house in Arizona about 10 years ago. So which area? Are you familiar with Casa Grande? Yep. Yeah, so down that way in between Phoenix and Tucson?
Yeah, that's kind of like in the in the outskirts? That'd be tough to do the music because did you have to be in a certain area for or do you just fly in for everything now?
Flying in for everything my friend? Really? Yeah. Yeah. So
okay, that's is that cost effective, too, though, cuz I know the touring and the buses, that's too expensive. So the flying dates, everyone could just fly from any city, then if you're like, if you're doing Adler's appetite in Vegas, y'all just take a ticket. And
that's what we've been doing now for quite some time, because it is more cost effective. The overhead on the bus gets crazy. And you know, honestly, with Steven, we did that for so many years, doing like eight, nine week tours. I mean, it really beats you up after a while. And the smart play with the whole situation these days is the flying days. Because, you know, you do the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the crowds are much better. They're the best days of the week. So the guarantees are
better. Usually, when you're out on a bus and you're doing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, you know, really, you're just kind of paying for the overhead, you know, so you're out there breaking your back and just to make sure that you're above water for the rest of the week. So what's really great now situation with Steven is a lot of our stuff is Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so we'll fly out like a Wednesday night or Thursday night depending on how many shows
we're doing. And then everybody's back home in their own bed on a Sunday. And we all live in different states. So we just fly in we'll you know, run through a few things at soundcheck, and we're good to go.
So what do you do like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, just like recording and writing and dude, yeah,
I do a lot of studio sessions I write for other artists. I've got my own stuff that I've been working on. I have a handful of projects outside of music, other like endeavors in like graphic design and in the technology sector, like do I have my hands and everything?
Really what the tech Do I know you have the clothing thing? The what's a sick truth? Or like I like you clearly have a cool style much cooler than me. But what's the industrial thing? Or what would you call it industrial?
Well, like it stuff it Yeah. What
is that? Like? What are you doing that
I can be a range of things, man, I'll get a call from you know, a different company saying hey, I need somebody who understands this kind of like nonprofit infrastructure, can you come in and help us with this or run this or, you know, they'll they'll like, portion out different contracts for like, you know, short term things. So depending on what I'm doing, like, it's cool because it balances my brain, right? So I own the creative side and all
the music stuff. And then I have like a business side that's very entrepreneurial outside of that, you know, so I think it's a good balance for me.
Do you know the tech stuff like with the production and the lighting and the audio and all that stuff with you know, cuz I feel like a lot of the musicians I interview do not know about like, even with a simple zoom call like this, like the lighting will be off or the audio will be garbled or echoey. Like there's so many things like that. I feel like that's a there's definitely a need for that. I'll be honest.
Yeah, you know, I've had kind of be a jack of all trades, you know, and I think you know, I've been in the industry as long as I have been, you really kind of start to accumulate some some knowledge and you know, you start kind of venturing out in different areas where maybe you never really thought about doing things, you know, before. So I just, I think to be effective, and to get things done in, you know, cost
effective manner. Yeah, you kind of pick up these other things, and it helps you in your own stuff. I know, whether it was from, you know, recording or tour managing, you know, I've done a ton of different things. And I think it's just good to, you know, be well rounded.
Absolutely, yeah. So will tell me about the new song. So it's called, What's on your mind, it's a cover of that 80 song by information society, because the first session I listened, and I was like, wait, I know the song. And then obviously, the cover now, is that you singing on it?
Yeah, I did everything. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it was a song that I loved as a kid. And, you know, it's been something that I've wanted to do and kind of reimagine. So I had time, obviously, last year, because everybody was at home during the whole lockdown thing. So, you know, I kind of got back into revisiting some projects that I wanted to do, but just didn't have the time for. And that was one of the songs that I was
really excited about doing. So I went into studio here in Dallas, a studio that I've been working on of, for quite some time. Now. There was a period of time where I was kind of flying in between LA and Dallas, I was living in LA at the time, but there was a record label that I was doing artist development for here in
Dallas. So I was in the studio, working with some kind of younger newer bands that the label was interested in working with, and, you know, writing songs with them, you know, kind of developing their sound and style and being recorded. So it's a studio here in Dallas that I love, buddy of mine, who I work, you know, extensively with, you know, we just kind of got to work and it was this kind of nice environment where it was just him and I and we were kind
of in this bubble. And you know, nothing was kind of off limits. So when it came to that song, you know, it was so kind of 80s Techno synth pop, that I wanted to replace those sounds but use
the guitar to do it. So like when you hear about those electronic sounds, all throughout the song, I mean, those are all guitars, you know, I'm kind of doing this thing where I have my Les Paul and I have the the neck pickup volume off and I use the toggle switch to get that kind of digital map amped up a Batman sound, you know, and then I use a lot pedal
to get these sweeps in range. So it was really cool to reimagine it and do it with real instruments, because I think it brings a different feeling to the song. It's not a lot of like the, you know, the synth pop tracks. It's a little more mechanical, or I think this has a little more kind of girth and feel to it. Yeah, no,
it sounds it's great update. It's like industrial kind of sounding. So you said it's real instruments. So that's a real drum set. You play the drums too.
I do everything but the drums. Some of those are samples and they were looped together in the studio. So okay, yeah, but no, I do. I do play the drums, I play the bass I sang. I'm not sure if you saw on my page. I put out my own disk A little while back. And the band name was called Fastback. And I you know, wrote that record, recorded everything myself, my buddy Brian Saunders, who played with me in a number of touring
bands. He played bass on the record, you know, did all the vocals and everything like right out of the house, it was like super organic. But it was a great education on you know, recording, mixing all that so I did everything from start to finish. The only thing I didn't do on that record was the
mastering. I sent that out. Um, so yeah, man, I just I taught myself to do a little bit of everything because I was kind of fell into the trap of well, if I have to go to other people to do things, it may take a long time. You know, I really like being self contained like that.
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, but you have some good musician friends that now if you do more music, you put out a full album would you would you have some of those people guest on there like have Steven played drums on a few songs or something like
that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. If if that opportunity presents itself, you know, I totally would you know, and you know, Steven and I have written a number of songs together and release some stuff like back when this book came out my appetite for destruction. You know, I wrote the song that went out with that book alive. Yeah, I
love that song. Thank you for that all three of those it's alive star dog are starting to look and fading they sound more like the appetite stuff. Then a lot of the other guns and roses projects like he clearly went for that distinct sound. I love it. I think it's great stuff.
Well, you know, a live was was me in my studio, putting that whole thing together, you know, and I said, Okay, I need a really cool riff to start this thing out with that's kind of, you know, kind of definitely dirty and kind of sleazy and has that early GNR feel and then Another thing that I was really big on was I have to incorporate that cowbell. Yeah. You know, so I basically produced the whole demo in my home studio, and then brought it to the guys and they really
liked the tune. And it was funny because I had all the lyrics and the melodies written. So I basically, at that time, I took Steve out to my car, I played him the song in my car, and then I sang overtop of it so he can hear the chorus you hear the melodies. So not shortly after that we went to the studio and cut the track and then all the guys in the band played on the actual you know, recording of the Steven obviously did the drums chips enough from enough's enough played bass? So yeah, it
came together great. Actually, Anthony Foxx, my old rhythm guitar player from beautiful creatures produced that track. And yeah, I mean, he's he's done a number of really cool projects over the years.
Yeah, I think he actually it's funny, because I think I must have sent him a friend request. Like, I had to been like, I feel like it was maybe years ago, maybe now. Maybe it was a couple of weeks ago. I don't know. But he just accepted it like the other day. And I was like, Oh, cool. Like he's, that happens like sometimes I think people just they forget Facebook or whatever. And, and so I get these random like, blah, blah, blah accepted your friend request. I'm like, I don't
remember when I sent this. Like, that was a long time ago. But right. Yeah, so yeah, he's definitely a name. I've seen a lot. So beautiful creatures. That wasn't that wasn't your first was engines of aggression. Your first kind of big band that when you? Yeah, hurrah for LA and got there.
Yeah, yeah, engines was really my first big touring band. And after engines, it was weird. So I was doing engines. And, you know, I was in a bunch of bands kind of one time just trying to work my way up the ladder in LA, you know? So I was doing engines, and then through a buddy of mine. I heard about another opening with a band called tough, which was another band from the 80s. Yeah,
I had Stevie on the show. On the show. Yeah, he's great. So that was gonna say maybe that's the first that. I mean, in Germans regressions. You guys had a record deal, though, right? Or? No?
Yeah, the first record came out on Priority Records. Okay, I joined the band shortly after we started doing new tracks with some some pretty cool people at the time. That was the dude who done some work on the Nine Inch Nails fragile record, and then also did some stuff for the Rob Zombie remix record. So his style kind of fit in with what we were doing pretty well. And shortly after that, we ended up going to Japan
and doing a tour of Japan. And I had gotten the beautiful creatures gave like maybe two weeks before the Japan run. So I kind of knew that that was like, my last hurrah with with engines. So when I came back from Japan, it was just full bore with with creatures,
creatures, and also bang tango, the kind of you're in those together simultaneously.
Yeah, and you know, it's funny, because the whole thing with bang Tango was was just, you know, Joe and I were in between records, right. And we were writing the second record, we were in the studio with Beau Hill. And we were just looking for a way to kind of, you know, have fun, play some shows, and you know, make some money in between starting the second beautiful creatures
record. So we put together just a jam band with a couple of buddies of ours from the London choir boys, and we had booked some shows, and we were just going to go out and do some like Aerosmith, ACDC and just kind of have some fun, you know, while we're, you know, in the studio and getting that second record together. We booked the shows and then like it was a week or two before we were the first gig and the guys that required wise, got this offer to go out on a tour and they had to bail out on
the thing that we were doing. So we grabbed some other friends and we kind of filled the gaps in the setlist with some bang Tango songs. And honestly that's how the whole thing kind of started. It wasn't it wasn't like conscious effort. We did a gig the next day our booking agents phone was was ringing with offers for bang tango. So Joe and I at that point decided Well hey, I think we have something here let's kind of revisit that the band had done
anything years. And you know, honestly, that was one of my favorite records like cybercafe and dancing on coals I love those records. So yeah, we went out and we did that and we're kind of doing that at the same time as beautiful creatures. So you know it was it was a cool period of of you know work on original music and then revisiting some some classic material.
You didn't play on the pistol weapon the Bible Belt though when did you
know that was a probably a number of years after I left the band. Yeah.
Okay, yeah, so tough. Thank Tango beautiful creatures engines of aggressions. The faster pussycat you join were you in that dream beautiful creatures and bang Tango to
pussycat came about probably like it A year after that soccer mom, I had left, I left beautiful creatures. And I, I got a couple offers from some other bands to come in and you know, step into another band that already been established and put out records. So here's here's the weird part of the story. I was playing with beautiful creatures, and every now and then I run into DJ ashba, who was the original guitar player for beautiful creature
Guns and Roses guitarist and yeah, yeah, 6am. And yeah, he's a big guy.
So, you know, we would hang out. Occasionally we'd run into each other in Hollywood or whatever. And, you know, asking how the band was doing. And you know, we come down to gigs every now and then. So after I left beautiful creatures, like, man, literally, it's so weird. Like, two days later, I'm hanging out with some friends having a drink in Hollywood, and I run into DJ. And so he starts talking, and he's like, so what's going on? I said, um, you know, I'm leaving
that situation, want to go? Do you know, work on more original music? I said, What are you up to? And he was telling me, oh, you know, I'm kind of doing the same thing. I'm putting together some tunes. And you know, I have a manager. So we went out to his car, and he played me a couple of tracks, and I was like, oh, man, stuff sounds good. I said, you know, best of luck to you. And then I left. And then it was like, a day and a half later, my phone rings and it was his
manager. And Katie McNeil, who she went on to manage a number of acts, but most notably, Neil Diamond, and actually ended up marrying. Yeah. So Katie called me and was like, hey, you know, DJ, obviously, I've seen you play the creature stuff, you start his own thing. He wants to focus more on vocals instead of playing guitar, would you be interested in coming down and jamming with the guys? So I was like, Sure. So I went down
there. And like, literally that afternoon, we moved all my gear into the studio, and then just started working together on on music. So we did that for about, probably about a year, year and a half. And we went from working with Katie, and then went over to 10th Street management with Alan co back. And we were with Alan for quite a while. And then you know, there's other projects coming down the pipeline. And I remember like, we were writing, but we weren't really playing
out. We're just kind of, you know, waiting for our chance to get in the studio and record the record. And, you know, kept getting delayed with other artists. You know, first it was like Blondie that was like Hanson and was meatloaf. And that was Buckcherry. And, you know, after a year and a half, I'm like, listen, Dude, I gotta get back out on the road. And it's killing me not to be playing. So shortly after that, I got the call for Steven and to go out and do a tour with with
Adler. So I ended up doing that. DJ ended up switching back to playing guitar and brought in a singer. And they did that for like another LSA the year two but just never really got off the ground. You know?
So a project called music ever see the why today?
No, no, I don't think it ever did. It's just called Nashville. Oh, okay.
So you get paid for stuff like that? Or how does that? Sorry, do you get paid for stuff like that? Or is it just like,
any assignment? At that time? No, we weren't on retainer. So that's was also tough, kind of making that stretch and not me not working. You know? We did, we did have a song in so you know, there was a period of time especially during that period where like songs for video games were huge. And getting started with like, Xbox. So we had done a song and do this crazy thing. I forgot about this. So Nile Rodgers came down to one of our rehearsals you know now now we're irises obviously.
Right? I'm trying to blind definitely know the name but I'm trying to place wow, I know that name. Oh, okay. I knew Allan COE back to like these names like I know these names but I I'm just trying to blank on where how I know those names.
Oh, so Alan Kobach he you know he is the head of 10th Street He's managed Motley Crue and yeah, all those big bands. Yeah, there's but but Niall, not now Rogers and he had worked on a bunch of amazing stuff I you know, a lot of stuff over the years that I think I want to say like, you know, like, Parliament Funkadelic and sign the Family Stone and like a number of huge hits. Like, don't quote me on that, but I'm thinking those were the some of the projects that he was
involved with. But anyways, he helped us pick I believe the song that ended up on on the Xbox game was called Outlaw Volleyball. So one of the songs ended up in that video game so when you asked me that material, see the light of day, okay, it was like one of the only songs that did now Once I left the band DJ, like I said, went back to guitar. And, you know, he brought in a singer. And I'm not really kind of Sure. I didn't really kind of follow what
happened after that. But oddly enough, we run into one another, every now and then, you know, in LA. But when I was out with a brand new machine, we ended up going over to India to open up for Guns and Roses. And DJ was
in the band at that time. So I walked into the hotel bar in India, there was DJ and I, I kind of looked at him, and he looked at me, and it was, it was as weird probably for him as it was for me, because I didn't really equate him being in the band at that time, you know, and all of a sudden, I'm on the opposite side of the world, in a hotel bar, and then there's my little bandmate it was like super weird and super.
Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. So that cuz I just listened to that. Brand new machine stuff on Spotify. The devil made me do it on it's really good. I was like, Oh, this is cool stuff. So that you guys actually open for Guns and Roses. That's pretty crazy. So I was gonna ask you if any interactions with the band, but clearly you must have you saw DJ? Oh,
yeah. Yeah, that was Bumble.
bumblefoot was in there too. Or was it? Yeah. Okay. Yes. I think I saw him in Vegas like that. It was, and I can't remember if I find a chicken. What's Buckethead? Sorry, not chicken. It was that because I know there was a third guitarist. I know. It was definitely DJ ashba and bumblefoot. And those guys are phenomenal to see. I know people will say that's not the original band, but they were good. I mean, they were freaking Axl obviously picked them for a reason.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the show was great, man. And, you know, everybody was super cool. You know, we oddly enough, we all kind of met up at the airport the next day. Right. Like later that morning. It was it was like six in the morning. It was some ungodly hour. But um, yeah, they were super cool. And, you know, Ron, actually, I had, oddly enough, I met at a Halloween party with Frank that a buddy of mine was throwing in LA. I also ran into him. I think we did a show together. When he
was playing guitar. He briefly played guitar for Lita Ford. At one point. Yes, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. So it was us. It was Steven Adler and Lita Ford. And Warren's it was like a trailer park, I think in Chicago before. Yeah, yeah. So it dude, it's a really small world when it comes to this kind of stuff, you know? So yeah, those guys are great and phenomenal musicians. And what's funny is we just played Vegas, the Fremont Street Experience. Yeah, I
thought about going to that I can't remember why I didn't. It's only a five hour drive.
Dude, it was amazing. There's a picture on my website and one that I posted on social media from that night, 15,000 people it was on now. It was like the most the biggest crowd ever had. And the craziest thing is, I show up to the gig and DJs in the dressing room. I had no idea that he was gonna be down there. He lives in Vegas.
But he was talking with a rhythm guitar player, and he came down to the show, so you know, ended up seeing him there that night, which is probably you know, the first time in a while that I've seen him. So it's dude, it's just weird. crosssection Well, yeah,
like, and it's weird that to that you play with Todd Kearns and Adler's appetite, and he's also in slashes band. I mean, that's a funny connection there too. And I just saw slash his van. And Todd is such a he's such a good vocalist. I mean, he's like, I couldn't believe how well he could sing.
Good. He's a phenomenal person. And you know, what's really cool is, he and I have shared similar bands together. And when I say that, I mean, we know the same people for years. And there was a time when I was out with faster pussycat. Tammy and I were probably in the states and the guitar player Brent Muscat started his own version. And Todd was a part of that. So, ya know, it's
weird when there's two versions of the band.
Yeah. And so I knew of Todd but I was never really in the same place at the same time. So we never met. For the thing was Steven, we had our bass player that we had for a couple of years, Tanya Callahan. She had some other commitments, so we had to bring in somebody to play bass. And Tanya just recently picked up the game for Whitesnake, so she's the new bass player. What's next? Oh, I
think I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. So
our rhythm guitar player lives in Vegas as well. So he reached out to Todd and say, Hey, I don't know if this fits in your schedule. But you know, we have shows obviously, you know, the material so you know, We'd love to have you come out with us if you're if you're around. So, um, yeah, it just ended up working with the schedule. So yeah, he was out with us for a while. And, dude, he is such a wonderful person. He's so
awesome. And it was funny because like, you know, you show up to the gig and we didn't really have a chance to rehearse and obviously, you know, the guy's a pro knows the material. So we ran through a couple of things at soundcheck and had a great show in New York. And then the next day, we were traveling Pennsylvania. And it was the first time that we actually got to set sit down and talk, you know, and just got to get to
know one another. And dude, he's he's one of my favorite human beings on the planet.
Yeah, that's cool. Um, so you're when you're playing slashes parts in Adler's appetite. How hard is that? Because I have a friend who plays guitar. And he's, he tried some of those souls and some of the moves that slash doesn't he and he's, he's realizing how hard it is like the moves he said he was, yeah, I'm gonna turn my guitar 90 degrees, like slash does. And he's like, I only got 30 degrees. I can't do it. Like you try to do all the moves, too.
Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing is, like, for me, I'm a pretty physical player, like, I run around a lot. You know, I don't sit still. Yeah, so I already kind of naturally kind of do that stuff. You know, I'm definitely was a big fan of Kiss, when I was a kid I love like the big rock show, you know, I just not that guy who can stand at one place, that doesn't happen. So, you know, for me, when I'm doing that stuff, it's, it's really just having more fun with the material, you know, like, I try
to stick true to the parts. But I also just kind of try to be me, you know, like, you know, Steven, I've been doing this now for a really long time. My very first tour was Stephens back in 2004. And, you know, the one thing that he always impressed upon me was Do your thing, have fun with the material, you know, obviously, play the parts. But, you know, do your interpretation, which I love. Because I there's only one
slash, and he's amazing. There's no replicating that, you know, he's one of the reasons why I got into music. So I just try to have fun with the material and do a justice. And then you know, throw a little little bit of my own sizzle in there, you know, and just have a blast with it, which we do. And what's really cool about it, too, is I find that the people who come to the show, you know, they really have a good time, and I don't think they're really sure what to
expect at first. Like there's nobody like dressing or looking or trying to imitate anybody from that classic Guns and Roses lineup. It's just us doing our interpretation of it. And you know, what's funny too, is when you think about it, the bass players we've had in bad so petard they were all played with the fingers, you know, chips enough plays with the Stingers. Yeah, LM fingers. That's a completely different sound than duck playing with a pic. Right.
So again, it's the parts but it's, uh, it's, you know, kind of an interpretation of it, you know, as those stellar musicians, you know, their their own interpretation,
right. Well, the hardest thing I mean, besides the guitars, obviously the vocals, but your singer, I mean, he I just watched a video I haven't seen, I saw you guys in like, I don't know, like 2013 or something. You came to Phoenix and Tempe and I got a picture with Steven was awesome. And Chip was in the band. But I haven't seen you with this singer. I don't think and I saw a video online. I think it was from the Vegas show. And he is like, you know where you are?
You're in the jungle. But you know, he did it in that pitch, which it's not easy to do that. So that was that's a great fine on that. That singer.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, so much of that sound. I mean, each person respectively makes up that Guns and Roses sound. But I mean, you know, the vocals are iconic. Right? So we've had a number of different singers, the guy that we actually had before. The person we have now Ari was Constantine Maroulis from American Idol. I don't know if you remember Constantine, but you know, he did a lot of Broadway stuff. And it was cool to have him do his thing. But it was definitely his own
interpretation. He didn't sound anything like x. So, you know, it's it's great to have a guy who can consistently pull it off. And you know, really, really nail it because it's not it's not easy.
No, it's definitely not you know, I the other piece of the puzzle with Guns and Roses was, is he straddling the other guitarist? I'm just still so fascinated with him to Steven, keep in touch with him like, does he ever talk about him? Does he tell you is he stories like, give me some sort of is he straddling something? I'm just so fascinated by that guy.
I'll tell you a great story, man. So right As he is he has come down and hung out with us a number of times. Wow. And what's crazy is like if he walked into the room, you wouldn't even know it was him. He's such a low key character. He's tall. He's big dude. But you wouldn't you wouldn't be like, Oh, that's the guy from Guns and Roses. I mean, he really is kind of like a mystery. He was a mystery back in the day. He's still a mystery today, you know? So we did a show. This is a while ago now
like probably 2010 or 11. But anyways, it was like the 20th anniversary of appetite. And so we did a show in LA. And we was it the Yeah, it made 2000 Akash. Yeah, maybe eight or 2008 Oh, those 20 anniversary kill. Anyways, so we, we had a number of the guys from the band come down to rehearsal because they were going to get up and do a song with us. So his he was really good about showing up to the rehearsals and going through the parts. And Duff came down as
well. And so the craziest thing was, you know, I was like 12 years old or something when that record came out, you know, I was I've been really lucky, like a lot of the guys that I grew up listening to, I had the opportunity to work with tour with a record with. So I'm in this room with like three fifths of the original Guns and Roses. It's a first time that's happened since you know, you know, I guess whenever, like 1990 whenever that happened was Steven. Yeah, yeah. So it was
amazing. We have all these guys in the room, right? And we're going through the different songs. And so we launched it a Welcome to the jungle. And we start the opening Rev. ticketed, they get ticketed. And Steven starts his hats and the kick. And we're about I don't know, like, maybe 1520 seconds into the song. And that duck holds up his hand. He goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So we all stop and he looks at his he goes, Okay, what's the core change here again. And as he looks at him,
he looks at his guitar. And he goes, I don't know, ask him. And he points to me. So now here I am in this room with these guys. And I'm going through the opening notes of the song just kind of refreshing everybody's memory that I'm thinking to. If he would have told me that as like a 12 year old kid that one day I was playing with these guys and Guns and Roses going over these parts. You're out of your mind. There's no way around it.
Oh, that's fuck is this the one is this the show were slash showed up. But then he like didn't get on stage because he had just rejoined Guns and Roses. And he's like, I don't want to piss Axel off.
No. It was never really over.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I thought there was another time where it was like you guys were all there. It was like four fifths of Guns and Roses slash showed up at slash didn't play because he didn't he didn't I think it was maybe he didn't want to like step on axles toes at the time or something.
Yeah, I knew at that time, you know, Velvet Revolver was in full swing. And maybe there was some stuff going on with Scott at the time. I'm not really sure. But he was there for a bit and then he peeled out. So I don't know. But you know, all the other guys came up and performed and not just one song, but like, I think we did. We did. brownstone. We did. Welcome to the jungle and Paradise City. So you know, it was it was awesome. And I got this great photo of from that
show. And I'm looking at it. I'm like, there's me. And there's duff and Izzy, Steven. And Steve. I mean is he is the most elusive one of all of them. So to have him on stage is pretty awesome.
That's amazing. You have to show me that picture. Send it to me. I will send it to you. Yeah, that's very cool. Yeah, because the thing was, Steven is like, I mean, this nothing against Matt Sorum. But Stephens drumming style. I don't know something about it that made that first GNR album it sounds. It's something about the way they I don't know something I heard it described as a swing. I don't know, I don't know anything about drums or drums. I just know that it sounds, it's
very different. And again, nothing it's Matt Sorum, or Frank for I believe is the new German. They're both phenomenal drummers but the drum sound on the first record, it just had such a chemistry with the guitars and the rest of the band. I feel like it's hard to duplicate I'd be so curious to hear what all five of the original guys could do even for just like two songs two new songs record a new song especially I'm sure is he sitting on tons of material and axon slash two.
Yeah, I think everybody would would love that man because you know, you're absolutely right. And again, the weird thing about guns and roses to me is it's like lightning in a bottle. Right? You got five guys that were completely different from one another. But when they came to They made this unique sound that was just like it was. It was lightning in a bottle. You know, it's just it's
very rarely happens. Then with Stevens drumming style, you know, the very first time I realized just how he has his own thing, like, you know, you talk about like guitar players who play with feel, you know, or singers who vote. That's very hard to do to the drums. And when you think about his plane, really, he'll notes through the drums. And I'm very, very first time we ever got together to rehearse i He was living in Vegas, the time and I drove from
LA to Vegas. And we got in the room, and you know, literally 30 seconds into the first song, I was like, wow, I've been playing these songs. You know, over the years as a kid in JAM bands are as a cover song. But when you get in the room with a guy, and you hear that beats, it takes on a completely different life. And it then cements it to to the sound that was on the record. And it just completely transforms the song. It's the
weirdest thing. I played that song with, you know, 20 different drummers in different incarnations of bands or covers that up or whatever, just for fun. But it wasn't until I got in that room with Steven and he started playing that it was like, wow, this is the real deal. This is what makes it
special. So again, when you think about that record and what they achieved, it is so scarce so such a rare thing to have those different personalities come and make this crazy, you know, identifiable like unique album?
Yeah, no, absolutely. Now what's, uh, what happened with the tour because when they first got back together, I thought he was gonna come back and join the tour either for a couple songs or like, five songs or something. And then he heard his back or whatever happened, and then he never came back. I mean, because they've been touring for years. And he's I haven't seen him do any shows.
Yeah, I know. He heard us back. And then he would come out and guest, you know, during certain shows. So you know, I think he did some stuff in Cleveland, you know, Dodger Stadium. He went down to Argentina. As a matter of fact, when he went down to Argentina to guest with GNR was when he found the singer we have now.
Oh, okay. Was he playing a different band at the time already?
He was playing in a band in Argentina that covered a lot of GNR stuff. So basically, there was a big after party after the show that him and his wife went to, and his band was playing. And Steven got up and did some songs with the guys and he was so blown away by the kids voice. He was like, hey, you know, give me your number. I want to stay in touch with you. So we flew him up for an audition, you know, probably like, I don't know, I want to see like, maybe less than a year
later. And then, you know, he became our guy. So yeah, that's how
that happened. That's awesome. And I want to see you guys with this new singer. I mean, I don't know if you'd say he's new but I haven't seen you with with Ari yet. So I be Yeah, hopefully you guys. Are you gonna do a tour? I know. You have a couple shows lined up. But
yeah, we're we have a show in Oklahoma on March 25. It's us and Miss Neil the moniker fun? Yeah, that'd be great night. And then the next night we are in Utah, Salt Lake City. And then I'm not sure what the next state is out for that. I know that they're working on a bunch of stuff right now. So it's still kind of trickling in.
Okay, are you sorry, you're gonna release new music as Adler's appetite?
I don't know. I hope so. You know, we've been working on a few things here and there. And then, you know, the produce that we're we're working with at the time. He's out on the road right now. So it's a matter of kind of making schedules work. You know, it's great that we all live in different states, but, you know, technology, you can send files
back. Yeah. So we would definitely like to, I think it's just, you know, kind of a matter of getting everybody back in the same place to kind of put up a stake in the ground and say, Okay, these are the ones we're going to do, but I mean, we demo a ton of stuff.
Okay, that's awesome. Yeah, cuz so I always want to ask this to I was so confused because I love personally, I love the name Adler's appetite. I think it's a badass name. It's perfect. But then he changed it to Adler for a little bit. And then he I think, and then at one point, it was just Steven Adler. So now we're back to Adler's appetite. We're sticking with that because I love that name.
I mean, it's funny because I see it advertised different ways. I'll see it advertised out as appetite. I'll see it advertised and Steven Adler have guns and roses. So to be honest with you, it's my as much of a mystery to me as it is to you how that happens. Okay. All right.
How Steven doing? Is he is he staying sober? I know that's always been a struggle for him. But I know he had got a pretty long streak. staying sober.
Yeah, no, he's doing good man. I actually just talked to him last week. Yeah, he's, uh, he's at home. And he's doing good. He's healthy. He's looking forward to the shows coming up. Because it's been since since I think like the end of October or first week in November was our last show. So we've had, like, you know, three months off, and everybody's itching to get back out there. But he's been playing great, man. I'll tell you what, like, he he doesn't miss a beat man.
Like you will make it wow. It's just like, it's, it's just like muscle memory. It's amazing. You know? So he's still really good.
That's good to hear or not? Are you? Are you sober soon? Or how? Because you have like a six pack? I'm like, I gotta ask you, how do you how do you get a six pack? I've tried to get a six pack my entire life. I've tried all different diets. I've tried vegan keto, I cannot get a six pack. What do you do? What is your workout? What's the trick? How do I do it?
Well, so thank you for saying that. Dude is honestly I really, truly believe it's a balance of diet and exercise, because the diet is just as important as the exercise, you know. And honestly, it is just, there's, there's, there's no magic formula. It's just a lot of hard
work. But I do I really like being in the gym, you know, and I try to I try to go at least a couple of days a week, I try to stay on a schedule, especially when we have shows coming up, you know, so I think a great thing is you want to the abs, it's on one thing to do, like, it's one thing to do sit ups, which is good, you know, but I just really feel like you gotta you gotta get weights in the
mix. Otherwise, the muscles aren't going to grow, you know, so I do a lot of those seated ABS with a weight thing, you know, a lot of cardio, you know, running is good. And then then due to a real healthy diet, I eat pretty stripped down to you know, like,
drink at all. Are you just in moderation or,
Oh, dude, super in moderation these days, you know, like, I enjoy like a glass of wine here and there. You know, it's a Friday night and I'm meeting some friends. You know, I'll have like a drink or two. But honestly, I just I have so much on my plate. I can't do it. Like we did back in the day. You know, I mean, there's just
your back in the day, though. You were crazy. Back in the day.
Oh, man. I was in fact, the faster pussycat broom was eight years.
I mean, yeah, that's when he was that's when he was not so over the Stamey was not sober at that point.
No, not not at that point. Yes. Now and he has Yeah. What, five, six years or something?
Yeah, that seems to be the path that's like, you go really hard. And you literally party like a rock star. And then you have to either cold turkey or at least dial it back a little as you get older.
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, he, he, I think had a health scare. And he just went out. And, you know, he, I think he sounds great. And he looks great. I mean, honestly, I think he's done a really good job. You know, um, but for me, it's like, it's all about moderation. You know, and, and that's just kind of like, that's just kind of like my lifestyle because I have so much going on. I can't afford to wake up hungover and have my day wasted. You know,
right now, it's like, Def Leppard Phil Collins, I think it was a guitar player. Like, he talked about how he you know, he got sober and then he would wake up and then he's like a novel this like time so then that's why I started working out and doing all the martial arts and stuff. He's got like a six pack and he's like, in his 60s, I think. Yeah, he man
and you know who else I'm really impressed with and always have been is, you know, when he got mad, he looks great. He's
like, slash when I just saw slash slash. I was like, these giant biceps. He never had those before. He's like, ripped.
Yeah, it's funny how it changes, right? It's funny that you go from this 360 Almost transformation and, you know, with, I guess, as you'll realize, or at least
right now, and then like you said, the healthcare sometimes that I know Duff had the pancreas thing and like, it was like insanely like Zakk Wylde, it was kind of these things where it's like, if you keep drinking, you're gonna die. And then it's like, okay, well, I don't want to die. So you know, am I like alcohol, but I don't love it that much. So yeah, no, it makes sense.
And, you know, I'm lucky that for me, it never got to that point. I just kind of woke up one day and I was like, You know what, I need to get back in the gym, you take care of myself, you know, because if I want to go out and do this to the physical level that I enjoy doing this, then I really need to take care of myself. Because again, yeah, got some of those videos, man. It's a very physical show.
Yeah, well, I think that's important. Not only just for the physical like running around but like I think part of it is the look of Iran. I mean, if you went out there and you're wearing like Dockers and a button up shirt, like it's not the same that's not Rocky, you gotta like, look the part and look cool. And I mean, you have your sick truth clothing company that I'm sure you're all that's all your clothes that you're wearing and stuff. Is that Is that how I can? Can I get some
of those clothes? I need some cool clothes, I
suppose they're actually sick truth is a clothing company that a buddy of mine has in your Oh, yeah. And he's been really great about, you know, sending me out stuff. And he works actually a lot and got a lot of stuff out to the guys. And that was Cooper's bad. Tommy Henderson and the rest of the guys. So I had a clothing line called Johnny Rico. Okay, the and so I was heavily involved with that for a period of time. I've also done a bunch of design work for different
companies. So I was telling the story the other day. So I was mentioning that I had my hands on a bunch of different little things, you know, yeah. One of them was a bunch of design work that I did for Urban Outfitters. So I done a bunch of designs for those guys. And actually two years in a row had like the best sellers.
Wow, that's great. Yeah. That's cool. So yeah, I think that's a big part of it is the style. And so obviously, you have that that down. That's awesome. Do you have any other future plans for music, like in terms of other bands that you want to play with? Or like forming a supergroup or something like
that? Yeah, I mean, I love to do that. Just because I love staying busy. You know. And, you know, I've met so many awesome people, you know, in the music industry that I think, yeah, that would be a blast put together like a supergroup and go and do stuff. Everybody's so busy, though. Sometimes it's hard to kind of get that together, you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, you know, as far as other bands that I love to play with, I mean, dude,
there's a bunch. And, you know, it's cool, because I get calls for different things. And I always find, like, I, I fall into these, these different projects where, you know, I end up working with an array of people, like, you know, from like, the 80s guys to identify with saliva. Yeah, I help those guys out. They had some shows, and their guitar player, for some reason, couldn't do the show. So I stepped in there. Um, I did a song in a music video with Snoop Dogg of Right, yeah,
which was awesome. I done a lot of work with, like, different people from American Idol and voice. So you know, I was over in Europe doing that for a bit, it was much more on the pop side of things. So I get a really good variety of projects. But I mean, honestly, what I've been focusing on heavily in the past, like, you know, month, two months, is getting out that news, single the cover of what's
on your mind. And then I have a number of other songs I'm going to be releasing this year, and keep getting out original material, keep getting out new stuff. So I'm actually heading back into the studio next week to finish up some mixes for the next release.
Perfect. Okay, well, cool all look for that look for new songs. And like I said, my suggestion, get some like, like DJ ashba and Steven guest on some of your songs. That's, that would be cool to see that. Now I was in each episode with a charity. Is there a charity that you work with? Or that you want to promote here at the end? If people have a few bucks after they buy your song?
Yeah. Well, I mean, in Dallas, I have some good friends who work with paws in the city. So it's a rescue for animals. Honestly, I feel like anything around that animal space. You know, it's like near and
yeah, yeah. So dogs or cats, or both?
I did. I had a little chihuahua 16 and a half years. So you'll see her on my social media. And okay, well, that's a great shot of her at SAR with a spinal tap really case finder, which I love that photo. But yeah, no, she was. She was my sightings were 16 and a half years. Unfortunately, she passed away last July 2020, you know, so, yeah, any kind of like animal charity, you know, I
think is huge. Because, you know, animals don't have a voice, you know, and, you know, so many, you know, either end up in shelters, or, you know, unfortunately, you know, and roaming the streets, and I just think anything that we can do to help them whether it's dogs, cats, whatever, is super admirable, because they can't help themselves. You know,
I agree on a percent. I'll put that in the notes and people can follow you on social media to keep up with all the next songs. Oh, do you have any plans for the next single?
Yeah, yeah, the song is selected, and I'm hoping that the next one will probably be out. I see. Let's see margin probably like end of April 1 of May.
Okay, perfect. I'll look for that. Well, thanks so much, Michael. It's been a blast. You Chuck, thank
you so much.
I'll talk to you later. Okay. Bye. Great stuff from Michael Thomas. I don't know if we'll ever have those six pack abs but a guy can try right so make sure to check out the new song but Michael Thomas follow him and others appetite on social media. Follow me on social media, and your likes, shares and comments on social media on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, all that stuff. They help us all out immensely,
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