update: Axl writes an apology letter to fans

[slash2001]

rememeber a while ago someone said that buckethead was one of the reasons for the 2002 north american tour problems, said that bucket was creating problems. i still get excited reading axls updates, this one not as much as previous reports but i have some optimism that we may hear from him soon with some form of announcement..........hmnnn,  six months of silence mght happen though

[Jessica]

Is izzy good enough for what GNR need now ?

Good enough to replace bucket? Not even close

Thanks..Still think : what a shame he isn't..it was great to see them two together.

[Ace_Vegas]

All I have to say is....Thank You Axl  

[badapple81]

When Axl says..

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

That tells me.. it aint finished yet and it'll be altered and worked on now Bucket has gone.. meaning no album for a lonnnggg time    

[Malcolm]

Axl's an absolte genious..no matter when the album comes out were gonna get another appetite album(sales wise)..When Axl says..

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

i think he means that hes got a hell of an album in his hands..and that maybe buckethead wasnt cutting the cake..and its gonna sound better ..jsut a thaught

and besides remember the interview right after the VMA performance kurt loder said"so is the album gonna come out are we gonna see it soon"..Axl Replied"You'll see it, i dont know if soon's the word.....

[ccorn69]

one hand this sucks cause i wanted to see them in lisbon, thankfully i hadnt acted on this yet.  but everytime GNR cancel a show it pisses me off cause i want to see them live so bad cause i was to you in the 90's for the illusions tour and not to mention the touring in the 80s.  

on the other hand axl has said something which in itself is good all though it sucks that it comes because of this, but still at least he said something to bad he doesnt say stuff more often like i dont know maybe update the website and he and other band memmbers could post a few sentences every once i a while to keep us updated as to the going ons.

As for bucket, i think he is a good guitar player and i think he was the only one who could come close to replaceing slash, i say close cause slash is a fuckin guitar god, and who knows axl seems open to bringing bucket back so we will see what happens hopefuly things turn out fine all though guns doesnt inspire much confidence as of late, yet despite the darkness i still hold out for a glimmer of light from the gnr world.  so i will keep an eye out to see if axl does do something and follows up on his statements and actually gives a release date in a few months.

Axl, i want to believe, give us CD


peace

[Luckyme]

I think it was really sweet of him to say something to everyone.

[noizzynofuture]

We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve.

This statement really kills me.  

Didn't you just say all the delays were Buckets fault and he was in this only to promote his solo career ?

Why would you want him back ?

And for the people saying he could have done RIR with 2 guitarists, i think you're missing the point.  It's not the one show thats important, it's the future of the album.  Axl is telling you his attention is not on touring or one show but rather on filling the void (hopefully not bringing the overhyped misfit back)and getting CD released so the band (whatever it ends up being) can tour without looking for a replacement on a nightly basis.

Also, I'd like to throw a big "fuck you" out to all the people who bashed the record company for releasing GH's.  Do you see their point yet ?

  to geffen/sanctuary/universal or whoever released the album

[badapple81]

I dont think a "fuck you" is really necessary just because people had a difference of opinion  

[badapple81]

At first I thought.. 2 months to go till RIR4.. fans have splashed out their money on tickets and flights.. get out there and play anyway!!! Do a set for the people that spent their savings on you!

But I guess I can see Axls point, he wants to get out there on stage with the new songs, the way they will be played, with the line up.. and as a lot of us have been saying.. we dont want just another 2002 style set/show.. we want something new thats going somewhere..

Either way its fucked up!

Notice how in the original MTV Bucket out GNR article.. the first paragraph or so was about how his manager said he is out.. then the rest of the article leads to and is all about his solo stuff.. obviously well worked by Buckethead management there and proving that even after his departure he was using the name for his solo stuff

[Eva GnRAxlRosette]

Notice how in the original MTV Bucket out GNR article.. the first paragraph or so was about how his manager said he is out.. then the rest of the article leads to and is all about his solo stuff.. obviously well worked by Buckethead management there and proving that even after his departure he was using the name for his solo stuff

I thought about this also.  Even at the time when the statement came out it seemed really unprofessional for his manager to a)make this statement to MTV while his client was still under contract to GN'R and b)use it as an opportunity to promote upcoming BH shows in virtually the very next breath... Not to mention what Laswell said to the GN'R fans how the GN'R section was unceremoniously dumped from BH's website.

I really took to heart how Axl says they did everything they could to accommodate him...  to a fault even.  As far as being open to disucssions... Axl does relate the part about BH using the band to further his own career as hearsay... Perhaps he is hoping that BH will reach out to refute that?

Bottom line regarding this letter.
Thank you Axl for sharing with us.
Management could have just put out a factual statement to just announce about the band not playing RIR-Lisbon confirming Buckethead's departure...    But Axl personally acknowledged the fans and made not only an explanation regarding circumstances but also offered his apologies.

Whoever doesn't appreciate that is just being ignorant.

[SlashFan]

http://rockinrio-lisboa.sapo.pt/nc02/457367.html?lang=pt

quick translation:
gn'r won't be perfoming because of Buckethead's departure.

plus, and this is big, Axl wrote a letter to the fans:
"Em meu nome e dos Guns N? Roses gostaria de pedir desculpas aos f?s que planeavam ver-nos no Rock in Rio-Lisboa. O Festival e sua hist?ria t?m um grande significado para mim e, sinceramente, n?o gosto da sensa??o de ser me ser roubada a oportunidade de ser o primeiro artista a tocar em tr?s edi??es."

"in my name, and in guns n'roses name, i would like to apologise to the fans that hoped to see us in rock-in-rio-lisboa. the festival and its history have a great significance to me, and sincerely, i don't like the feeling of losing the chance to be the first artist to perform in 3 editions."

No one believed me when I said that Guns would not play at RIR this year,so I will just say,I told you so!!

[Eeebs]

Wow... what an exciting day it has been for me, as well as everyone else who posts around here, I imagine

When I came home from work, I came home to check my email, only to read the following headlines, thanks to Perfect Gentleman's mailing list...

"Rio Cancelled"

followed by

"Axl Speaks"

Of course, after the initial shock of it all, I had to read "Axl Speaks" first.  And you know, I could go on and on, and repeat whatever has been said on this board 100x over... I support Guns n' Roses and Axl Rose 100% percent.  It was great hearing from Axl, and a few of our questions / board rumours were certainly cleared up.

In any case, bits of the press release were posted on the yahoo.com music section... and here are some comments from random people... I haven't read through them all, but the headings appear rather harsh.  

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=769&ncid=689&e=12&u=/nm/20040330/music_nm/music_guns_dc

And then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the following in that little blue box ::

Post/Read Msgs

[pilferk]

We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve.

This statement really kills me.  

Didn't you just say all the delays were Buckets fault and he was in this only to promote his solo career ?

Why would you want him back ?

And for the people saying he could have done RIR with 2 guitarists, i think you're missing the point.  It's not the one show thats important, it's the future of the album.  Axl is telling you his attention is not on touring or one show but rather on filling the void (hopefully not bringing the overhyped misfit back)and getting CD released so the band (whatever it ends up being) can tour without looking for a replacement on a nightly basis.

Also, I'd like to throw a big "fuck you" out to all the people who bashed the record company for releasing GH's.  Do you see their point yet ?

  to geffen/sanctuary/universal or whoever released the album

I don't think Axl's saying he wants BH back.  It sounds to me that BH has not actually contacted Axl (and maybe not even Sanctuary), and there are "issues" that need to be worked out if he's leaving.  Of course, I could be misreading it, but that's certainly the impression I got.

[Rockin' Rose]

Found this from Tommy's Bio/Press page.

Bass player of the new Guns N Roses, is taking it to the people this summer with an upcoming solo tour, which will include dates in the U.K and the U.S.

On break from Guns N Roses until September.

this probably has been noticed earlyer... But could September be the month when things start to happen, release of CD, tour...

[Andrew]

this probably has been noticed earlyer... But could September be the month when things start to happen, release of CD, tour...

That was September 2003

[Hung Well]

how the fuck can u people blame axl?

u people act like axl fired buckethead,the man quit, the man used his position in gnr to further his own career and ive been saying it for 6 months, i got a post somewhere that says that, i say he and tommy cause they do those solo shows and solo records

Wait, and you believe this because Axl said so?  Come on!  When has Axl proven to be a reliable source on ANYTHING?

Don't you think it's a bit more likely that CD's release was nowhere near in sight and Buckethead got fed up and quit?  Because all evidence points to this.  

Chinese Democracy is not coming out anytime soon.  It wasn't before Buckethead left and it isn't now.  Why do people still believe it is?  Axl has had this group together for nearly 5 years and has produced zilch.  Nothing.  

3 years from now, when Axl is supposedly still putting the finishing touches on CD, will you blame the next guitarist for leaving and causing CD to be delayed??

with the band in disarray over bucket quitting they cant rehearse, they cant play certain songs so axl had to cancel it

Newsflash, the band isn't in disarray over Bucket quitting.  They are in dissaray over Axl's inability to produce a damn thing!  A single song!  A completed tour!  Anything!

so everyone needs to get the fuck off axl on this one, he admitted his fuck ups in that letter and i dont blame axl for this one

If Axl told you the sky was green, would you believe that too?  Would you wait years and years for the sky to turn green?  Would you blame anything possible, aside from Axl, for the sky NOT turning green?

[kockstar99]

Is izzy good enough for what GNR need now ?

I would take Izzy fucking Stradlin in the band over Brian Carroll any fucking day!!!! omg!!!!

Izzy Stradlin is a fucking AMAZING song writer and guitar player... he seems to make those around him ALOT better...

[Hung Well]

Fuck you dude. You act like this new lineup is going to just be about what the old members did.

Uh, it is.  The "new lineup" hasn't released any material.  95% of their setlist at concerts is old material.  So far, the new band is almost entirely about what the old members did.

And we all know what happened with bucket.

Actually, we don't.
 

[grog mug]

Until they release something this new band IS all about the old lineup.  Out with the old, in with the new.  Maybe Axl should have changed the name so he didn't have to put up with this mess.  But just remember Axl's famous quote:

"Yeah we'll be around, I'm not working on all this to keep it buried"
Axl Rose, 11/09/99

That qoute is far from the truth.  The material has been buried since.