95-00

[Assman]

Does anyone really know what happened with Axl during this long period? There are almost no news on this besides that arrest on the airport and Slash and Duff leaving...

It would be incredibly interesting to read a real biography that commented on these years. Photos, stories and Axls one words. Of course he doesn't do any interviews anymore. That's a problem...

[younggunner]

Basically nothing. This is the time period that most gnr fans and media fail to reconize. During this time, the band was still trying to figure out what to do next, band members leaving, old gnr breakup, Axl figuring out what to do next, New direction,lawsuits etc. Although Im sure music was put down in the late 90's most of the new stuff, the serious stuff began to materialize as the new band formed....

[Dave_Rose]

Well only a couple of things between that time Tommy Stinson and Robin Finck joing and dont forget Oh My God in 99 and Sweet Child O' Mine appearing at the end credits for Big Daddy newly recorded

[jarmo]

Wasn't he involved in lawsuits?

He also worked on getting a band together after losing several members one by one.

Duff and Matt were in Neurotic Outsiders during this period and Slash was touring with Snakepit in 1995. So regarding GN'R I don't think much happened in 1995-1996. Other than Slash left.....


I think they were working on something when Slash left, but then Duff also left and Matt was fired.



/jarmo

[WARose]

axl did some interviews in 99 and 2000 and showed up at a gig to join gilby on stage for dead flowers

[Mikkamakka]

Axl said in late 1999-early 2000 that 'In the last 6 years I was trying to figure out what to do' or something like that, I'm tired to search for the article, but it's on the site.

[dangnr]

HE did an interview with kurt loder or somethin like that too i remeber right before end of days came out. He talked a bit about what he was up too and all that stuff anyone remeber that?

[Vicious Wishes]

Rolling Stone once had this article about that particular period of time, stating Axl flew across country each week to see like some spiritual Guru or something.

All I remember is that it was in Rolling Stone. Anyone still got it? It was like three pages of bullshit, published in print back in 1998 or 1999 I think.

Yes, I still have the issue of Rolling Stone. On the cover it says "What happened to Axl Rose"(which, incidentally is the only reason I bought it). It talks about Sharon Maynard(Yoda), and Axl's arrest and Chinese Democracy. The best thing about the article was the drawing of Axl with a long beard, at the beginning. Kinda cool.

[killingvector]

There are some fragmented Gnr songs from those last collaborations; I seem to remember one Gnr member remarking how those tracks were probably vaulted forever.

[ShotgunBlues1978]

This is why I get so annoyed when I hear people say that Axl's been working on Chinese Democracy for 10 years as though he started recording it in 1994.  The new band wasn't even formed until 1998 and was in constant limbo.  Sure Axl consulted with producers and held some studio sessions but it's unlikely that any of that material is going to be on the album.  The group that recorded Oh My God wasn't even the group that worked on most of the album, it was Dave Navarro and Paul Huge on guitar and Josh Freese on the drums.  I doubt that the sessions for Chinese Democracy even began until the year 2000, so they've probably been working on the album for 4-5 years, not 10.  4-5 years is a long time but it's by no means absurd.

[Vicious Wishes]

You can find the article I was talking about here:http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=32

[echrisl]

This is why I get so annoyed when I hear people say that Axl's been working on Chinese Democracy for 10 years as though he started recording it in 1994.  The new band wasn't even formed until 1998 and was in constant limbo.  Sure Axl consulted with producers and held some studio sessions but it's unlikely that any of that material is going to be on the album.  The group that recorded Oh My God wasn't even the group that worked on most of the album, it was Dave Navarro and Paul Huge on guitar and Josh Freese on the drums.  I doubt that the sessions for Chinese Democracy even began until the year 2000, so they've probably been working on the album for 4-5 years, not 10.  4-5 years is a long time but it's by no means absurd.

Who cares?  They've been working on it an absurdly long time.

Furthermore, people often say it's been however many years since the last GNR release ... that's not the same as saying Axl's been working on the album every day since then.

[norway]

from 99


So once it was really understood by me that I'm really not going to be able to make the right old-style Guns N' Roses record, and if I try to take into consideration what Guns did on "Appetite," which was to kind of be a melting pot of a lot things that were going on, plus use past influences, I could make the right record if I used my influences from what I've been listening to that everybody else is listening to out there.

So in that sense, I think it is like old Guns N' Roses as far as, like, the spirit and the attempt to throw all kinds of different styles together.

Loder: How much stuff have you got for this new album? You've been working on this for a long time. Is there just tons of material?

Rose: We've been working on, I don't know, 70 songs.

Loder: Oh!

Rose: The record will be about, anywhere from 16 to 18 songs, but we recorded at least two albums' worth of material that is solidly recorded.

 But we are working on a lot more songs than that at the same time... in that way, what we're doing is exploring so, you know, you get a good idea, you save it, and then maybe you come back to it later, or maybe you get a good idea and you go, "That's really cool, but that's not what we're looking for. Okay, let's try something new." You know, basically taking the advance money for the record and actually spending it on the record.

It took working on the majority of these things and at least the couple albums' [worth] of material to figure out what should be on the first official Guns album.

 I wouldn't say it's like, you know, that we recorded a double album, or that we have all of our scraps to be the second one. There is a distinct difference in sound. The second leans probably a little more to aggressive electronica with full guitars, where the first one is definitely more guitar-based

What we're doing is we're rehearsing with different guitar players, and we're still recording. I'm doing the vocals. I'm about three-quarters of the way through, and it's a very difficult process for me.

they mention chinese democracy too -this looks like a lot was done already in 99?

[ShotgunBlues1978]

This is why I get so annoyed when I hear people say that Axl's been working on Chinese Democracy for 10 years as though he started recording it in 1994.  The new band wasn't even formed until 1998 and was in constant limbo.  Sure Axl consulted with producers and held some studio sessions but it's unlikely that any of that material is going to be on the album.  The group that recorded Oh My God wasn't even the group that worked on most of the album, it was Dave Navarro and Paul Huge on guitar and Josh Freese on the drums.  I doubt that the sessions for Chinese Democracy even began until the year 2000, so they've probably been working on the album for 4-5 years, not 10.  4-5 years is a long time but it's by no means absurd.

Who cares?  They've been working on it an absurdly long time.

Furthermore, people often say it's been however many years since the last GNR release ... that's not the same as saying Axl's been working on the album every day since then.

People often say that they've been working on the album for 10 years too.  I've seen it many times.  I'm not an Axl Rose apologist, but 4-5 years with a set lineup isn't that bad.  What's absurd is that people think that Guns N Roses owe it to the world to release an album every 2 years.

[ShotgunBlues1978]

from 99


So once it was really understood by me that I'm really not going to be able to make the right old-style Guns N' Roses record, and if I try to take into consideration what Guns did on "Appetite," which was to kind of be a melting pot of a lot things that were going on, plus use past influences, I could make the right record if I used my influences from what I've been listening to that everybody else is listening to out there.

So in that sense, I think it is like old Guns N' Roses as far as, like, the spirit and the attempt to throw all kinds of different styles together.

Loder: How much stuff have you got for this new album? You've been working on this for a long time. Is there just tons of material?

Rose: We've been working on, I don't know, 70 songs.

Loder: Oh!

Rose: The record will be about, anywhere from 16 to 18 songs, but we recorded at least two albums' worth of material that is solidly recorded.

 But we are working on a lot more songs than that at the same time... in that way, what we're doing is exploring so, you know, you get a good idea, you save it, and then maybe you come back to it later, or maybe you get a good idea and you go, "That's really cool, but that's not what we're looking for. Okay, let's try something new." You know, basically taking the advance money for the record and actually spending it on the record.

It took working on the majority of these things and at least the couple albums' [worth] of material to figure out what should be on the first official Guns album.

 I wouldn't say it's like, you know, that we recorded a double album, or that we have all of our scraps to be the second one. There is a distinct difference in sound. The second leans probably a little more to aggressive electronica with full guitars, where the first one is definitely more guitar-based

What we're doing is we're rehearsing with different guitar players, and we're still recording. I'm doing the vocals. I'm about three-quarters of the way through, and it's a very difficult process for me.

they mention chinese democracy too -this looks like a lot was done already in 99 

Clearly they decided to take a drastic change in direction when the new members joined and the band members were set.  If what he said in that interview is true, then the "old" new band got closer to finishing an album in a year than the "new" new band has in 4-5

[norway]

yup, they were gonna release it, axl said a time 4 it, but it didn't happen 

he later said something that they were gonna release it but it got stopped,
- some thought it could be better and stuff, axl said when it's will be released it gonna b something he is confident in 2 

[AxlRoseVen]

Does anyone really know what happened with Axl during this long period? There are almost no news on this besides that arrest on the airport and Slash and Duff leaving...

It would be incredibly interesting to read a real biography that commented on these years. Photos, stories and Axls one words. Of course he doesn't do any interviews anymore. That's a problem...

I'v heard to say Axl was so sad closed into his big house in L.A City trying to scape from his amazing past which made him see he was a rock star but he also had to kicked slash off gnr for real...i'm so sure those days weren't so good for axl n' for ex-gnr members...abc channel told once : "Axl used to go down town to buy marijuana while he tried to look like a simple man into his car in L.A-1996" but i never saw a video which shows me it was true or not!!!!  what do u think about, guys?  

[jimmythegent]

I find this "lost era" quite interesting too...
a period of relative seclusion for Axl, although as stated, im sure a lot of his time was spent involved in legal wranglings..
the fact that these were conducted in such a private manner is interesting although it's probably worth noting that Axl/Guns were not considered ina any way fasionable or cool during this time
the tide has turned now though and the publics appetite for all things Axl/Guns seems at all time high (with the exclusion of the period 87-94)
other than lefgal disputes and OMG, Live era, what else was going on in Axl's life? Is it possible he had some kind of nervous breakdown that caused this period of isolation?

Having just seen the film "The Aviator", I find the paralalls between Howard Hughes and Axl interesting indeed..

[leesixxrose]

Ill bet that man has fucking HOURS of solidly recorded music..... I would love to hear all of his unrelease and experemental and work in progress tracks..

Come on axl you fuck ... release some god damn music.... even just a god damn single...

[norway]

spin wrote something like that earlier 

Working with several other musicians and producers, Rose amasses thousands of hours of tapes with song fragments and musical ideas, none of which have been heard publicly.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=71