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Steven Adler
Born	January 22, 1965 (1965-01-22) (age 42) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Genre(s)	Hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Drums Guitar
Years active	1985 - Present
Label(s)	Geffen Records
Associated acts	Guns N' Roses Adler's Appetite
Website	www.adlersappetite.com

Steven Adler (born January 22, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American rock drummer. He is most famous for his tenure as a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he performed and recorded from 1985 to 1990.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Guns N' Roses era 1.2 Post-Guns N´ Roses era 2 Personal life 3 References 3.1 Books 3.2 Footnotes 4 Links

Adler was born on January 22, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Los Angeles with his mother Deanna and older brother Kenny, as a young child. His mother re-married to Melvin Adler and had another child, Jamie. Steven's older brother also had a child, Steven's nephew, Max Adler.^[1] Steven was born into the Jewish faith ^[2] and has some Icelandic heritage. ^[3]

Adler met future GN'R guitarist Slash at the age of thirteen at their school in California^[4] after Steven had a skateboarding accident.^[1] The two became fast friends, and as Slash took up guitar, Steven took up drums (he played guitar before meeting Slash) in order to form a band (albeit missing some components), Road Crew. The two placed an ad in a newspaper searching for a bassist, resulting in Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, not only responding to the ad, but introducing the two to Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin, who were the only original members remaining from their band Hollywood Rose, with other original members, lead guitarist, Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner.

The three joined Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin to create the most famous and "original" line-up of Guns N' Roses. Adler drummed on the first three GN'R albums: their 1986 EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, the multi-platinum Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies. Adler's work also appeared on one song on Use Your Illusion II, the opening track "Civil War", although his drum track is said to be heavily edited. ^[5]

In mid-1988, while Guns N' Roses was on tour, an intoxicated Adler broke his hand when he punched a streetlight after a barroom brawl. Cinderella member Fred Coury substituted on drums for several shows until Adler recovered. ^[6]

At the 1989 American Music Awards, where Guns N' Roses performed their latest single, "Patience," Don Henley filled in for Adler on drums. Officially, the absence was attributed to a case of the flu; it was later revealed that Adler had actually been in a drug rehabilitation program at the time.

Problems continued in 1990, as the band recorded "Civil War" for Nobody's Child, an album benefitting the Romanian Angel Appeal. Axl Rose has said in interviews that "Civil War was recorded a good 60 times" due to problems with Adler^{[citation needed]} ; Slash, in another article, stated that the band had to edit the drum track to "Civil War" simply to be able to play along with it. ^[5] By Adler's own admission, he tried to play the song "20, maybe 30 times." ^[1] During the recording of "Civil War" Adler was still trying to stop using drugs.^[4]

Adler was briefly fired from the band, but was reinstated after signing a contract promising to stop using drugs. ^[7] In April 1990, he performed with Guns N' Roses at Farm Aid IV in Indiana. It would be his last appearance with the band. He was formally fired on July 11th, 1990[1], during the recording of the Use Your Illusion I & Use Your Illusion II albums, and replaced with Matt Sorum. The official reason for his departure, according to various members of the band, was his heavy substance abuse which impeded his ability to work. Geffen A&R rep Tom Zutaut, who worked with Guns N' Roses, corroborated this claim, stating in a 1999 interview, "Steven Adler would show up at the recording studio completely high. Recording sessions would abort for several days when he couldn't put it together." ^[8]

According to Adler, his departure from the band was based on other reasons. In a 2005 interview he stated, "Doug Goldstein called me into the office about two weeks later. He wanted me to sign some contracts. I was told that every time I did heroin, the band would fine me $2,000. There was a whole stack of papers, with coloured paper clips everywhere for my signatures. What these contracts actually said was that the band were paying me $2,000 to leave. They were taking my royalties, all my writing credits. They didn't like me anymore and just wanted me gone. That's why I filed the lawsuit - to get all those things back.". ^[1]

In 1991, Adler formed a new version of his old band, Road Crew with "Vain"'s singer and composer Davy Vain. However, the project was unsuccessful. When ex-Guns N' Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan began creating Velvet Revolver in 2002, Adler expressed hope that history would repeat itself and that once again he would be in a band with them. Velvet Revolver was created with Adler's replacement, Matt Sorum, instead, due largely to the fact that it was Sorum who had initiated the new band.

Adler's lawsuit against his former Guns N' Roses bandmates was settled in 1997. He earned a back-payment check of $ 2,250,000 USD and was granted 15% of the royalties for everything he recorded prior to his departure.^[9]

In 2003, he started the band Suki Jones, which would later be renamed Adler's Appetite, and released an EP, Adler's Appetite. The band still performs live sporadically, performing sets heavy with Guns N' Roses covers. He was recently featured on an episode of VHI's The Surreal Life: Fame Games as a judge for a hotel crashing challenge.

Adler appears to have repaired his relationships with most of his former Guns N' Roses bandmates. In 2005, he played a one-off show with Izzy (with whom recorded a yet unreleased cover of "Do You Love Me?" with JT Longoria on bass guitar) and Slash at the Key Club in Los Angeles. In September 2006 Adler attended a Guns N' Roses show in Las Vegas and spoke to Axl Rose for the first time in over a decade. ^[10][11] On July 28, 2007, the last incarnation of Adler's Appetite (Michael Thomas from "Faster Pussycat" on lead guitar, former "Pretty Boy Floyd's Kristy "Krash" Majors on rhythm guitar, "E'Nuff Z'Nuff"'s founder Chip Z'Nuff on bass and Colby Veil from the GN'R tribute band Hollywood Roses on vocals) played the Key Club again to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Appetite for Destruction. The evening featured Tracii Guns' band LA Guns opening for Adler's Appetite. Former members Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan joined Adler's band on stage for several songs. Slash was also in attendance, but did not get up to play. When asked why he remained offstage in a radio interview afterwards, he explained he didn't want to encourage the notion of a reunion, so stepped back.^[12] While Adler touted the event to the press as a "reunion," ^[13] the show was not advertised as such, ^[14] and was not considered as such by the other original members. ^[15]

In 2006 he played drums and toured with UK G'n'R tribute band 'Guns 2 Roses' and still plays the odd gig with them. ^[16]

While Adler has claimed that there has been talk and encouragement for a reunion among the other original members, this appears to be unfounded: in a 2007 interview with Guitar Edge magazine, for instance, Slash stated "I’ve obviously moved on and have a lot to do with Velvet Revolver, so that’s where my head is. Obviously it’s not an idea that I’m entertaining in any way, shape, or form at this point. I think the more time that passes, the less likely it will happen—and it was pretty unlikely five years ago." ^[17]

Adler's substance abuse issues continued after he was fired from Guns N' Roses.^[11] In interviews as recent as 2006, he has stated that he has, at times, used $300 worth of drugs in one night.^[9] In 1996, Adler suffered a stroke after taking a particularly potent speedball, a cocktail of heroin and cocaine used intravenously.^[18] He survived, but now lives with a speech impediment as a result.

In 1997, Adler was convicted on a domestic violence charge for attacking a woman with whom he had been living, and was sentenced to four days in jail, three years of probation and mandatory drug counseling. A year later, he pleaded no contest to attacks on two other women and was sentenced to a 150-day term in prison and a year of domestic violence counseling. ^[19]

Adler currently resides in the Hollywood Hills.

1. Wall, Mick (1992). Guns N' Roses; the Most Dangerous Band in the World. Hyperion. ISBN 1-56282-951-3. 
2. Sugerman, Danny (1991). Appetite for Destruction: The Days of Guns N' Roses. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-07634-7. 

• [2] Official Fansite
• Steven Adler Jan. 2006 Interview III with Metal Sludge
• Steven Adler Jan. 2006 Interview I with Metal Sludge
• Steven Adler Jan. 2006 Interview I with Metal Sludge
• Steven Adler, April 2005 with Classic Rock
• Steven Adler Information, News and Photos.

Preceded by Rob Gardner

Guns N' Roses Drummer 1985-1990

Succeeded by Matt Sorum

v • d • e Guns N' Roses
Axl Rose • Dizzy Reed • Robin Finck • Tommy Stinson • Chris Pitman • Bryan Mantia • Richard Fortus • Bumblefoot • Frank Ferrer Ole Beich • Rob Gardner • Tracii Guns • Steven Adler • Izzy Stradlin • Gilby Clarke • Slash • Matt Sorum • Duff McKagan • Josh Freese • Paul Tobias • Buckethead
Studio albums	Appetite for Destruction • G N' R Lies • Use Your Illusion I • Use Your Illusion II • "The Spaghetti Incident?" • Chinese Democracy
Live albums	Live Era: '87–'93
Extended plays	Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide • EP
Compilations	Use Your Illusion • Greatest Hits
Videos	Use Your Illusion I •Use Your Illusion II • Welcome to the Videos
Singles	"It's So Easy" • "Welcome to the Jungle" • "Sweet Child o' Mine" • "Nightrain" • "Paradise City" • "Patience" • "Civil War" • "You Could Be Mine" • "Don't Cry" • "Live and Let Die" • "November Rain" • "The Garden" • "Pretty Tied Up" • "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" • "Yesterdays" • "Ain't It Fun" • "Hair of the Dog" • "Estranged" • "Since I Don't Have You" • "Sympathy for the Devil" • "Oh My God"
Tours	Use Your Illusion Tour • Chinese Democracy Tour
Related articles	Discography • Members • Velvet Revolver • Del James • West Arkeen