the letter

[Caligula13]

Guns N' Roses Not Able to Perform at Rock in Rio; A Message from W. Axl Rose

LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2004--Guns N' Roses will not be performing as scheduled at Rock In Rio - Lisbon.


The band has been put in an untenable position by guitarist Buckethead and his untimely departure. During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment - despite being under contract - creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever. Last time I talked to Bucket, he called to tell me he had bought a bootleg DVD off EBay and how proud he was to be in Guns and how impressed he was with everyone's performance. Then, in February we got word from Brain that Bucket had called him and said he was back in Guns!? Apparently, according to Bucket he had been "Gone" but had turned himself around and was really excited to do Rio-Lisbon and a European tour. Somewhere in the following month things changed once again. According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with Sanctuary Records which I encouraged my management to make available to him, quit GN'R and to use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts...Nice guy!

There is not a member of this camp that is not hurt, upset and ultimately disappointed by this event, and more to the point - if not this individual, certainly this individual's choices. Regardless of anyone's opinions of me and what I may or may not deserve, clearly the fans, individuals in this band, management, crew and our support group do not deserve this type of treatment. We as a whole, definitely feel that we afforded Bucket every accommodation perhaps so much so that it may be that we or more precisely, I may have done Guns a disservice and unintentionally allowed Guns to be put in this position.

On behalf of Guns N' Roses and myself I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock In Rio - Lisbon. The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who chose to embrace Buckethead's role in Guns and support our new line up. We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve. In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further. Regardless we hope to announce a release date within the next few months.

Sincerely,

W. Axl Rose

*The Festival will shortly announce the name of a new headliner to perform with EVANESCENCE, KINGS OF LEON and XUTOS E PONTAPES amongst others

source: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/g...283&newsLang=en "

[rocktar81]

I become mad.  

[Caligula13]

so, again it is not Axl Rose's fault.
he is the first person to talk abot BH being an asshole

[matt88]

Ah fuck that shit axl suck my cock

[MeanBone]

funny how its never his fault. lol   go Axl.

[kockstar99]

fuck brian carroll.... he can find another guitarist if he wants....but Robin and Richard are fine..

but i like Zim Zum or Sunshine...

too bad buckethead acted like this,  i think ill go flood his official bucketboard with spam....

fuck off brian caroll... The fans cheered for you on the 2002 tour.

[Jonx]

Great, just great

At least we have finnally heard something from Axl himself, even if it isnt good news. Looks like they had a European Tour planned after Rio, guess that is going to be thrown away aswell.

What worries me the most is this:

'this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further'.

Take recording an extra step further, more recording!!!!! meaning that this album is going to take even longer to be released.

This is a real blow, i finnally thought something was going to happen, but obviously not!!!!!

Jonx

[kockstar99]

he took some of the blame...


we afforded Bucket every accommodation perhaps so much so that it may be that we or more precisely, I may have done Guns a disservice and unintentionally allowed Guns to be put in this position.

[noonespecial]

LOL!

Funny how Axl's behavior is never part of the recipe for the consequences that come into his life....
I'll give Axl one thing, he plays the victum very, very well!

[jazjme]

or he saw how well GH has been recieves and will let BH out of his contract and still realease it with his parts but BH gets nothin.....a settlement.....from here on in
 

[Andrew]

We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve. In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further. Regardless we hope to announce a release date within the next few months.

This seems very positive to me, you can tell Axl is bitter but surely this is promising.

I`m not to sure what he means by taking the recording one step further - either he`ll take out the B/H parts or not. One of those options taking it further the other replacing with something of equal or lesser quality.

We`ll have to see, after all its been a while since Axl has been so forward to say they`ll "hope" to announce a release date within a few months so i guess whatever problems the B/h situation have caused are being dealt with.

[BucketRose]

Ahhhh...."a chance to take the recording one step further."

Ok....Axl putting the "finishing touches" on C.D. has already become the biggest running joke in rock music.  Therefore....how in God's name can he come out and say this....again?  

This is beyond comedy....did Axl and the writers at Saturday Night Live turn this band into a satire skit without telling anyone?  

At one point...Axl wanted GnR to be the biggest band in the world.  At this point...it actually seems that he wants GnR to be the biggest JOKE in the world.  You can quit trying now Axl...you've already achieved your goal.

[Caligula13]

what really makes me upset is that BH's manager says Bh is fed up with GNR'S inability to complete CD and Axl says GNR is not able to complete CD because of BH...why are there always to versions when it comes to GNR and Axl....

[DontDamnMe2]

It seems as thou BH was never 100% committed to GNR but AXL liked him so much that he was prepared to put up with this behavour - which he is admitting may have been a mistake.

I totally understand and sypathize with AXL. BH has screwed over the whole of GNR and all it fans - not AXL.

[Jani]

Hell, why is everybody so negative? We finally got words from the man!

To me it sounds like Bucket?s replacement has been found, but they?re not ready to announce any names yet. And if they do announce a release date in next few months, is "soon" the word then? If you consider the wait we have been going through, I think another few months go by pretty soon.

Chinese Democracy begins in 2004! (no pun intented)

[kockstar99]

Hell, why is everybody so negative? We finally got words from the man!

To me it sounds like Bucket?s replacement has been found, but they?re not ready to announce any names yet. And if they do announce a release date in next few months, is "soon" the word then? If you consider the wait we have been going through, I think another few months go by pretty soon.

I agree... i wonder who the replacement is... this isnt bad news...its just news... and thats all i wanted....

[matt88]

BH and AXl have both screwed GN'R up a bit

[Skunk]

from the standpoint of having waited years and years, yes this is positive news, just to hear Axl say he hopes to announce a release date.
i agree that it seems like Axl was probably a little too impressed with bucket's ability, and was blinded to the fact that the guy really wasn't into it. i mean, the way the letter reads, you get the notion that a month without speaking was no big deal. Buckethead considered himself out of the band, and Axl didn't know until he was told Buckethead was back in the band... that's crazy.
i wonder if this letter was mostly written to the fans, or if it's largely Axl writing to buckethead?
i do wish he didn't have to say things like "without giving away any details." cause boy would details be cool. well, hey, axl seems to find talented musicians... so let's start getting excited about the new, new guns n roses.

MORE RECORDING STARTS NOW!!!

[rolleri]

shame that this took place

I think too, that this wasn't any of Axl's fault. Buckethead was ok, but not even near great, and now that he has done this.. don't know  

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i'll believe this letter when it goes to the " oh so trendy "
http://www.gnronline.com/