DJ Ashba Says He Played All Rhythm Guitar on Motley Crue’s ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ Album
Former Guns N' Roses member and founding Sixx: A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba said he played all the rhythm guitar on Motley Crue's Saints of Los Angeles.
The admission came Jan. 5 during an interview with the musician on Sirius XM's Trunk Nation, the show hosted by rock radio personality Eddie Trunk. During their conversation, talk turned to contributions Ashba has made as a session player, often without credit.
"Motley," the guitarist piped up, referring to the 2008 Crue album, when Trunk asked him about his past session work, including those so-called "ghost" sessions performing uncredited for other artists.
"I played all the rhythms on it," Ashba added of Saints of Los Angeles, as Blabbermouth reported. "But [Motley Crue guitarist] Mick [Mars] was awesome. Mick was actually in the hospital at the time."
Saints of Los Angeles was Motley Crue's first album with their original lineup in the decade since 1997's Generation Swine. But in the album's liner notes, Ashba is listed as a co-producer alongside Crue bassist and Sixx: A.M. frontman Nikki Sixx, as well as an additional engineer, with no mention of other contributions.
In the same Trunk interview, Ashba — who joined Guns N' Roses as guitarist in 2009 but left the band before founding GNR guitarist Slash's 2016 return — was asked if he ever submitted any original material to Guns N' Roses for consideration by singer Axl Rose.
"I attempted," Ashba said. "By nature, I'm a songwriter-producer, so of course I'm going to keep writing."
The musician, who turns 50 later this year, estimated he wrote "eight to 10 [songs] with Guns in mind, but a lot of them were too Appetite [for Destruction] sounding."
Ashba has also worked with rock bands such as Drowning Pool, Beautiful Creatures and BulletBoys. He's additionally backed singers like Neil Diamond, Marion Raven and Aimee Allen. Sixx: A.M., which he formed with Sixx in 2007, is now on an indefinite hiatus.
This summer, Motley Crue plan to mount their already twice postponed Stadium Tour. Singer Vince Neil recently returned to performing after falling and breaking his ribs during a solo show. Crue recently sold the rights to their song catalog for $150 million.