Guns N' Roses

Rumored Jane’s Addiction replacement bassist Duff McKagan took to the pages of Seattle Weekly today in a reflective mood, one that found the ex-Guns ‘N Roses bassist recounting a story of Kurt Cobain’s final days and reaching out to a former nemesis, ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. It’s a refreshing, humbling departure from today’s trend of carefully-crafted PR bullshit, and we highly suggest you get on it. Full Article »

Was Chinese Democracy worth the wait? When we got our hands on a bunch of damn-near finished songs in June, we said it was. And we had always suspected it was going to be, for years leading up to that moment, as rumors and rough demos trickled out of whatever mansion / studio / nudie bar Axl Rose was holed up in.

After all this time, all fans east of psychotic had the common sense to at least suspect that the big secret had been built up too much, that if and when the moment of truth finally came, it would likely be an anticlimax. Of course, the most amazing thing about this album is that it’s in our hands. Full Article »

Walking into the tour-closing Guns N’ Roses show in Universal City, I had good cause for the skepticism I felt. With only one original member, no new material released in over a decade and a tornado of negative hype surrounding the mere name, the modern version of Guns N’ Roses should, by all accounts, be a recipe for colossal failure.

How do you replace the dirty swagger, the serpentine energy, the explosive chemistry of the band that brought an endgame to hair metal? The vacancies left by the original members seem too vast to be occupied by anyone else, and it’s been the upside of a decade since Axl Rose’s signature wailing dominated the rock landscape. I fully expected the same ugly disappointment and vicarious embarrassment I felt while watching GNR’s “big comeback” performance on the 2002 MTV Music Awards, where my attention was split between Axl’s surgically altered wax-museum face and his embarrassingly off-key performance. Full Article »

Hi everyone. As you are all undoubtedly aware, I was arrested at gunpoint last Wednesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and I am now facing a federal criminal charge by the United States Government of copyright infringement, after allegedly hosting a stream of 9 Guns N’ Roses songs, for a brief period of time in June.

As a result, many old friends, new enemies, creepy strangers and reporters have been cramping my style; Asking questions, offering to help, threatening to injure / kill me, wishing me luck, wishing that I rot in jail for the rest of my life, hiding in my bushes, et cetera. Full Article »

Axl Rose didn’t call the FBI, but today it became more than obvious that someone really was serious about that threat. Johnny and I sat on a pew in the U.S. District Court building in Downtown L.A. as Skwerl sat behind glass, in handcuffs, and still in his jammies since the FBI arrested him at 6:59 this morning.

After five or so other cases were presented, the United States of America presented her case against Skwerl. The proceeding was mostly about what his bail was going to be set at. The U.S.A. requested bail be set at $50,000. Skwerl’s court-appointed attorney thankfully called B.S. on that one and recommended his bail be $5,000 and that this case is the kind of case where the defendant should have been summoned to appear instead of being accosted by five F.B.I. agents at his home in a quiet neighborhood. Full Article »

So as every single one of you probably know, a little over a week ago, we did something crazy and hosted a stream of some new Guns N’ Roses songs we got our hands on. It started the biggest shitstorm any of us have ever been a part of. Last week, TIME Magazine devoted a whole page to the story, Rolling Stone Magazine mentioned me by name, and a million other news outlets have reported variations of the story, ranging from basically accurate to completely absurd. I’d like to defend a few allegations, and correct a few misinterpretations. Full Article »

Guns N’ Roses was the first band I ever loved. For a decade and a half, I’ve been among the vast legions waiting for the release of Chinese Democracy, Axl Rose’s eternally delayed, $13 million Frankenstein revival of GNR that we all started to believe would never see the light of day. In a blinding burst of bad-assery, nine mastered, finished tracks from Chinese Democracy showed up on some website (we forget the name) for a heartbeat, until GNR management came calling with threats of litigation annihilation, and even federal agents got involved. Full Article »

Since I was 14, I’ve been waiting for the new Guns N’ Roses album, and I’ve always known its name: Chinese Democracy. The phrase is now more universally defined as the new Guns N’ Roses album than as the actual political movement in China that inspired the titling. And over the years, the phrase has developed a second meaning: It can also be used as an adjective, to describe something eternally “in the works,” promised countless times, yet never, ever, ever delivered. As in, “that raise I need is fucking chinese democracy,” or “that big break your boyfriend’s shitty band swears is going to happen is totally chinese democracy, tell him to get a fucking job.”

I’ve been waiting, literally half of my entire life. In 2001 and 2002, Axl unveiled a new band, and they played some shows- and some new songs. I thought it was coming. In 2003, a song leaked. A bunch more leaked in 2006. We could taste it. Word was that Axl was planning a Christmas ‘06 release, and he confirmed that rumor by promising it’d be out before year’s end in a radio show interview. On December 14th, as time ran out to deliver on that promise, Axl announced the cancellation of the last few shows of a successful North American tour so he could (for real this time) finish the album, which he said would finally be released on March 6th, 2007. On February 22nd, road manager Del James announced that Chinese Democracy’s recording was complete- and that it was being mixed. But March 6th came and went. As 2008 rolled in, there was still no new Guns N’ Roses album. But then in April, the second biggest possible headline related to Chinese Democracy appeared on every music newswire in existence: The album has been finished and delivered by Axl to Geffen. Full Article »