Here Today... Gone To Hell!

SLASH On Possibility Of New GUNS N' ROSES Music: 'I Think Everybody Wants To Do It'


GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash has not ruled out the possibility of recording new music with the current incarnation of the band, which features three-fifths of the classic lineup. During a surprise appearance on yesterday's (Friday, August 3) edition of "Trunk Nation LA Invasion: Live From The Rainbow Bar & Grill" on SiriusXM, Slash was asked if the group has considered going into the studio. He responded: "It's been talked about. I think everybody wants to do it, and we'll just see what happens. We've been busy doing this running around the planet," referring to GUNS N' ROSES' ongoing "Not In This Lifetime" tour, which kicked off more than two years ago.

According to Slash, the original plan for the GUNS N' ROSES reunion was to only play five shows. "That's initially what it was gonna be," he said. "We didn't have a big, long-term thing [planned]. Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES singer] and I got together, and we talked for a while and so on, and we thought it would be cool to these Coachella dates, because we [got] offered to get back together and do Coachella every year for years, and we obviously didn't do it [before]. So now that we were on good terms, it seemed like a good idea. So that was the basic focus — just to do those two shows and a couple of warm-up shows, so we did the Troubadour, one show in Vegas, in Mexico and the Coachella gigs. And that went so well, and everything just fell back into place. So we said, 'Okay, we'll do this U.S. run that they're offering us,' and then everything just snowballed from there."

Asked if he was surprised by how much of a commercial success the "Not In This Lifetime" tour has turned out to be, Slash said: "The last shows that we did was '94 in South America, so we were at that place where we were playing stadiums. So when this came back around, the first offers were to do stadium-type gigs. So I was, like, 'Okay. That's great.' I think, more than anything, I was just excited about the enthusiasm. Considering, for me personally, being out of it for so long, coming back into it and seeing these insane crowds… It was, in my opinion, better received this time around than it was in the last years of the '90s that I was in it. It was really, really cool. And it's one of those times you can appreciate playing in a stadium, because you're playing for anywhere from 30 to 80 thousand people that are so dialed into your shit that it's like playing in a club — it's got that kind of personal toe-to-toe feel to it. So it was really, really a blast."

Slash went on to say that reconnecting with Rose after nearly two decades was "huge." He added: "The most surreal moment was soundcheck at the Troubadour [in April 2016] — that was a very surreal moment. Way before we played the show and everything, just being together with everybody, being in that particular environment, of course stuffing 10 times more gear in there than we had back in the day. And then looking over and seeing Axl and seeing Duff [McKagan, GUNS N' ROSES bassist], that was a very surreal moment. The rest of it seemed very, very new. I'm with a guy who was a partner in crime with me for many years before we had this, sort of, falling-out thing. And then, obviously, Duff. And we were up there playing these gigs. And I know these guys, I know these songs, but something about it was not really reminiscent of, say, the 'Use Your Illusion' tour. So it felt really fresh and new. It's an interesting thing. It didn't hit those tiny moments of, like, 'Oh my God! I remember hitting this chord, and he was there back in 1991,' or anything like that."

Slash also spoke highly of his new GN'R bandmates Richard Fortus (guitar) and Frank Ferrer (drums), saying: "All in all, it was just a great bunch of people who were really excited about doing what we're doing, and going out there and playing in front of a bunch of people who are glad we're doing it."

The guitarist praised Rose for his "amazing" vocal performace at "every single show" during the "Not In This Lifetime" tour, noting that GUNS N' ROSES was playing "three-and-a-half-hour sets" on many nights. "So it was really cool to watch him do," he said.

Slash also talked about what it has been like for him to perform songs from GUNS N' ROSES' 2008 album "Chinese Democracy", which he did not play on. "It was cool," he said. 'There's some great songs on that record, so I just sort of adapted my own way of playing them and just made them more my own so I felt more comfortable. And they just kick ass."

GUNS N' ROSES launched its long-rumored and long-awaited reunion tour in April 2016 with a club show in Hollywood and been on the road around the world ever since. The "Not In This Lifetime" trek, which ranks as the fourth-highest-grossing tour of all time, based on Billboard's Boxscore archives, features Slash, McKagan and Rose, backed by Fortus and Ferrer, plus keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese.

"Chinese Democracy" came out in 2008 and featured only Axl from the classic lineup.

The last album on which Rose, McKagan and Slash appeared together was 1993's covers set "The Spaghetti Incident?"

Slash will release his fourth solo album and third with his band THE CONSPIRATORS, "Living The Dream", in September.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/slash-on-possibility-of-new-guns-n-roses-music-i-think-everybody-wants-to-do-it/

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/jarmo

Thanks for posting. Great read. So positive  :)

-E

Awesome interview, just listened to it!  :peace:

It's amazing, it's been 2 years and this is the most anyone from the band has ever said about any of it.

The fact that they keep adding dates two years after the fact is a testament to how positive this must be.

Ali

Yeah, I just meant that it's amazing that someone from the band is finally speaking about things.

Soon is the word. Or was it spoon?

He's off the gnr clock and on the solo one at the moment- hence interviews, appearances, promotional events etc. He'd better get used to talking about the future of GNR as he's going to get grilled about it at every opportunity I would imagine......

Cool read but I'm not sure if there is anything else that Ashba didn't say in his interviews. Something was always coming out but never did. Maybe Slash is a little more senior to talk about this.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

So it’s a new Slash album and tour. Back with GnR for a few dates end of the year. New Loaded record with probably another tour. New AC/DC album with Axl and tour and maybe then Axl, Slash and Duff can record something together??

AC/DC looking unlikely-strong rumours that they have Brian back for new material and a small farewell tour.

Cool 8)

Nice to hear this from Slash. Im sure they can make som killer songs together!

Source?  I'd like to read about all that!   :o



Good point about being off the GNR clock at the moment in terms of giving interviews, but as far as being grilled about GNR, I doubt his status with the band matters.  Truth is, Slash has been grilled about the future of GNR every day of his life since 1996.   :P

Despite not doing daily tasks for GNR there could be something in the contract anyway that tells what you can and cannot do. Sports people for instance are under contract also during the off season. Or a policeman is still representing the force during holidays.

"Slash also talked about what it has been like for him to perform songs from GUNS N' ROSES' 2008 album "Chinese Democracy", which he did not play on. "It was cool," he said. 'There's some great songs on that record"

 :beer:

Source is acdcfans.net- a big forum for them. They've actually closed the forum to new members now as they were getting so much traffic! I have a login there as I bought a ticket fr someone for the Axl tour.

Basically the mods/admins are saying they have multiple sources and photos suggesting that the band are in a Vancouver studio together and are planning a few shows. They're all very excited- and there doeasn't seem to be much love for Axl, it has to be said.

See what happens- but tjey all seem very sure ACDC are coming back with Brian....

That's fair.

How excited would we be for any other singer than Axl for our favorite band?

Slash is so prolific that he may be the spark that is needed to generate new music and drive the process to completion. Through his solo albums and with MK and the Conspirators, Slash has gained a stature that he did not have in 1995, so I think Axl will seriously consider his opinion and the music he writes. In short, the likelihood of new music if Slash gets involved is quite positive. 

Yep, guess so. If it turns out that Axl IS going to be continuing with Ac/DC now though there will be a lof of very pised off people. I do wonder how much commercial sense there is in doing something that seems to be so vehementley opposed to what fans want. I wonder how much of the opposition to Axl that seems to be present would translate into ticket/album sales? Hard to know really. I have a feeling many AC/DC fans may hate the idea a lot but probably would still buy tickets and albums...

I don't think it's all that commercially viable.

Think about that last tour.  Tickets were already sold.  Once it was announced Axl was filling in, some people just rolled with it, but a lot of people dumped their tickets to GNR fans who wanted to see Axl.  That's how I got my ticket.  That's how a lot of us did, on the secondary market from AC/DC fans uninterested in seeing Axl Rose.

So now you are going to try and sell a tour with no secrets.  It's Axl Rose.  Are AC/DC fans jumping at that? What about GNR fans?  Are they going again?  I'm not.  I loved my show, but I feel like I saw it.  I got the gist.  I don't know the next tour is all that different an experience.

Does AXL/DC fill basketball arenas in the U.S.?  I wonder.

As always, the loudest voices are the most extreme ones. A lot of the videos of Axl/DC now have positive comments. But yes, at the same time, unfortunately AC/DC fans don't tend to be the most open minded group, and I say that as one myself. Frankly, most of the fuss is entirely hypocritical, seeing as they hired Brian and recorded Back in Black about three months after Bon had died. They have never dwelt on sentimentality, so anyone who expected it for Brian was simply not paying attention.


How about rock fans in general? Why does it have to be die hard AC/DC or GNR fans? And if there's new music, that's not the same experience. A collaboration between them would potentially be the coolest thing ever IMO.

And as far as selling tickets, most of the reception outside diehard closed-minded AC/DC fans was overwhelmingly positive. Even people who wrote Axl off decades ago have been saying how impressed they were. And that tour was only one leg with only the tickets being resold available. The number of people who actually did see Axl/DC is very, very small.

Slash pretty much said the same thing Axl has said.....




/jarmo

Same here - I got mine for a fraction of the face value.

Obviously things would have to be significantly scaled down were they to continue with Axl (things meaning venue sizes) but working within that awareness...what choice do AC/DC have, if they wish to continue and Brian can't? They're really left with three options - carry on with Axl, on a much smaller scale, knock the whole thing on the head completely, or maybe find a completely different third singer that doesn't seem to invite the ire of fans quite so much (if that' even possible).

If it was my band, I'd probably be looking to go out after a long career doing something that would go down well with the fans, and bring back Brian in whatever capacity. Then looking at doing something new.....

Really?  How many new songs are in the setlist?  2?  3, maybe?

But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that one of the first few songs will be 'Shoot To Thrill'.  That the last song before the encore is 'Let There Be Rock'.  And, what do you know, the last song is 'For Those About To Rock'.

And equal stock should be put in both.

LOL, geez, somebody got awfully triggered!  :o

Bon died, making him unable to be the singer anymore. Brian lost his hearing, making him unable to be the singer anymore. Explain how the reason they were unable to continue makes a difference. I'll wait.


I didn't suggest that. But it sure as hell wasn't sentimental either. I said they hired Brian and recorded the entirety of BIB three months after his death. That is just a fact, you cannot argue with it.


So, in conjunction with your previous statement about the lack of worldwide success with Bon, you are saying that Bon was not leaving as large shoes to fill as Brian is to Axl? Because I think most fans would disagree. I would say they are about equal, and I am more fair to Brian than many fans. Bon accomplished a lot in his short time and Brian kept it going for decades.


I was an AC/DC fan before I was a GNR fan. And as I already stated, the complainers are always the loudest. There are a LOT of AC/DC fans who were blown away by Axl.

Brian did not have 40 years of accomplishments when he replaced Bon in 1980. But he wasn't shit on relentlessly for it. In fact, Axl has much more of a legacy from GNR than Brian did with Geordie when he joined.

How is that not hypocrisy? Before he died, Bon was THE AC/DC singer and many fans believed he could not legitimately be replaced. However, they were supportive of Brian and even held signs that said "good luck Brian" at his first shows. The contrast in treatment is undeniable.


Again, you must not have been paying attention. Brian was told by his doctor in no uncertain terms, "you will lose your hearing entirely if you continue". He was stubborn about it and Angus got attacked for doing what was best for Brian. And yet again, if you know this band, they do not stop for anything. If they have a commitment, they will follow through come hell or high water. Malcolm had to bow out of the 1988 BUYV tour to go to rehab. They didn't bring the tour to an ass-grinding halt just for him, they enlisted Stevie.

Which brings me to another point, Malcolm died. Where is the outrage over continuing without him? Where is the shit being slung at Stevie for taking his place? Is he not irreplaceable? He wrote half of the freaking songs. Brian didn't even write lyrics anymore. How in the hell can you say Brian is irreplaceable but not Malcolm? That is the definition of hypocrisy.


Again, he was not going to get well in time to reschedule those shows. Especially at his age, the body does not recover quickly, and hearing damage is almost entirely permanent to begin with. It is not Brian's band any more than it was ever Bon's band, Malcolm's band, or now Angus' band. Angus is the only original member surviving, so whatever he says the band is, is what it is. Not a bunch of fans, no matter how entitled they feel they are.


#2 makes no sense. That is the definition of open-minded.


Maybe you should look up the definition of hypocrisy before trying to just blindly lob it back like "I'm rubber and you're glue!"

#2: I AM a hardcore AC/DC fan with decades of passion for the band. I'm just not a closed-minded, entitled jerk like the people who think they get to determine what AC/DC is, going against Angus' decisions, who actually founded the band. I called them closed-minded because they didn't even give Axl a chance and wrote him off before he ever sang a single note. Not because they disagree with me, because they are being closed-minded. What is so hard for you to get about this? Really...

And Axl is not "any old singer". As I already said, he is a rock legend with decades of experience. Brian was a nobody before he joined.


Do you even hear yourself? Is this grade school? Control your emotions.


Yeah, I very clearly said it was my opinion, so why are you getting so emotional and defensive about this?

And it's "closed-minded", not "close-minded".

Quite the rant! It's only a band!

Anyway- it does indeed look like Brian is back, in some capacity. I've just seen a photo of himself and Phil Rudd (drummer) at the studio, taken two days ago.

EDIT: Have tried to upload it, but my technology skills are shit!

This guy has it on his blog though, for those who want to see: https://earofnewt.com/2018/08/07/ac-dc-blockbuster-news-newts-rumour-proven-true-phil-rudd-is-in-vancouver-and-brian-johnson-too/

Fanbase preferences aside, this was probably our best chance to hear Axl on a record anytime soon. :/

That's my worry too......

An AC/DC record would have been a poor 'second best' in my view, but at least it would have been something.

Yes, maybe anytime soon. But try to set your clocks to Guns-time, have patience,  and I believe we'll get a new Guns record. I hope for both CD-stuff and new stuff with Slash and Duff.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/slash-guns-n-roses-future/

New Slash interview. I think something is cooking.

Another interview.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-guns-n-roses-guitarist-slash-on-30-years-of-hell-raising-m2q9qbkmg

Ali

I think everyone's excited about the prospect of making music together. No one has said "No, never" no matter what some like to interpret the answers as....

Also, the AFD box set was released with Axl, Duff and Slash back working together. First release since the regrouping. Which can't be a bad thing... :)





/jarmo

Something is very much cooking- a new Slash album and tour. Hence the interviews!

Exactly, the band has released more material then they’ve done in a long time. And all with the release of all the clothing it actually has been a pretty good time for us fans. They are in a “releasing mode”.

This is pretty much all that is cooking. Show any proof otherwise and then we can take it from there.

Which is pretty much the same thing that Dizzy has said and Richard Fortus and DJ Ashba...

Of course live concert blu-rays (barely...) and re-mastered 31.5 year old albums are all we have actually got.

What’s that old saying? Actions speak louder than words?

You forgot to include a tour.... It's not like they've been at home just thinking about new music. They're on tour.

We're pretty much in a similar place where we were before Chinese came out. A bunch of people "needing" new music. And then, it wasn't what they needed after all....





/jarmo

What does this mean? I think many needed it after all and I bought a couple of albums on the day of the release and more later. There were also other people needing that.

Of course it didn't sell well but I think we know why that happened.

It means that for many, they really really wanted the album to come out, then when it did, they couldn't wait to hear those other songs.

It's like you want something, and you get it and then realize it wasn't really what you were wanting.... So you start wanting something else. Again....


I don't know how many comments I've read over the years where people say they cant wait to hear ______ (Insert song title). Seems like some have expectations on how much they'll enjoy a song based on the titles alone. :)





/jarmo

Yeah, this never made a lick of sense to me either.

The General...Atlas Shrugged...Soul Monster.  These are just words on a screen.  Why are they supposed to be "epic"?  Maybe they are cool tunes, maybe they suck.  Don't know until you hear them.

That is because there are no songs that suck in the GNR world :beer:

Never said they have been completely idle, except on the releasing new music front.

I however don’t claim to speak on behalf of a ‘bunch of people’, only me. I looked forward for 17 years for Chinese Democracy to come out and I enjoyed it when it did.

Now 10 years since that time, I am looking forward to more music from my favourite band. I know how much of a problem that is...

But I am not holding my breath because nothing new is coming out any time soon and anyone thinking otherwise is fooling themselves. All the ‘talk’ (the same thing we have seen time and time again) is just that until one guy gets his finger out and starts working as the recording artist he supposedly is...

Enjoy it when it comes out. Instead of spending time feeling frustrated because it didn't come out according to your personal preferences.

 : ok:



/jarmo

And there we have the attitude again that as a fan I should not feel entitled to even look forward to my favourite artist producing the art they are known for...

An amazing point of view. I wonder if there is another single artist on the entire planet that demand their fans (if they have any) have zero expectations on anything and then castigate them if they do?

We aren’t even allowed to hope anymore...

expectations and demanding are different things.

It's common sense to me.

Don't let something you have zero control over "ruin" your day(s) and feel upset over it.


Having an interest in something is good. Letting that turn you into someone bitter and hateful isn't.




/jarmo

I blame a certain front man of a certain rock band and a friend of Axl's who told us that their is a ton of great material and that the best songs are yet to come... :rofl: :beer:
Many of us here love Chinese Democracy, and would love to hear more of where that came from. And I am pretty sure, the CD follow ups won't impress a lot of fans, but I would really really like to hear it.
I suppose 90% of fans would love to hear follow ups of Don't cry and November rain, but I doubt they will get that... I on the other hand would be very excited to hear whats been said to exist...
p.s. I have this conspiracy theory and hope that some people on this board (and other forums) have already heard some of the unreleased stuff ;D ???

A lot of people have the mentality that if they didn't hear/see something, it doesn't exist.

We just had a song released as a single a few months ago that was recorded in 1986.... Obviously that existed without us knowing!  :hihi:




/jarmo

To be fair we already had 2 other studio versions of that same song officially released.

Yes, but a completely new version from 1986 was made public in 2018 without anyone knowing that existed.
:)



/jarmo

I have a car that runs on clean renewable energy.

What?  You have to see it?  It totally exists.  I have 3 of them, actually.  I just don't let them out.

But they are there.  Right in the garage.  Only some hater with a nefarious agenda would doubt me.

Didn't you also claim that you're dating a model?


To think that there is more unreleased GN'R material somewhere that you have no idea about, isn't as far fetched as your fantasies.... Sorry.






/jarmo

I think the point is that if Axl has no real intention of putting out whatever he may or may not be tinkering with behind the scenes...it might as well not exist for the rest of the world.  It's as meaningful as a magical flute that cures cancer, but only he can hear it play.

Anyone ever read Atlas Shrugged?

I've started to believe that it's no coincidence Axl called a song that. I do wonder if he was deeply influenced by it , and that it could be the reason for us not hearing material.....

Ummm. No.

Some like to think that they know for sure how things work and what Axl is capable of. That their opinion is fact.

We don't know what he's done in recent years because he hasn't really talked about it (for obvious reasons). A few years ago he considered the album pretty much done... And then things happened.


The thing we don't know is when. To argue about there not being anything recorded is just silly.




/jarmo

Oh, don't get me wrong, I believe 100% that he has stuff that's either finished, or "nearly finished".  I just don't think it really matters seeing how we'll likely never hear any of it, that is if history is an indicator (15 new songs in 28 years).

Sure, it might get Axl an artistic integrity merit badge, but as far as the fans go it's a moot point if no one cares enough to actually put it out.

I'd love nothing more than for him to get Slash into a studio...like, yesterday...and finish whatever Axl was talking about.  But how likely is that?

when it comes to new music from Guns... I go with the schrodinger's cat theory, :peace:

What if the next GNR release is a box set of unreleased UYI songs? something similar to what they did with Appetite.

I just started to think about this. While we want new music me at least doesn't want too much of it.

If there were suddenly 50 new songs it would simply be too much to handle. Listen to, trying to understand.

Just give us 12 songs and everyone is happy :smoking:

Obviously.  And just as obviously, he knows that too.

But you don't expect the press secretary to come out and speak against the President either.

That cupboard is pretty bare.  'Ain't Goin' Down' was the only one that sounds like a finished song.

Could there be this treasure trove of songs sitting unearthed in some box?  I suppose.  Don't think it's likely though.

A UYI type of collection probably just gets you demos and alternate takes.

Yes, things happened...but does that make what was done suddenly "undone"?  Or just put back in the vault?

I don't think anyone's arguing the existence of recorded stuff...but rather it's whether we ever get to hear it.  You say the thing we don't know is when...I would say the thing we don't know is if 

Don't worry, I'm still happy with all the times I've been able to see GnR the past couple years...but it's not crazy to wonder if there's a plan for new music.  IMO, their actions do not indicate that.  I know, they've been focusing on touring, so no time to record and release new stuff (despite every other band being able to).  And I know, albums don't sell (despite every other band not named Tool still releasing them).  But I digress...

New music seemed like the logical progression of things, given how well received the reunion was right out of the gates.  In December it will be 3 years since those promos appeared before "The Force Awakens" and still no news on the new music front.  That's a bit frustrating, given that Axl basically said they were "rounding third" on getting that out way back in 2014. 

Of course, Slash & Duff being back in the fold threw a wrench in releasing them as they are since they do not play on said tracks.  But there have been sizable breaks in between legs where Slash & Duff could have easily laid down guitars on whatever Axl has, similar to what Ron did for Chinese Democracy between tour legs in 2006/07.  Why hasn't that happened yet? 

I'd snap up the $140 version of it, like I did with AFD, in a New York Minute.

And, I suspect, most people in this forum would get some version of it, too...and if they didn't outright buy it, it would be on their spotify playlist faster than you can say Axl Rose.

I think jarmo has it right.  It's when. 

Because look at what labels have done posthumously with big stars and even big bands (like the beatles).  Eventually, the vault gets broken open in the name of making a buck.

If there are near finished tracks that the label can polish up and sell, they will. Eventually.

OK, sure.

But they've also been on the road near constantly since then.  Mostly with Gnr, but Axl with AC/DC a bit, and now Slash with MK.  There hasn't exactly been any down time to really flesh out, record, and release an album.

I think I once said if we didn't have news of new music by the end of 2018, I'd be discouraged.  I've kicked that can to 2019 because, realistically, they've had no reasonable amount of time to do anything studio related

If they all go separate ways in 2019, or spend the ENTIRE year on tour, then....I think we're at a point where we have to drastically temper (and this bothers me less than it does other folks) our expectations for a new album.  But we've got some time before then.


2 short years ago, at just about this time, I would have told you that you were CRAZY to think Slash and Duff were going to rejoin GnR.  I would have pegged (and I think most of us would have pegged) the chances for a reunion at about .001%.

And yet.....things changed pretty rapidly.

If there's one thing I've learned in my 30+ years of fandom of this band, it's this: Nobody knows what they think they know, and whatever you expect to happen...you're probably wrong.

Everything posted here is rampant speculation that belies the world view of the posters.  We have some pessimists.  We have some optimists. We have some realists. And we have some trolls.

NONE of them (us) know SHIT about ANYTHING.  We can all take the piss out of various sides, and likelihoods, and we can go round and round and chase our tails til the cows come home.  I did a LOT of that in the past (HEY DX!!!).  No more.  The reunion taught me that, at the end of the day, it's meaningless.  Because NOBODY saw that coming. NOBODY.

And I suspect NOBODY will see new music coming, if it does, until it's either almost on our doorstep or they are WELL into the process to the point where it's release is inevitable.  They are not going to talk about creating until they are sure they can still function as a creative unit and they have stuff they like, and are just about ready to release.

Because it would be STUPID to do anything else, given the fervor, pressure, media hype, and "pestering" that talking about that stuff early on in the process would bring.

Maybe.

We know a couple of things:

1) There were more UYI tracks they didn't use and finish. They talked a bit about these back in the early 90's.   Some of them were supposed to be the basis for the next album.  I don't know how many (I think 3 or 4, at least....including Ain't Going Down). The problem, I suspect, is a lot of that material is Izzy influenced/written stuff, and I'm not exactly sure how that plays out, now.

2) There is a bunch of "Slash" type material that they were working on, before the big breakup, according to both Axl and Slash.  Axl said he was working on a "Slash" record, but couldn't make everyone happy so just gave up.  I know some of that material Slash took, and used on his solo album, but not ALL of it.  There might be 2 or 3 tracks there they could pull together.

That's 5 or 6 new songs?  I think if they did the UYI Remaster with 5 or 6 new songs on there....they'd do pretty OK with it. No?

It might not STRICTLY be UYI material, but material from that ERA.

I'm not sure if they'd want to revisit that material, given the sentiments that surrounded it and the shit it might muck up.  But they COULD.

I am telling you right now if they ever released a studio version of Crash Diet that would be like what Shadow of your Love did for the Appetite release. Just that demo version thats been around forever iv loved a clean cut version would be awesome.

But that's not Slash, is it?

Because you're assuming that we won't. Based on what?

Because it didn't come out yet, we won't get anything new ever again?

I believe the question is more about what and when. What will it be and when....

Not if....


But then again, I wasn't one of those who said Chinese would never come out.... I didn't think Axl worked on those songs to keep them to himself, and I still feel the same way about whatever he's worked on, or decides to work on in the future.





/jarmo

There is a reason for people calculating that if you don't score now it becomes more and more unlikely later in the game.

We will never lose interest but there is a very large number of people thinking 'ahh yeah that band, they're ok but never really listened to them'.

I don't have any kids but many on this board do. This magnificent legacy can even be lost. Not lost forever as such but in the way of that band.

I'm curious how you think that influenced him not to release the material.

I feel like I heard somebody from the band, or Baz, say that the song has nothing to do with the book, but I could be wrong.


Really? I got the impression that just about every song recorded for UYI went on it. Do you have any links to those statements? I'd love to read them.

As far as the whole '94-95 era, Slash would say back then that Axl rejected the material he presented, implying that the entirety of it was reused for Snakepit's first album, but now in one of these recent interviews, he changed it to "just a few riffs". However, IDK if that's just trying to downplay that nasty part of their history now that things are good again, or actually the case. Also, we know This I Love dates back to '93, Fall To Pieces was written in GNR and Slash wrote the Speed Parade riff for a GNR pinball machine around '94.

I haven't heard about Axl doing a Slash album either, are there any links for that? Let's hope if that's true, he didn't just erase all traces of it out of spite or something, lol.

In terms of links...this is all stuff I remember from various interviews in the early to late 90s. They may or may not be out there on the google machine somewhere. No idea.

But the "making a slash album" comments I remember very specifically from an axl interview post break up. I think around the time of the loder interview, but it might have heen a couple years after? Similar sentiment to the loder interview but more details.

And the uyi vaulted material stuff I temember from an mtv interview...or something of the sort....from around 93. They said it was hard to get all the material into one album, so they did two...and there was still stuff they had to cut from the tracklist that was hard. It was def a post izzy interview, because gilby and matt were on screen, too.

The Snakepit question is the big one: how much of the material was really used vs how much remains in the gnr vault. I dont think he used all of it, given the interviews. How many tracks is the question, i guess?

The book is incredibly long and complex (and somewhat contentious in it's philosophy), but essentially revolves around the notion that some people of talent intentionally withhold their skills from a general public who refuse to acknowledge and appreciate them fully.

One of these people is a musician, famed for his past output, who simply ceased releasing new material. He still creates, albeit within the confines of his own personal life, for no one else to hear. The material he writes is never for the general public to hear. Reading it I did think of Axl, and the fact one of his unreleased songs is called Atlas Shrugged.

Just something that I found interesting, and got my mind thinking......

Not sure how many unreleased songs there are from the Illusions era. But they were rumored to have recorded some more covers that they never used for "The Spaghetti Incident?"... Also there's probably alternative takes of songs that did end up on the albums. Considering they were trying to cram as many songs as possible on each cd, many of them fade out. There's a slightly longer version of 14 Years with an outro on a bootleg for example.




/jarmo

Ah, thank you for explaining. I only knew of its underpinnings in Libertarianism, nothing of the actual story/stories within. Interesting.

To me, the issue is the definition of "new" music. It could mean unreleased stuff from decades ago as people have discussed. I assume that not only GNR but Slash and Duff have songs that are in various stages of completion that could be included (or not) to cobble something together and call it "new music" a la Shadow of my love. To me, that would be a disappointment, although it may do well in sales.

The  obverse of old-new music is new-new music whereby they start from scratch and write entirely new songs. That's probably what we are hoping for but IMO the least likely to happen for various reasons.

I cannot imagine Slash ever going back and rehashing old ideas that didn't make the cut in the first place. Just look at his work ethic; he can pump out new ideas like nobody's business.

You mean like November Rain, You Could Be Mine and Don't Cry and so on?

Those weren't included on Appetite.....



Doesn't matter when a song was written, a great song is a great song.....



/jarmo

1) Um.....bad example.  GnR have, since the very beginning, revisited old material that didn't make the cut.  You can see that in the AFD era demos.  November Rain? Don't Dry? You Could Be Mine? Now, we obviously don't know what the impetus was behind revising that material....maybe it wasn't, largely, Slash.  But you can't really argue with the results of revisiting the old material.  Those songs got MUCH stronger with time and ended up being pretty big hits for the band.

2) I have to admit.....I feel like Slash has, in the past, favored quantity over quality.  I'm not a big fan of most of what he's done, with some VR exceptions, outside of GnR.  I'm just not.  I've said it before: A lot of the material feels sort of "meh" to me. It's a lot of "good enough" material. He's incredibly talented, don't get me wrong.  But I think he does best when he has a "strong editing" presence behind him.  He had more of that with VR (especially the first VR album) and a lot less on his solo album and with MK.  So while it's true he's been more prolific...if they can kickstart the GNR creative fires, I think that material would be much more to my liking, at least, than his other creative output.

3) My worry in all this is that...we haven't really seen this incarnation of GnR's output without Izzy.  I've always felt he was sort of the unsung hero in the songwriting process.  It'll be interesting to see, if we ever see, what new GnR music sounds like without his participation.

I think most gnr great songs were songs that sat down for a while until their best details were found/thought of. I'd hate it if November rain came out as the acoustic piano version, not that i don't like it, but the album version is so much more... I don't know how long it took to make estranged and coma (my favorite pre CD songs), but they've got so much wonderful details.
I must say, even though I wanted another album right after CD, I'm glad it had the luxury of being the only new GNR album in the last 10 years... It is a magnificent album that deserved the whole CD tour, and the time for everyone interested to absorb it and acknowledge it as a legit GnR album :)
The song I am eagerly awaiting for is Going Down by Thommy Stinson with Axl in the background vocals. Will that song ever be released and why not? :rofl:

Fair enough....but who is to say that the songs in the vault are "great"? I don't think, for example, that Ain't Goin Down is a great song. It's ok, but not close to the standards on AFD or UYI.

I tend to agree. At the same time, after I saw him a bunch of times I really began to appreciate the music, which initially does not grab you on record. But after seeing the songs live, they absolutely rock and then you go back to the album and really dig the music. At least for me.

The last album, World on Fire, had 18 songs which are too many. I culled it down to 12 and made a "Faves" CD with those 12 and that is one of my best CDs of all time. So I agree with the quantity over quality; you need to a do a bit of editing to get what you like.

No one could realistically expect them to churn anything out these past 3 years they have been on the road.

What could be realistically expected, is discussion of such.  And if come, say, late 2020 things are still in the "if it happens, it happens" type mindset, you can likely assume it's not going to happen.  This is not hard.  It's all about want to.  You either want to do it, or you don't.  Simple as that.

So as for right now, I think it's fair to still lean on the "we'll see" side of things.  But after a few years, anyone that is seriously trotting out "just because you haven't heard it doesn't mean it's not done", that's just a coping strategy.  Call it what it is.  No one is saying that unless they are terrified of appearing to show even a hint of doubt or disloyalty.

See, that's the thing: I think Slash works on the stuff he plays live, and then makes it better!  Sometimes the live version sticks to the melody, but ranges pretty far in the details...and it's great.  And you saw with the CD era stuff he played on tour (Better especially). He took a song that I REALLY liked and pushed it to that next level.  He's uber talented, and he can do that kind of stuff when he puts the extra time and effort in.

For World on Fire....for me, there were 6 "meh" songs, 6 good songs, and 6 better than good but not quite great songs.  I thought every song on that album (and the whole album, itself) would have benefitted from some tightening up and a good editorial review from some peers.  You got that with the VR material, because you had 5 or 6 rock royalty type peers (depending on Izzy's level of involvement) giving you USEFUL and HONEST feedback.  I think Slash's WRITING work benefits from that (I think anyone's would, honestly) and keeps him in lane, and a little more focused.  But when he's working solo, or with MKC (who, I suspect, just doesn't have anyone with enough gravitas to weigh in), things get a little all over the place. There's a little more fiddling and diddling and not as much refinement (or so it sounds to me)  Stuff doesn't feel fleshed out and tightened up.  And hey, that's fine....he's not churning out shit.  But neither have I heard anything from that pool of material that really knocks my socks off.

I have with both VR (especially the first album) and his GnR work.

That's an interesting point.

I think because certain songs are on certain albums, we associate them with said albums. Like if you put You Could Be Mine on Appetite, it doesn't seem to fit. We think of it as an Use Your Illusion track... If that makes sense.

I think if Ain't Goin' Down No More (as it's titled on the AFD box) was on either album, we might view the song differently nowadays.





/jarmo

I like 'Ain't Goin' Down'.  Good lyrics.

Expectations play a large part in things too.

I'm a big fan of 'unreleased material' - I love it when bands do bonus discs of rarities, early versions, all that stuff. When I listen to that sort of stuff I definitely go into it with a different mindset though; I don't expect it to be as good as the 'A list' material, but still usually enjoy it anyway if it's one of my favourite acts.

A lot of the expectations are actually subconscious though - it's sort of natural that your expectations are different without even thinking or acknowledging it. Problems usually arise when a band push something as a big new single and it's not good enough. The same song would be viewed very differently, and maybe even loved, if it had been released in a different manner.

I would agree with that distribution (6/6/6) for World on Fire. Still, considering that today albums often one or two hits and the rest is filler, it's a pretty good album. Not great, but not bad either.

In the creative arts, some people get to a point in the process and say "it's good enough, let's get it out." Then, they work on it later to improve it a bit, and that is natural I think. Creativity seldom has an endpoint, it's a process. There are other people who are perfectionists who work and work on something in search of the elusive perfection. Of course, there is no such thing, but the point is there are two different approaches to creativity.

One more thing, I think the "quantity versus quality" tradeoff is more of a contemporary problem. Go back to the 1960s-1970s and bands were doing both quantity and quality. The Beatles, how many albums did they release 1964-1970, 12 or 13? The Stones in a four year period put out their greatest albums arguably that made them who they are: Beggars Banquet (1969), Sticky Fingers (1970), Exile on Main Street (1971) and Goats Head Soup (1972). I might be off by one year on those albums, but the point is that 'there was a time' when artists did not make the quantity versus quality trade off that is argued today.

I think that last bit is exactly it.

Slash, in his solo work and MK+C gets to "it's good enough" a little more quickly than maybe he should.  He does go back to work on it, if it makes the live cut, but the albums feel a little less tight and polished.

Axl, in his work, takes maybe a little longer than he should.  He works and works and works on every note and sonic setting, looking for the absolutely perfect track.  And he takes awhile (too long?) to get there (if there is actually any way to get there).

I think they (along with Duff and, at the time, Izzy) all balance each other out in exactly the right way.  Or they did...hopefully we'll get new music, eventually, to judge if that's still the case. I think it is, based on some of what they did with the live material.

I think that balance was also there for a LOT of the early VR material.  Less of the later VR material, and I think there's some pretty obvious reasons why that might be.

I agree.

I'd argue, though, that its a vastly different musical landscape, today: Commercially, technologically, and socially.  There are a LOT of factors (not least of which is the label) that would prevent any artist from being that prolific today.

I'd also say that...it's a LITTLE unfair to compare most bands to the Stones and the Beatles.  ;)  But the point is valid, since other bands (Cream, Led Zep, Pink Floyd) did similar things.

I'd love to see a return to those days of rock, but they were gone by the late 70's (some would say the mid 70's).

I also don't think it's a coincidence that the most prolific of those bands had 2 or 3 or 4 strong song writers in their midst AND they were all peers who were not adverse to constructive criticism (OK, that's what broke up the beatles, but....for everyone else).

I just don't think you see that much in today's music scene.

There is definitely a "what is the point" argument to being prolific today. Spend large amounts of time/effort/money recording something no one will buy, or even really wants, versus touring old material to people who will lap up the nostalgia. The pull to tour is massive - not just from the band, but from those surrounding it. An awful lot of people are making money off a tour - a lot less are making money off an album.

It's also got to be quite dispiriting - you spend time and effort making an album, you play a song from it, and all anyone wants is you to play one you released 40 years ago. That's got to take a toll on you over time.

Going back to GNR - the NITL crowds I stood in, in the majority, couldn't care less about anything that wasn't one of the 'big songs'. I think we're kidding ourselves that these people want new material in reality. I know many people who when attending concerts will say "it was rubbish, they played new stuff"- that's the way the music scene is now. There is little desire for new, and massive desire for old. A look at the album charts tell you that. It's sad, and I find it depressing, but that is the way music has gone. Everyone wants to live in the past - even people who don't remember that past.

For established acts, releasing new material has become a luxury, something they do because they're bored, rather than any sort of necessity or thing of importance. Provided of course their back catalogue is big enough.

In what sense has anything I’ve said been bitter or hateful? That isn’t me.

Being a realist is though. GNR have released 15 brand new songs over the last 28 years. On that record alone I see little hope of any brand new material arriving ‘soon.’

Sorry if that seems ‘bitter or hateful’ to you, but I am not the one who has created that situation. It simply is the case...

I’d like to see more, I’m just not sanguine on that prospect given their history and complete lack of action on that front over decades...

Pretty much. 

I made it a point at both of my NITL shows to scan the crowd during the CD songs.  You could immediately pick out who endured that whole misadventure of an odyssey versus the people that hadn't really listened to GNR outside a radio in 20 years.

But part of that was the crowd too.  50,000 people at my show.  That's a lot of casuals.  And at least 45,000 looking at each other once 'Sorry' started up saying "what the fuck is this"?

Personally, I think the only reason for GNR to do anything new is if that is the only way to keep Slash in the fold.  He seemed to have fun on this tour.  But there was also that "first time back" aspect of all this for him.  How excited is he going to be to play 'Double Talkin' Jive' again in 4 years?  Will it have that came appeal?  Maybe he will need at least some pass at something new and different in the form of a few new tunes in the set.

New Slash quote on new GNR music in Classic Rock....

“I think we’re going to go well on into the future. I mean, Axl’s got a ton of shit that he recorded already, so we’re just going to get in there and just start getting into that thing, and then if we do a record and then do a tour, I could see that cycle going on endlessly.”


Finally, something positive.  Bodes well for new music being the caveat for him continuing with Guns.

Sorry, I was speaking generally. There's always those people who claim to want something so bad that it actually makes them bitter....

Enjoy what you have instead of worrying about what you don't..... So right now, enjoy that we got an active band touring.

I know, maybe they're not touring in your part of the world, or it doesn't interest you. But there are others who didn't get to see the show yet and who will.

Again, generally speaking.




/jarmo

Great!
This is what Axl talked about in 2016 as well....  : ok:




/jarmo

Yeah, that's awesome.  Pretty much exactly what you want to hear.

Slash does his thing with Myles and the gang.  Axl gets 12-18 months to recharge.  Then we see what's what.

That's pretty much the ideal scenario.  Great news, indeed.

Oh, definitely the most positive statement for their future so far!  :beer:  Thanks for posting!  : ok:

Seems like Slash's expectation is to record with GNR before the next large-scale tour outing.  I like that.  : ok:

Now we're talking.  :)

Even as a big fan of Slash outside Guns, I do agree that he needs an editing presence, and tends to underthink things. Especially lately though. His riffs and instincts were good enough to get away with it in Snakepit and VR for Contraband, at least. He knocked it out of the park with the solo album, but I'm sure the different artists gave feedback, being on his level, whereas nobody in Conspirators really is, except Myles, who must just not really care, or is too much of a pushover (I suspect).

But a perfect example of what editing can do for Slash is the song No More Heroes from Apocalyptic Love. Supposedly the producer really pushed him to work on that song and it ended up resulting in some pretty major structural changes. I think it really shows because this song could have been a hit if they just released it as a f*cking single!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY9UQ6sWIvU

Frankly, I think Izzy is overrated. His songwriting outside Guns has absolutely nothing of value to it IMO, and even in Guns... 14 Years and Dust N Bones would be just as boring as his solo stuff without Slash and Axl on them. I think his role in Appetite may be overstated. I much prefer the songwriting of Gilby, and the playing of Fortus.


Slash wrote Coma basically in one shot in a dope delirium.

And I feel like CD was actually pretty under processed, especially for the amount of time it took. There are quite a few transitions that are awkward or jarring, and some awkward lyrical bits. I mean, if you look at the songs from 2001 Intentions, they are very largely structurally the same. He clearly wasn't spending that time radically re-writing the songs.


Well, remember that this is a reunion tour of some guys that haven't played together in decades. Of course the large majority of the crowds will be there for the classics. Once they move on to a new album, I think most of those people will have moved on and what's left will be mostly people genuinely interested in the band and who are interested in new stuff, although they may not all like what the result is, of course.

Off topic. You reminded me...
'Double Talking' Jive' sounded amazing on the Poland show. I think the intro went on repeat (live) and lasted for about 5 minutes because Axl wasn't ready to start singing (he was messing around with something...) It sounded as a cool remix. That and Witchita were really awsome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPbskC7pj9E

“I think we’re going to go well on into the future. I mean, Axl’s got a ton of shit that he
recorded already, so we’re just going to get in there and just start getting into that thing,
and then if we do a record and then do a tour, I could see that cycle going on endlessly.”

that's awesome to read  : ok:

Album, tour, album,  tour.....yeah that's a cycle I get behind! Ideal scenario really for a fan of any band!

I don't see much than one last album, but that's what I wished since 2008 so it's all good for me.

bring Izzy back for songwriting efforts and it will be ace

I'd be much more interested in hearing some of the CD 2 stuff, with Slash's take on them. I think the days of Izzy have obviously long gone, and I'm not sure his style of songwriting would even work with the setup now, even in the incredibly unlikely scenario that he did become involved.

I'm still of the view that a covers album would be a good idea right now: get things rolling in a studio scenario with a lot of the hassle removed.

And I don't even know I see that.  But I agree, one more was all I ever saw even from the island of misfit toys line-up as well.

How come? I think the only limitations they face is that the style of past material doesn't really lend itself to aging: it's going to be increasingly difficult to do the kind of shows they have been doing, and their music so far is particularly 'youthful', but that need not be the case if new material saw a more 'relaxed' style. If things are put in place, and new material was to become a serious concern, it's possible they could adapt to age well. 

Awesome news about the studio in vancouver!

in any case you'll have both. best of CD2 stuff, with new songs written by Axl Slash Duff etc.
I don't see Slash & Duff just playing guitar parts on old stuff and be happy with it.

so why not Izzy on this part of the job, if everyone involved welcome the idea?

there's plenty of material and finished songs, they all want to do a new record, the tour was/is successful, the record company
will put a good load of money to promote it, so I suppose for the moment all is good.

"until someone fucked up the whole thing" was very true years ago, bur I'm confident seeing how professional they all became
(even if I prefered the raw, unprofesionnal, loaded, unpredictable Guns N'F% Roses but you live that once, not twice with that
level of success fame and money)

If he hasn't been involved so far, it just seems unlikely they'll bring him in to record.

What?

I think he got confused about the AC/DC in Vancouver and these GN'R rumors.






/jarmo

sure it would be a surprise. but well, who knows with Guns.

Slash just confirmed he has material too (I wonder if he kept writing GNR songs over the years, you know, in case...)

Izzy Overrated???He was the key member in that band they fell apart when he left he wrote so many of their best songs Patience,You could be mine,Don't Cry ,Double Talkin,Think about you,etc him and Axl were close and could related to each other and Slash admitted he could not deal with Axl when Izzy left and the band quickly fell apart.If Axl could get Slash and Duff back then I've no doubt he could get Izzy back in not that they couldn't put out a decent album without him but it would be a lot better if he was involved.

Didn't he say that he usually writes with whatever band he's in at the moment? So that in the last year or two, he wrote with GN'R in mind....

But not before the tour started....

I think he mentioned something like that in one of the interviews?  ???



/jarmo

I love how Slash and Duff reworked better, they made the song flow, it was always a bit too protoolsy and static. It didnt take long for him/them to do that. If Slash goes into the vault and starts playing like a kid, 12 songs could be ready in a shorter period than we might think.

Here is what I'd like to see happen.

Axl goes into his Magical Mystery Vault and pulls out what he feels are the 10-12 best songs in there.  If any of them tickle Slash and Duff's fancy, re-record them. 

I'll take anything I can get, but I think I'd rather a fresh new recording rather than Slash cutting and pasting riffs over some song recorded in 2001.

I think a clean break from the Island Of Misfit Toys era is needed.  The people heard on any new album should be people that are actually in the band, present day.  Not folks that packed in in, some almost as far back as 20 years by the time they get around to this.

I hope Axl gives Slash full access to the "completed" album he's been kicking around, and basically just says "Have fun" and Slash just does his thing/interpretations.  Throw in Duff's bass for good measure, and honestly, they could be done within a month or two if they just do it that way. Send it to mixing & mastering, and boom.

I don't know, I'd like to hear some of those songs. Maybe a good way to go about it is half and half.  6 Vault songs, 6 new songs. With Sailing as a cover  :P :P :P :P

Anyone think Axl, Slash and Duff would be up to a Chinese re-record, with all the new additions and trying to get this out there promoting that album again? Would basically be the same as working on 2001 vault songs imo...

You expect Robin Finck, Buckethead, Bumblefoot, Paul Tobias Richard Fortus and Slash on guitar?




/jarmo

Nope.  Slash and Fortus.  That's it.

I liked what Buckethead brought to the table, but dude has been gone for 16 years now.  But if he did something Axl really likes and feels strongly about, I'd rather he let Slash do it his way.

The band on stage right now is a good one.  Go with that.

It's interesting though.

If the next release is what we are speculating about, songs that Axl has worked on during the Chinese Democracy era. Let's say some tracks would feature Buckethead, for example. True, he hasn't been in the band for quite some time, but at this point it would almost be like a special guest...

The only difference being that he was in the band at one point.





/jarmo

I don't think anyone would have a problem with Robin or Bucket appearing on the album as long as Slash still appeared on the lion's share of the album.  No one but like 6 hardcore forum-goers would sneeze at something like that, especially if it's a great song.  If the album's marketed as a Slash/Duff/Axl album no one would give a shit about the details or the recordings. JMO

The fans may not care, but I'm not too sure Slash would want to share lead guitar credits with Bucket or anyone on his long-awaited GNR comeback album. I don't think he'll mind playing on Axl's songs from the ChiDem era, but he's gonna want to put his stamp all over that record.

It would be a Guns N' Roses album just like the rest.

I mean, the Use Your Illusion albums weren't marketed as something different even though Steven only appeared on one track.....


Sure, the record company could make a point out of mentioning that it was the first album featuring the three of them together since 1993...



Valid point.

I guess it depends on the amount as well....  And style of the song itself.




/jarmo

Yes, you heard me right. He's become the obsession of GNR hipsters, especially since the reunion because for so long, he was quietly appreciated by a smaller group until recently, it became the bandwagon way to prove you're a "real GNR fan". It's frankly become laughable how you cannot even parody the overstatement of his influence. I have literally heard people say he was more important than Axl and Slash. Just listen to everything he's made outside GNR (if you can manage to stay awake through it all) compared to what Slash and Axl have made since then. If he was this incredible songwriter, what the hell happened once he left the band?

Patience? You really think that's one of their best songs? Think About You? Now you're just trying to prove my point...

Like I said, Gilby was a better writer outside Guns (Tijuana Jail is better than anything I've heard from Izzy, by far) and even a better player in Guns. Just watch him do Wild Horses from the UYI tour. Izzy's playing never stood out to me like that.


... then why hasn't he?

LOL, it would be like deja vu of the CD lineup re-recording AFD!  :rofl:

Yeah, no way, that would be pointless. What would you even call such a thing?

This is another interview from a couple days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=101&v=15eQ45HOyG0

Slash's been an articulate guy. More so now that he's sober  :hihi:


Highlights:

--Obviously he's promoting his new album and tour.

--They do talk about new soundtracks for horror movies (Slash's doing the score for a few films, which probably means he will most likely be busy writing and recording for that at some stage).

--They also talk about Shadow of your love and how much fun is to play that song live.

--Slash also says Axl "had a special way" of singing the songs with AC/DC so he wouldn't mess with his voice

--How he felt when they rehearsed with Axl for the first time before the NITL tour. It was something "he was very aware of" he was "wow".

--And they talk about this last leg of the tour being the last bit for the NITL tour, then he's going back with the Conspirators and do a "whole world run" and then "well see what happens with Guns..."

To the question, has any GNR music being recorded yet? "no, we've been too busy on the road..." ..." we'll see what happens"

I like how he's too busy on the road to record GnR but not that busy to release a Slash/Conspirators album.

IMO, they like to talk about the possibility of a potential new album much more than, you know, actually doing it.  Because if they actually wanted to do it...it would be done.  No record exec. is going to stand in their way now, given how successful the NITL tour was.  We'll see what happens.

Well, obviously Slash has always written the bulk of his material while on the road. But Axl clearly doesn't work that way.

And the Conspirators album was already in pre-production when GNR reunited. They only wrote a few new songs and finished things up in order to record while Guns was off the road for a while.

I love the sailing cover!!!
I would presume it would be mostly CD era songs (the ones Sebastian Bach mentioned). I can not believe I'm saying this, but I wouldn't want slash to redo all the guitar parts. I like a lot of the guitar work on CD, and I like most of them more than I like the way Slash plays them on the concerts, This I love especially.... On the other hand, you cannot compare the cell phone recordings with the studio version... Still DJ Ashba and Fink (sometimes) sounded better live on CD songs than Slash does on the same... can't say the same for Appetite and Illusion songs.
Bumblefoot and Fortus, always sound great and precise :)

yup he said that. one time in interview he said he never visited Axl's house, too  :hihi:

imagine if he said otherwise like "well, I kept my best stuff since the late 90s in case
GNR called me" it would sound kinda lunatic for the public, and unfair for his colleagues of
Velvet or Conspirators.

74 min of GNR music recorded by actual GNR members would be great.

With some Izzy n Sorum cameos :hihi:

But a lot of us, myself very much included, thought he sounded better.  Sounded like the old Axl.  On tunes like 'Rock Or Bust', 'Back In Black', Thunderstruck'...it sounded like UYI tour Axl a lot of nights.

So why can he not bring that our for his own material?  Just seems weird to a lot of us.

I think there's the "pressure to impress" his idol factor.

He said he worked with a vocal coach for the first time in decades... he didn't want to fuck up.

Hmmm, while I love Bucketheat in twat for example, and a few other songs...I think more than copypasted solos or parts, what Slash brings to the table that none of the others do is making the structure of the song flow. Bucketheat plays great solos on a squared static protoolsy robotic track... if Slash works on it, I feel he makes it more organic, he makes it sound less digital and more analog, less dents and more curves, he basically makes the song sound more alive and less AI.

Im also not a big fan of precise music. People that play like that are rarely the creative type, if you respect the rules too much you sound like a robot, if you break the rules you sound like slash.  : ok:

I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually a bit of both. That he can write songs or ideas with a specific project in mind, but at the same time he must have a lot of ideas that never got used.....





/jarmo

Why doesn't he sing everything in the same style? He never did.

AC/DC was different in that sense that the songs weren't written by him, or originally written for him to sing.

He had to adapt to the material in a way.



The GN'R songs are his songs. He sings them the way he thinks they should be sang.


And if that doesn't make sense to you, it's one thing to do a few weeks of touring compared to a few months. AC/DC did 23 shows with Axl. GN'R is up to 149 I think since April 2016...






/jarmo

about Slash : yeah, he may have kept up his sleeve some ideas which sounded too GNR

about Axl : the difference is he restrains as F when he sings with GNR due to long tours and long shows. with AC/DC
he gaves everything and you can tell. sometimes he was at the edge vocally, and I loved it because it sounded like
he was going to implode  :hihi:

Yeah, but at he same time we can say that actually he can't sing certain songs, and not by choice. He can belt it out (and ac dc its all about it), he can sing low-mid range, but his middle-high range has gone in terms of voice texture. That's nothing wrong with it, its called aging, most singers can barely talk at certain point. I mean his clean voice sounds weak even comparing it to 2001-2002 performances. I think he just should get rid of a couple of songs like ycbm, yesterdays,utlh, my michelle. I know he won't give up singin nr, but the intensity has gone. I think scom sounds good. I just hope they will record songs that will suit his voice i mean, he doesnt have to sing high at any cost every song. :beer: :beer:

I agree, but Slash has gone totally over to the robotic side now. He doesn't play with the groove and melody he used to. It's so frustrating to me. I mean, compare the solo on Back to the Moment to the one on Safari Inn and it's like a whole different person. He had so much soul before and now he just seems to aimlessly fiddle around and play fast just for the sake of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TrCiDvjgdY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV2uOkERx1w


That's not the case though. Slash said he did it in a way where it was not taxing on him.

We have now worked our way back to Axl can't sing and Slash sounds like Buckethead.  :hihi:

Of course, a new album is right around the corner. Yep, Slash and Duff are back and things are different.  ::)

The only thing different between now and 2001 is Axl's paycheck!

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..... : ok:

Nobody is saying that what they are saying is that he gave the ACDC songs more power and passion have you heard him trying to sing Sweet child,Paradise city in his Mickey mouse voice?The amount of Gnr shows compared to ACDC shows means nothing as he was in the middle of a GnR  tour anyway so it made no difference, maybe he felt he had to prove the doubters wrong with ACDC  but he also has more of point to prove with Slash and Co which he did but certain songs needed more of the Rasp.

Hmm, I think that's what the "I write for the band I am in" comes into being. Ive never been a Myles Kennedy fan, nor a fan of Slash in that band, not even a fan of Slash's snakepit (I did like some of it, but cannot name a song). But compare that music to what he did with Ozzy, Lemmy and Iggy Pop on Slash's solo record. I think Slash is often elevated to the status he needs by the people he plays with... similar to what happened to Axl with AC/DC.

In GNR, I think some of the fast doodling style he sometimes does was him trying to please the robotic/fast side of Chidem, maybe thinking (perhaps mistakenly) that that's what Axl wanted. But Better is awesome now, has so much more groove and feeling than before. This I love was perhaps where he got lost the most, but that was a conscious refusal not to play the original solo, and the original one is awesome, so of course he was going to fall short.

Also, that Safari Inn thing sound more jam/jazzy than robotic. There's no atari sounds from finger tapping or anything resembling that.

yeah, but GNR is his thing, he's not going to get fired from it.

Still, no matter how you choose to ignore facts, they're two different kinds of settings. A GN'R show is longer and has more varied material, than the AC/DC shows where he was kinda was a special guest singer, that a bunch of the band's fans were dismissing before he had sang a note with them....





Things are different. They already, together, put out the Appetite For Destruction reissue. Something like this would've been unimaginable a few years ago.





/jarmo

SCOM is a great example.  As great as the NITL shows were, SCOM was often the weakest song of the night, vocally.  Odd, as it is their signature tune.

You could also make a case that YCBM could have used some of the AXL/DC voice.

I saw them in Slane and as good as it was he really struggled with SCOM,Paradise City and Civil war I know they are quite demanding vocally and he aint 25 anymore but hearing him sing Thunderstruck,Shoot to thrill and Hells Bells like a  man possessed and which are probably more difficult is quite puzzling maybe they suit his voice better or maybe he is more suited to doing a 2 hour show as opposed to nearly 4 with GnR which must really push his vocal chords to the limit.https://youtu.be/1GTj972Tk0o

When is the universe likely to hear any of this music? Before 2025?

At this point I think the likelihood that something new would be released before 2025 is quite high.






/jarmo

i'll just add a couple of points to what Jarmo is saying:

1. Axl runs all over HUGE stages during GnR shows. for AC/DC, he pretty much stood in one place, almost in the background, as he made it clear he was not going to steal any of the spot light from Angus. this has an effect on vocals.

  - this was such a classy move by Axl. not that Brain Johnson was one to run all over stages, but the way Axl gave all the spotlight to Angus showed how respectful he is of their band, their music, their legacy, their fans, and Angus himself. I know Axl won over close to 100% of their fans, and I think this had something to do with it.

2. not only are they 3-3.5 hour shows, and different types of vocals, but anyone that was at any show left there saying that Axl was incredible. let's not rewrite any history and downplay this fact.

  - my brother hated Axl for years, and swore he would never see them again (we were at the philly riot together and although GnR shows in '91 were two of the best shows my bro was ever at, he wasn't a huge fan of Axl's personality). after my bro heard how great the shows were, he went last October and said Axl sounded as good as ever, maybe even better than the '91 shows. he was going to enjoy the show either way, but he would have loved to take some cheap shots at Axl afterwards. and he said he couldn't. he said that show was all-time great, and we were lucky to see a true living legend that night. 

3. as for new music, Slash's comments give me hope. things are different, and its so great to hear things are cool among the band members. not that there was any doubt....you could see that during the shows. fingers crossed!

This morning Q104.3 played clips of the interview that they did with Slash. After they played the clip, the DJ asked the interviewer if he thinks GNR will release new music based off of the interview with Slash. The interviewer said based on his interview with Slash and what Slash has been saying in other articles, he think there will be new music by GNR in the future.

2020.
it will be the title of the album, too.
featuring Eminem.


yeah I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Maybe you read it in a secret fax....




/jarmo

He must have gotten Danny's old fax machine....

Fucking eBay....

 :hihi:




/jarmo

If you can't name a Snakepit song, you are sorely missing out. Ain't Life Grand would have been hailed as AFD II if it were a Guns record. Life's Sweet Drug is 100% Guns N Roses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPvdnuW1kHw

I hope you're right, but I just don't see it. He wrote beautiful solos for Myles on Starlight and Back From Cali. A few on Apoc Love were good but starting to lose the plot and becoming more improvised. By WOF, he was just wanking aimlessly and that's what he's continued to do on NITL. I'd say he improved Buckethead's solo in Better, but definitely not Finck's. And I don't have an issue with him not wanting to learn the original solos, but he apparently doesn't want to write his own, because he improvises every night and it's quite often terrible like with Sorry. I don't think I've heard a single performance of Sorry where he actually reaches the last bar of the solo with a concluding phrase. It's like he never knows where to go with it throughout the solo and is caught off guard by the end every night. Perfect example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Cq4m5eI1Q

I mean WTF was that? Slash was and always will be my biggest influence on guitar, but he has been so disappointing lately. And it hurts me to say that.

I guess "jazzy" is a more charitable way to say "aimless" because that's exactly my issue with jazz; it never goes anywhere. And tapping can be tasteful if done sparingly. But I'm talking about composition.

The reality is that it wouldn't have been the same album.
A number of those songs wouldn't have made it onto a GN'R album, and whatever would've made it, would've sounded different because it's a different band compared to the album you're listening to....




/jarmo

I don't really see the praise for that album. I mean, I bought both, and it's OK, but the first was way better I thought. Weirdly at the time I didn't like them much at all, and thought they were pretty dull, formulaic rock. I like them much more now than I ever did at the time (I dug them out of my collection about 3 years ago). Perhaps they work better as 'archive' pieces, rather than at the time? Or perhaps when they came out, there were a lot of very exciting new rock bands coming through to take up my time....now there's not so many, so I'm not comparing as much?

Am I right in thinking that Slash has mentioned not doing GNR tracks on his upcoming solo tour? If so, that makes it a hell of a lot more interesting to me. I've no interest in hearing him do GNR music with that band.

Yes, he said that he doesn't have to play GN'R songs on the solo tour. He's playing them with GN'R plus they have enough material from his solo albums.





/jarmo

I think that's great news - and means that if he comes to my country, I'll go and see him, although I'd be amazed if SCOM doesn't sneak it's way into the set somewhere though!

Oh, of course. Who knows what Axl's input would have added. But even without that, I think it's already good enough that most people would call it a classic Guns album just with Axl singing the existing melodies and lyrics. And not every song would have been entirely different. Axl didn't change any major parts of Coma or Don't Damn Me, he just wrote lyrics to the music which was pretty much complete. I think the same would go for any Slash rocker like Life's Sweet Drug. And it just has that Guns style rhythm and groove.


I don't know that it ever got much praise outside Slash fans. The album was a commercial flop because the record company releasing it was a disaster. And it didn't help that Slash was near death on the tour.

But it was also more diverse than it gets credit for. I love the 1st Snakepit album, too, but that is more of a one-trick pony where Slash indulges in his love of hard rock. ALG has some funk and soul elements (Been There Lately, The Truth), a ballad (Back to the Moment), jazzy/big band elements (title track), some heavier tracks (Speed Parade, Serial Killer) and whatever you'd classify Just Like Anything as, it's one of the best songs Slash has ever written, hands down.

Even the outtakes were killer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuIzTr87Qc8

ALG is an AMAZING ALBUM, one of the best records ever made by Slash.

Back to the topic I have my fingers crossed for a 2020 release (maybe and hopefully a single next year)

What I'd love to get on a new Guns n' Roses album is something plural, writing input from everyone, not only Axl's stuff. In a perfect world to me it would be great: 2 or 3 Duff's, 3 or 4 Slash's, 3 or 4 Axl's, 1 from Richard, maybe 1 from Dizzy/Melissa and 4 or 5 songs written together at their rehearshal or studio. Obviously when I mention a song from any of them I mean a song mainly written by that one but with arrengement and input from the rest of the guys in the band
I mean, They'll probably start showin' each other their own stuff if they haven't done yet

Axl, Slash & sometimes with Duff wrote Coma, Locomotive, Civil War, Don't Damn Me...so we can be confident, I think.
hoping Izzy, Chris Weber, Paul Tobias or West Arkeen will not be mised that much.

I hope they'll find the correct vibe with the good producer...that may be the most difficult part.

I'd love to see them working with Alan Parsons, Bob Ezrin Mutt Lange or Tony Visconti, for example...

West is dead

and Paul Tobias? what did the guy write for Guns?

Izzy or Weber contributions would be great to me, but I think all of them have lots of great material for an album

I know, it's a good point to not see him coming back writing some tunes, right?


he co-wrote some little things like Oh My God, Back of Bitch, Prostitute, Chinese Democracy, Catcher in the Rye, I.R.S., Shadow of Your Love...


I hope.

Hold your horses, guys. It sounds funny to talk about faxes but there was just an article how they are becoming a little popular again and why.

The reason is online security. It is not very easy to hack into a fax machine.

Anything is possible, didn't you also buy some vinyls lately (I did) :beer:

??? ???

who needs faxes when you have Powerpoint?  :peace:

(faux leak allusion intended)

Some GN'R mentions from a new Slash interview.
Full article: https://www.laweekly.com/music/slash-is-still-living-the-dream-9798219


Slash Is Still Living the Dream
Brett Callwood | September 5, 2018 | 8:00am




That brings us neatly to the subject of Guns N' Roses, who will kick off the next leg of their international tour in November. Slash is fairly confident that the band will continue as a working entity for the foreseeable future, saying, "I feel pretty optimistic that we'll get something going sooner than later." He stops short of confirming there will be a new record, but he does so with a twinkle in his eye.


-----


But they're a hard-hitting, monstrous rock & roll band again. It has surprised fans and critics, however, just how many songs from Chinese Democracy, the album Axl's GNR recorded minus Slash and Duff, have been in the set.

"They're good songs, but they're different guitar playing–wise, obviously," Slash says. "It was fun to do. I think that was really interesting for me. All things considered, I know how 'Paradise City' goes. I improvise a lot within the context of the songs, but there's only so much I can do with that, inside of that arrangement. The same with 'Welcome to the Jungle,' and any number of old Guns songs. It was fun to take on the Chinese Democracy stuff because it was all new for me. I thought we really sounded good doing it."

Slash also has enjoyed forging a guitar partnership with Fortus, somebody he describes as "awesome." Which is great because, let's face it, it could all have been a bit awkward.

"He and I complement each other really well," Slash says. "I think Rich has brought out some of my best guitar playing, just playing with him, because he's so accomplished technically and all that. We wanted to get it focused more in a feel for what Appetite really sounded like. We just slowly but surely evolved into something that captured that but still seems new and fresh. It's been an interesting ride and a lot of fun."

"There's a reason that Slash is a legend," Fortus says. "As a guitarist, the players that I always held in the highest regard are those that took chances. Those that stretched out every night and never played the same thing twice. Hendrix, Beck, Van Halen — those guys kept pushing and stretching their limits on a nightly basis. Slash is exactly that. I have the incredible good fortune of being able to listen to him nightly and stand inches from him, and have a musical conversation with him. He's definitely made me a better musician."

On paper, none of it should have worked. People left, people were fired. Some people were brought back, others weren't. Some people remained from the interim version, others didn't. Slash admits that making it all happen was a bit chaotic, but somehow the whole thing has not only worked but thrived.

https://www.laweekly.com/music/slash-is-still-living-the-dream-9798219

---

/jarmo

Wonder if there's tentative plans within the Guns camp to record in 2019.  I would imagine they'd want to schedule studio time well in advance and start sorting out what tracks Slash will record on and all that.

I don't see Axl doing any major recording given all that he has in the can already, but who knows?

It is almost certain that whatever they release will more than likely underwhelm...

So for that reason they'll take their time if they ever do anything I think. If it isn't out by 2020, then it isn't come out I think.

Then again, they could put out a killer album at the same time. My expectations for a new album would be quite high. I'd expect something better than Chinese, but something on par with UYI. At least that.

Honestly? I just want a UYI box set of demos.. unreleased this and that. I want stuff with Steven on it as well.

Honestly if there is going to be a new album, I will have absolutely no clue what to expect. I don't think it would be something we could even talk about in terms of relationship to CD or UYI or AFD. I mean, just look at those three albums. The average person would think those were three totally different bands. Where the current lineups stands creatively, is an absolute enigma if you ask me.

That's Guns n' Roses. The style develope from one album to another. And all the albums are great in their own way. All killers. I'm sure that's gonna be the case with the next one too.

I'm the average person, I know my sports but have never played any instrument.

My worry is that the supposedly forthcoming album will be too different to what was expected. Yes, us paying customers don't have any right to expect anything. It just wouldn't be good for the legacy. That is all good when band members do whatever other things they are working on but that shouldn't be seen too clearly on an album.

AFD can only be remembered and of course could never happen again. There is still a chance though to do something memorable for the future generations.

Yeah, I just want a album that is better than Slash solo stuff... which is "okay to good" but that's it.

I want something that is as good as Contraband or Chinese Democracy, which was a great album, but there's so many strings attached to it ya know.

LIke if CD had come out in 2002 or so... we'd be talking about that album in a much more positive light.

It's a great album, but so much drama and time is attached to it, so it gets pulled through the mud.

Slash's solo stuff is more than ok to good. It's badass and genuine hard rock and fuckin roll guitar driven music. That's what Guns were back in the day if someone here has forgotten


Anyway, back to the topic, I'm pretty confident that if they do a new album together it will be something collaborative, something with ideas from everyone. They all know their role in the band, the stars are Axl and Slash with Duff next to them. The rest of the band are obviously great musicians and can bring some ideas too, work as a band on arrangements... but the main writers and the main focus are the BIG 3: Axl, Slash and Duff. It's similar to when you think about Stones, you instantly think about Jagger and Richards and maybe Ron Wood 
I think that if they get to work together on a new album, it will be something collaborative with ideas from everyone, specially from Axl, Slash and Duff

If Axl wants Slash and Duff to work only on his stuff, I'm sure they will thank and decline the offer. They never worked on an album that way and I don't think they pretend to do it now. To sum it up, work on ideas from all of them or nothing, that's my bet  :beer:

It is impossible for anyone to predict how good (or average) a new album will be, assuming there is one, because there are so many variables at play.
One variable is whether the music in Axl's "vault" fits well with the style and skills of the rest of the current band. A second variable is whether Slash and Duff will even like the vault music and want to play it. A third variable is whether Slash and Duff may retain their best ideas for their solo projects, or, in the case of Slash, for Myles and the Conspirators. We'll see what happens, but personally I would be surprised if Slash terminates SMKC They are on kickass band that is really tight. There are likely to be long down periods with GNR during which Slash will want to be busy since that is who he is, so there is at least a chance he may keep his best song ideas to himself rather than give them up for a new GNR album.

You mean he'd write a killer riff, and go "this is too good for GN'R, I'll keep it for myself"?

Makes no sense.

Especially considering if that riff turns into  a GN'R song, then is recorded and released as a GN'R song, chances are more people will pay attention to it.







/jarmo

To be honest, that's what killed the Wu Tang Clan. They all refused to share anything good because they wanted it for their solo albums.

This is different though for sure. I don't think anything Slash has released so far would remotely work as something GNR could record. Two totally different beasts.

Actually, it makes all the sense in the world. It's the difference between private property and collective property. People are always more motivated by what is "mine" rather than what is "ours." If Slash maintains his solo career, it is human nature to want to keep the "mine" over "theirs."

And I don't think the conversation with self would go as you suggest. It would more like "I like this song so much I think I prefer to put it on my next record."

But it depends on how Slash views his role in GNR. If he felt acrimonious towards it, or that it wasn't 'his' in some way, then you could understand keeping things for himself. If he considers it 'his' band, and something he has a strong vested interest and pride in...then he's going to give it everything.

Still find it hard to believe. "I'll keep this to myself just to have it for myself, even though it means less people will probably hear it".

Now, if the reason was that it was a finished song that he didn't want any changes to, ok. That's different. The song is done, it's the way he thinks it should be. Then maybe.... Unless it was so amazing that he wanted the rest of GN'R to record it.


If the idea of having the song to himself, then maybe he wouldn't even need to record it. Just keep it.



/jarmo

Success in GNR can only help Slash's solo efforts, so while it may be true that fewer people may hear a song that Slash kept to himself, fewer does not necessarily mean a small number.

I think you overvalue altruism and undervalue self-interest.

And speaking of 'his', do you mean ownership? We have heard nothing that Axl has given up full ownership of GNR and has agreed to divide it with Slash and/or Duff.

I'm not talking about ownership no. I'm talking about artistic attachment and personal pride. Altruism doesn't come into it really. We're talking commercial recordings, not charity! I know nothing about their business dealings in regards to ownership or finances: as a fan, that's pretty irrelevant to me. The end product is what matters. I don't need to know the way my local pub operates it's business/finances behind the scenes as long as it serves me a decent pint and I like visiting: I largely apply the same to GNR.

It's crazy to suggest that Slash might be so self interested that he'd rather use his best stuff for his solo career. Why would he? What would his motivation be? There's more interest in GNR.  Why would he want to squirrel away his best material for a smaller audience?

that's funny because even with a major lineup change to say the least I see a lot of similarities
between some of UYI's material and CD songs...frankly, Madagascar, The Bl...Street of Dreams,
Sorry, There Was a Time, and This I Love are not that different than some of the UYI material.

we can expect to have some other great tunes in that genre from Axl...from Slash some more
direct hard rock blues and from Duff some cool punk stuff. It's not like they turned Dubstep or
experimental.

Obviously the genre will be the same, more or less. I'm talking about the songwriting. Slash's riffs on World on Fire were nothing like AFD or UYI. And I have to disagree that anything but TIL (because it was written in 1993) would fit on UYI.

I think the problem is that people think writing music is as easy as putting them all in a room, giving it a few weeks, and waiting for results. Creativity really doean't work like that. These people haven't written together in many many years and it's absolutely impossible to know what they would come up with. Many people seem think it's a case of Slash just aticking down some guitar parts and Axl singing over the top. The writing process cohld take years- and the results still not be satisfactory to all members.

Umm. Seems to be a lot of talk about Slash and AFD, comparisons and so on. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Izzy have a way more important role in writing the songs than Slash? So really we can’t compare Slash’s stuff to AFD (and most of UYI too), because it isn’t his...

Personally, I think Slash writes decent rnr but lacks the magic Axl and Izzy have for making songs. I also think Contraband was a lot better than his solo stuff, probably because off it being a more band effort.

A new GNR record? It could be great with some Axl masterpieces and Slash touches (NR, Estranged,...Slash’s solos MAKE those songs), a few Duff tracks and other band efforts; but I don’t see Slash ever creating masterpieces by writing them himself.

Dude, you talk about Hollywood Rose to people and they don't know what you're talking about. Slash came in and everything clicked. Im not saying Izzy didnt bring it, but to say AFD isnt Slash's like he had nothing to do with it is just insane. Izzy's solo stuff has like one good song, and even though chinese democracy was very much flawed, sabotaged and overtinkered, I think he was the one who got the closest to the epicness of GNR.

I think people like to put Izzy on a pedestal just because he was the handsome quiet type. But truth is, GNR music was never handsome nor quiet.

I do think there's one good observation made in this thread.

If GNR members are going to act selfish it won't work.

Will they won't they ? I don't know.

Not at all saying it isn’t part Slash’s, just that again it was the band and I think Slash writes better in a band environment or complementing Axl for example, than writing by himself.

As you said, with Slash everything clicked. Again, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he has ever written a masterpiece on his own; I’m not slating him, just saying it’s not his role/job. He writes good rnr songs and makes what other people write (specially with Axl) way better 😊

Have any of them ? Chidem is not a masterpiece. Even Madagascar or Twat are not masterpieces, they could've been under different circumstances. For example, Axl keeping the rock in rio vocals instead of going for raspy constipated. Twat comes close, but the vocals at the beginning sound off. And even if they were, Buckethead was there for the epic solos, so even if they were a masterpiece, Axl didnt create them on his own.

We all have different opinions and I get what your saying.

In my opinion, TWAT and TIL for example are masterpieces. Buckethead and Fink made them better, just like Slash did with November Rain, Estranged and so many others. However, I consider those 4 songs masterpieces even before. We may differ on TWAT, TIL and maybe Estranged, but just listen to the NR piano demo...it is a masterpiece.

Are there any songs that Slash has written like that? (Debating, not slating Slash, I’m definitely not a Slash hater 😂)

Well, we could debate all day about what makes an individual masterpiece. Is a demo a masterpiece? Demo=unfinished. Masterpiece=perfect (thus finished).
Moreover, can one create a masterpiece if one does not sing and play an instrument. Axl can sing and play the piano. Slash doesnt sing. However, we could also say his godfather theme take is a masterpiece. No need of a singer there. He didnt write it per se, but his interpretation could be called a masterpiece. Is COMA his masterpiece with Axl making it better just like Guitarists made Axls songs better?

You see, debates... points of view... sometimes its fun, sometimes its masturbation.

I think Dr alibi and We're all gonna die are perfect songs. Not a masterpiece because they are not epic. But perfect songs nonetheless. TIL may be closer to a masterpiece because its epic, but its not perfect, Axl's vocals sound lonely and work better with back up like they are doing now live with Miss Jumpy girl. Also, I think there is a recording, mistake that only lasts a second that prevents me from enjoying the song (I wont say which because I don't want to ruin it for people).

SO yeah... we blahblahblah  ;D :

Yep that note on the solo is wrong  ;)

Yep, this is definitely becoming masturbation 😂
Going back to basics, I was talking about song-writing. I think you have the perfect example of what we could call a Slash masterpiece with Axl complementing: COMA. Personally, I don’t like the song, but so many Guns’ fans do, so...cool. For me, it’s a poor man’s Zeppelin track (waiting to be slaughtered), but ok.

So how many GNR tracks are like that? There are many Axl masterpieces (unfinished or finished, you must feel it, just a couple of notes...), shit loads of Izzy songs, riffs, structures, Duff, I just don’t think Slash, as a songwriter, has that impact.

Will look out for that TIL second...haven’t found it yet. Can’t find it in the guitars, few natural and characteristic strange bends, but part and parcel of Mr Finkster...give me a clue 😉

Something to remember. The idea that Duff and Slash would put their stamp on songs Axl has written. It might sound odd. But that's pretty much what they did with songs like November Rain and Estranged. Those songs were written and then the rest of the band made it theirs....

They didn't sit in a room and write those songs together.... That's what I'm trying to say. :)




/jarmo

To me, Slash putting his stamp on The General is insanely cool.  Mostly because Axl said that it's the lyrical "sequel" to Estranged.  It's only fitting that Slash record guitar on this track is almost prophetic.  It could've come out any time as it currently is from 2009-2014, but it somehow waited for Slash make his mark on it.  Can't wait for that one.

You sound confident we'll hear it there!

I'd happily take it as it is. We know it exists, it's been played to people.

Also, there's a aprox 10 sec clip that leaked.

But Jarmo is right, DUff and Slash's contribution on chidem era songs is not unnatural.

The one I talk about is not on the solo hahaha.

Btw, maybe you're just not Slash compatible. There's plenty of structures, solos, and licks that sound epic, and in my opinion more so than izzy's. Izzy is more like a good bass player, you don't notice him when he's there, but you take him off, and you notice his absence plenty !

Yeah- and to be honest it's something I'd kind of forgotten about- the idea that a colloborative approach is not neccesarily the dna of a lot of gnr songs.

Thank you! It's getting really tiring how Izzy has become the signpost of GNR hipsters and has been blown up to be some kind of architect behind GNR all along. It's just ridiculous that anyone could believe this when you look at what they've all written outside GNR. Axl and Slash were clearly most of it.


Maybe not if your idea of a masterpiece is a ballad with piano. I would say Messages, Watch This, Nothing To Say, Saint is a Sinner Too, We Will Roam, Far and Away and Battleground were all masterpieces in my opinion.

I think it's very easy to paint Izzy as the 'hero' simply becauae he usn't around anymore. If he was, and Slash wasn't, you can guaranteee it would be the other way around.

His not being part of the band means his time is set in resin- perfectly preserved and without fault for the nostalgia hounds to fetish.

Not dissing the guy, as I like him, it's just the Kurt Cobain factor.No chance for people to snipe and see you get older if you're not around, so it becomes an ideal to many.

I also notice the recording mistake on my CD disc... my mistake!!!
When I first bought the cd I asked if the shop had a wrapped cd (the plastic see through wrap on the casing), and the worker looked at me very oddly, asking me why in the world would I need the plastic foil. So I said, never mind, I opened the cd and it dropped and scratched. The worker was probably laughing his head off, but I still have that glitch from the scratch on all my recordings of This I Love :)

My original cassette of UYI 2 cut out briefly during Yesterdays. Whenever I hear that song now I still expect a brief cut of silence exactly where it was! Doesn't feel right without it somehow! For years I thought that was how the song was meant to sound!

Interesting point.

It's true that it's easy to say "It would be better with Izzy" because no one knows if it would be true....

Just talking about songwriting here.




/jarmo

I think it's depends of the nature of the track.

if you want to do an epic ballad or a punk tune, you don't really need his talents.
but if you want to do some straight rock n'roll or mid-tempo music a la Stones, well, better have him on boat.

that said, Richard is a massive player, probably underrated as a writer too...

I really really liked the Dizzy album too. Only got round to buying it a couple of weeks ago, but think it's great. On the strength of that he seems a great writer as well.

Will have a listen to those songs, but I did originally mean written by Slash in GNR.

Someone mentioned me ‘ not being compatible with Slash’: I love him as a musician, guitar player...just not as a songwriter...yet (I WILL listen to those songs) 😊

My original cassette of UYI had the tape folded during Don't Cry, which I think it read the other side on rewind, and it was very cool because it clicked and I liked it too. But The one I talk about isnt the same.

But parts are written too. Who do you think wrote the Sweet Child or November Rain lead solos?  Those two alone are some of the most epic moments in GNR music.

Weird isn't it how these things become something you come to love?!

Again...totally agree, and I mentioned that earlier. Maybe not SCOM. Wasn’t the intro something Slash used to play to warm up? Totally epic 👍

Izzy’s solo records are pretty strong. Other than CD, I think his stuff stands up favorably to all of Slash, Duff, and Gilbys records. The first VR record is the only one that competes with Izzy’s solo discography. Personal opinion, obviously. But there’s also quite a few published reviews along the same lines. And let’s be honest, comparing CD and Contraband to Juju Hounds, 117, etc, is off base, considering how much production money went into those projects. So, when people talk about missing Izzy, it’s not necessarily some kind of air headed, follow the heard talking point. He’s got the goods.

Valid point. But the question remains whether or not his input would make the end result better. As long as we don't have anything to analyze, certain people will keep saying "yes, they need him". :)

For example, in my opinion There Was A Time is an amazing song. It wouldn't be better if Izzy was involved.... I like it the way it is....



/jarmo

For sure. Without question CD is the best of any post UYI album, solo, band, whatever category you want. I’m glad we finally got to hear it. But I think the reunion has brought almost everyone (save a small percentage of niche fans) back to the consensus that the original 5, working together, were collectively able to create the most powerful album any of them is associated with. So, again, I get that Izzy might not have the wow factor of Axl, but he also wasn’t just a placeholder. He  kind of represented where they all had common ground, and also yeah write some great songs, and contributed some great guitar parts to songs he didn’t write.

what is best that two childwood talented friends who writes songs together?
they're not in the same league, but think about, Paul McCartney & John Lennon for example...
no bullshit because you know each other very well, long experience at crafting things

but well, he chose to leave. in my opinion, even how hard it can be, you don't leave a band like Guns N'Roses.
everytime a guy chose to quit, Izzy, Slash, Duff, I thought "this is madness".

Even they had their own arrogance and ego clashes.

Are you high man?
Izzy's solo stuff (Which I have and I like) better than Slash's, Duff's?
Izzy stuff is good, but custom rock and roll. Tell me 5 AMAZING songs from Izzy. Of course he has got some good songs. Sweet Cares is pretty good. 

Slash wrote masterpieces like: Starlight, Nothing to say, By the sword, Slither, Just like Anything, Anastasia, Bent to fly, Beggars and Hangers on, You're a lie, Fall to pieces, Wicked Stone, Life's sweet drug ... as well as iconic riffs and solos for Kravitz, Jackson, Carole King...
Duff's Loaded have some great songs (specially on Sick album), His second solo album "Beautiful Disease" is a really really great album, his work with Walking Papers is classy, Neurotic Outsiders album is one of the strongest albums from a Gunner

I'm an Izzy fan too, but your statement lacks of sense to me

And for all those that are always sayin' Izzy and Axl were the main writers in the band and that Slash and Duff were not as important as them:
Slash wrote or co-wrote songs like: Civil War, Bad apples, Coma, Don't Damn me, Dust n' Bones, Garden of eden, Get in the ring, Locomotive, Perfect Crime and many more
Duff: So fine, Bad Apples, Civil War, Dust n' Bones, Get in the Ring and more

I know this is mainly an Axl's fansite (and I'm an Axl fan too) so there are many people here who like to bash Slash or Duff, but c'mon, Axl best moments are when he's with Duff and Slash, we all know. Together they shine

I’m a fan of the original 5 and what they did together from 86-89. I responded to comments that anyone wanting to see Izzy in the fold are superficial hipsters. I brought up his output, which I think is very solid. Slash’s solo stuff is what it is. I can usually enjoy listening to his guitar, but the overall songwriting and vocals don’t do much for me. I just prefer Izzy and don’t need a huge lecture on anyone’s opinion to the contrary. I already know everybody likes their own opinion. I just wanted to emphasize the significance of Izzy on the original sound of the band, and I used his solo stuff to support my position. No more, no less.

I see both points of view. Those who actually do like what Izzy has done and brought to the band.

But there are also those who are quick to jump on any bandwagon just because they can. Always something that's not to their liking....





/jarmo

?!
ok Jarmo, whatever

your wise words are always a light among the darkness  :hihi:

Always happy to share my wisdom!  ;D





/jarmo

Slash on going solo, new Guns N' Roses and why that Axl Rose feud almost didn't end
Patrick Ryan USA TODAY
Published 10:17 AM EDT Sep 20, 2018

No, another Guns N' Roses album is not on the way – at least not yet.

"It's something that we would love to do," says lead guitarist Slash, who after two decades of strife with frontman Axl Rose, reunited with the group in 2016 for an ongoing reunion tour. "We just need to come together and start working that out, so it could definitely happen."

In the meantime, the 53-year-old rocker, whose real name is Saul Hudson, is gearing up for the release of "Living the Dream," out Friday, his third album with singer-songwriter Myles Kennedy and band The Conspirators. Largely written in 2014 and 2015 prior to the GNR reunion, and recorded this past spring, the album is "leaner" and "more uptempo," he says, than his previous studio effort, "World on Fire," which was "more densely populated with random riffs and had a lot going on."

Slash sat down with USA TODAY for a wide-ranging chat about the new music, the current state of mainstream rock, and the phone call that ended his feud with Rose.

Question: What's the significance of the title, "Living the Dream?"

Slash: It was just a tongue-in-cheek remark about domestic and global politics, but people have been looking into it as being something about what it is that I do. Which it applies, but that's not where it came from.

Q: Was any of the new music inspired by what's going on in the news?

Slash: This one is actually less political than the last one. It's more about personal experiences for Myles and a couple shared experiences, but not so much politics. But I did have to say something, so I titled the record the way I did.

Q: "Civil War" is arguably GNR's most political song. What do you remember about writing and recording that with Axl?

Slash: That was something I just came up with on acoustic and an idea that Axl had, and the two just came together. It’ll be interesting to see what's on the next Guns N' Roses record if we get around to doing that. I'm not wanting to be a political advocate myself, but it'd be interesting to see what Axl comes up with. He definitely is more outspoken in that area.

Q: For the first time this past year, R&B/hip-hop overtook rock as the most popular genre in terms of total consumption. How do you feel about the state of the genre?

Slash: Rock isn't mainstream anymore, and in some ways, I like that. It harks back to when rock 'n' roll was more of an underground concept, when people were speaking about things that they weren't necessarily comfortable saying in the mainstream arena. As far as hip-hop is concerned, it's become so generic at this point. It's definitely taken on a very top-40 thing.

Q: Who are some of your favorite rock acts right now?

Slash: I love Foo Fighters. My favorite band consistently has been Queens of the Stone Age because they always put out cool, interesting records. But I still listen to a lot of old stuff because the rock 'n' roll that turned me on as a kid, not too much of it exists.


Q: I understand that it was Axl who reached out to you a few years ago, after a couple decades of not speaking. Was that cathartic?

Slash: It was nice that it happened. I don't know if I would have had the wherewithal to call him, just because I'm introverted and it might have been hard for me. Not during that initial phone call, but after that, it was really good to be able to get rid of some of the negative baggage that we'd been carrying around for a long time. It'd been 20 years of not talking and letting this bad blood continue to be perpetuated by the media. It turned into something way bigger than what was really going on, so it was good to get past that.

Q: Do you regret waiting so long to make amends?

Slash: Things happen as they happen. I make it a point of not having any regrets.

Q: Revisiting GNR's catalog on tour, is there one fan favorite that you get sick of playing live?

Slash: No. Our approach to our material has a very devil-may-care thing to it, where you can make up (expletive) in the middle of songs. You just keep it interesting. It sounds the same to (audiences), but the way I’m playing it is different and that keeps me occupied. "Paradise City" is a song that you can play in a lot of different ways. So I've never fallen into that rut of resenting having to play a song every single night.

 
Published 10:17 AM EDT Sep 20, 2018

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/09/20/slash-living-dream-guns-n-roses-and-axl-rose-feud/1356821002/

---

/jarmo

>>Q: For the first time this past year, R&B/hip-hop overtook rock as the most popular genre in terms of total consumption. How do you feel about the state of the genre?


Funny, I would've thought that happened in the mid to late 1990s.

I'm guessing that has to do with the buying power of the respective audiences. Rock audiences are older and have more buying power. People who grew up in the '90s/early '00s on rap are just becoming adults now.

maybe that's what people call ''yanking solos'', its just Slash having fun playing with the songs.

Here are the GN'R parts of the article. Link to full interview below.



Slash Talks "Miraculous" Guns N' Roses Reunion, New Album, Lemmy's Death, More
Guitarist on GN'R's legacy, new music and 'Living the Dream' with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators

-------

WITH GN'R, THERE'S A LOT OF BUILT-IN INTEREST AND EXPECTATION AS A GIGANTIC BAND. IT MUST CHANGE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH.
Actually, with Guns N' Roses, it's sort of self-enduring, self-maintaining. It's relatively easy. We get together and we work and we get on the road and work our asses off. It's been a real simple touring experience. It doesn't require a lot of thought about how to this or how to do that. We just keep going.

 

-------

 
DO YOU WRITE SPECIFICALLY THINKING OF A PARTICULAR BAND?
What happens is that when I'm out with Guns, I'm completely focused on Guns. I'm not thinking about new material for the Conspirators. If I made up anything, it would be more for Guns N' Roses because it was in that time. But when we took that break, I switched gears and started thinking about the Conspirators and writing with that in mind.

 

-------

 

HOW DID GUNS GO ABOUT CREATING THE MASSIVE NEW BOX SET FOR APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION?
The box set was for the 30-year anniversary. We wanted to put everything in there that we're aware of. There was stuff we had in the can that no one has ever heard — plus some live stuff and different things that the band has done and put in this one package. It was fun to get all that stuff together. It was cool to sit there and remaster it and hear that stuff again for what's been years and years.

THE FULL-SIZED BOX ISN'T JUST MUSIC, BUT ALL THAT ARTWORK, JEWELRY AND MORE.
[Laughs] A lot of people were complaining about the price of it [$999], but there's so much stuff in there. And the box itself is this wood thing that's hand-done in leather. You can get all the material in a less grandiose package. It's really cool. For me personally, it was cathartic to get that stuff out there.

WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FOUND WHILE PUTTING IT TOGETHER THAT SURPRISED YOU?
There was some stuff from the Marquee [in London, 1987] — I never actually heard it until just recently. We'd just recorded the [debut] album. It hadn't even come out yet.

Another one of the things that was really cool was a song called "Shadow of Your Love" that we used to play in 1985. It was one of the earliest songs that we played together. It was part of the set back then, and as the Appetite lineup started writing those songs, it got phased out of the set and we didn't play it again for a long time.

We went into the studio with Mike Clink to see what that would sound like, that was the song that we did with him. That was the test track. We didn't put it on Appetite so it floundered all these years. To go in to remix and master that and release it after all this time — for me, it was, "Wow, this is a trip!" It's got a certain energy to it. You definitely get the spirit of the band from way back when.

THE FIRST THING GUNS N' ROSES DID AFTER REFORMING IN 2016 WAS PERFORM AT THE TROUBADOUR IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, WHERE A LOT OF YOUR EARLIEST SHOWS HAPPENED.
It wasn't even the gig so much as showing up for soundcheck and being in this venue that we got our start in. I have a history going back there to when I first moved to Los Angeles — 6 or 7 years old and going with my parents to see Linda Ronstadt. That afternoon loading in and getting set up for soundcheck, that was a very surreal moment for me.

A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE SURPRISED WHEN GN'R DID VELVET REVOLVER'S "SLITHER" THIS YEAR ON THE ROAD. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
When we first started rehearsing, we had a pretty lengthy set list. And we had a list of songs which we called "alternative tracks." And "Slither" was actually on there two years ago, but we just never did it. And then we started rehearsing for this last European festival and stadium run that we did. Axl said, "Let's try Slither." We just fell into it and he really dug it.

But in a lot of ways for myself and for Duff, it also had a little bit of homage to Scott [Weiland]. All in all, it was a really cool and cathartic thing to go out and play that song after all these years — especially after losing Scott and playing it for all these people.

FOR A LOT OF BANDS THAT REUNITE, MATERIAL DONE WITH ANOTHER BAND MIGHT BE OFF-LIMITS. IT SEEMS TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE STATE OF GN'R THAT AXL WOULD SING A VELVET REVOLVER SONG.
There was a really great camaraderie from the get-go — since we got back together. It's been really healthy. Doing something like that is very much in line with how harmonious the whole thing has been. It's a little bit of a statement to how the band is working together.

YOU HAVE ANOTHER BAND, BUT AXL DOESN'T. SHOULD WE ASSUME THAT MEANS YOU WILL BE RECORDING NEW GN'R MUSIC TOGETHER?
We'll see what happens. It's really early to tell what we're going to do with Guns N' Roses and new material. We want to do something. We've been on the road this entire time. We have another leg coming up in November in Southeast Asia, Dubai and South Africa. Then we're going to start looking at what the next step is going to be.

 

------



Full article: https://www.revolvermag.com/music/slash-talks-miraculous-guns-n-roses-reunion-new-album-lemmys-death-more





/jarmo

I wonder if Slash had an opportunity to happen to sit for any span of time on the road with guns for the two years... :rofl:
I guess I have to start saving for at least a triple album... :beer: :peace:

"We have another leg coming up in November in Southeast Asia, Dubai and South Africa. Then we're going to start looking at what the next step is going to be."

European dates for next summer will be announced in February : ok: :peace:

Interesting that Axl's the one who wanted to play Slither.

of course it's total speculation on my part, but I think Axl was touched by what
Scott said about him after the VR split.

I'm hearing that some Finnish media is running a headline that Slash has confirmed the new album.

Jesus fuck this click-baiting. There is no confirmation and everyone else but some so-called reporter knows that :rant: :rant:

This is worrying because I heard this from a friend who doesn't follow the band. I don't know if any other media outlets have picked up the story. If and possibly when there is no album too soon stories could start again about this and that and no album despite confirmed blah blah blah :crying:

I had exactly the same yesterday- a British newspaper ran it too. It's based on nothing at all.

The whole confimation is from two articles where he didn't confirm that the album is definitely on its way.....

The UK newspaper cites Revolver:



YOU HAVE ANOTHER BAND, BUT AXL DOESN'T. SHOULD WE ASSUME THAT MEANS YOU WILL BE RECORDING NEW GN'R MUSIC TOGETHER?
We'll see what happens. It's really early to tell what we're going to do with Guns N' Roses and new material. We want to do something. We've been on the road this entire time. We have another leg coming up in November in Southeast Asia, Dubai and South Africa. Then we're going to start looking at what the next step is going to be.



And Classic Rock:

He added: "I think we're going to go well on into the future. I mean, Axl's got a ton of shit that he recorded already, so we're going to get in there and just start getting into that thing, and then if we do a record and then do a tour, I could see that cycle going on endlessly."




These two answers is the "confirmation" according to the UK newspaper and the rest of them ran with it without actually reading what he said!




/jarmo

Slash’s father have confirmed it on his Instagram and that post have been liked by Slash..

....and we all clicked on it! There lies the problem with online 'journalism'. The truth just doesn't really matter anymore if those clicks are coming in.

"Click-bait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers of news websites curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content."

They do it because it benefits them greatly and it's not illegal. They know that everyone knows what they are doing but there's no need to care about it.

"I mean, I feel pretty confident that something's gonna happen. And there's no deadline on it so I couldn't tell you when. But I feel pretty, you know, secure in saying that we're gonna do something, you know? So it'll happen when it happens as with any Guns N' Roses thing.... You just sorta have to... You can't put any restraints on time."

https://wrif.com/episodes/radio-chatter-with-slash/




/jarmo

You have the IG username to see it? That would be good.

Edit. I saw it.
Well.... time to say something so....

Slash is back with the Conspirators, but won't rule out a new Guns N' Roses album
By Clay Marshall
Sep 28, 2018 | 11:35 AM



Three years ago, Slash received an unexpected phone call that forced him to rethink everything.

At the time, the man born 53 years ago as Saul Hudson – who rose to fame in the late 1980s as the cigarette-dangling, Les Paul-playing, top hat-wearing lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses – had spent more than a year touring the world in support of his third solo album.



With the tour winding down, the group, featuring vocalist Myles Kennedy and a band of backing musicians called the Conspirators, had started writing material for a new album. The plan was to record and release it in 2016.

Then the phone rang. And the artist, who had long traded rock ’n’ roll recklessness for stability and independence, was being asked to revisit his past.

The call set off an unlikely chain of events that would answer the prayers of hard rock fans who made GNR's landmark 1987 debut “Appetite for Destruction” the bestselling debut album of all time. Axl Rose, the group's razor-lunged vocalist and its last remaining original member, wanted to mend bridges with the guitarist, who left the band in 1996 due to musical and personal clashes.

“When Axl and I had our first conversation in 20 years, it was really great,” Slash says from an office inside his Snakepit Studios, a house on a quiet residential street in the San Fernando Valley that he recently purchased and subsequently converted into a recording facility.

“It was a huge load off my mind for him and I to talk, because there's been so much bad blood perpetuated over the years by the media.”

Soon after, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival announced the headlining act for its events in the spring of 2016 – a partial Guns N' Roses reunion featuring Slash, Rose and original bassist Duff McKagan. Knowing that additional GNR performances (which would ultimately include shows at Dodger Stadium, the Forum and Staples Center) would follow, Slash broke the news to Kennedy and his Conspirators band mates.

A new album would be postponed indefinitely.

“I went to the Conspirators guys and said, 'Look, I'm going to do this Guns N' Roses thing. I have no idea where that's going to go,'” Slash recalls. “Of course, the Guns N' Roses thing turned into this juggernaut, but I was always looking for a gap to be able to go back and finish what we started with the Conspirators. I had no intention of putting that to rest just because Guns N' Roses was happening.”

Slash says that while his Conspirators band members supported his return to GNR, he felt a sense of guilt over leaving them hanging.

“We'd been doing this up until that point for pretty much five years straight, so that, I felt bad about,” he explains. “But Guns was a major part of who I am, and I was so happy to be doing something positive with that [again].”


----- cut -------



Slash expects to spend much of 2019 on the road with the Conspirators, but considering the success of the GNR tour, he understands fans' desire to see that group take the next step in its comeback and record new material. “I don't want to say anything that's going to make people start thinking something [is happening], because there's nothing set up,” he says.

“But it's definitely on my mind. I know it's on Axl's mind, and I know it's on Duff's mind. It's one of those things that you don't want to put a timeline or a deadline on. You just let it be, and it will happen when it happens.”

It's a surprisingly Zen-like perspective for someone who was once a symbol of rock debauchery and whose exploits were chronicled in a 2007 autobiography that featured the tag line “it seems excessive, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.”

“I didn't have much of a future left if I kept going down that road,” Slash, now 12 years sober, says.

“When I finally came to terms with [addiction] and decided that I was not enjoying it anymore, all that energy I was putting into copping and using just went straight into music. I think it's really helped me to become a better player.”


Full interview: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-slash-livingdream-gnr-20180928-story.html#



/jarmo

Its sounds like they will.

"idk if soon is the word..."

Dream Sequence
By Richard Bienstock 5 days ago Artist


Slash touches on everything from his ferocious new album, 'Living the Dream,' to his amazing new Marshall Jubilee and why he enjoys playing 'Chinese Democracy' songs live.

When Guitar World catches up with Slash, The legendary guitarist is far from home — roughly 5,000 miles from Los Angeles, to be more precise, in Tallinn, Estonia, where Guns N’ Roses are playing yet another date on their massively successful 18-month reunion world tour. “It’s my first time here, and its pretty cool,” he says, calling from his hotel room the day after the gig. “They have a big outdoor venue, and there’s an area called Old Town that’s like something out of a nursery rhyme or children’s book. And the show last night was fucking killer.” Next up? Gigs in Norway, Sweden and Iceland (each of them undoubtedly fucking killer in their own right), after which Slash will return to L.A. for what, smart money would assume, will be a much needed, much-deserved break…

--- cut ---


Were you coming up with song ideas for Living the Dream while on tour with Guns N’ Roses?

No. I did do some writing, but I was really thinking in terms of Guns at that time. So I have some ideas in my phone that are primarily for that. Because that’s where my head was at. I tend to get into one thing and then focus on that 100 percent. I’m not thinking of anything else. It’s the only way to do it when you’ve got two things that are so all encompassing. You have to shut one off to do the other.

So that means you’re putting together ideas for new Guns N’ Roses material?

Yeah, I think there’s a little bit of that activity going on.

For an album?

There’s talk about doing some recording. I think we all would love to do something that we thought was really cool. We just haven’t really sat down and put our noses to the grindstone to do it. We haven’t really had time. But there’s been a couple things that we’ve dicked around with at soundchecks.

--- cut ---

Over the past decades there’d been so much talk about a Guns N’ Roses reunion — not really from you or other band members, but rather from the press and the fans. When it actually came to fruition, I imagine you were just as surprised as the rest of us.

Well, really, I had no foresight of a reunion whatsoever. The most important thing to me was that Axl and I got together and managed to have some lengthy conversations about stuff that concerned us. Just to have that sort of relationship back and that camaraderie between the two of us, band stuff aside, was really important. I was really relieved to have that. Because some of that negativity that had built up over the years, especially by the media, just turned into something that you’re carrying around all the time. It was sort of like the elephant in the room. So it was good to get rid of that. Then when the conversation turned to [headlining] Coachella, it just sounded like a really fun thing to do. But I don’t think any of us really foresaw it going as long as it ended up going. But all things considered, it was just a testament to how much fun the whole thing was.

Your first time back onstage with the band was at the Troubadour in April 2016. How surreal of an experience was it to walk out there with Axl and Duff as Guns N’ Roses and kick into that first song?

Actually, the first song of the show wasn’t as surreal as showing up there for soundcheck. That was, I think, the real surreal moment. But at the same time, one of the interesting things about reuniting with Guns is that it doesn’t remind me of anything from the past. There’s not flashbacks, like, “I was standing here at this time 20 years ago…” or some bullshit like that. I just look over and I see two guys I’ve known for 30 years. There is that familiarity, and there’s a familiarity with the songs, but it all seems very new.

But that said, I have to say that that moment I got onstage at soundcheck at the Troubadour it was sort of like a time-lapse camera that went all the way back to 1985. [laughs]

One of the things that’s been a nice surprise at the Guns N’ Roses shows is to hear you playing songs from Chinese Democracy.

Yeah. You know, it’s very different… it’s really cool stuff, but it was played by guitar players that are very different from me style-wise. I’ve sort of adapted my own way of playing those songs to where I feel comfortable with them, but without losing the integrity of how the guitar parts go. So it’s been a lot of fun to do, like, the song “Chinese Democracy,” which I love playing. And there’s a song we’ve been playing lately called “Madagascar,” which, I don’t even know exactly what the guitar parts are on the original at this point because I’ve changed it so much. [laughs]

That said, I also want to give credit where credit’s due — the guitar players that played on Chinese Democracy, Buckethead being one of the main ones — are fucking amazing guitar players. I have to give those guys a shout-out because that stuff was cool. Very different from what I normally do. So it’s been interesting learning some of the stuff that was on that record. I definitely had to figure out ways to adapt to it.

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Full article: http://www.guitarworld.com/artists/dream-sequence






/jarmo

Here's hoping that there are firm plans for studio time in 2019.  I have a feeling they'd have a blast if they all go in and do their thing and could still create some really great stuff together. 

I think this is the first time Slash has actually given hints about recording an album. Up until now, all he had said was along the lines of "Yes, I think everyone wants to do it...etc".

This to me sounds like they are actually planning something: "there's talk about doing some recording" and "Yes, I think there's a little bit of that activity going on".

For the first time, I actually think we may see an album in 1-2 years  :D

I sometimes get a feeling that Slash has to defend why he also has another job than GNR.

It's a very different ballgame now than what it was 2009-2014 in terms of putting out new music.  This lineup has achieved something massive in that they are well on their way to ranking #2 on all time tours. Let that sink in. I think the music industry, current lineup, management etc. now understand that new music would only be a good thing for all involved. If anything, from a marketing perspective it's a new reason to embark on another largescale tour.

I can still think of stadiums where I've seen football (soccer) that they haven't done in Europe. Just fingers crossed they don't try another tour without new music.

I would still go but just don't do it, please.

Edit to add:

Huh, I didn't even see the Hawaii gig yet. It's of course great they go and conquer unseen parts of the world but it can't happen that they keep touring only for the sake of a new venue if having been already just nearby.