GUNS N’ ROSES AXL ROSE TALKS ABOUT NEW MUSIC, POSSIBILITY OF WORKING WITH DUFF MCKAGAN AGAIN
Blabbermouth reports:
In a brand new interview with Revolver magazine, Guns N’ Roses frontman W. Axl Rose was asked where things stand as with the follow-up to the band’s 2008 album Chinese Democracy.
“We recorded a lot of things before Chinese was out,” Rose said. “We’ve worked more on some of those things and we’ve written a few new things. But basically, we have what I call kind of the second half of Chinese. That’s already recorded. And then we have a remix album made of the songs from Chinese. That’s been done for a while, too. But after Vegas, we’re going to start looking very seriously at what we’re doing in that regard.”
Rose also spoke about his reunion with ex-Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, who filled in for current GN’R bassist Tommy Stinson during the group’s recent South American tour because Stinson went back to The Replacements for two high-profile dates at Coachella.
“It went really well,” Axl said. “[Duff] worked really hard on the parts, and he liked playing the newer songs from Chinese. And, you know, it’s pretty funny because we’d go to talk about certain things from Use Your Illusion, and there’s things he doesn’t remember, there’s things I don’t remember. We kind of finish some of each other’s memories sometimes. And the Duff that played these shows with us isn’t really the Duff that I knew from what I’d call ‘old Guns’ or the Appetite For Destruction lineup or the Illusion lineup. Because with this band, with this lineup, everybody goes out and tries to do their very best, and every guy’s on. I don’t have to tell the other guys what to do or anything, they do it on their own. They push each other really, really hard. That also pushed Duff, and he liked the challenge of that. And he got along with the guys really well. He and some of the band and crew were doing their yoga together during the days we were out there, so…”
Asked if he thinks he and Duff will do more work together, Axl said: “It’s possible. I don’t know yet. It depends on scheduling, or what shows Tommy wants to do with The Replacements and stuff like that. And you know, almost everybody in the band has some kind of issue going on, personally. There’s people who have lost family members. Other people are dealing with separations. Sometimes court gets in the way. Real life!”
Chinese Democracy was released 15 years after its predecessor, 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident.
source: blabbermouth.net
I liked Chinese Democracy a lot. I don’t consider it a GnR album by any means. But within it’s own context I listened to it over and over.
I thought the track Chinese was a good rock track.
There was no song named “Chinese” on that album.
A reunion will never happen. Axl is loaded and doesn’t need the money. He’s played with Izzy and Duff, and will again tonight with Duff. He seems happy. He doesn’t need Slash. I can’t wait to hear the new stuff, if it comes out!
No, Axl doesn’t “need” Slash, but if all he can crank out is a record as forgettable as Chinese Democracy every 10-15 years, Slash definitly doesn’t need him. Slash has had far greater output of far greater quality in the same time frame. If we’re trying to call who the better writer is, it’s a runaway win for….? ? Get real…Slash. Axl is a bloated has been. His shows wouldn’t even matter except for the clowns that want to believe they are seeing “guns n roses.” It’s a joke-take it from a guy that saw them in ’87 open for the Cult.
James Perkins
Houston. Texas
If Slash wants to get out of clubs and opening slots in the US, he needs Axl. Everything he’s done since he left Guns is forgettable, average stuff. Chinese had some great stuff on it. That’s my opinion, and you have yours. If you want to have a ego competition on who saw who, I saw Guns in 88, three times in 91 and once in 92…however, that means nothing in this conversation.
Oh, and Axl isn’t the only one to put on weight…Slash isn’t exactly a model of health either.
I will concede neither is likely to headline arenas again w/o the other, you saw the band twice more than I did in the day and Slash (while a lot closer in appearance to his “guns” days than Axl) is probably not a model of health. However, I think you owe it to yourself to give at least Ain’t Life Grand and Apocalyptic Love another listen. I will try to retrieve my copy of Chinese Democracy to do the same.
I have all of Slash’s stuff because I’m a massive Guns fan. I didn’t like any of the Snakepit stuff, the VR stuff was extremely boring and his first solo album was pretty good. The last album was decent. The live album was ok, but Kennedy singing the Guns stuff makes me want to poke my ears out. I don’t dislike Slash, however , he’s overrated. It’s so ‘cool’ to hate Axl, that all everyone does is talk about how great Slash is. He’s good, but his image made him just as popular as his playing did. Izzy and Duff were every bit as important as Slash was to that band…and they both still play with Axl from time to time. Axl has already done three US arena tours with his band. He needs a new album to hit to do it again, and that probably won’t happen for numerous reasons.
The second half of Chinese? Oh, joy…
The second half of Chinese what? Chinese people? Chinese food?
I wonder if on some level, Axl is trying to say “See, I can work with former band mates, I’m not unreasonable, Slash is the problem, not me!”.