GUNS N' ROSES Bassist: AXL ROSE In Producer's Chair For 'Chinese Democracy'

After having worked with a long list of producers ? including Roy Thomas Baker, Bob Ezrin, Sean Beavan and Moby ? GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose has taken over production duties for the group's long-awaited album, "Chinese Democracy", GUNS N' ROSES bassist Tommy Stinson has told MTV.com. The reason the disc isn't done yet, he added, is because Rose is a methodical perfectionist who wants to make the creation of "Chinese Democracy" as democratic as possible.

"He likes to take all the members of the band and get the best out of each guy for each song," Stinson told MTV.com. "It's a brilliant process that gets everyone involved so everyone owns a piece of the song because they've put themselves into it. That way you don't have people going, 'Well, I'm not gonna play on his song if you're not gonna sing on my song.' And that's a lengthy process because you have to get eight people to basically write a song together that everyone likes."

Stinson added that he thinks the record is finally almost done, and the only thing that's holding back its completion is legal issues. Even the recent departure of guitarist Buckethead isn't slowing anything down. "As far as I know, he hasn't been replaced, but we already have enough guitarists," Stinson said. "We have Robin Finck and Richard Fortus, and Buckethead will be on the record, too. I really have no idea why he decided to leave, but it didn't come out of left field because he's always come and gone. Even when I do see him, I don't know what he thinks."