Road Crew (band)
Early band of future Guns N' Roses members.
Road Crew was a short-lived American garage band based in Los Angeles, formed near the end of 1983. Its members—Slash, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan—would later become famous as part of Guns N' Roses. The trio wrote songs and tried out several singers, but they never found a permanent vocalist. The group broke up later that year without releasing any music.
After Guns N' Roses fired Adler in 1990, he joined the band Vain in 1991. That same year, Vain changed its name to Road Crew. The new lineup included Vain members Davy Vain, Ashley Mitchell, Jamie Scott, and Shawn Rorie. They recorded an album and attracted interest from a record label. However, Adler's ongoing drug problems caused the band to fall apart again, and the album was never released.
- Formed
- late 1983
- Origin
- Los Angeles, California, United States
- Genre
- garage band
- Years active
- 1983 (first incarnation); 1991 (second incarnation)
- Notable members
- Slash, Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Davy Vain, Ashley Mitchell, Jamie Scott, Shawn Rorie
Lore & Background
Road Crew was formed in late 1983 after Slash's previous group Tidus Sloan broke up. Slash and childhood friend Steven Adler decided to form a band together, placing an ad in The Recycler for a bass player. Duff McKagan, who had moved from Seattle to Los Angeles after playing in The Fartz, Fastbacks, and 10 Minute Warning, answered the ad and met Slash and Adler at Canter's Deli. The trio named themselves Road Crew after the Motörhead song and began auditioning singers, including Ron Reyes of Black Flag. They worked on material that included the main riff to what would become 'Rocket Queen,' though no Road Crew material was used until the Use Your Illusion albums. Slash disbanded the group due to not finding a singer and Adler's constant partying and lack of work ethic.
Reader's Guide
Road Crew is significant primarily as the first collaboration between Slash, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan, who would later form the classic lineup of Guns N' Roses. Though the band never released any material, their brief existence in 1983 laid the groundwork for one of the most successful rock bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The second incarnation in 1991, formed after Adler's firing from Guns N' Roses, featured former members of Vain and recorded an album that was never released due to Adler's drug problems. Six songs from those sessions later appeared on Vain albums. Road Crew's legacy is tied to the early careers of its members and the what-if of a band that never officially released music.
Did You Know?
- The band was named after the Motörhead song '(We Are) The Road Crew'.
- They auditioned Ron Reyes, who was briefly the singer for Black Flag.
- The main riff to what became 'Rocket Queen' was written during Road Crew's first incarnation.
- Six songs from the 1991 Road Crew sessions were later released on three Vain albums.
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