22 July 17th - July 23rd, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | ‘Sound N’ Fury’ Former Guns N’ Roses manager’s new book dishes the rock ‘n’ roll dirt. BY LAUREN WISE A lan Niven has always bet on long shots. As the first manager to wrangle Guns N’ Roses — when no one else would — he helped shape their legend, only to be unceremoniously fired by Axl Rose, an act Loudwire called in 2024 as one of the “25 Most Destructive Guns N’ Roses Moments.” It was just one gamble in a career built on gut instincts and high stakes. If you wander the sun-bleached streets of Prescott, Arizona, you might miss the legend living in plain sight. Niven has a knack for showing up where nobody expects him and turning chaos into history. His legacy runs deep: He steered “Appetite for Destruction” to become the best-selling debut rock album in history, guided Great White from the dive bars to the top of the charts, and left an unmistak- able mark on everyone from Berlin to Clarence Clemons. Known for his blunt honesty and poetic instincts, Niven has always had a gift for seeing what others miss. Now, decades after trading Sunset Strip neon for the quiet desert, where he started Tru-B-Dor Records and helped produce an array of incredible Arizona rock ‘n’ roll, Niven is opening the vault. He’s the most featured voice in the Paramount+ docu- mentary “Nothing But A Good Time,” and this August, his memoir “Sound N’ Fury” promises an unvarnished look behind the velvet rope — backstage bedlam, creative triumphs, and the hard bargains that come with survival in rock ‘n’ roll. The book arrives alongside new music with song- writer/ producer/longtime collaborator Chris Catero, under his artist project The Imperfected. The song is a nod to Niven’s musical history, including a spoken word section done by Alan himself. To sit down with Alan Niven is to sit at the crossroads of music history: stories spill out like smoke, laughter cracks the veneer, and somewhere in the back- ground, the ghosts of rock ‘n’ roll raise a glass. His blend of candor, wit and poetic insight makes each conversation a lesson in rock history and the risks it takes to change it. I loved the “Sing A Song for a Sixpence” chapter in Sound N’ Fury. I can just hear your voice reading it — if I hadn’t met you before, I’d feel the author’s unique voice and humor. Writing this book is a monkey off my back. I did try to write a book before, but it was depressing. Because I think of the fuckups of all the wrongs and things we didn’t get done. Rock ‘n’ roll books all have the same story, but the names change. Starts out with the deprived childhood in the east end of London… then you get to when the band forms then the indivisible young guns against the world, then money, girlfriends, wives and mothers and what- ever else, and things dissipate and fall apart, and then you get the blame, the finger pointing, and the incriminations, and the end of the book is boring. So the first thing I had to avoid was chronological order, and just (have) a moment of self-awareness, that I’m an old jukebox in the corner of the kitchen, and people put in a quarter, and you tell a story, then another quarter and another story. So that’s how I did it: Just stories and vignettes, and to try and write it not for the fans — they know everything. There’s nothing that is unknown about these bands, especially Guns N’ Roses. So, I tried to write it for the curious. Was writing this more cathartic or difficult? This time, I came around with great objectivity. The other thing about the book is that it’s not a Guns and Roses book; it’s not a Great White book; it’s not an Alan Niven book. It’s just a collection of stories. It’s a record, and each section is an indi- vidual track. And you don’t have to read the subsequent section to know what’s happening in the next. They each stand on their own. Lauren, it blows my mind people are still interested in things that happened 30 years ago. If you came into the studio in 1986 and said this recording you’re doing today would still be playing on the radio in 30 years, I’d look at you and say, “Lauren, whatever you’re smoking, share it!” Because I’d love that optimism and view- point into the future. None of us expected things to last that long. Looking back, what was one decision you made in an artist’s career that changed every- thing, for better or worse? I’ve made innumerable decisions, for better or worse! We don’t go to college to do Rock ‘n’ roll management. It was a way. Of life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Well- versed managers are the enemy, protecting their band from exploitation of accoun- tants, labels, publicists, etc., so you’re going to make a few mistakes, though. Thirty years ago, without embarrassment, make a small claim that one way or another, I got my fingerprint on something like 250 million sales spread. I think that number in the balance means I made more good decisions than bad ones. It’s a good mentality to have. Now, whether I’m in love with any of those bands at this point, I feel, after contributing in a small way at the beginning, because I don’t think many of them are good people. Motley Crue are not good people. Working at Virgin, I’ve learned some- thing that has a little bit of profundity. And that is the power of saying yes. If somebody asked you to do something, you said, “Yeah, I could do that, no problem.” Then you walk out of the office and go, “Ah, fuck. How do I deal with this? How do I do that?” And you figure it out, you get it done. So that was ingrained in me, the sense of, if you’re not sure how it’s going to work, step through the door that is opening up to something broader. Then Adler (Steven), over a lunch, said, “We want you to manage us.” And I said, “I can’t do that. I know absolutely nothing about management.” “Oh, we don’t care.” I think they were in love with the idea of having an English accent. In your book, you talked about how if you had maybe redirected more of that attention to, like, let’s say, Great White instead of Guns N’ Roses, then maybe their career would have gone on to be something different. Well, the perspective of had I been more focused on Great White, is an interesting hypothesis. Hypothesis is speculation. If I had spent more time on, say, Great White, God knows what Jack (Russell, lead vocalist) might have gotten up to with his incredible powers of self-destruction. I stuck with artists or people I thought had the potential to be artists. I didn’t deal with entertainers. David Geffen tried to get me with Jon Bon Jovi — but he’s an entertainer. So no, thank you. I want to be with artists. You have to think about, why are you doing this? Why is this significant to you? And one thing that I’ve wanted to stay close to is trying to identify people I saw a genuine artist, because artists are those who speak power, power to truth. The best rock ‘n’ roll is suspense, alienation, and brings people together by our own consent. We live in an incredibly coercive world, rules for everything. How you drive, what your family thinks of what you wear, where you can put your garbage outside of your home. Everything is a coercion. But if you sit down with the guitar, and you play me a song, and I recognize your intelligent spirit, emotion, and song, that’s a willing bridge of humanity that performs between us. And that, I think, is very powerful, very worthwhile. *To read the entire interview, visit www. phoenixnewtimes.com. Author and music industry professional Alan Niven. (Alan Niven) ▼ Music
