Published on August 16th, 2021 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0Marc Canter On His New “50 First Gigs” Podcast, Growing Up With Slash, Early Guns N’ Roses Gigs, Poison, David Lee Roth & More
In 2008, Marc Canter and his producing partner Jason Porath published the Reckless Road: Guns N’ Roses & The Making Of Appetite For Destruction book which provided tons of never-seen photos and stories related to the early days of Guns N’ Roses. Yet it turns out that Reckless Road was just the tip of the iceberg from Canter’s archives from GNR’s formative year. As Canter gets older he has realized that his memories — including the history of Hollywood and the making of this iconic band — will die with him if they do not get out there. In turn, Canter and Porath have spent years producing these photos and videos from GNR’s formative years, including video of Slash’s first time playing on-stage and the recording sessions for what would become the top-selling Appetite For Destruction album.
Marc Canter and Jason Porath have turned this archived GNR content into a video podcast series called The First 50 Gigs. The podcast not only dives into the history of the band but also that of the infamous Sunset Strip and the overall music scene of the 1980’s. The show officially launches later this week — on August 19, 2021 — in a subscription-only format. To celebrate the launch of this series, the notorious Los Angeles art gallery Lethal Amounts will be producing a GNR-centric show at the Roosevelt Hotel, with an event date to be named later, and feature select pieces from Canter’s archives, in addition to photos and ephemera showcased by other collectors from the era.
On July 22, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marc Canter via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond The First 50 Gigs, I had the pleasure of asking Canter about how he first met Slash, Slash’s early connections to KISS and Poison, other rock heroes who were regulars at Canter’s Deli, and future plans of his. More on Canter, his podcast and book can be found here, here, here and here.