Following the release of two reworked Chinese Democracy-era cuts – Absurd and Hard Skool – Slash has revealed that Guns N' Roses are yet to commence writing any new original music.
“As far as Guns is concerned, we haven't even gotten to that point of really in earnest sitting down and writing,” the guitarist said in a new interview with Remy Maxwell of Audacy Check In. “We've been doing a lot of material that's been sitting around for a while. That will be a whole focused endeavor unto itself.”
Slash also detailed how Absurd and Hard Skool came to finally be released. “They both have a lot of history,” he explained. “What happened was Axl [Rose, frontman] had all these songs that he recorded at some point along the way. And so Duff [McKagan, bassist] and I went in and re-did them, basically.”
Guns N' Roses have a new four-track EP on the way, featuring both Absurd and Hard Skool, as well as live versions of Use Your Illusion track Don't Cry and Appetite for Destruction cut You're Crazy.
Elsewhere, the guitarist is currently gearing up to release his new record, 4, recorded with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. Slash said that the album is “probably the most diverse record we've done in terms of styles," and described its recording process as “a real bonding experience” because all members of the band were living in the same house.
Thus far, only one track from the record has been released, the hard-riffing, lead guitar-abundant The River Is Rising.
“The River is Rising was one of the last songs I wrote before we started pre-production,” Slash explains, “and because it was so fresh and has a certain groove and energy to it, it was the first thing we really attacked."
4 will be the first ever release on Gibson Records, and will also be available with a limited-run Slash Les Paul Standard 4 Album Edition guitar.
Guns N' Roses recently wrapped up a tour with Mammoth WVH. They signed off their penultimate show at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida, by bringing out Wolfgang Van Halen for a show-stopping performance of Paradise City.
