I have always been a huge sports fan, but more of the pedestrian and 'homer' sort.

I don't know where I'm rated. I don't pay attention to that. I'm really so just all into my craft. It's not a contest. I try to play the best.

Any musician in any band - for a really good band - you know your part in the band.

By the time Guns n' Roses spent 28 months from 1991 to 1993 touring the 'Use Your Illusion' albums, the tour staff sometimes approached 100 people. We were carrying not only backup girl singers, a horn section, and an extra keyboard player, but also chiropractors, masseuses, a singing coach, and a tattoo artist.

When you're a musician, you are around your peers a lot, like Slipknot and Alice In Chains... you name the band. We're all just kind of friends.

Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that important to me? No. Is it something I've aspired towards? No.

I don't have resentments towards anyone I played with or to the guy who bullied me in the sixth grade. I've worked through it.

I find in my career that I never know what's going to happen in two months.

One of the first 45s I ever bought was the Stooges' 'I Got a Right.' Probably one of my favorite singles, ever.

Playing with Iggy pulled me back in for a while and reminded me of what I love about music.

I saw the Clash in '79 at the Paramount in Seattle, and it changed my whole life.

I'm really not about changing my image.

I'm not Cormac McCarthy, but I can get my point across in a thousand words.

I started playing in punk-rock bands and touring when I was 15, so I missed high school.

Axl's favorite record in 1987 was 'Faith,' by George Michael.

'The Joshua Tree' was the soundtrack of my life when we were making 'Appetite.'

I saw some really amazing stuff with Axl. We worked really well together. We were good friends. And I hope to perhaps have that friendship back one day, although it's not something I wait around for.

You know what's a great song that will be stuck in your head if I say it? 'Single Ladies,' by Beyonce. Killer song.

In rock n' roll, we don't sell records at all like we used to. Yet the artist still has to pay to make records. So you've just got to get out on tour and be smarter about your merchandising.

When the record company pays you an advance, it is just that - an advance. And it's at worse rates than any bank would charge you to pay them back.

I didn't have any work to do, and I had files of my personal and Guns N' Roses financial statements for the previous eight years. I wanted to learn how to read these, but I didn't trust anybody. I just got a lightbulb in my head and said, 'I want to go to school.' That began my journey, taking accountancy and business classes at Seattle.

I went to business school in my thirties.

I think you can tell stories and give perspectives and yet still keep stuff for yourself, too. I keep a lot of my life private, even in a public forum like writing.

When you're in a band, it's a close-knit thing. There's a lot of emotional stuff.