Michael Schenker Speaks Up on Working With Axl Rose, Explains Why GN’R Singer ‘Wasn’t Happy’ About His Recent Studio Performance

“He is a perfectionist, I have noticed.”

According to guitar virtuoso Michael Schenker, Axl Rose is a “perfectionist” and wouldn’t just let anything go on a record.

The two got the chance to collaborate while recording Schenker’s upcoming album “My Years With UFO,” which also features a bunch of other guests, including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. This sort of a career retrospective album features some of the songs that Michael recorded with legendary UFO. It’s slated for September 20 release and was done with support of Schenker’s producer Michael Voss.

While appearing on a recent episode of the Appetite for Distortion podcast, Michael Schenker discussed this album and how two Guns N’ Roses members ended up on it. He offered (via Blabbermouth):

“Slash — I was always interested in doing something with him, but I guess when Michael [Voss] first approached him that we’re doing the best of UFO and read him the song titles, he was for it. And when we met in the Frankfurt recording studio, we were both going jam there to ‘Mother Mary.’ And I had my technician there and my amplifier, and Slash brought his guys and his amplifier, and actually Slash ended up playing with my amplifier.”

As Michael adds, the process took a slightly different direction, which impacted how they approached Slash’s parts. He explained:

“And we were supposed to do a jam, but then I realized, ‘Hey, Michael [Voss], I already put all my guitars down. Why we are wasting time doing additional stuff. I already like what I did.’ So I was more into focusing on Slash and getting great takes and add them to what I already had done. And Slash liked that idea.”

Bringing in Slash first was actually how Axl got involved. According to Schenker, it was pretty simple, as he offered:

“And then also, when he came in, he said, ‘Michael, I just told Axl that I was going to do this, and that I’m on my way to do this. And he said, ‘I wanna sing a song too.” And I said to Slash, ‘That would be fantastic. Ask Axl which song he would like to do.’ And so actually Axl ended up singing ‘Too Hot to Handle,’ ‘Only You Can Rock Me,’ and ‘Love to Love.'”

However, as the guitarist also adds, Rose wasn’t entirely happy with all of the performances. The reason behind this was that Guns N’ Roses were pretty busy with a tour. He said:

“But I think they also were on tour at the time, and so Axl was not actually happy with his performance on ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ and ‘Too Hot to Handle.’ And I guess it was too many songs, because they were in the middle of a tour, and he preferred to just focus on ‘Love to Love.'”

“And he is a perfectionist, I have noticed,” Michael added. “And so we waited until he was ready, and then finally he went, ‘Okay, ‘Love to Love.’ I approve. You can release it.’ And that was it.”