The musician who was “Yoko Ono” of Guns N’ Roses, according to Matt Sorum

The instrumentalist in question is credited as “the guy who broke up the band”; Slash and Duff McKagan, to varying degrees, agree

It’s up for debate whether the label is right or not, but because of what happened with Beatlesthe name of Yoko Ono came to be understood as synonymous with “someone who destroys bands”. And this curious title has already been given to a person who would be responsible for carrying it Guns N’ Roses in the classical period, in the mid-nineties.

Just as in the case of Liverpool’s Fab Four, it is unfair to blame a single individual for the breakup of the GN’R musicians. For a variety of reasons, the group had been exhausted for a long time and had lost two members: the drummer Steve Adlerin 1990, and the guitarist Izzy Stradlinthe following year – until the final implosion.

Months after the end of the exhausting publicity tour of Use your illusionin 1993, the group released an album of covers recorded over three years: The spaghetti incident?. It was the first and only work recorded with the guitarist Gilby Clarkewho replaced Stradlin. His contract expired in 1995 and was not renewed. In his place, the singer Axl Rose brought a childhood friend, Paolo “Huge” Tobias – who ended up being credited as Yoko Ono of Guns N’ Roses.

But before that, in October 1994, Tobias was already involved in GN’R. While Clarke was away promoting his inaugural solo album – Pawnshop Guitars, which featured all members of the band – the group was rounded out by Rose, the guitarist Barthe bass player Duff McKaganthe drummer Matt Sorum and the keyboard player Dizzying rod collaborated with “Huge” to record a cover of “Sympathy for the Devil”classic by Rolling Stones. The reinterpretation would be used in the film’s soundtrack. Interview with the vampirepublished the following month.

Slash, in particular, was already in conflict with Rose not only because he did not agree with Clarke’s firing, but also because many of his compositions had been rejected by the singer. This material ended up being used by the guitarist It’s five o’clock somewhere (1995), the project’s first album Slash’s Snake Pit.

However, the relationship sours once and for all during the “Sympathy for the Devil”. The iconic top-hatted musician didn’t get along with Paul Tobias. In his 2007 autobiography, Slash says the recording has “the sound of a band breaking up”.

In a 2002 interview with Classic rock (go Distant), Duff McKagan offers more details:

“The song was going in a completely permissive direction for Axl’s friend [Huge]. Also, Axl just brought him in and told us, “this is our new guitarist.” There was no democracy there. That’s when Slash really started saying, “What the fuck, this is his band now?” It was ridiculous. I would go to the studio to start rehearsals at 10pm and Axl would show up at 4 or 5 in the morning. Something like this happened a few years ago.”

More directly, Matt Sorum defined his colleague as follows in a 2001 interview with Q magazine:

“Ahh, I like to call him ‘Yoko Ono from Guns N’ Roses’ [risos]. The guy who broke up the band. You [entrevistador] He’s the first one who made me say it. So I guess Axl’s lawyers will get back to you. [risos]”

The departures of Guns N’ Roses

Paul “Huge” Tobias had a strange connection with Guns N’ Roses. He was inside and outside at the same time. In 1995 the band also auditioned to have Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black label society etc.) as second guitarist, but the musician himself says in subsequent interviews that the situation has calmed down, since nothing happened in the group.

In the end Tobias stayed. This earned Slash an ultimatum to Axl Rose. In 1996, the guitarist told the singer: “either him, or me.” Incredible as it may seem, the musician with the top hat has lost his arm wrestling. His departure was made official in October of the mentioned year, with the vacant position filled by Robin Finck (Nine inch nails).

Who had advised Finck? Interestingly, Matt Sorum was not to replace Slash but as a second guitarist. And it wasn’t long before the drummer came out; or better yet, get fired. The reason? A discussion with Rose about… Paul Tobias. In a 2001 interview with Lawrence Journal-WorldSorum said:

“In [abril de] In 1997 I argued with Axl about the state of the band. He brought along another guitarist, Paul Huge, and none of us really wanted to play with him. Axl really wanted him in the band, but we didn’t really want to play with him.”

Faced with such dismantling, Duff McKagan left his position as Guns N’ Roses bassist in August 1997. The musician had become a father and was upset with the way the band operated at the time. In his autobiography he states:

“Guns had been paying studio rent for three years – from 1994 to 1997 – and still didn’t have a single song. The whole operation was so erratic that it didn’t seem to fit with my hopes for fatherhood and stability.”

Sorum’s place was immediately filled by Josh Freesemultiband drummer who is now part Foo Fighters. In turn, McKagan took McKagan’s place Tommy Stinsonmember of The substitutions. Only Axl Rose and Dizzy Reed remained from the classic period and until 2016, when Slash and Duff returned, the lineup underwent several changes.

Axl Rose on Paul Tobias

To this day we do not have Paul Tobias’ version of the events of the mid-1990s. The guitarist only remained in the band until 2002, a year after his new debut on the big stages with a show at. Rock in Rio. Both during this period and subsequently he did not grant interviews. He has disappeared from the music industry, although he has received credit for compositions released by Guns N’ Roses, including “recent” ones “Hard school” AND “Perhaps”dating back to the turn of the century, but made available in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

However, Axl Rose — another who gives virtually no interviews — made a rare public statement in 2002 to talk about his childhood friend. The speech is present in the press release of a tour that year, already under the name of Chinese democracyan album that would only be released in 2008.

In the statement, Rose explains that she brought Tobias to GN’R with the intention of helping the band in the studio. He says:

“The audience was told a different story than the other guys – Slash, Duff, Matt – who have their own goals. The original intentions between me and Paul were that Paul would help me as long as I needed to solve everything, in whatever “He could help me. So when he first got involved in this, he was brought in as a songwriter, to work with Slash. At that time, these guys never found a name.

Also in the text, Axl said he had looked for other guitar options to work with Slash. However, none of them worked.

“Paul was one of the best approachable people we knew and he could complement Slash’s style. You could bring in a better guitar player than Paul. You could bring in a monster. I tried to put Zakk Wylde with Slash and it didn’t work. It worked. It brought out some interesting things in Slash, but it was a different approach that ended up being underwhelming and didn’t bring out the best in Slash and would have worked some songs riff or something genre that would accentuate or encourage Slash’s leadership.”

Finally, Rose pointed out that Tobias was not a member of Guns N’ Roses at the time. It was also unclear whether he would participate in any other recordings.

“Now, whether Paul was going to officially be on the album or the tour, that wasn’t really a consideration at the time. It was up in the air as a possibility, but Paul was a friend trying to help us and had a great deal of respect for Slash. He’s a good man and that’s the reality behind things. It doesn’t change what happened with the old Guns. I feel like some of the recordings we made in that limited period of time were some of the best Slash has done, at least since . Illusion. I was there. I know what I heard and it was very moving.”

+++ READ ALSO: How crazy it was to play with Guns N’ Roses in the 90s, according to Matt Sorum

+++ READ ALSO: Axl Rose’s best bands of all time

Source: Terra

Earl

Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.