Letterman dances with Mr. Brownstone

November 14, 8:31 AMMusic ExaminerLinda Laban

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Mr. Brownstone, we presume.

This is indeed a momentous time. First Obama gets elected and then Axl finally, on Nov. 25, gets “Chinese Democracy” into stores. Well, one store, as the long-awaited disc  is tithed exclusively to Best Buy for release on CD. In high anticipation of the new Guns N’ Roses disc, which has been such a long time materializing that “new” doesn’t seem an apt quantifier … Anyway, in anticipation of this momentous event,  and as part of a week-long spree of cover band performances, the savvy people at “The Late Show with David Letterman” have booked popular Boston-New York split GN’R cover band, Mr. Brownstone, to perform Wednesday, November 19.  The band, which dons wigs and dresses the part of the late ‘80s-spawed hard rock outfit, comprises Sean Greenhalgh(Axl Rose), Gerard Egan (Slash), Drew Thurlow (Duff McKagan), Dave Godowsky (Izzy Stradlin), Mac Furey (Steven Adler) , Chris Joyce (Dizzy Reed). Greenhalgh is probably better known for drumming in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, while Egan plays in Boss Tweed, Thurlow is in Takka Takka, Joyce is in The Common End, and Godowsky performs solo, singer-songwriter style. As “Izzy” explains, Mr. Brownstone prefers to keep with the original devil-may-care charm of the band: “"We're probably the only band playing on late night TV these days that never rehearses and never plays shows sober." Incidentally, Mr. Brownstone will play New York's Irving Plaza, Nov. 28. We pinned down Greenhalgh for a quick chat.

What song will Mr. Brownstone perform? “Welcome to the Jungle.”

Perfect! Will you race out on the 25th to buy “Chinese Democracy”? I'll definitely give it a listen. Pay for it though…?

Will the record even make it or will it get pulled at the last minute? Axl's finally taking his shot. May the gods of rock be with him.

I guess Mr. Brownstone needs a copy, because the band is going to have to learn the new songs. I wouldn’t bet on it.

Isn’t it exciting to have some new songs to play? We like the old ones. We’ve been playing them for about eight years. Classic stuff.

Do you think Letterman tried to get GN’R on the show to play? I bet he did.

So, maybe Axl refused and Letterman's having a laugh and inviting a GN’R cover band to perform. Dave wanted the best, but the best couldn't make it, so here's what you get.

What do your Clap Your Hands band mates think of you dressing up as Axl? They're thoroughly unimpressed.

Where did you get the wig? There's a wig store on 14th Street in Manhattan, where a nice Chinese gentleman has been selling me wigs for years. I'm on my third one.