June 22, 2004
Guns n Roses prop at MyBookie.com
Mybookie.com has the following prop in their "news events/politics/entertainment" section:
WILL GUNS N' ROSES RELEASE CHINESE DEMOCRACY IN 04
YES +100
NO -130
For the uninitiated, "Chinese Democracy" is the working title of the long-awaited debut release by the revamped Guns n' Roses. It's been completed with the exception of final editing and mixing for over two years now, but for one reason or another the mercurial Axl Rose has never gotten around to completing it. At last check, there were something like 30 songs "in the can" that might eventually make it on to the release. For the album to be released this year, Axl would have to cut that down to a manageable amount for a single CD and do all of the final mixing, etc. necessarily to get it out to the public. Factor in the final approval on the artwork, packaging, etc, and I highly doubt that the hyper anal Mr. Rose will get all of the work done in time to get the CD ready for release in the next six months.
And, the plot thickens: Axl has hired and fired a long line of producers that represent a "who's who" in rock music including Moby, Roy Thomas Baker, and rock legend Bob Ezrin (who produced the KISS masterpiece "Destroyer" among many others). Now, Axl has taken over all production duties himself with the assistance of longtime Replacements bassist (and the bassist in the new look GnR) Tommy Stinson. Stinson suggests that not only is Axl a "meticulous perfectionist" but that a number of unresolved legal issues must be dealt with before a release date can even be set. In an interview in late March, Axl claimed that a release date would be announced "in the next few months" but as of yet that hasn't happened.
And the plot thickens some more....a few weeks ago the incomparable Buckethead, the avant garde guitarist who wears a KFC bucket over his head, quit the band. The situation has been somewhat rancorous, and GnR cancelled their scheduled appearance at the "Rock in Rio" festival that is scheduled for Lisbon, Portugal this summer (don't ask me how they can hold a "Rock in Rio" concert in Lisbon anyway). GnR has played at the event for the past few years (Axl's longtime personal assistant is of Portuguese decent) and the cancellation was a pretty big deal. Buckethead is a frightening looking individual (
http://www.prophetsplace.com/buckethead.jpg) but he is one hell of a guitarist........
While GnR is in pretty good shape on guitar, with the excellent Richard Fortus (who was in the Psychedelic Furs and is a very sought after session guitarist) and the amazing Robin Finck (who's played with NineInchNails, Marilyn Manson, Frontline Assembly and others) in the stable, Axl has suggested that he wants to re-do the already completed songs in order to edit out all of Buckethead's guitar parts. While my guess is that he'll eventually relent (and my further guess is that Buckethead will eventually re-join the band) the current turmoil won't exactly hasten the album's release. Finck, surprisingly enough, spent his teenage years in Marietta, Georgia. He met NineInchNails frontman Trent Rezor after a concert at the Masquerade in Atlanta that, ironically enough, I was in attendance at.
And there's even been signs of a thaw in the longtime feud between Axl and the *former* members of GnR, most notably guitarist Slash. Richard Fortus and Stinson were seen at a number of performances by Slash's new band, Velvet Revolver (featuring most of the old GnR members with Stone Temple Pilots' singer Scott Weiland on vocals).
As a fan, I'd love the CD to see the light of day. Many of the tracks the band has recorded for the CD have been available as bootlegs, and they've played them live for the past couple of years. It should be excellent once it does get released, but I don't see it happening before the end of 2K4. In other words...
BET "NO" -130 ON THE CHINESE DEMOCRACY RELEASE PROP
from:
http://prophetsplace.typepad.com/prophetsports/2004/06/guns_n_roses_pr.html 
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