The history of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy is as long and tortured as the album itself, with its approximately 29 layers of guitar and bass. But one key character has told his story: his name’s Kevin Cogill, a.k.a “Skwerl,” and in 2008, he received nine pre-release Chinese Democracy tracks from Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine. He put the songs on Antiquiet, and that’s where the trouble — and his 8,000-word missive about the leak — began.
At 3:00 or so, I got a call from a guy named Fernando Santos, the son of Axl’s manager and primary babysitter Beta Lebeis. He identified himself as someone in the “Guns N’ Roses camp,” and talked tough. He asked if I had put up some Guns N’ Roses tracks. I said I had. He asked if I was going to put them back up. I said sorry, I don’t think I can. I was being a smartass, as if he was a fan wanting to hear the tracks. He told me I shouldn’t. I blew him off and he hang up. (Via)
Not sure why Cogill is telling his story now, but better late than never, unlike Chinese Democracy, which better never.
Read the whole thing here.
Banner via Getty Image, via Antiquiet
