Читать книгу My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns ‘N’ Roses - Steven Adler - Страница 35

The Starwood was a famous rock club at Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Boulevard. Van Halen and Quiet Riot played there all the time, as well as lesser-known acts such as Y& T and the Quick. Our first time there, we just slipped in the door. Once inside, we checked out the place and walked right up to the VIP room, pulled the curtain back, and saw a band called London playing. I vividly remember seeing Nikki Sixx onstage; his hair was spiked high up in the air. He was dressed in black leather, and he was playing a black-and-white-striped bass. It was the coolest thing I ever fucking saw, right up there with the Orr sighting.

That experience was so amazing, so new to me, that I started going there every day at two or three in the afternoon. When the bands rolled in to set up, I’d help them move in their equipment. I just started hanging out and soon became a regular. Saul wasn’t into it as much as me, and it became sort of my private thing. When the bands played, I would go up this stairway that led to the backstage area that the bands used.

In this area, between the back wall and where the drums were set up, was a small space about a foot wide. I could squeeze right in there because I was skinny. There was a little crack in the wall and from that vantage point I could look right down on the drummers. I’d study their every move, and that’s how I started to learn the techniques of playing, from watching the pros. I was just a couple of feet away, and I could see everything. Sometimes my foot would fall asleep, or my back and neck would start to cramp up. I didn’t care because this was the greatest possible opportunity for me. I honestly believed I was blessed to find this secret place where time seemed to stand still.