Former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Aaron North recently spoke with Appetite for Distortion about Axl Rose sending a cease and desist letter around 1998, when Aaron and Travis Keller co-founded the music website and record label Buddyhead Records and wrote reviews for ‘GN’R.’ According to the guitarist: “I received Axl’s – or his camp’s – cease and desist letter sent to me. This was twenty years ago, when I had my own record label, and there was this website and whatnot where we would post music reviews.” He went on to explain the Guns N’ Roses members’ misconceptions and clarified their stance as Buddyhead at the time: “I think what the Guns N’ Roses people missed at the time was that where I was coming from, where we were coming from, was from a place of people who were huge fans.” I guess Axl and his pals didn’t take it that way at times, thinking we were simply making fun of them all the time or whatever.” North also stated that they were not deliberately looking for Guns N’ Roses’ flaws, but were rather presented with material by persons who had a conflict with the band: “For instance, I have all of the ‘Chinese Democracy’ songs.
Isn’t it the late 1990s, twenty years ago? And it wasn’t because we did anything wrong, but people would constantly give it to us, send it to us, and volunteer everything to us. Or it could be someone who was fired from that camp or over there, depending on the situation. And perhaps because they were upset with someone, they would say, ‘Oh, I know. I’ll provide the items to the Buddyhead men, and they’ll be aware.'” He also highlighted their genuine aims and what ‘GN’R’ missed: “What I don’t think the Guns N’ Roses camp realized was that we weren’t spreading it.” Aaron North isn’t the only person to whom Axl Rose has issued a cease and desist letter. In 2012, he attempted to have a photograph removed from photographer Laura London’s exhibition ‘Once Upon A Time… Axl Rose Was My Neighbour’ because it was judged ‘outrageous, untrue, contrived, and highly defamatory.’ Rose submitted a cease and desist letter to Google in 2016 demanding that the memes created with his images from 2010 when he was overweight be removed. Despite the fact that the images were taken by Winnipeg Free Press employees, Axl claimed that he was the lawful copyright owner. The entire interview is available below.
