Grit & Resolve
Interview: Del James
by Dana R. Davidson


The life that horror writer Del James knows is harsh, gritty, and real. He states, “I worked at the Pussy Cat Theater on Hollywood Blvd. back in 1986; one of the seediest, sleaziest places in the world. That goes home with you, you know.” That experience made it’s way into one of his short stories in his book, The Language of Fear. The story, Adult Nature Material, Del explains, “There are two genuine truths in that story. Jeanna Fine, the porn star, once told me a story about some freak she knew who got his rocks off by putting a condom on a pencil and inserting it like a catheter. That worked its way into my story. The other was the porn theater itself. Hydrochloric acid and violence, that’s the exaggeration for story sake.” 

In The Language of Fear, a book of short stories about the follies and sometimes the joy of addiction, murder, hate, deceit, and everyday horrors Del draws from his real life experiences and at times alters them to make them more interesting. With Out You, a short story he wrote as a cautionary tale to Axl Rose, fearing that his best friend, Axl, would die if he continued down the path he was taking and unsure how to tell his friend this, Del, while wasted himself, wrote the story and faxed it over to Axl. This story later inspired the song, ‘November Rain.’ Del explains, “Any writer has certain influences and if they are based in some form of reality, you just exaggerate upon them. I’m all about whatever makes the story as interesting as it can be.” That being said, Del’s favorite stories, of the ones in his book, were written while sober.

Growing up an only child, New York native Del James, became a fan of horror at an early age. Having to sleep in the living room with the televison gave him easy access to his favorite programing like Chiller Theater & Creature Feature. Seeing movies like The Exorcist and The Omen helped to further his love. While other kids were playing with superheroes Del was playing monsters. 

In 1985 Del moved from New York to California. He met a man named West Arkeen and another interesting character who, as Del puts it, was “a fella with no residence named, Axl Rose... So for a month I’m hanging out with these guys (who were in a band he’d never heard of). We speak the same language, do the same drugs, and smoke the same cigarettes. They’re your bros, you know?” They became life long friends and he became part of the Guns N’ Roses family.

When on tour with GN’R he makes it a point to visit any good horror experience possible. He shares his love of horror with his children, “I took my two kids to see “Evil Dead: The Musical” on a day off when GN’R was headlining Madison Square Garden in New York City.”

Last year, while on tour in Auckland New Zealand, Del says, “I found out about this haunted house called Spookers. Unfortunately it was only running on the same night as the show. As road manager, part of my job is to get every band member to and from the venue and make sure everything is all sussed out. The last van going to the venue took a slight detour so that we could go to Spookers. I had one of the guitar players with me and one of my best friends, Hernan, who’s part of the Guns N’ Roses crew. We all went through the mazes and got chased by monsters and still got to the venue in time to do the gig. Now, someone else might have a moral conflict with hijacking a van to go to a spook house on a show night, but I don’t.”

May 1992, after more than 7 years of a lifestyle of excess Del James was taken out of his house by ambulance in a cocaine seizure. This wasn’t his first time in the hospital for an overdose, it was however his rock bottom. The mother of his child and his child watched as he was carried away, “I was being lead off like a piece of shit, like the piece of shit that I was. That I am. That was the lowest.” He states that since becoming sober on May 13, 1992, “I’ve raised my children as best I could and ascended in GN’R world from messed up band friend to their road manager.”
Becoming road manager didn’t happen over night, it was when he finally got clean that he got promoted, Del explains, “I’ve been around for twenty some odd years and I’ve worn many different hats. I was in charge of the documentary crew for a while that was on the Use Your Illusions tour. I’ve co-written songs, been a roommate, been a dealer, songwriter, and video director...I’ve done a lot of different things.” Including song writing for other bands. When Del gets sober and his life together he says, “management made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. (They gave him further incentive to stay sober, not an ultimatum.) They basically said ‘when you are clean you are part of the solution, you are an asset. When you are wasted you are one of these animals, we’ve got enough animals, and the animals are performing. So as long as you keep your shit together you will always have a job with Guns N’ Roses.’”

Del’s second book, A Celebration of Pain, is being shopped to publishers. His current short story can be found in the horror anthology, Shivers Volume 5, out next year by Cemetery Dance Publications. The Language of Fear, is at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA, online through Amazon & Barns&Noble.



-DD