"Next Album" rumor / speculation thread *UPDATE AUG 22/2023*

[sofine11]

I dunno.  I just can't buy into the doom and gloom perspective that since the big money is only in touring the hits until the end of time, that's all they'll do going forward.

Does Axl seemingly live outside of time when it comes to releasing/recording music?  Sure.  Is this a complete mind-fucking pain in the ass to deal with as fans sometimes?  No doubt.   But with Slash & Duff back in the picture, and not only that, it going so well despite all odds, how does it not at least get heavily considered by the principal parties involved?  It has to.

I don't think Axl was completely full of sh*t in June when he expressed his desire to put out more music, and it certainly wasn't a bad thing that at that point he seemed very open to involving Slash & Duff in said project.  Considering that was before the U.S. tour even started, who knows what plans have been put in place since then? I just think it's still incredibly premature to make any grand judgments about whether or not we'll see another GNR album eventually.

[allwaystired]

There might also be an element of "fuck you" to this- a thinking of "what's the point labouring to produce a new album for years, making all the effort, only to be confronted by a load of people shouting for songs you wrote 30 years ago." That's got to hurt a bit- perhaps there's finally a bit of "you know what, fucking give them this, it's way easier for us, and let's have the money."

I hope not- but that situation is a possibility.

Absoltuely think this plays at least some role.

The CD songs get the weakest reactions on this current tour.  You might chalk that up to a lot of people in that crowd that were either unimpressed with them, or never even gave them a chance int he first place, so they don't even know them.

A new Axl/Slash/Duff led effort of new songs would be better recieved, I think.  But I also think your point remains the salient one.  The majority of people buying tickets want to hear AFD and UYI stuff, and likely always will.

Also wonder, even if there was a new album, how many of those songs would be in the setlist?  Artists like U2 or Springsteen, if they put out a new album, you better damn well buy it and learn it.  They can play as many as 7 or 8 songs from the new album on that tour.

Would GNR do that?  Dunno.  But any new song would be added at the expense of dropping songs they already do.  So how many we talking?  2?  3?

Even the amount of new songs Springsteen and U2 do have tailed off on recent tours to 2 or 3- never that well received either. I'm a Springsteen fan and recent shows were sheer nostalgia- to the point of being a bit embarrassing in my view. It just seems to be what the crowds want though- and it takes a bloody minded  (or self sabotaging) artist to fight too strongly against that.

[D-GenerationX]

I dunno.  I just can't buy into the doom and gloom perspective that since the big money is only in touring the hits until the end of time, that's all they'll do going forward.

I think the best argument for it happening is all about Slash.  Running in place has never been Slash's style.

I 100% believe that Axl would be content to tour for the rest of his life with nothing new.  I've seen him do it for too many years to suddenyl be persuaded that, out of nowhere, he's suddenly Johnny Ambition and wants to get new stuff done.

But Slash is not like that.  I think he was willing to forgo it for this reunion tour, but that strikes me a one time thing.  I think his continued involvment requires some sort of new artistic impession.  I don't know the thrill of playing 'Used To Love Her' again is going to carry the day a few years from now.

[allwaystired]

I dunno.  I just can't buy into the doom and gloom perspective that since the big money is only in touring the hits until the end of time, that's all they'll do going forward.

I think the best argument for it happening is all about Slash.  Running in place has never been Slash's style.

I 100% believe that Axl would be content to tour for the rest of his life with nothing new.  I've seen him do it for too many years to suddenyl be persuaded that, out of nowhere, he's suddenly Johnny Ambition and wants to get new stuff done.

But Slash is not like that.  I think he was willing to forgo it for this reunion tour, but that strikes me a one time thing.  I think his continued involvment requires some sort of new artistic impession.  I don't know the thrill of playing 'Used To Love Her' again is going to carry the day a few years from now.

Couldn't agree more - he's the key to anything new I'm sure. He mentions similar in his book- how he doesn't like to keep still, and likes to make new music. He's been awfully quiet since this all started though........

[Spirit]

GN'R music was not being used in movies, commercials etc for years. Just because not all of the band members (Axl) would sign off on that. Black Hawk Down is an example, Axl refused to sign off WTTJ.

Was that the one where he was trying to sell them on a re-recorded WTTJ with his current line-up at that time?

I believe that was the case. As portrayed in the media at least.

[kupirock]

GN'R music was not being used in movies, commercials etc for years. Just because not all of the band members (Axl) would sign off on that. Black Hawk Down is an example, Axl refused to sign off WTTJ.

Was that the one where he was trying to sell them on a re-recorded WTTJ with his current line-up at that time?

From Classic Rock:

Black Hawk Down

Axl sacked Tom Zutaut at an advance screening of Ridley Scott?s movie Black Hawk Down. The director wanted to use Welcome To The Jungle in the movie, and negotiations started to see if the movie people would accept a re-recorded version by the new line-up.

An internal dispute centered around the wisdom of doing such a thing. Beta Lebeis claims Axl was reluctant to re-record, telling Zutaut, ??Listen, we?re making the album ? now we have to stop and do this, [it?s too difficult]?.? For his part, Zutaut claims that the song had already been re-recorded by the band: ?Part of Axl?s induction process for his new band was that they re-recorded every song off of Appetite,? he says. ?So we just had to spend a day mixing it.?

It?s difficult to explain why Zutaut was sacked, but it centres around the fact that Axl had requested a private screening of the movie (a standard request). When he turned up to find strangers there, he felt that Zutaut had misled him over the nature of the screening. ?He said, ?Who the fuck are all those people in there??? says Tom. ??I was told that this was my private screening and I don?t know who these fucking people are! I can?t believe you lied to me about this ? you told me it was a private screening! You?re fired!??

Zutaut is almost 90% full of shit so...

[sofine11]

Axl mentioned that after Slash left the band in late '96 that they scrapped all the stuff they had worked on/recorded in the studio up to that point, because that material was "something I wouldn't want to approach without Slash" based on Slash's style of playing, compared to his replacement, Robin Finck.

I wonder just how many ideas were recorded in '96 before things fell apart, and whether or not it's something they (particularly Axl) would want to revisit.

[Spirit]

Axl mentioned that after Slash left the band in late '96 that they scrapped all the stuff they had worked on/recorded in the studio up to that point, because that material was "something I wouldn't want to approach without Slash" based on Slash's style of playing, compared to his replacement, Robin Finck.

I wonder just how many ideas were recorded in '96 before things fell apart, and whether or not it's something they (particularly Axl) would want to revisit.

We have to remember that much of what Slash brought in, he probably took with him at the time to use later with Snakepit, VR and his solo stuff.

I wonder how much material there are left from that period. Richard mentioned a couple of years ago that some material they had been working on was stemming from the pre-96 period.

[sofine11]

Axl mentioned that after Slash left the band in late '96 that they scrapped all the stuff they had worked on/recorded in the studio up to that point, because that material was "something I wouldn't want to approach without Slash" based on Slash's style of playing, compared to his replacement, Robin Finck.

I wonder just how many ideas were recorded in '96 before things fell apart, and whether or not it's something they (particularly Axl) would want to revisit.

We have to remember that much of what Slash brought in, he probably took with him at the time to use later with Snakepit, VR and his solo stuff.

I wonder how much material there are left from that period. Richard mentioned a couple of years ago that some material they had been working on was stemming from the pre-96 period.

Tommy said the same thing this week, about there being some good stuff left over from when Slash & Duff were still around that has yet to see the light of day.  Again, makes you wonder.

If nothing else, it shows there's plenty of jumping off points for them to choose from should they decide to hit the studio.

[D-GenerationX]

It?s difficult to explain why Zutaut was sacked, but it centres around the fact that Axl had requested a private screening of the movie (a standard request). When he turned up to find strangers there, he felt that Zutaut had misled him over the nature of the screening. ?He said, ?Who the fuck are all those people in there??? says Tom. ??I was told that this was my private screening and I don?t know who these fucking people are! I can?t believe you lied to me about this ? you told me it was a private screening! You?re fired!??

Zutaut is almost 90% full of shit so...

Yeah, but doesn't that sound like Axl?

[sofine11]

It?s difficult to explain why Zutaut was sacked, but it centres around the fact that Axl had requested a private screening of the movie (a standard request). When he turned up to find strangers there, he felt that Zutaut had misled him over the nature of the screening. ?He said, ?Who the fuck are all those people in there??? says Tom. ??I was told that this was my private screening and I don?t know who these fucking people are! I can?t believe you lied to me about this ? you told me it was a private screening! You?re fired!??

Zutaut is almost 90% full of shit so...

Yeah, but doesn't that sound like Axl?

Twas a stressful time for the lad. 

[raindog]

I imagine Zutaut and many others could tell a tale or two but it doesn't make new songs happen or old ones get released so why bother? For years the narrative we were given was that all these evil shady businessmen were shitting on Chinese Democracy and essentially telling Axl 'people on the whole aren't going to dig this stuff,you should give up on it and go out and play the old stuff with Slash'. Axl eventually did exactly what they suggested and surprise surprise, Guns are more popular than they have been since the 90s. It always made good business sense - just not much sense creatively if you buy into Axl's vision that we heard so much for many, many years. So what can we conclude from it all? I'd say Axl has his business head on. And fair enough, that's his right and he's going out and doing the shows and sending people home happy. It's a pity some things had to be abandoned but that's just how it goes. Choices have been made.

[allwaystired]

I imagine Zutaut and many others could tell a tale or two but it doesn't make new songs happen or old ones get released so why bother? For years the narrative we were given was that all these evil shady businessmen were shitting on Chinese Democracy and essentially telling Axl 'people on the whole aren't going to dig this stuff,you should give up on it and go out and play the old stuff with Slash'. Axl eventually did exactly what they suggested and surprise surprise, Guns are more popular than they have been since the 90s. It always made good business sense - just not much sense creatively if you buy into Axl's vision that we heard so much for many, many years. So what can we conclude from it all? I'd say Axl has his business head on. And fair enough, that's his right and he's going out and doing the shows and sending people home happy. It's a pity some things had to be abandoned but that's just how it goes. Choices have been made.

So essentially, you're saying business and creativity can't co-exist for the band at the moment? It's either/or? I think stripped down to that, it's a fair comment, but new material would prove the point wrong- which of course is what we hope.

[ecwfan]

         Well there should be a lot of material out there from what was recorded for Chinese . There was what ...2-3 albums worth of material from what Sebastian Bach said a couple years ago ? That he listened to all the songs from it ?

          Also didn't Duff say once years ago that he had all this recorded material in his vault locked away they had started on and stopped ?

[DeN]

the material is not the issue here. they have plenty of it.
I think it's more a question of what to do next, if the guys are here to stay, or just to tour to make money.

I still don't have an answer to that particular question, since I don't see big connexions between the guys on stage,
and haven't seen anything outside the gigs including the guys (parties, after shows, etc).

funny thing is the one who seems the more enthousiastic about the reunion is Axl.

[D-GenerationX]

I imagine Zutaut and many others could tell a tale or two but it doesn't make new songs happen or old ones get released so why bother? For years the narrative we were given was that all these evil shady businessmen were shitting on Chinese Democracy and essentially telling Axl 'people on the whole aren't going to dig this stuff,you should give up on it and go out and play the old stuff with Slash'. Axl eventually did exactly what they suggested and surprise surprise, Guns are more popular than they have been since the 90s. It always made good business sense - just not much sense creatively if you buy into Axl's vision that we heard so much for many, many years. So what can we conclude from it all? I'd say Axl has his business head on. And fair enough, that's his right and he's going out and doing the shows and sending people home happy. It's a pity some things had to be abandoned but that's just how it goes. Choices have been made.

Here's what that doesn't stand up, in my view.  The dude did nothing.

People talk like he was putting out albums, trying to promote them, trying to get "his vision" out there.  And just god damn that unforgiving world that wouldn't give his repeated attemps at putting new stuff out there a fair shake. 

Swell story.  But none of that shit happened.

Axl's stance on things like this only make sense if he was really busting his ass and giving "his vision" the best chance at success.  That never came close to happening.

[D-GenerationX]

I still don't have an answer to that particular question, since I don't see big connexions between the guys on stage,
and haven't seen anything outside the gigs including the guys (parties, after shows, etc).

funny thing is the one who seems the more enthousiastic about the reunion is Axl.

I think the same.  And yeah, it's sort of weird.

No press of any kind after all this time, I think we can remove whatever romantic notions we had about a rebirth and see this for what it is, an amazing revenue opportunity.

Which is fine by me.  Not ideal, but hardly a problem.

[sofine11]

I still don't have an answer to that particular question, since I don't see big connexions between the guys on stage,
and haven't seen anything outside the gigs including the guys (parties, after shows, etc).

funny thing is the one who seems the more enthousiastic about the reunion is Axl.

I think the same.  And yeah, it's sort of weird.

No press of any kind after all this time, I think we can remove whatever romantic notions we had about a rebirth and see this for what it is, an amazing revenue opportunity.

Which is fine by me.  Not ideal, but hardly a problem.

Yeah, if we're to believe what Bumblefoot said, the reunion was being planned as far back as the South America tour in Spring of '14 when he started to hear "murmurs" about it.  We've also heard that the ball was rolling with managers, agents and lawyers all throughout 2015 leading up to Axl & Slash's eventual meeting at Axl's house in October.

With that said, I don't think there's any fairy tail story about how the reunion happened to unload to, say, Rolling Stone or Billboard.  I would imagine that the most interesting aspect would be the conversation that happened between Axl & Slash that night in October, but I would think both parties would want to keep that information private, and understandably so.

The media played a big part in driving Slash & Axl apart in the 90s, and really ever since, plastering it all over the internet whenever one would mention the other, even in passing.  I'm sure things have gotten better, but going into this tour I'm sure they understood that it was a fragile truce and it would probably be best for the tour to speak for itself and stay away from big media outlets altogether.

Hopefully as they get more comfortable, we can at least get some behind the scenes interviews about the current tour and, of course, possible new music.

[D-GenerationX]

But not even a "yeah, it's great to be back with the guys, we'll see what the future holds" type thing from Slash after all this time.

[sofine11]

But not even a "yeah, it's great to be back with the guys, we'll see what the future holds" type thing from Slash after all this time.

It could also be a part of whatever contract he's beholden to that he has to clear any and all interviews pertaining to the tour or Guns N' Roses by management first.  I don't exactly think it's supernatural how radio silent they've all been other than those two random interviews Axl did over the summer. Slash and Duff aren't shy about talking and giving interviews.  I think there's a very good reason they've stayed quiet, and I would be willing to bet the farm that it was something they agreed upon, contracted or verbally.  But given the success this tour has seen regardless, I'm sure they're crying all the way to the bank.