Listen: demo of Axl Rose's pre-Guns N' Roses band, Rapidfire

Before he was known to the world as the vocalist for Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose sang with another Los Angeles-based group that went by the name of Rapidfire.

Rose's former bandmate, guitarist Michael Lawrence, recently posted snippets of two demo recordings that Rapidfire made 30 years ago, on 25 May 1983, which you can hear above. One of the songs is called Ready To Rumble, but the name of the other track is unknown.

According to Bravewords, Rapidfire (which also included bassist Mike Hamernik and drummer Chuck Gordon) played a gig at the celebrated Hollywood nightclub Gazzarri's three days after cutting their demo. In the audience was a guitar player named Saul Hudson, better known as Slash. You can kind of figure out the rest.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.