Monday, March 25, 2019

New Guns N' Roses Album in the Works

Duff Mckagan, Axl Rose, and Slash 
After wrapping up their "Not in This Lifetime" tour in December, 2018, it looks like the touring Guns N' Roses lineup is going to record a new album. That means three-fifths of the original band will be at it again with vocalist Axl Rose, guitarist Slash, and Duff McKagan on bass. Additional members would include guitarist Richard Fortus and (hopefully) drummer Frank Ferrer.
Slash, McKagan, and Fortus have all said there is an intent to record a new GNR album, but in the Gunner's world, nothing comes quickly. "Oh, it’s real, but the fun part and the cool part about Guns N’ Roses is we don’t really talk about it, and what happens next just happens,” said McKagan, who has heard a few new songs written by Rose, on Trunk Nation. “It’s never been that band that there’s a direct schedule of how we do things. I’ve heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has, really cool stuff he’s been working on. So I’m excited about the possibilities with that, of course. I don’t mean to get anybody rabid. Our day will happen when it happens, that’s for sure.”
Slash echoed those sentiments in an interview in Japan where he noted: “Axl, Duff, myself and Richard have all talked about… there’s material and stuff going on already for a new record,” said Slash. “It’s just, with Guns N’ Roses, you don’t go, ‘Oh, there is a plan, and it’s gonna be like this,’ because that’s not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we’re hoping to put a new record out, and we’ll just see what happens when it happens.”
Slash currently has touring commitments with Myles Kennedy through August, so presumably the top-hatted one would be working with Rose and the rest of the band after that.
"Slash is on tour right now. Once he gets back from that, we’re gonna get some more recording done and hopefully get an album out soon. And then we’ll get back to touring," Fortus told the St. Louis Dispatch. He went on to say a new record could come around "faster than you think."

Chinese Democracy Took a Long Time to Record

The most recent Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, which was some 11 years in the works, features only Rose as an original band member. While it would be great for the Gunners to make a record with the original lineup, including drummer Steven Adler and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, chances are it won't happen.
And if the band is indeed working on a new album, knowing Rose's perfectionist OCD tendencies, it likely won't be released in 2019.
Given Rose wrote at least two albums worth of material during the Chinese Democracy period, one wonders how many of those tracks will see the light of day on a new record and get some input from Slash and McKagan.

Can Slash and Axl Rose Get Along?


Rose and Slash rocking it on the "Not in This Lifetime" Tour
Also too, it remains to be seen if Slash and Rose can work together in the studio. Remember those ugliest feuds. In his 2007 biography, Slash stated he left Guns N' Roses because of Rose's constant lateness to concerts, the alleged legal manipulation Rose used (since denied by Rose) to gain control of the band, and the departures of original drummer Steven Adler and guitarist Izzy Stradlin. For his part, Rose stoked the fire with some nasty words in a 2009 interview, saying "Personally I consider Slash a cancer and better removed, avoided — and the less anyone heard of him or his supporters, the better." No doubt Rose knew Slash had lost his mother to cancer and the comments didn't sit well with the guitarist. Rose also told Billboard in 2009 (when there was talk of a GNR reunion back then): "What's clear is that one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is."
Well they got together for the reunion tour (money has that type of influence), so fans are hoping they can get through making another album together.