“There’s so much material at this point – it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and get into it”: Slash says a new Guns N’ Roses album is coming

Slash and Axl
(Image credit: Getty Images/Kevin Mazur)

Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has confirmed that the band will make a new album – but refuses to commit to any sort of time frame for its release.

In a new interview with Guitar World magazine, Slash says that they have a huge stockpile of new songs, while also insisting that no concrete plans are in place at present.

“There’s so much material at this point — it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and fucking get into it,” he says. “But the thing with Guns is, in my experience, you can never plan ahead. You can never sit down and go, ‘We’re going to take this time, and we’re going to do this.’ Every time we’ve done that, it falls apart.”

He says of the band’s creative process: “It just spontaneously happens through some sort of inspiration that triggers it. And the next thing you know, it’s off and running.”

And he suggests that a new GN’R album is not too far ahead in the future.

“It’s coming,” he says. “I know it’s coming because everybody is thinking about it. It’ll just happen when it happens.”

In the same interview, Slash also says how much enjoys playing alongside rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus – while admitting that Fortus may not have retained his position in Guns N ’Roses if founding member Izzy Stradlin had decided to rejoin the band in 2016.

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“Richard is a great all round guitar player,” Slash says. “He can do it all.

“There was a lot of expectation that Izzy was going to do this, but Richard was there that first day we started rehearsals, and I was given the opportunity to see if I liked working with him or not.

“Although we did toy with the idea of Izzy coming back, Richard was always there. I felt really at ease and comfortable with Richard staying in when Izzy didn’t work out.”

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Paul Elliott
Guitars Editor

Paul Elliott has worked for leading music titles since 1985, including Sounds, Kerrang!, MOJO and Q. He is the author of several books including the first biography of Guns N’ Roses and the autobiography of bodyguard-to-the-stars Danny Francis. He has written liner notes for classic album reissues by artists such as Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy and Kiss. He lives in Bath - of which David Coverdale recently said: “How very Roman of you!”

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