Guns ‘N Roses Guitarist Denies Rumours About Split
Guns ‘N Roses guitarist DJ Ashba has denied rumours that the band has split up. He has said that the band is merely on a hiatus since last playing together almost a year ago. Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun, Ashba has said that not only is Guns ‘N Roses still together, but there’s also a fair amount of music that has been recorded, as well as some other music that still needs to be released.
His comments were backed up by Guns ‘N Roses keyboard player Dizzy Reed, who said that altogether, Axl Rose has about two albums worth of material recorded, and also announced that there would be some touring done this year.
“We are planning on doing quite a bit of touring this coming year. The focus is getting in a studio and putting together what we all feel is the best Guns ‘N Roses record. Lack of material is not an issue. We have tons of stuff. Axl has two full albums that he has recorded. He has played me a bunch of songs off of that that are incredible! I can’t wait to get in and kind of dive into those as well. I’ve written tons of songs and demoed up a bunch of stuff. I think it is just a matter of getting in and sifting through the piles of material.”
Reed has also said that all of the members of the band have been recording song parts for the past while.
“We’ve all been at it. We’ve all been, you know, handing files back and forth to one another in various combinations of different people, but also there is quite a bit of material that still needs to be finished and needs to be released. And so one or both of those things is gonna happen.”
Richard Fortus, another member of Guns ‘N Roses, recently spoke out on Mitch Lafon’s podcast and defended Axl Rose and his on-stage behaviour, after former GNR manager Vicky Hamilton criticized Axl for being a “demon dog from hell, a monster.”
“It’s not like a lot of bands, where it’s like clockwork. But, man, you know, [Axl’s] the real deal. All he cares about is the music. For the longest time, when I first started with the band even, I thought it was by design. I thought, ‘He has this worked out.’ ‘Cause, you know, it’s two hours after we’re supposed to start, three hours … stadiums full of people just booing. And the second he’d walk out onstage … all of that negative energy just goes totally up right into the palm of his hand.
It’s not like he’s sitting back watching TV and eating potato chips. Man, he goes through a lot to walk out onstage. Just everything … with being himself … to get into the right place within himself.”
