The Eagles Of Death Metal are The Darkness that it's OK to like, mostly because their singer doesn't have a face like a badger's testicle and their songs aren't all about how funny genitals are – but try telling that to Guns N' Roses.
Right now Guns N' Roses are on a three-week tour of America, where they'll try and convince a number of people that they exist before they release that album of theirs that's been put off forever. When the tour was announced, The Eagles Of Death Metal were down as the band's support act – a set-up that only lasted for one show and ended with an arena full of confused, possibly heavily mulleted rednecks and a fairly narked Axl Rose calling the band The Pigeons Of Shit Metal. Clever boy, our Axl.
More than anything, Guns N' Roses are famous for three things. 1) Having a guitarist who wore a top hat, 2) having a guitarist who wore an upturned KFC bucket on his head and 3) being the tubby ginger metal band that the angry fat kid with premature BO in your class at school liked. But there's more to Guns N' Roses than just that. For instance, Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose hates fashion designers so much that he'll fight them if he sees them; and that's a plaudit that probably stretches to semi-ironic metal bands like The Eagles Of Death Metal, who Axl Rose kicked off their tour after just one show on Friday for possibly being a little bit fruity. Billboard reports:
Following a well-received set by tour opener Sebastian Bach Friday night (Nov. 24) at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the Eagles took the stage and, according to John Soeder, pop critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the band was met with "not deafening boos, but lots of grumbling and grousing and … indifference." After a two-hour wait for the headliners, Rose came out and promptly dissed the Eagles, asking the audience, "So how'd you like the Pigeons Of Shit Metal? Don't worry, that's the last show they're playing with us." And, just like that, the Eagles were tossed out of the nest.
Who knows why the Cleveland audience geared up for the blunt overwrought sincerity of the 45-minute solo in the middle of November Rain didn't appreciate the Eagles of Death Metal and their tunes like Whorepoppin' and Ballad Of Queen Bee And Baby Duck, but we get the feeling that if Axl Rose put half as much time into finally releasing his long-awaited $13 million album as he does into thinking up semi-amusing names for ironic metal bands, then the world would probably be a better place. As ever, The Eagles Of Death Metal don't seem to mind about being kicked off the Guns N' Roses tour, and released this statement:
"At first the audience refused to welcome us to the jungle, but by the
time we took our final bow, it had become paradise city. Although Axl tried to November rain on our parade, no sweet child o' mine can derail the EODM night train. We say live and let die."
Come to think of it, The Eagles Of Death Metal probably got off lightly by just being asked to leave a tour. After all, it's been a while since Axl Rose gnawed on someone's leg, so the Eagles should probably count their blessings.
Read more:
Eagles Of Death Metal Laugh Off Axl Rose's Ohio Rant – Blabbermouth