Richard Fortus Talks New Dead Daisies LP, Says Guns N’ Roses Are ‘Up in the Air’

Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus says the group's plans seem to be "up in the air" at the moment — but in the meantime, he's keeping himself busy with the upcoming U.S. release of the new album from his other group, Dead Daisies.

The band's Revolución LP adds former Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi to the lineup, which already included GNR alums Fortus and Dizzy Reed, as well as Thin Lizzy and Ted Nugent bassist Marco Mendoza and veteran drummer Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Foreigner, Ozzy Osbourne). As previously reported, the new record — which is due to arrive in stores on July 31 — takes its name from the band's visit to Cuba, which marked the first time a Western band had performed for the island nation since diplomatic ties were restored with the U.S. late last year.

"It was amazing," Fortus said of the visit during an interview with About. "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Really fantastic. It was definitely worthwhile. They let us use a great studio where we recorded two tracks for the new album there and we got to play with some incredible Cuban musicians. It was awesome! It was just cool to see how that culture works and be introduced to it the way we were. And people were so appreciative that we paid our way to come there and made it happen."

While Dead Daisies prepare to tour behind Revolución, GNR appear destined to remain on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Although Fortus has sounded hopeful about new music in the past, he had to admit that at the moment, he really has no idea what Axl Rose's plans are.

"The current state of GNR is pretty up in the air," he shrugged when asked about the chances of a new album and tour in 2016. "The last I heard they wanted to finish up the recordings that we have and put them out next year and start touring. But it has been a while since I've heard from anybody in that camp as far as management or Axl. So I really don't know."

Whatever's going on with Rose, Fortus reiterated that the band has plenty of material to choose from. "There's a lot of stuff recorded that is in the can," he insisted, although he hastened to add, "I have no idea what will be used or scrapped or if we'll end up redoing it. I really have no idea as far as what's going on with that stuff."

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