Rob Gardner (far right) interview:
So, Axl was singing for L.A. Guns, and then Izzy came in. Then our bass player from L.A. Guns kinda wasn’t working out, so Izzy suggested Duff [McKagan].
I think Izzy had come up with the name, and said, “Hey, that’s perfect! Hollywood Rose-L.A. Guns – Guns N’ Roses!”
So, we all obviously thought that was cool. But for me and Tracii, on the other hand, we got our bass player replaced with Duff – which isn’t a bad thing because Duff is a great guy and he’s a great player.
[Duff] had more of an image and kind of just fit our style better. Ole [Beich] was much more of a Heavy Metal player.
That being said, the whole name change came around. You know, me, Tracii, and Raz had worked so hard and put all this money into that name and really had a buzz going and everything. And it was like, “Well, why change that? It’s kind of a risk to change it.”
Like all of the sudden, that whole L.A. Guns thing just disappeared into thin air, and now it’s Guns N’ Roses; which kind of happens all the time in music, I get it.
But when you have something going and it was your baby, and then all of the sudden you have two more big influences that are trying to take more control and change the name and change the members.
So, me and Tracii were a little bit like – not that we didn’t like it because it was cool and it was working – I think there just was that whole control factor I think that kind of got overtaken.
So, for me and Tracii, I think it was a little more bitter. There weren’t any big fights or anything, I’m just saying that I think we were both in the back of our minds like, “What’s going on?”
Then the drugs really started.
Though his name has been relegated to a mere footnote in the annals of Rock ‘N’ Roll history over the years, Rob Gardner proved to be an int
