September 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Billy McCloud is credited for co-writing the Guns N' Roses song "Yesterdays" from Use Your Illusion II. Sadly, Billy passed in 2002, but his sister Cynthia is here to share the story. Who was he? Why just "Billy" in the UYI II liner notes? What did Axl pay out in royalites?
Cynthia McCloud is eager to let fans know who her brother was and how generous Axl is. A previously untold tale of one of GNR's most classic songs.
More on Cynthia:
https://www.instagram.com/whatagirleats/
https://whatagirleats.com/
Our website: www.afdpod.com
Cynthia McCloud is eager to let fans know who her brother was and how generous Axl is. A previously untold tale of one of GNR's most classic songs.
More on Cynthia:
https://www.instagram.com/whatagirleats/
https://whatagirleats.com/
Our website: www.afdpod.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
They were playing this song on the radio, and it's
my song that I wrote with him.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion, Episode number five
hundred and thirty three. My name is Barando. Welcome to
the podcast. Cynthia McLeod Woodman, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I am doing great. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We're here to talk about your brother, Billy. So for
those I mean, if you're listening to the podcast, chances
are you're a diehard guns or Roses fan, but that
doesn't mean everybody knows who Billy McLeod is. If you
look at your user allusion to liner notes for yesterday's
they are names listed, of course, for who wrote the song.
(00:45):
Rose for Axel, James for Dell, west Arkeen for west Arkeen,
And it was just Billy. It was just Billy. Billy McLeod,
your brother helped to write yesterday's So just I I
wanted to, I guess before we get into his story,
more about your story. I had seen your comments around
(01:08):
G and R social media for some time, and I
feel like I've seen them and I've tried to connect,
and I'm so glad this is able to happen you
wanting to thank Axel somehow for giving your brother credit
songwriting credit for yesterday's and you weren't quite sure how
to how to do this. I mean, there's so many
comments on social media all over, that's what it is.
(01:31):
I mean, things get lost. Who knows who's going to
see what? And I don't know. I want to have
this conversation with you about your brother, So I guess
where do we start? Are you both from? Well, your
brother sadly passed away in two thousand and two. I
shouldn't mention that, and I'm very I'm very sorry. There
is no time that passes that makes it last. So
(01:53):
I'm very sorry for your loss. Thank you both raised
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, we were born in Chicago, but pretty much lived
in LA for you know, our entire lives.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I wore the Cobs hat. Oh somehow I knew that's weird.
It is weird. My wife's from Chicago. This was meant
to be where in Chicago. She's from Geneva.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay. We were born in Oak Park.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, Okay, yeah, it's my first few times ever going
to Chicago was because of my wife. I got this
at Wrigley Field. Oh, NPT. Okay, so we're both originally
from Chicago.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Okay, yeah, originally, but you know, lived here since the
you know, the mid sixties, so pretty much we're you know,
Angelina's okay. My brother's two years younger than I am,
and I mean it was just, you know, a typical childhood.
He was probably like every third teenage boy. He loved music.
(02:51):
He taught himself how to play guitar and piano, and
you know, he when he was a teenager, he played
in garage bands again, like I'm sure so many teenage
boys and girls do. And you know, we kind of
had separate lives because after my parents got divorced when
(03:12):
we were teenagers, he stayed with my he went and
lived with my dad, and I lived with my mom.
So we were about fifty miles apart, so you know,
we'd see each other weekend's, holidays and that kind of stuff.
But so, you know, he did his garage band thing,
you know, with the long hair and just the jewelry
and the whole kind of seventies thing, where I was
this very straight laced, you know kid who was on
(03:35):
the debate team. And we had these kind of different lives,
but I went off to college, and then I went
to cooking school in San Francisco. So and then after
that I moved to London. Meanwhile, he's again trying to
do something with his music, working part time jobs. He
didn't finish high school, dropped out of high school. You know,
(03:57):
he started doing casual drugs, you know, when he was
a teenager, started with pot and went to pills and
got a little more crazy. And the he was just
starting with a band called Prodigal Suns and I want
to say that would be eighty three eighty four, and
(04:17):
he started playing, you know, in Hollywood at the clubs. Meanwhile,
I'm living in San Francisco, in London, and then he
got Hodgkins, which is a form of cancer which is
pretty common in young men. It's real treatable, but he
did have to go through cancer treatment. So that kind
(04:40):
of put a stop on his musical whatever was going
on in his life musically, but he never you know,
he never stopped loving it. But this group, Prodigal Sons
was starting to take off. I came back from London
in the fall of eighty five, and he was recovering
and he was trying to get back into music and
(05:01):
he said, Hey, I'm playing a gig with this band
called La Guns. You know he was his band was
opening Prodigal Sons for La Guns or vice versa. I'm
not really sure. Come with me to this to West Hollywood.
It might have been the Whiskey, I don't know. And
so I went to this rock, you know, wild heavy
metal thing and I meanwhile, I'm into like new wave,
(05:26):
you know, that British kind of music. So I went
to it and he's like, oh, I want you to
meet my friend Axel. I don't believe Guns n' Roses
had been formed yet. I think he was with the
La Guns and maybe they were just starting. I'm not sure.
So I met Axel, briefly watched the show, you know,
both of them, and I went back to England and
(05:47):
came back. You know, I got married, did my thing.
He did his thing. Meanwhile, because he had gone through
cancer treatment. The group he was with, the Prodigal Sons,
they're like, hey man, we can't we got to go on.
We got to do our thing and you're going through
these treatments. We're gonna have to, you know, let you go.
(06:08):
So that did kind of spiral and him some depression.
It also kind of made him go, you know a
little bit deeper into drugs. And then I would say
eighty nine. I got married in eighty eight and he
was fine then, but eighty nine ish ninety he definitely spiraled.
Throughout his you know, teens and twenties, he had gone
(06:29):
to jail for minor things like shooting a BB gun
or I don't know, he had minor things, but then he,
you know, he started doing some major stuff. I don't
actually know. You probably know a little more after talking
to Dell, but you know, he did some bad stuff,
ended up in jail, and you know, my dad was
(06:50):
like bailing him out and giving him money. I'm like, Dad,
you can't. You can't give a drug addict money. It
just doesn't work like that. So finally my Dad's like, okay,
I just have to cut him off. Led him off.
He went into heavy duty heroin addiction and was living
on the streets of la Ironically, he was living in
(07:12):
the garment district. I think he was living in like
a car park or something like that. And this is
kind of one of my favorite stories. I guess if
you can have a favorite story of about a drug addict,
home's brother. But he didn't want to beg for money,
but he needed money. So what he did was he
bought himself a broom and he found a strip of
(07:33):
I don't know, half a dozen stores, and he'd roll
up his stuff and every day he'd come out there
and he'd keep those five or six stores spotless. He'd
sweep and he got to know them all well. One
of them was like a sushi place, the other one
was like a donut and coffee place. So you know,
at the end of the day they would give him
(07:55):
sushi a couple of bucks or whatever, and so he
was able to kind of live by hook and crook
that way for a while. At one point, my dad's like,
we have to go find him, you know, because you'd
hear pieces on the street like he's really bad into heroin.
He got arrested again or whatever it was. So I
remember my dad and I driving, and my dad had
(08:17):
a Cadillac. He's like, we're not taking my Cadillac to
skid Row. So we had to get in my little
dots in B two ten and I was, you know,
looking out the window and asking everyone, have you seen
the cigarette man? Have you seen the cigarette? Man. Now,
Oh yeah, I saw him yesterday. We try that a
few times. Never we were never able to find him.
Probably in nineteen ninety ish, he called my aunt and said,
(08:40):
I'm done, I'm ready. I need to get off the streets.
So my aunt made a couple of phone calls, found
out that Union Station Pasadena, which is a you know,
rehabilitation in place, they would take him, but he had
to be clean and sober for like twenty four forty
eight hours. So I remember my aunt brought him to
her apartment. He's still high as a kite, and she
(09:03):
just literally had to stay up, you know, like for
twenty four hours just to make sure that he was
gonna stay that way. He enrolled in Union Station. He
went through the three month program, went through the twelve step.
He got his life together and was trying to, you know,
(09:23):
kind of get gone. He was worked for a furniture
store and a construction company, so, you know, some menial jobs.
Fall of ninety one. I'll never forget it because it
was a Monday and he called me on a Monday.
He goes, hey, remember I told you I used to
hang out with Axel Rose and I used to play
(09:45):
with them and we'd write songs and stuff together. I
go yeah, and he goes, well, I don't know. They
were playing this song on the radio and it's my
song that I wrote with him. Now I didn't I mean,
I didn't know. I'm like really, He goes, yeah, it's
my song, Yesterday's. I wrote it with Axel like in
the mid eighties. And I go okay, and he said.
I actually called up the DJ when the song was
(10:07):
finished playing, and I said, can you tell me who
wrote that song? And he said, exactly what you said.
And he said, but the thing is he only listed
my first name. Go oh my god, he probably couldn't
remember your last name. And he said, I don't know
what to do. What am I supposed to do? That's
my song? And I said, hey, hang on, Well it
(10:27):
just so happens. I had a friend who was a
band manager music manager. I called him up and I said, hey,
do you remember I used to tell you I told
you that my brother used to play in a band.
He goes, yeah, everybody's brother used to play in a band.
And I go, well, do you remember I told you
he used to play, you know, with Axel Rose. He goes, yeah,
everybody's brother used to play with Axel Rose, and I go, okay, well, huh,
(10:51):
apparently there's you know they had that, And now the
buzz for that album was massive. At the time, you
wouldn't remember, but it was massive. There was so much buzz,
which is why they were playing the songs to hype
every one up because the following week is when the
album was going to come out. So this is a Monday.
The following week, Monday, at midnight, people were going to
(11:12):
start lining up because the album came out on a Tuesday.
And so I said, well, apparently my brother wrote one
of the songs it's on the album. He goes, yeah,
all right, sure, he said, well, you know, I mean whatever.
He says, Laura, let me make a couple of calls,
calls me back. Ten minutes later, he goes, are you
(11:33):
sure that the billy that's on that album is your brother?
And I'm thinking to myself, well, you know, he's a
drug addict and he was a lot, you know, he
lied a lot. And I'm like, well, I'm pretty sure
because I met Axel Rose one time with him, and
he goes, you have your brother call me right now,
like right now. So that's where the long story gets
(11:54):
short it from that point he called my brother. Six
weeks later, they handed my brother one hundred thousand dollars
check and twenty nine percent of the royalties for the future.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
The part that I like to say is my brother
was one year clean and clean and sober. He was
trying to get his life, you know, on the ground
again off the ground, and he's handed this one hundred
thousand dollars check. Now, he didn't have anything nothing, you know,
he was living in one of my dad's rental properties
at a little house, just you know, working menial jobs.
(12:32):
Axel Rose did not he I'm sure the what was
the conversation, you know, I wrote that song with Billy?
What the hell was his last name? Well, that's we'll
just put his first name on there. And if all
they had to do was say who like, my brother
didn't have any money to sue, he could have told
(12:53):
that story in a bar and everyone would have been like,
oh yeah, sure. But the fact that Axel Rose couldn't
remember his name but put his first name on, they
could have they could have fought any kind of lawsuit
with just you know, coffee change. My brother would have
been screwed, so the integrity that it's just mind blowing
(13:14):
to me. It's it's just crazy that. I mean, how
many how many musicians like that would do something like that?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Not many, not many, and not especially today's world. We're
ekeing out and squeezing everybody for a buck. And you
see all these lawsuits about plagiarism that happens all the
time now, and that could have easily happened, you know all.
That's what I really loved about when I ever again
I've seen your comments throughout the years and finally able
(13:44):
to connect with you because this is a great story
because all the negativity about Axel, this just goes to
show you who he is. And it didn't I'm sure
it didn't really need to like, oh look what I'm
doing to help this person. It wasn't never did it
was just just did it?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Was there any sort of conversation after or is it
just like, was that the last that Billy had your
brother had to do with guns and roses? Was getting
that money in royalties? Was there any sort of like, oh, Billy,
let's let's now I know his last name, what's reaching?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
None of that?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
No, No, because I was like, you know, when the
time came, I mean, I'm sure my brother had to
sign papers and go in and do this and that,
and I'm sure he had to prove who he was,
and I'm sure Axel had to like I ball the
whole thing and go, yeah, that's the same guy, because
I mean, I guess anybody called Billy could do it.
I mean there, you know, I don't know what kind
(14:40):
of machinations went on beyond the scenes, but I said,
did you meet Axel? He's like, no, he just was
the managers doing their whatever managers do.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh that's interesting. I mean at that time, I mean,
Axel was like surrounded by managers and people so very
hard to get at him. So I don't that that
part doesn't surprise me. But I mean the great part
again is they could have just paid him off. But
then there's that royalties thing that that doesn't about.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
They didn't even need to pay him off, because so what.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
All right after we established that you need to.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Do any of this, you didn't even have to put
my brother's name on there.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All of it was generous. Oh, like they have to
do the year. Did Billy ever tell you what he contributed?
To the song. I didn't get that well my conversation, he.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Wrote most of it, which he probably did, but I mean,
you know, I'm not, no. Twenty nine percent is well.
And so that's the thing. They gave him one hundred
thousand upfront on future royalties because the album hadn't come
out yet. They were just banking on it was going
to now but here. If you start doing the math
(15:48):
on that, he got twenty nine percent of one song, right, Like,
do the math on that. It's crazy. And subsequent years,
you know, he'd get fifty and you know, if they
were going on too, it'd be a little more money.
And so for several years it was thirty and forty
and then when they were off toured go down to
twenty or whatever. And then so he managed to stay
(16:14):
clean and sober. He followed a girlfriend to Lincoln, Nebraska,
and while he went in for a he had a
heart murmur, which he probably got when he was a kid,
an undiagnosed heart murmur. He went in for some routine
surgery on the heart murmur, and he had a mild stroke,
(16:37):
and after that his personality kind of went down a
little bit. Before that, he was the kind of guy
who would walk into a room and he just would
light up the room, like he didn't even have to
say anything. He just had this really big personality. And
you read the article. He's a little cocky too. You know,
I've forgotten more about guns n' Roses than you'll ever know.
(16:58):
You know, he was a little he was very self assured,
but he would walk into a room and he just
kind of light up the room. But after he had
that stroke, he was sort of a little bit slower
and he didn't quite have that big, bubbly personality. But
he did have two sleeves of tattoos, and I wish
I had taken you know, you don't think about that
taking pictures because we didn't have phones back then. But
(17:22):
he had Dirty Little Girl and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,
and he had all sleeves of Elton John Oh Wow
songs from the Golden the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album
on his numb.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean that's I'm sure that's where him and Axel connected,
because that's he's an Elton guy. Even on I didn't know,
Oh and you could be mine. I mean I learned
this recently. Wow. I'm always been a fan of the band.
My knowledge is obviously increased just from doing this podcast.
(17:57):
This is something that bypassed me for many years. But
that's not the line of I think we've seen that
movie too, is from Elton and Jernie Topping so and
they're credited also, So axel it's funny. I mean, it's
great he credits people who really didn't contribute to the song,
like just were an inspiration to it. But obviously with
(18:18):
your brother writing it, it's just, uh it goes. I
love that because I feel like this I'm the same way.
I want to credit all the people who help make
this happen. You know, it's never just all about me.
If I have you know, a friend helped me set
up a guest or ask a good question. They did it.
They did it, not me. I just happened to be
the face of it, I guess now. So that's one
(18:39):
of the reasons why I've always liked that act, because
he always seemed that way. Uh So, just to hear that,
you know, and again, it's so funny just to see Billy.
It wasn't even like a unique name that like, oh
here's here's Mortimer and you have to go to a
certain mortem like a bunch of Mortimers. But it's just Billy.
It could be anybody. Uh So, it's just it's brilliant.
But I I mean, so, how when what was the reason?
(19:03):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
So then he passed, So he got a he had
a stroke. He was fine after that, but he stayed
in Lincoln with again his girlfriend, and and then he
went in and you know, who knows if his health
was already compromised from all the years that you know
he was a drug addict. I don't know. But he
(19:24):
went in in two thousand and two because he had
an ulcer and they were going to repair an ulcer
and they nicked his bowel and he ended up getting
sepsists and he was in the hospital for eight weeks
while he was dying. They were trying to figure out
and it was a nicked.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Bowel, so they that's hospitals. Man, It's a whole other conversation.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Well, I'm very sorry to hear that. And he was forty.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Forty.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I feel it, Oh no, I feel it. I have
an ulcer in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
He would he would always you know, my mom would
always say, well, he kind of always had a sense
that he wasn't going to live a long old life.
He always would joke and say, you know, live fast.
I you know fast, I young leave a good court,
look good looking corpse. I mean that was his like thing.
So I mean it's sad for me, you know, I
(20:24):
wish that he could have known my daughters. My older
one was seven when he died. My younger one was
not even two. We were there in Lincoln, you know,
when he was in the hospital. But the you know,
the ironic thing is that he my younger daughter started
a they started a garage band when they were with
(20:48):
four other three other kids, thirteen, and they went on
to win their junior high garage band for three years
in a row. They've done Yesterday's a few times, and
some good friends of ours who are musicians, are like,
I wish you guys could record that song again, you know,
But the kids are all, you know, my youngest daughters
(21:09):
and here she's going to be twenty five. You know,
they're doing their thing. Two of them are professional musicians now,
and my older daughter, who can also sing, was in
musical theater, so they got some of his genes, which
I think he would have been really thrilled. But he
left the money after he died because he had no
(21:29):
he never got married and had no children. He left
my daughters in his will, so they received the trust
money yearly, and his wish was that it was spent
on education, so we would use it for piano lessons
or you know, private school or whatever. So that money
(21:53):
that they get two or two or three times a
year goes to their student law and you know, education,
which is kind of.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Nice to think that the song Yesterday's is helping in
some indirect way or direct way, I guess, helping keeping
the music alive. And the fact that your daughters are
covering yesterday, I mean, this is just I mean, this
is a I know, this is obviously a very sad
part of it, but there is a beautiful part of it,
(22:23):
thankfully to at least come out of it and make
something from it. And you know, as an older brother,
you know I've had I mean, I've had my issues.
My younger brothers have had their issues. I mean, it
is something very hard to deal with when you're going
through it, and I'm just so because you want it
(22:43):
to be able to communicate and help, and but if
you're until you're ready, whether I know that I wasn't
ready until I was ready. It didn't matter what people said,
you know, or certain friends or certain relatives, like there's
only so much you can say, and you try, and
those difficult decisions you cut them off. I mean, you
feel but when you're out of options, I mean, there's
so awful things. But just to hear that towards the end,
(23:07):
you know he had righted the ship. So the stroke
I mean, I mean, the stroke is I mean, that's
just something you can help. But just writing this, this
writing the ship and getting his life and and I
think that's just a and I think it's wonderful. And
you were obviously a really wonderful sister to him, So
thank you for for that. If I can say thank.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
You, it's just it's just a I I think just
if anytime somebody says anything negative, a bad axel, I'm like,
uh no, I've got a story for you.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well, I appreciate that. And that's something I really do
try to collect here in the podcast. I know occasionally
I get the the negative story, usually from a mister
Allen Niven, But uh, he was there first, the Geffen manager,
who's he's he's away with word. But I get a
lot of positive, positive stories here because it bothers me
because I hear the real stories. Yeah, and when it's
(24:08):
your favorite band and people are just saying things that
aren't true or all the rumors, and then I hear
something like this someone so real, a story that's not
heard or shared. You know, I just really appreciate you
taking the time to share it. And it makes me
like the band. I'm as lame as this might sound,
it makes me like the band more. It makes me
like Axel more because that's the kind of person that
(24:30):
you still hear that he is today to be honest
with you. So that's that's just wonderful. That's that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I have his platinum album here, Oh you do?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Look at that beautiful deaf and silver record. Does it
say anything on.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
The bottom it's a platinum?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Oh well, look, I'm sorry it looks silver to me.
I don't know my colors yet. My two year old
knows is colors better than I do.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Well, you know, I don't have my my cheeters on.
But it's yeah, it's got the song listed.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There, beautiful, so very cool. Did you take that down
off the wall here?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I did?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, Okay, well I appreciate that because I was like,
you better hang that up somewhere, but it looks like it.
I hung up. Well, thank you. Before we go, can
you let me know about what is it? She she
loves to eat, she likes to eat what a girl eats?
I know, I was being silly, what a girl? What
a girl eats? Dot com? And how did that that start?
(25:24):
I mean, I think that's pretty cool. We have a
great following on Instagram and Facebook, so I mean it's
I was like you, I thought it was just going
to be some ran. I mean, we're all somebody, we're
all important. But I was like, oh wow, she has
a following. I thought it was just gonna be someone's sister.
And I'm like, maybe she has something to promote. Who knows,
but you do, so can you tell us about it?
(25:44):
And how long you've been well?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I went to cooking school classical French and then in
San Francisco. After that, I moved to London, and you know,
kicked around London for a while, but you know, the
cooking professionally, it's a rough gig. Because it's Friday night, Saturday,
Mother's Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's even I'm like, em,
(26:07):
I don't want to work those hours. So I kind
of put that on the back burner. I was married,
I wanted to have kids, so I became a teacher,
and I was a teacher for thirty years, so I
had weekends and holidays and really reasonable hours and I
could be with my kids. But you know, about fourteen
years ago, I was like, gosh, all I ever do
(26:28):
is either talk about food, talk about the last meal
I had, the future meal I'm going to have, or
you know, friends of mine are like, I don't understand
how you can come home from school every day and
then still have a right, you know, like a meal
on the table. Like it's not that hard. It's you know,
I can put a meal on the table in thirty minutes.
It's just not that Oh. I said, well, you know,
(26:49):
I'll put some stuff up on a little blog spot
and you can see how fast and easy things are.
And then it just kind of grew. And then you know,
I wasn't ever planning on making money. It just I
sort of did it as a hot and I retired
about three years ago, and now it's my full time job.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That's awesome, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Going next week to Italy. This will be my fourth
year in a row judging the Cheermasoux World Cup in Treviso.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Wow, that's wow, what a cool life. That's that's so cool.
I mean, good for you. I mean again, we're we're
here talking about your brother. I know there's some sad stuff,
you know, Dell Again, I pre recorded the episode which
is coming out probably November third. I'm gonna put it
out because it's the day before his graphic novel comes out,
so it's going to coincide with that. And he was like,
(27:35):
this is a very dark period of my life when
he was roommates with your brother. So there's obviously a
dark beside this conversation. And I appreciate you sharing.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Did I get dark? It was at the dark?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
No, I don't want to like over.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I do know some darker parts, but it probably isn't
safe for everybody's ears.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, well it's it's it's whether it's even necessary because
I've shared my journey. I'm nine years without alcohol. You know,
I lost my father to depression. I mean, these are
conversations that happen around guns and roses. Believed it or not,
but I always look for that silver lining because we
need it in life. And the fact that you've I
don't know, hearing the story about your daughters, what you're
(28:18):
doing with your life now, this is so cool what
you're doing, and so we can It's just there's the bad,
there's the tough times, but you've really shown that there's
there's still a life out there to live. And uh,
you know you're you're an inspiration and I really appreciate
you sharing your your story and of course your brother's
story with us today.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You got it. And for whatever reason, if you if
you remember a silly story about your brother or something
act so related, you're always welcome back, or or a
good recipe, you know again at home?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Did your wife do the cooking?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
My wife cooks. I'm very grateful that she does. My
brother was just making fun of me because again my
wife and my son had to go. I was supposed
to go with them, but I I to Texas this weekend,
but I couldn't because of work. And he joked with me,
He's like, how do you feed yourself? Like I could
feed myself. I was single for a long time. But
(29:16):
she cooks like salmon and pasta and lots of chicken.
But again, I've had to really change my diet because
all of a sudden I became lacked. I mean, I
know it's not all of a sudden, but my wedding
was all pizza and cookies. That's the way we did it.
Now I can't eat pizza that's made with cheese. I can't.
(29:36):
I've had it completely. Yeah, if I went to another
country that wasn't America that I feel like all the
food is poisoned, I think I might have a better
I mean, it's whatever. I've accidentally cut the bad things
out of my life. I lived off McDonald's and somehow,
so I mean, if I eat it now, I will
(29:58):
see I'm not gonna. I'll be knocking on Heaven's door
to tie everything together. So I will what a girl eats. Uh.
Just thank you so much, Cynthia for your time, and
I hope we get to do this again. So that
does it for this episode of Appetite for Distortion. When
we see the next one. In the words of Axel Rose,
concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know as soon as the word,
(30:21):
but you'll see it.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Thanks to the lame as security, I'm going home,
They were playing this song on the radio, and it's
my song that I wrote with him.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion, Episode number five
hundred and thirty three. My name is Barando. Welcome to
the podcast. Cynthia McLeod Woodman, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I am doing great. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We're here to talk about your brother, Billy. So for
those I mean, if you're listening to the podcast, chances
are you're a diehard guns or Roses fan, but that
doesn't mean everybody knows who Billy McLeod is. If you
look at your user allusion to liner notes for yesterday's
they are names listed, of course, for who wrote the song.
(00:45):
Rose for Axel, James for Dell, west Arkeen for west Arkeen,
And it was just Billy. It was just Billy. Billy McLeod,
your brother helped to write yesterday's So just I I
wanted to, I guess before we get into his story,
more about your story. I had seen your comments around
(01:08):
G and R social media for some time, and I
feel like I've seen them and I've tried to connect,
and I'm so glad this is able to happen you
wanting to thank Axel somehow for giving your brother credit
songwriting credit for yesterday's and you weren't quite sure how
to how to do this. I mean, there's so many
comments on social media all over, that's what it is.
(01:31):
I mean, things get lost. Who knows who's going to
see what? And I don't know. I want to have
this conversation with you about your brother, So I guess
where do we start? Are you both from? Well, your
brother sadly passed away in two thousand and two. I
shouldn't mention that, and I'm very I'm very sorry. There
is no time that passes that makes it last. So
(01:53):
I'm very sorry for your loss. Thank you both raised
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, we were born in Chicago, but pretty much lived
in LA for you know, our entire lives.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I wore the Cobs hat. Oh somehow I knew that's weird.
It is weird. My wife's from Chicago. This was meant
to be where in Chicago. She's from Geneva.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay. We were born in Oak Park.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, Okay, yeah, it's my first few times ever going
to Chicago was because of my wife. I got this
at Wrigley Field. Oh, NPT. Okay, so we're both originally
from Chicago.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Okay, yeah, originally, but you know, lived here since the
you know, the mid sixties, so pretty much we're you know,
Angelina's okay. My brother's two years younger than I am,
and I mean it was just, you know, a typical childhood.
He was probably like every third teenage boy. He loved music.
(02:51):
He taught himself how to play guitar and piano, and
you know, he when he was a teenager, he played
in garage bands again, like I'm sure so many teenage
boys and girls do. And you know, we kind of
had separate lives because after my parents got divorced when
(03:12):
we were teenagers, he stayed with my he went and
lived with my dad, and I lived with my mom.
So we were about fifty miles apart, so you know,
we'd see each other weekend's, holidays and that kind of stuff.
But so, you know, he did his garage band thing,
you know, with the long hair and just the jewelry
and the whole kind of seventies thing, where I was
this very straight laced, you know kid who was on
(03:35):
the debate team. And we had these kind of different lives,
but I went off to college, and then I went
to cooking school in San Francisco. So and then after
that I moved to London. Meanwhile, he's again trying to
do something with his music, working part time jobs. He
didn't finish high school, dropped out of high school. You know,
(03:57):
he started doing casual drugs, you know, when he was
a teenager, started with pot and went to pills and
got a little more crazy. And the he was just
starting with a band called Prodigal Suns and I want
to say that would be eighty three eighty four, and
(04:17):
he started playing, you know, in Hollywood at the clubs. Meanwhile,
I'm living in San Francisco, in London, and then he
got Hodgkins, which is a form of cancer which is
pretty common in young men. It's real treatable, but he
did have to go through cancer treatment. So that kind
(04:40):
of put a stop on his musical whatever was going
on in his life musically, but he never you know,
he never stopped loving it. But this group, Prodigal Sons
was starting to take off. I came back from London
in the fall of eighty five, and he was recovering
and he was trying to get back into music and
(05:01):
he said, Hey, I'm playing a gig with this band
called La Guns. You know he was his band was
opening Prodigal Sons for La Guns or vice versa. I'm
not really sure. Come with me to this to West Hollywood.
It might have been the Whiskey, I don't know. And
so I went to this rock, you know, wild heavy
metal thing and I meanwhile, I'm into like new wave,
(05:26):
you know, that British kind of music. So I went
to it and he's like, oh, I want you to
meet my friend Axel. I don't believe Guns n' Roses
had been formed yet. I think he was with the
La Guns and maybe they were just starting. I'm not sure.
So I met Axel, briefly watched the show, you know,
both of them, and I went back to England and
(05:47):
came back. You know, I got married, did my thing.
He did his thing. Meanwhile, because he had gone through
cancer treatment. The group he was with, the Prodigal Sons,
they're like, hey man, we can't we got to go on.
We got to do our thing and you're going through
these treatments. We're gonna have to, you know, let you go.
(06:08):
So that did kind of spiral and him some depression.
It also kind of made him go, you know a
little bit deeper into drugs. And then I would say
eighty nine. I got married in eighty eight and he
was fine then, but eighty nine ish ninety he definitely spiraled.
Throughout his you know, teens and twenties, he had gone
(06:29):
to jail for minor things like shooting a BB gun
or I don't know, he had minor things, but then he,
you know, he started doing some major stuff. I don't
actually know. You probably know a little more after talking
to Dell, but you know, he did some bad stuff,
ended up in jail, and you know, my dad was
(06:50):
like bailing him out and giving him money. I'm like, Dad,
you can't. You can't give a drug addict money. It
just doesn't work like that. So finally my Dad's like, okay,
I just have to cut him off. Led him off.
He went into heavy duty heroin addiction and was living
on the streets of la Ironically, he was living in
(07:12):
the garment district. I think he was living in like
a car park or something like that. And this is
kind of one of my favorite stories. I guess if
you can have a favorite story of about a drug addict,
home's brother. But he didn't want to beg for money,
but he needed money. So what he did was he
bought himself a broom and he found a strip of
(07:33):
I don't know, half a dozen stores, and he'd roll
up his stuff and every day he'd come out there
and he'd keep those five or six stores spotless. He'd
sweep and he got to know them all well. One
of them was like a sushi place, the other one
was like a donut and coffee place. So you know,
at the end of the day they would give him
(07:55):
sushi a couple of bucks or whatever, and so he
was able to kind of live by hook and crook
that way for a while. At one point, my dad's like,
we have to go find him, you know, because you'd
hear pieces on the street like he's really bad into heroin.
He got arrested again or whatever it was. So I
remember my dad and I driving, and my dad had
(08:17):
a Cadillac. He's like, we're not taking my Cadillac to
skid Row. So we had to get in my little
dots in B two ten and I was, you know,
looking out the window and asking everyone, have you seen
the cigarette man? Have you seen the cigarette? Man. Now,
Oh yeah, I saw him yesterday. We try that a
few times. Never we were never able to find him.
Probably in nineteen ninety ish, he called my aunt and said,
(08:40):
I'm done, I'm ready. I need to get off the streets.
So my aunt made a couple of phone calls, found
out that Union Station Pasadena, which is a you know,
rehabilitation in place, they would take him, but he had
to be clean and sober for like twenty four forty
eight hours. So I remember my aunt brought him to
her apartment. He's still high as a kite, and she
(09:03):
just literally had to stay up, you know, like for
twenty four hours just to make sure that he was
gonna stay that way. He enrolled in Union Station. He
went through the three month program, went through the twelve step.
He got his life together and was trying to, you know,
(09:23):
kind of get gone. He was worked for a furniture
store and a construction company, so, you know, some menial jobs.
Fall of ninety one. I'll never forget it because it
was a Monday and he called me on a Monday.
He goes, hey, remember I told you I used to
hang out with Axel Rose and I used to play
(09:45):
with them and we'd write songs and stuff together. I
go yeah, and he goes, well, I don't know. They
were playing this song on the radio and it's my
song that I wrote with him. Now I didn't I mean,
I didn't know. I'm like really, He goes, yeah, it's
my song, Yesterday's. I wrote it with Axel like in
the mid eighties. And I go okay, and he said.
I actually called up the DJ when the song was
(10:07):
finished playing, and I said, can you tell me who
wrote that song? And he said, exactly what you said.
And he said, but the thing is he only listed
my first name. Go oh my god, he probably couldn't
remember your last name. And he said, I don't know
what to do. What am I supposed to do? That's
my song? And I said, hey, hang on, Well it
(10:27):
just so happens. I had a friend who was a
band manager music manager. I called him up and I said, hey,
do you remember I used to tell you I told
you that my brother used to play in a band.
He goes, yeah, everybody's brother used to play in a band.
And I go, well, do you remember I told you
he used to play, you know, with Axel Rose. He goes, yeah,
everybody's brother used to play with Axel Rose, and I go, okay, well, huh,
(10:51):
apparently there's you know they had that, And now the
buzz for that album was massive. At the time, you
wouldn't remember, but it was massive. There was so much buzz,
which is why they were playing the songs to hype
every one up because the following week is when the
album was going to come out. So this is a Monday.
The following week, Monday, at midnight, people were going to
(11:12):
start lining up because the album came out on a Tuesday.
And so I said, well, apparently my brother wrote one
of the songs it's on the album. He goes, yeah,
all right, sure, he said, well, you know, I mean whatever.
He says, Laura, let me make a couple of calls,
calls me back. Ten minutes later, he goes, are you
(11:33):
sure that the billy that's on that album is your brother?
And I'm thinking to myself, well, you know, he's a
drug addict and he was a lot, you know, he
lied a lot. And I'm like, well, I'm pretty sure
because I met Axel Rose one time with him, and
he goes, you have your brother call me right now,
like right now. So that's where the long story gets
(11:54):
short it from that point he called my brother. Six
weeks later, they handed my brother one hundred thousand dollars
check and twenty nine percent of the royalties for the future.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
The part that I like to say is my brother
was one year clean and clean and sober. He was
trying to get his life, you know, on the ground
again off the ground, and he's handed this one hundred
thousand dollars check. Now, he didn't have anything nothing, you know,
he was living in one of my dad's rental properties
at a little house, just you know, working menial jobs.
(12:32):
Axel Rose did not he I'm sure the what was
the conversation, you know, I wrote that song with Billy?
What the hell was his last name? Well, that's we'll
just put his first name on there. And if all
they had to do was say who like, my brother
didn't have any money to sue, he could have told
(12:53):
that story in a bar and everyone would have been like,
oh yeah, sure. But the fact that Axel Rose couldn't
remember his name but put his first name on, they
could have they could have fought any kind of lawsuit
with just you know, coffee change. My brother would have
been screwed, so the integrity that it's just mind blowing
(13:14):
to me. It's it's just crazy that. I mean, how
many how many musicians like that would do something like that?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Not many, not many, and not especially today's world. We're
ekeing out and squeezing everybody for a buck. And you
see all these lawsuits about plagiarism that happens all the
time now, and that could have easily happened, you know all.
That's what I really loved about when I ever again
I've seen your comments throughout the years and finally able
(13:44):
to connect with you because this is a great story
because all the negativity about Axel, this just goes to
show you who he is. And it didn't I'm sure
it didn't really need to like, oh look what I'm
doing to help this person. It wasn't never did it
was just just did it?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Was there any sort of conversation after or is it
just like, was that the last that Billy had your
brother had to do with guns and roses? Was getting
that money in royalties? Was there any sort of like, oh, Billy,
let's let's now I know his last name, what's reaching?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
None of that?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
No, No, because I was like, you know, when the
time came, I mean, I'm sure my brother had to
sign papers and go in and do this and that,
and I'm sure he had to prove who he was,
and I'm sure Axel had to like I ball the
whole thing and go, yeah, that's the same guy, because
I mean, I guess anybody called Billy could do it.
I mean there, you know, I don't know what kind
(14:40):
of machinations went on beyond the scenes, but I said,
did you meet Axel? He's like, no, he just was
the managers doing their whatever managers do.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh that's interesting. I mean at that time, I mean,
Axel was like surrounded by managers and people so very
hard to get at him. So I don't that that
part doesn't surprise me. But I mean the great part
again is they could have just paid him off. But
then there's that royalties thing that that doesn't about.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
They didn't even need to pay him off, because so what.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
All right after we established that you need to.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Do any of this, you didn't even have to put
my brother's name on there.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All of it was generous. Oh, like they have to
do the year. Did Billy ever tell you what he contributed?
To the song. I didn't get that well my conversation, he.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Wrote most of it, which he probably did, but I mean,
you know, I'm not, no. Twenty nine percent is well.
And so that's the thing. They gave him one hundred
thousand upfront on future royalties because the album hadn't come
out yet. They were just banking on it was going
to now but here. If you start doing the math
(15:48):
on that, he got twenty nine percent of one song, right, Like,
do the math on that. It's crazy. And subsequent years,
you know, he'd get fifty and you know, if they
were going on too, it'd be a little more money.
And so for several years it was thirty and forty
and then when they were off toured go down to
twenty or whatever. And then so he managed to stay
(16:14):
clean and sober. He followed a girlfriend to Lincoln, Nebraska,
and while he went in for a he had a
heart murmur, which he probably got when he was a kid,
an undiagnosed heart murmur. He went in for some routine
surgery on the heart murmur, and he had a mild stroke,
(16:37):
and after that his personality kind of went down a
little bit. Before that, he was the kind of guy
who would walk into a room and he just would
light up the room, like he didn't even have to
say anything. He just had this really big personality. And
you read the article. He's a little cocky too. You know,
I've forgotten more about guns n' Roses than you'll ever know.
(16:58):
You know, he was a little he was very self assured,
but he would walk into a room and he just
kind of light up the room. But after he had
that stroke, he was sort of a little bit slower
and he didn't quite have that big, bubbly personality. But
he did have two sleeves of tattoos, and I wish
I had taken you know, you don't think about that
taking pictures because we didn't have phones back then. But
(17:22):
he had Dirty Little Girl and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,
and he had all sleeves of Elton John Oh Wow
songs from the Golden the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album
on his numb.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean that's I'm sure that's where him and Axel connected,
because that's he's an Elton guy. Even on I didn't know,
Oh and you could be mine. I mean I learned
this recently. Wow. I'm always been a fan of the band.
My knowledge is obviously increased just from doing this podcast.
(17:57):
This is something that bypassed me for many years. But
that's not the line of I think we've seen that
movie too, is from Elton and Jernie Topping so and
they're credited also, So axel it's funny. I mean, it's
great he credits people who really didn't contribute to the song,
like just were an inspiration to it. But obviously with
(18:18):
your brother writing it, it's just, uh it goes. I
love that because I feel like this I'm the same way.
I want to credit all the people who help make
this happen. You know, it's never just all about me.
If I have you know, a friend helped me set
up a guest or ask a good question. They did it.
They did it, not me. I just happened to be
the face of it, I guess now. So that's one
(18:39):
of the reasons why I've always liked that act, because
he always seemed that way. Uh So, just to hear that,
you know, and again, it's so funny just to see Billy.
It wasn't even like a unique name that like, oh
here's here's Mortimer and you have to go to a
certain mortem like a bunch of Mortimers. But it's just Billy.
It could be anybody. Uh So, it's just it's brilliant.
But I I mean, so, how when what was the reason?
(19:03):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
So then he passed, So he got a he had
a stroke. He was fine after that, but he stayed
in Lincoln with again his girlfriend, and and then he
went in and you know, who knows if his health
was already compromised from all the years that you know
he was a drug addict. I don't know. But he
(19:24):
went in in two thousand and two because he had
an ulcer and they were going to repair an ulcer
and they nicked his bowel and he ended up getting
sepsists and he was in the hospital for eight weeks
while he was dying. They were trying to figure out
and it was a nicked.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Bowel, so they that's hospitals. Man, It's a whole other conversation.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Well, I'm very sorry to hear that. And he was forty.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Forty.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I feel it, Oh no, I feel it. I have
an ulcer in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
He would he would always you know, my mom would
always say, well, he kind of always had a sense
that he wasn't going to live a long old life.
He always would joke and say, you know, live fast.
I you know fast, I young leave a good court,
look good looking corpse. I mean that was his like thing.
So I mean it's sad for me, you know, I
(20:24):
wish that he could have known my daughters. My older
one was seven when he died. My younger one was
not even two. We were there in Lincoln, you know,
when he was in the hospital. But the you know,
the ironic thing is that he my younger daughter started
a they started a garage band when they were with
(20:48):
four other three other kids, thirteen, and they went on
to win their junior high garage band for three years
in a row. They've done Yesterday's a few times, and
some good friends of ours who are musicians, are like,
I wish you guys could record that song again, you know,
But the kids are all, you know, my youngest daughters
(21:09):
and here she's going to be twenty five. You know,
they're doing their thing. Two of them are professional musicians now,
and my older daughter, who can also sing, was in
musical theater, so they got some of his genes, which
I think he would have been really thrilled. But he
left the money after he died because he had no
(21:29):
he never got married and had no children. He left
my daughters in his will, so they received the trust
money yearly, and his wish was that it was spent
on education, so we would use it for piano lessons
or you know, private school or whatever. So that money
(21:53):
that they get two or two or three times a
year goes to their student law and you know, education,
which is kind of.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Nice to think that the song Yesterday's is helping in
some indirect way or direct way, I guess, helping keeping
the music alive. And the fact that your daughters are
covering yesterday, I mean, this is just I mean, this
is a I know, this is obviously a very sad
part of it, but there is a beautiful part of it,
(22:23):
thankfully to at least come out of it and make
something from it. And you know, as an older brother,
you know I've had I mean, I've had my issues.
My younger brothers have had their issues. I mean, it
is something very hard to deal with when you're going
through it, and I'm just so because you want it
(22:43):
to be able to communicate and help, and but if
you're until you're ready, whether I know that I wasn't
ready until I was ready. It didn't matter what people said,
you know, or certain friends or certain relatives, like there's
only so much you can say, and you try, and
those difficult decisions you cut them off. I mean, you
feel but when you're out of options, I mean, there's
so awful things. But just to hear that towards the end,
(23:07):
you know he had righted the ship. So the stroke
I mean, I mean, the stroke is I mean, that's
just something you can help. But just writing this, this
writing the ship and getting his life and and I
think that's just a and I think it's wonderful. And
you were obviously a really wonderful sister to him, So
thank you for for that. If I can say thank.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
You, it's just it's just a I I think just
if anytime somebody says anything negative, a bad axel, I'm like,
uh no, I've got a story for you.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well, I appreciate that. And that's something I really do
try to collect here in the podcast. I know occasionally
I get the the negative story, usually from a mister
Allen Niven, But uh, he was there first, the Geffen manager,
who's he's he's away with word. But I get a
lot of positive, positive stories here because it bothers me
because I hear the real stories. Yeah, and when it's
(24:08):
your favorite band and people are just saying things that
aren't true or all the rumors, and then I hear
something like this someone so real, a story that's not
heard or shared. You know, I just really appreciate you
taking the time to share it. And it makes me
like the band. I'm as lame as this might sound,
it makes me like the band more. It makes me
like Axel more because that's the kind of person that
(24:30):
you still hear that he is today to be honest
with you. So that's that's just wonderful. That's that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I have his platinum album here, Oh you do?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Look at that beautiful deaf and silver record. Does it
say anything on.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
The bottom it's a platinum?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Oh well, look, I'm sorry it looks silver to me.
I don't know my colors yet. My two year old
knows is colors better than I do.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Well, you know, I don't have my my cheeters on.
But it's yeah, it's got the song listed.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There, beautiful, so very cool. Did you take that down
off the wall here?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I did?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, Okay, well I appreciate that because I was like,
you better hang that up somewhere, but it looks like it.
I hung up. Well, thank you. Before we go, can
you let me know about what is it? She she
loves to eat, she likes to eat what a girl eats?
I know, I was being silly, what a girl? What
a girl eats? Dot com? And how did that that start?
(25:24):
I mean, I think that's pretty cool. We have a
great following on Instagram and Facebook, so I mean it's
I was like you, I thought it was just going
to be some ran. I mean, we're all somebody, we're
all important. But I was like, oh wow, she has
a following. I thought it was just gonna be someone's sister.
And I'm like, maybe she has something to promote. Who knows,
but you do, so can you tell us about it?
(25:44):
And how long you've been well?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I went to cooking school classical French and then in
San Francisco. After that, I moved to London, and you know,
kicked around London for a while, but you know, the
cooking professionally, it's a rough gig. Because it's Friday night, Saturday,
Mother's Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's even I'm like, em,
(26:07):
I don't want to work those hours. So I kind
of put that on the back burner. I was married,
I wanted to have kids, so I became a teacher,
and I was a teacher for thirty years, so I
had weekends and holidays and really reasonable hours and I
could be with my kids. But you know, about fourteen
years ago, I was like, gosh, all I ever do
(26:28):
is either talk about food, talk about the last meal
I had, the future meal I'm going to have, or
you know, friends of mine are like, I don't understand
how you can come home from school every day and
then still have a right, you know, like a meal
on the table. Like it's not that hard. It's you know,
I can put a meal on the table in thirty minutes.
It's just not that Oh. I said, well, you know,
(26:49):
I'll put some stuff up on a little blog spot
and you can see how fast and easy things are.
And then it just kind of grew. And then you know,
I wasn't ever planning on making money. It just I
sort of did it as a hot and I retired
about three years ago, and now it's my full time job.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That's awesome, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Going next week to Italy. This will be my fourth
year in a row judging the Cheermasoux World Cup in Treviso.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Wow, that's wow, what a cool life. That's that's so cool.
I mean, good for you. I mean again, we're we're
here talking about your brother. I know there's some sad stuff,
you know, Dell Again, I pre recorded the episode which
is coming out probably November third. I'm gonna put it
out because it's the day before his graphic novel comes out,
so it's going to coincide with that. And he was like,
(27:35):
this is a very dark period of my life when
he was roommates with your brother. So there's obviously a
dark beside this conversation. And I appreciate you sharing.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Did I get dark? It was at the dark?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
No, I don't want to like over.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I do know some darker parts, but it probably isn't
safe for everybody's ears.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, well it's it's it's whether it's even necessary because
I've shared my journey. I'm nine years without alcohol. You know,
I lost my father to depression. I mean, these are
conversations that happen around guns and roses. Believed it or not,
but I always look for that silver lining because we
need it in life. And the fact that you've I
don't know, hearing the story about your daughters, what you're
(28:18):
doing with your life now, this is so cool what
you're doing, and so we can It's just there's the bad,
there's the tough times, but you've really shown that there's
there's still a life out there to live. And uh,
you know you're you're an inspiration and I really appreciate
you sharing your your story and of course your brother's
story with us today.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You got it. And for whatever reason, if you if
you remember a silly story about your brother or something
act so related, you're always welcome back, or or a
good recipe, you know again at home?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Did your wife do the cooking?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
My wife cooks. I'm very grateful that she does. My
brother was just making fun of me because again my
wife and my son had to go. I was supposed
to go with them, but I I to Texas this weekend,
but I couldn't because of work. And he joked with me,
He's like, how do you feed yourself? Like I could
feed myself. I was single for a long time. But
(29:16):
she cooks like salmon and pasta and lots of chicken.
But again, I've had to really change my diet because
all of a sudden I became lacked. I mean, I
know it's not all of a sudden, but my wedding
was all pizza and cookies. That's the way we did it.
Now I can't eat pizza that's made with cheese. I can't.
(29:36):
I've had it completely. Yeah, if I went to another
country that wasn't America that I feel like all the
food is poisoned, I think I might have a better
I mean, it's whatever. I've accidentally cut the bad things
out of my life. I lived off McDonald's and somehow,
so I mean, if I eat it now, I will
(29:58):
see I'm not gonna. I'll be knocking on Heaven's door
to tie everything together. So I will what a girl eats. Uh.
Just thank you so much, Cynthia for your time, and
I hope we get to do this again. So that
does it for this episode of Appetite for Distortion. When
we see the next one. In the words of Axel Rose,
concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know as soon as the word,
(30:21):
but you'll see it.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Thanks to the lame as security, I'm going home,
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