Ex-Guns N' Roses drummer seeks rehab, and his old job

[FunkyMonkey]

Ex-Guns N'Roses drummer seeks rehab, and his old job

Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:41pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler pleaded no contest on Friday to a heroin possession charge in the hopes of avoiding jail time by entering a treatment program, officials said.

Adler, 43, who was fired from the band over drug problems in 1990, also hopes to reunite with his old bandmates, said his attorney, Barry Gerald Sands.

"When he gets sober they'll accept him into the band and then they'll do a comeback album and a world tour, that's the dream of Steven Adler," Sands told Reuters, after an upbeat Adler entered his plea in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A representative from Guns N' Roses could not immediately be reached for comment.

Guns N' Roses on November 23 will release the long awaited album "Chinese Democracy," a project lead singer Axl Rose has shepherded through a revolving cast of musicians for years.

Adler is scheduled to appear in court on December 12 to determine if he is eligible for drug treatment instead of jail.

If Adler enters drug treatment, his misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance will be dismissed, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said.

Adler was arrested in Los Angeles on July 18, after someone called police to report he was causing a disturbance.

He appeared this year on the reality television show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" during an earlier attempt to get off drugs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE4AE05X20081115

[kupirock]

Ex-Guns N'Roses drummer seeks rehab, and his old job

"When he gets sober they'll accept him into the band and then they'll do a comeback album and a world tour, that's the dream of Steven Adler,"

Now that's funny, it's been 18 years and this crackhead still keeps dreaming

[CheapJon]

^that's just so fucking sad

[Guitar1281]

It would be better if he cleaned up and stopped holding on to the past, then i could see him working with at least Slash in some capacity, all the other members of the original line up don't dwell on the past so i don't see them wanting to work with a person dwelling on their past.

[Smoking Guns]

It would be better if he cleaned up and stopped holding on to the past, then i could see him working with at least Slash in some capacity, all the other members of the original line up don't dwell on the past so i don't see them wanting to work with a person dwelling on their past.

Its sad, its all the guy has.  In his prime he was a fantastic drummer.

[efish]

"When he gets sober they'll accept him into the band and then they'll do a comeback album and a world tour, that's the dream of Steven Adler," Sands told Reuters, after an upbeat Adler entered his plea in Los Angeles Superior Court.

This had me  .... delusional, much?

[Jim Bob]

Steven really really needs to let go of his past.    He can't live his life based on being drummer in GnR for a few years.    He isn't going to fix himself until he moves on.

[D]

Dude was one of the best and most underrated drummers of all time.

The shit he did on AFD, I haven't heard too many outdo that.

[AxlsMainMan]

I agree, he really was an outstanding drummer.

[D]

Steven gets a lot of flack because if u look at old videos, he seems like an 80's dude. The rest of the band don't but Steven really fits that hair metal type of stigma.

[lynn1961]

Steven gets a lot of flack because if u look at old videos, he seems like an 80's dude. The rest of the band don't but Steven really fits that hair metal type of stigma.

Well, he is an 80's dude!   Remains that way!  Which is interesting.  I've been watching this show, for the first time ever, just because Adler's on it. (other than that, I look at it as just another campy reality show with third rate celebrities - never watched it before because of that, but hey - Adler's there - so I watch it    - but I do).   

In one way, I have a new respect for the man, because I see him for who he is.  He seems like a very caring and real person.  Never saw that aspect of him before.  I like him better, for what I've seen.  However, I just want to say - the man needs help.  He's been blaming his problems on his mother kicking him out to the streets when he was 11.  Hmmm....at this point, without knowing anything else...I'm not so sure about that.   I think there's more to that story than what "meets the eye", so to speak. 

I'm sure that some of his angst stems from that.  However, I think a lot of his angst comes from his being "outed" from GnR, which Dr. Drew hasn't even touched on yet.  Not to trivialize things, but I think that's his main issue for why he is like he is.

Bottom line, no matter what and God love him...he's like a kid!         

[Jim Bob]

Dude was one of the best and most underrated drummers of all time.

The shit he did on AFD, I haven't heard too many outdo that.

you're right, he was one of the best, but he pissed it away.

what kind of person clings on to 20 years ago?

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you lived it based on the hope of re-living what happened 20 years ago?   

[Jim Bob]

I'm sure that some of his angst stems from that.  However, I think a lot of his angst comes from his being "outed" from GnR, which Dr. Drew hasn't even touched on yet.

He shouldn't have to get into that.   Everyone has moved on from 1990.   He needs to focus on 2008 and not killing himself.    He knows why he was kicked out of the band, and dwelling on it and continuing to let it consume your life will only make things worse.

[Jim Bob]

"When he gets sober they'll accept him into the band and then they'll do a comeback album and a world tour, that's the dream of Steven Adler," Sands told Reuters, after an upbeat Adler entered his plea in Los Angeles Superior Court.

This had me  .... delusional, much?

seriously.     He must be really bad on drugs still. 

GnR has TWO drummers available who are both far superior.    We don't need a third.    Even if he was sober, why would Axl take him back?   

[JuicySwoos]

I watched that Celebrity Rehab because I was curious, and man is this guy a joke.  Even if he does get clean and stays clean.... his brain is fried to the point he will always be a professional liablity and a circus act  and it would be insane if Axl or any former gunner would ever have anything to do with him on a grand scale.  It is like his addiction stopped his maturation process in 1988 and he still acts like a 20 year old.  No reunion buddy, start a band with Gary Busey instead.

Not to mention he did not even write a lick of the classic guns material, which probably contributes to his inablity to move on.  Slash, Duff, and Izzy are all accomplished songwriters, and can start new bands or solo projects.  If you are a member who contributes only from a performance standpoint, you'd better have a reputation of being professional (sorum, bumblefoot, fortus), or no one is going to want anything to do with you.

[wadey]

shame he cant pull himself together...........i met him in 2005 and seemed to be getting back on course, he was touring and doing quite well at the time.
get well soon mate 

[Butch Français]

that seems too much like a fantasy. but Im sure it's a good way to make the judge be more sympathetic and have hope that he might actually sober up. I really don't hope Steve himself is actually hoping for thihs.

[D]

Don't let Popcorn hear CD

IF he does, he will know that its never gonna happen.

[IzzyDutch]

Don't let Popcorn hear CD

IF he does, he will know that its never gonna happen.

Well maybe it'll get his hopes up, since CD sucks

I'm getting the impression after reading other non-GN'R related messageboards and Dutch national newspapers and sites that CD isn't that well recieved.

I only like a few songs, Scraped, Catcher, TWAT and Rhiad. But probably not enough to be still listening to those songs in a month from now. Imo the songs are overproduced, too much unneccisary lines that take away from the songs's base and makes the songs a drag to listen too. Vocals are good, but the backing band sounds soulless to me. Also there are way to many soppy same-old ballads and to few rockers.

However VR's two albums didn't impress me hugely either, so I'll just keep listening to Izzy's stuff and Duff's Loaded which I like aswell.

[chineseblues]

Don't let Popcorn hear CD

IF he does, he will know that its never gonna happen.

Well maybe it'll get his hopes up, since CD sucks

I'm getting the impression after reading other non-GN'R related messageboards and Dutch national newspapers and sites that CD isn't that well recieved.

Well your wrong. It's getting rave reviews across the globe, just read the review thread on the main board. This thing is being heralded as the greatest album of the last 10 years.

[IzzyDutch]

Don't let Popcorn hear CD

IF he does, he will know that its never gonna happen.

Well maybe it'll get his hopes up, since CD sucks

I'm getting the impression after reading other non-GN'R related messageboards and Dutch national newspapers and sites that CD isn't that well recieved.

Well your wrong. It's getting rave reviews across the globe, just read the review thread on the main board. This thing is being heralded as the greatest album of the last 10 years.

I'm not convinced yet.. but we'll see

[CheapJon]

pretty cool that CD can sell gold in holland in a few hours when it's according to you not wellrecieved there

[D]

That because he and two of his friends probably hate it which constitutes all of the world.

[IzzyDutch]

pretty cool that CD can sell gold in holland in a few hours when it's according to you not wellrecieved there

Yeah I read that, but the reviews I've read in Dutch newspapers and news sites weren't that positive, I wasn't speaking for the rest of the country. I think when it comes to that the majority of the sales is just hype, curiousity..

My impression after reading some reviews, wether it's newspaper/internet/messageboard is that the die-hard GN'R fans like it, but the 'casual' GN'R fan doesn't really.

[Alfie Bones]

"Casual" fans also listen to dogshit bands like Nickelback and Trapt.

Axl and the band are happy, the fans who go to their concerts are happy, who cares?

[Jdog0830]

I seriously dout that Axl would even conciter it cus theres serious friction between those 2

[Dead N' Bloated]

Found a video of Steven talking about Dimebag the night after he died. Is he high in this clip or is it just how he is now? Well 3 years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ82xB1HOa8&feature=related


 

[Olorin]

Found a video of Steven talking about Dimebag the night after he died. Is he high in this clip or is it just how he is now? Well 3 years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ82xB1HOa8&feature=related


 

He actually seems very drunk rather than wasted, with his speech impediment it seems a lot worse.

He doesnt seem any different to any drunken person attempting to express themselves coherantly, when they have had one to many.

[Dead N' Bloated]

Found a video of Steven talking about Dimebag the night after he died. Is he high in this clip or is it just how he is now? Well 3 years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ82xB1HOa8&feature=related


 

He actually seems very drunk rather than wasted, with his speech impediment it seems a lot worse.

He doesnt seem any different to any drunken person attempting to express themselves coherantly, when they have had one to many.

I just watched the other video under it and he is pulling cones in it. So I think he is a little of both.


 

[Olorin]

No doubt he will be on some over the counter prescrictions as well, the man a walking pharmacy.

[Grouse]

pretty cool that CD can sell gold in holland in a few hours when it's according to you not wellrecieved there

Izzydutch is telling the truth, most reviews over here were pretty negative and as for the whole gold thing?, those things mean shit in this country. You have to sell 25.000(single) or 30.000(album) units to get to gold status and that's not really a hard thing to do in a country with 16.5 million people.

[CheapJon]

i'm not doubting that it gets slammed in the press, i'm saying it's impressive that it can sell 30,000 in a couple of hours

[Grouse]

Oh I agree that's impressive  , just don't get to impressed by the whole gold status thing because that doesn't mean to much over here. When it goes 2x platinum that would be impressive!

[IzzyDutch]

Bedankt Grouse

[ThatGuy]

i think they should bring back adler and let him stand next to axl during AFD songs and perform cowbell.

[Dead N' Bloated]

i think they should bring back adler and let him stand next to axl during AFD songs and perform cowbell.

  You goose. 

I think he is always going to be a former member with his own band. I really cant see Him n Axl on stage again ever. Maybe Im wrong but I just cant se it.


 

[Jim Bob]

I really cant see Him n Axl on stage again ever. Maybe Im wrong but I just cant se it.


 

No you're right.   Unless of course you count tribute band singers dressed up like Axl. 

[R.B. Huckleberry]

Adler has had 18 years to clean up. Now that he's looking at jail time, he wants to clean up & re-conquer the world with GNR.


I hate junkies. You know what I hate even more? the guys who clean up...or appear to clean up...because now it's gonna be jail & that's inconvenient.


Do your time, Steven. learn something.

[FunkyMonkey]

Judge Orders Former GUNS N' ROSES Drummer STEVEN ADLER To More Rehab - Dec. 19, 2008

According to Newsday.com, a court commissioner in Los Angeles agreed Friday to place former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler in a state-sanctioned drug rehabilitation program and keep Adler out of prison.

Adler's court appearance came a day after TV audiences watched him graduate from a drug-treatment program that is the focus of VH1's show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew".

Adler missed a court appearance last week, but told the court on Friday that he had been in another rehab program that he completed just earlier in the day.

Read more from Newsday.com.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=111190

[Selene Papillon]

Steven really really needs to let go of his past.    He can't live his life based on being drummer in GnR for a few years.    He isn't going to fix himself until he moves on.

True. He did a great job on AFD, but I can?t imagine him being in Gn?R now.

[malacabeza]

When time comes to give GN'R a place at the Rock'nRoll Hall of Fame,there will be no other than the originals playing in that stage,maybe for one night only but Steve your dream will come through,Bro.   

[Jim Bob]

When time comes to give GN'R a place at the Rock'nRoll Hall of Fame,there will be no other than the originals playing in that stage,maybe for one night only but Steve your dream will come through,Bro.   

Thats not what Axl said

[D]

GNR of yesterday will be there. If Axl doesn't want to do it, Im sure they will grab Chester or somebody to do a couple songs with them.

I think for one night, everything should be put aside for a couple songs. 

[chineseblues]

GNR of yesterday will be there. If Axl doesn't want to do it, Im sure they will grab Chester or somebody to do a couple songs with them.

They are no longer in GNR so they have no right to represent the band there with someone else other then Axl. If he does not want to play with them, he should play with the band he has at the time of the event.

[D]

GNR of yesterday will be there. If Axl doesn't want to do it, Im sure they will grab Chester or somebody to do a couple songs with them.

They are no longer in GNR so they have no right to represent the band there with someone else other then Axl. If he does not want to play with them, he should play with the band he has at the time of the event.

Those guys won't be in the hall of fame. The Hall of Fame will recognize the original lineup I am sure and maybe Dizzy/Matt Sorum. If he doesn't want to do it, they will do like Van Halen when they refused,t hey will get some bullshit whatever to perform and that would suck.

[Buddha_Master]

Axl should just agree to stand on stage with the old gnr. Then say thank you to everyone. But, before walking off, he should turn to Slash and punch him right in his fucking face and kick his ass like he said that he would..

[Izzy]

Poor Steven, its very sad that he still is an addicted after all these years

...and heroin of all things

Its incredible he is still alive

Its also very sad he believes in a reunion - the guy needs to move on

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Axl should just agree to stand on stage with the old gnr. Then say thank you to everyone. But, before walking off, he should turn to Slash and punch him right in his fucking face and kick his ass like he said that he would..

Axl's been kicking his ass since '96.

[erose]

Is it so that just because gn'r is eligible to get inducted they will get recognized right away?

I mean, if Axl wait with the induction seremony a few years, which i think he could and should, the new band will have done more than enough so they could go and do the thing with honor and pride. NOT taking anything from the old guys wich would of course also be recognised.

How does bands usually handle this usually done in similar situations?

Didn't Van Halen's induction sturn out pretty bad? All I remember fram that show was a fuckin' horrible disaster of cover Ain't talkin bout love.  Poor Van Hale, what a joke that was.

I hope to god gn'r doesn't fall in the same trap so to speak. It's cool to know that they're eligible and all and even cooler that they don't really want the "award", but no matter what: This is not the time in my opinion.

[D]

Bands have no say about the Hall of Fame.

Members inducted are ones that are said to contribute to the band's success the most.

For example, Gary Cherone didn't get inducted in the Hall of Fame with Van Halen cause he wasn't considered an integral part of their success.
same with the new members of GNR, maybe by 2012 things will change, but as of right now, it would be the original band with maybe Dizzy/Sorum but I'm not even sure cause they don't really have any significant writing credits.

[Falcon]

A similar situation happened with Blondie a few years ago, details can be found here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/13/entertainment/main1397573.shtml

"Blondie's induction was unusually ugly. The band reformed in 1999 behind leaders Deborah Harry and Chris Stein but left out members Frank Infante, Nigel Harrison and Gary Valentine. Infante and Harrison sued unsuccessfully to rejoin.

They all stood onstage uncomfortably Monday before Infante pleaded with Harry to let the outcasts perform one more time with Blondie.

"Debbie, are we allowed?" Infante said.

She curtly refused, and Infante groaned loudly before leaving the stage. The now red-haired Harry seemed alternately crestfallen and angry as she performed the band's hits "Heart of Glass," "Rapture" and "Call Me."

"They wrote themselves out of the band history, as far as I'm concerned," Stein said later backstage. "They should have a little bit of honor. This is supposed to be rock 'n' roll. This is supposed to be friendly. This is like going through the trenches together."

[Jim Bob]

Bands have no say about the Hall of Fame.

Members inducted are ones that are said to contribute to the band's success the most.

For example, Gary Cherone didn't get inducted in the Hall of Fame with Van Halen cause he wasn't considered an integral part of their success.
same with the new members of GNR, maybe by 2012 things will change, but as of right now, it would be the original band with maybe Dizzy/Sorum but I'm not even sure cause they don't really have any significant writing credits.

Dizzy does

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

The Hall of Fame is a sham anyway.

[GNR4L]

It doesn't seem that Axl would go to the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame when it happens.  I would really like to see, the new guy's be there but I don't the other so called fanbase would.  Adler's wants his job back... well I it won't happen there's a reason he got fired, if they let him back in hypothetically he would continue with this drug habits.  Adler buddy quit living in the past and take care of yourself.

[ecwfan]

It reminds me of the Credence Clearwater Revival/John Fogerty deal. CCR's original members wanted to play but Fogerty refused and said the only way he'd play is with his new band behind him. One of the members of CCR said it best and claimed it was disgraceful and that he'd never forgive Fogerty for ruining the moment. I believe it was suggest John perform a song or 2 with them ....then his new band and he shot it down.

[GNR4L]

Ultimately of course the Old Guns are what made the band successful, but who know's in a couple years how Chinese Democracy will do ?  It could be that both bands be their respectively and play with both.  I just don't see Axl going anyway, doesn't seem like his type of thing.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Ultimately of course the Old Guns are what made the band successful, but who know's in a couple years how Chinese Democracy will do ?  It could be that both bands be their respectively and play with both.  I just don't see Axl going anyway, doesn't seem like his type of thing.

Look what happened after he went in '94.  Homeboy didn't show his face in public for years after that!