Guns N’ Roses to ‘Focus’ on New Album After October Tour
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash said the band was planning to “focus” on a new album after it completes a brief tour in October of this year.
Speculation has mounted that the lineup featuring classic-era members Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Slash are aiming to record new music after several comments since they completed their Not in This Lifetime world tour in December. Earlier this year, McKagan described the planned LP as “real” and “magnificent” after guitarist Richard Fortus said it would arrive “faster than you think.”
Following his own confirmation in February that “there’s material and stuff going on,” Slash offered a further update in a new interview with Futuro 88.9 FM in Chile (via Blabbermouth), where he’s currently touring with his band Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
“After [we play in] South America, we go straight to Europe and do the festivals over there,” he said. “And then from Europe, we go back to the States and Canada and do our first Canadian tour, plus some U.S. dates. And that goes until August. And then after that, I'm gonna hook up with Guns N’ Roses."
He noted that GNR have a "small tour in October. And then … there's been so much talk about this Guns N’ Roses record, which we haven't actually done anything with. So we're gonna sort of focus on that. And then the Conspirators will be [returning] some time coming up, depending on what Guns N’ Roses is doing. But I've already started putting together material for the new Conspirators record.”
In a separate interview with Guitar, Slash revealed that he still writes songs using en electric guitar that’s not plugged into an amplifier. “My go-to guitar writing is just a non-amplified Les Paul, because I don’t like anyone to hear what I’m working on – I’m very self-conscious that way,” he said. “The electric guitar played acoustic is great if you don’t want people to pay attention to what you’re working on. I haven’t really grown out of that. I’m still a very self-conscious and insecure guitar player!”
He reflected that he played a similar role in both his bands. “Axl of course is the focus point of Guns, and I just sort of run around doing my thing,” he said. “With the Conspirators … I leave it up to Myles to be the front guy. I don’t talk to the audience or anything, I just again just run around doing my own thing.”
Last week, Guns N' Roses confirmed their first live date of the year at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville on Sept. 27-29.