FBI Arrest GNR Chinese Democracy Leaker

The FBI raided the home of Kevin Cogill [AKA Skwerl] early yesterday morning and arrested him for leaking nine songs off the upcoming Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy. Skwerl admitted to streaming the songs on his website [Antiquiet]. Now he's on a $10,000 bail awaiting prosecution for suspicion of violating US federal copyright laws.

The second big concert I ever went to was the Texas Jam in 1988 at Texas Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play. The lineup: INXS - Guns N' Roses - Iggy Pop - Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers + Smithereens. It was incredible. Guns N' Roses were on fire. Axl Rose was going nuts: "I apologize if I sound like shit, but too many planes and too much cocaine, but you know where the fuck you are?!"


Welcome to the Jungle.

Fast forward 18 years to 2006. I saw GNR headline at the KROQ Inland Invasion show. It was at times ridiculous and at times awesome. Robin Finck + Bumblefoot rocked on guitar. They played new songs from Chinese Democracy. It gave me hope that the new album might actually surface soon.

It's really lame how long it's taken for this record to see the light of day. It's still not even released yet.

A few months before that show, I was at Can Am, the Valley studio where GNR recorded Appetite for Destruction + Dr. Dre recorded The Chronic. One of the studios was booked for ages by GNR to record Chinese Democracy. There were Axl Rose's three mics set up next to his table of toy cars. Robin Finck's sweet Les Pauls were lined up, but nobody was there. The guys at the studio told me that all the music was done, and they were just waiting on Axl to show up and lay down the vocals. The band - engineers + producer were tired of going there every day just in case Axl decided to show up. This went on for months at a time. Sad.

So now the album is finally done - or at least super close to it. The title of the album makes all the sense in the world now. Chinese Democracy is one of the most anticipated [talked about + joked about] albums ever. How could this album not leak? It was inevitable.

Skwerl's a cool guy + a big fan of great music. His blog rocks. He uploaded the songs to his site to be streamed - not downloaded - but he went overboard on the publicity + attracted a lot of people to his website. At what cost?

I can relate to both sides of the debate: the artist vs. the fan. There is something seriously wrong with this situation. What should the punishment really be here?

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 17 at 4:30 PM and the arraignment for September 22 at 8:30 AM at the US District Court Building at 255 East Temple Street, Third Floor, Downtown LA. You can send messages of support - hate mail + donations to Skwerl here.