<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are wondering about my numbering system for the band Guns N\u2019 Roses, let me count them off.\u00a0 Version 1.0, the original<\/span> line up that found fame with their debut album, included Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagen, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler on vocals, guitar, bass, second guitar and drums, respectively.\u00a0 They came up through the Los Angeles club scene and gained a local following until their 1987 <\/span>Appetite for Destruction<\/span><\/i> album flew up the record charts after the breakout single <\/span>Welcome to the Jungle<\/span><\/i> was released.\u00a0 The album moved more than 30 million copies worldwide while becoming the best selling debut album of all time.\u00a0 Hits like <\/span>Jungle, Paradise City, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Sweet Child \u2018O Mine<\/span><\/i> pretty much guaranteed the success of their next album (<\/span>G N\u2019 R Lies <\/span><\/i>(1988)) which sold a respectable 10 million copies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Adler\u2019s drug problems saw him exit the band in 1990 to be replaced by Matt Sorum (late of The Cult).\u00a0 Keyboardist Dizzy Reed also joined the lineup at the same time and they took part in the recording of and subsequent tour behind the twin albums <\/span>Use Your Illusion I <\/span><\/i>& <\/span>II<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 This was a minor enough change in the lineup that we will consider it Ver 1.1 of the original band.\u00a0 After the extensive <\/span>Illusion I & II <\/span><\/i>tour (1991-93) and the recording of a punk covers album (<\/span>The Spaghetti Incident? <\/span><\/i>(1993)), turmoil and discontent fractured the band.\u00a0 By 1998, only Rose and Reed were left from Ver 1.1.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Axl spun the \u2018Yes, I would like to buy a new guitar player\u2019 wheel and vowed to keep the band going.\u00a0 Guitarists came and went, among them Gilby Clark, Robin Finck, Buckhead, Tommy Stinson, Ron \u2018Bumblefoot\u2019 Thal, Richard Fortus, D.J. Ashba, and Chris Pitman.\u00a0 If one wonders what Rose\u2019s vision for the band was at that point, one can only guess their record label had similar thoughts.\u00a0 The one and only album created by this Ver 2.0 band (<\/span>Chinese Democracy <\/span><\/i>(2008)) is thought to have cost $14 million to record.\u00a0 No, you did not read the release date or cost wrong.\u00a0 It was billed as the most expensive rock album ever recorded and the release of a <\/span>Greatest Hits<\/span><\/i> album in 2004 was probably the only reason the band and their label didn\u2019t sink to the bottom of the ocean.\u00a0 The <\/span>Greatest Hits<\/span><\/i> album became the longest charting record in the history of the <\/span>Billboard 200<\/span><\/i> allowing Rose to fiddle around longer with <\/span>Chinese Democracy<\/span><\/i> than any other label would have tolerated.\u00a0 The <\/span>Hits <\/span><\/i>album owes its success wholly to the Ver 1.0 & 1.1 band\u2019s catalog.\u00a0 It also kept hopes alive for a reunion of that iteration even while Axl\u2019s erratic behavior and equally unsteady hand on the band\u2019s steering wheel made G N\u2019 R seem DOA.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Democracy <\/span><\/i>debuted at No 3 on the <\/span>Billboard 200<\/span><\/i> no doubt helped along by the mystery built by the long, expensive recording process.\u00a0 Studio time spread across 14 studios and 3 producers all combined to drive up the production costs.\u00a0 Rose\u2019s refusal to promote his own record drove another wedge between the band and the label.\u00a0 The band toured after more \u2018band member roulette\u2019 and <\/span>Billboard<\/span><\/i> called the lack of promotion, \u201cA colossal blunder that undermined\u00a0 the most anticipated album in history.\u201d\u00a0 Then the lawsuits and counter lawsuits began to fly.\u00a0 Touring drummer Dave Abbruzzese even claimed the label executives wanted the album to fail to pressure Axl into reuniting with Slash to resurrect the Ver 1.1 band.\u00a0 It also did not help that all but 3 or the album\u2019s 14 tracks had been leaked a full year ahead of the LP\u2019s release.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Ver 2.0 slowly but steadily underwent \u2018disassembly through lawsuits and neglect\u2019, nobody really gave much credence to the rumors about the label suits trying to get Axl and Slash back together by torpedoing <\/span>Chinese Democracy<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The singer and guitarist barely spoke after they parted ways in 1996.\u00a0 Slash went on with his own projects (Slash\u2019s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, and his most successful line up, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators) while Axl\u00a0 went about being Axl.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Slash told <\/span>Guitar World <\/span><\/i>(Vol 46, NO 12 – December 2025) that the whole Ver 3.0 regrouping happened because of Coachella.\u00a0 As Slash told <\/span>GW\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Andrew Daly, \u201cIt sounds crazy, but when I first got involved again, it was just to do a couple of shows, one of which was Coachella.\u00a0 We had been getting these offers to do that event for years, so Axl and I got together, sat down and hashed out a lot of stuff that had built up over the years.\u00a0 That\u2019s when he said, \u2018We get these offers to do Coachella.\u00a0 Do you want to do it?\u2019\u00a0 I said, \u2018Yeah, that would be fun.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 He went in thinking they would do a few gigs in 2016 and that would be that.\u00a0 It turned out, they had so much fun that they are still going on with Ver 3.0 nine years later.\u00a0 A lot has changed since the bad old days, namely no hardcore drugs, no more infighting, and no more binge-drinking benders.\u00a0 In other words, they moved on from all the things that tore Ver 1.0 & Ver 1.1 apart.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Slash continued:\u00a0 \u201cOther than changes in the way things were handled back in the day, it\u2019s just maturing . . . and maybe the lack of massive substance abuse on my part.\u00a0 [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>]\u00a0 I can\u2019t speak on everybody else\u2019s behalf, but all those things play into it.\u00a0 It\u2019s a perfect storm of a lot of things.\u00a0 We did Coachella, and then we just kept going.\u00a0 It never really stopped.\u00a0 The only thing that [temporarily] stopped it was Covid, because we were just going from tour to tour and having a great time.\u201d\u00a0 During the Ver 2.0 years in the early 2000s, Axl\u2019s G N\u2019 R went through guitar players like crazy.\u00a0 Since then, the band has settled into a degree of stability that didn\u2019t seem remotely possible.\u00a0 There is a third piece of the Ver 2.0 band that is still in the band.\u00a0 His name is Richard Fortus and he has been hanging out in G N\u2019 R land for 23 years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The rotation of guitar players during the Ver 2.0 phase was enough to make one\u2019s head spin.\u00a0 It also did not help Axl get the songs he was writing recorded.\u00a0 Before he joined up in 2002, Fortus was touring with Enrique Iglesias and his presence offered a sense of stability that had been missing.\u00a0 As Richard told Andrew Daly in December 2025\u2019s <\/span>GW<\/span><\/i> interview, \u201cWhen I first came into the band, it was split into factions.\u00a0 There was Buckethead, Brain (Bryan Mantia) on drums, and [multi-instrumentalist] Chris Pitman (on keyboards and bass) as one little faction.\u00a0 And then there was myself, Tommy Stinson (bass), Robin [Finck] (guitar) and Dizzy [Reed, keyboards].\u00a0 That was another faction.\u00a0 And there was Axl, a faction unto himself [laughs].\u00a0 There was a different feeling to the band, but now everything feels solidified.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After the infighting, substance abuse, and drama of the Ver. 1.0\/1.1 years, it is difficult to understand how Rose, Slash, and Duff were afforded a second chance.\u00a0 Maybe the Ver. 3.0 would not have been possible without the intervening Ver. 2.0 grouping.\u00a0 Certainly, Richard Fortus\u2019s entry into the band at that unstable nadir acting as a connecting thread to the Ver. 3.0 G N\u2019 R is one of those serendipitous things.\u00a0 The proof lies in one simple fact – Fortus is now the longest tenured guitar player in the band so he has seen both sides of that coin:\u00a0 \u201cThe band is very united,\u201d he told Daly.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest difference, it’s night and day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of course, it does not hurt that he and Slash blend so well together:\u00a0 \u201cSometimes Slash and I will play the same thing in harmony or an octave part that we\u2019ve never played before or not worked out at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s freakish to me how similar our approach is.\u00a0 It sounds a little metaphysical, but it\u2019s really strange how in-synch we are.\u201d\u00a0 Even at their chart-topping peak, one would never have used the word \u2018harmonious\u2019 to describe how Guns \u2018N Roses functioned.<\/span><\/p>\n Richard\u2019s role in Ver. 2.0 was to fill the shoes of Izzy Stradlin and Gilby Clark.\u00a0 When Slash returned to the fold, he had to redo what he had been doing.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s always fun,\u201d he says, \u201cBut when Slash came in, I had to rethink everything because I needed to be able to support his tone, the way he plays, and the way he creates.\u00a0 So it\u2019s been about me going back to the chalkboard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How does Slash feel about things now that the band has been touring without incident and are even toying around with the idea of making a new album?\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re fortunate to be a band whose material has stood the test of time,\u201d he told Daly.\u00a0 \u201cAnd we\u2019re fortunate to be appreciated this far out.\u00a0 To be able to maintain that much interest, you have to consider yourself really (expletive deleted) lucky, and that\u2019s the way I see it,\u00a0 It\u2019s been quite a ride.\u201d\u00a0 Slash also gives their fans a lot of credit:\u00a0 \u201cEvery show is contingent on the audience.\u00a0 That sort of reciprocal energy is what drives it, and that has been solid for this whole run since I\u2019ve been back in it, that\u2019s how it was from our inception back in the day, up until I left in 1996.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, Ver. 1.0 had that magical singer \/ guitar player thing going for it but it died in 1996 when things went south.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ver. 3.0 seems to have rekindled the magic.\u00a0 Slash continued, \u201cI constantly have to stop and be thankful that we\u2019re able to do something that I love so much.\u00a0 There\u2019s really nothing like it.\u00a0 To be able to go out there and play for three hours is really a blessing.\u201d\u00a0 When asked about the chemistry between band members, Slash pointed out that many of the issues that tanked the band in the 90s were generated by management issues that put Axl and him at odds.\u00a0 \u201cWithout that element, Axl and I get along great.\u00a0 Duff and I have always gotten along great, and I love working with Richard Fortus.\u00a0 He and I make a really great guitar team, and he\u2019s just a good guy.\u00a0 We all get along really well and we have a good time doing what we do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Asked if there was any thought of bringing back original member Izzy Stradlin in place of Fortus, Slash said it was discussed, but it never went beyond that.\u00a0 Richard was there when they started rehearsals for the <\/span>Not In This Lifetime<\/span><\/i> Tour.\u00a0 He was given the opportunity to see how he meshed with Fortus before the Izzy idea petered out.\u00a0 According to Slash, \u201cI don\u2019t know where Izzy would have fallen in at that time.\u00a0 I have no idea because we never really got a chance to jam at any of those initial rehearsals for the tour.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know what it would have been like.\u00a0 Everybody has been constantly working this whole time and growing as musicians.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what Izzy\u2019s been up to on the musical level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After reminiscing about how some of the classic Ver. 1.0 riffs and songs came together, Daly and Slash turned their attention to guitars.\u00a0 Although he has been associated with the classic Gibson Les Paul models he played back in the day, he has expanded his collection.\u00a0 His first professional level guitar had actually been a B.C. Rich Mockingbird stemming from his days working at a guitar store in Hollywood.\u00a0 The store was an authorized B.C. Rich dealer so he had a lot of inside knowledge about the brand before G N\u2019 R got big.\u00a0 He reconnected with the company when they were recording the <\/span>Use Your Illusion<\/span><\/i> albums when he had enough money to buy a used Mockingbird 1981 model that he still uses on the road.\u00a0 Slash admitted that he picked up a lot of guitars in the twenty years between Ver. 1.0 and Ver. 3.0 as he branched out by using various versions of Les Pauls, B.C. Riches, and Guild guitars.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Daly wrapped things up by posing the same question he had asked Fortus:\u00a0 \u201cIs there a new album in G N\u2019R\u2019s future?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s so much material at this point – it\u2019s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and get into it.\u00a0 But the thing with Guns is, in my experience, you can never plan ahead.\u00a0 You can never sit down and go, \u2018We\u2019re going to take this time and we\u2019re going to do this.\u2019\u00a0 Every time we\u2019ve done that, it falls apart,\u00a0 It just spontaneously happens through some sort of inspiration that triggered it.\u00a0 And the next thing you know, it\u2019s off and running .\u00a0 So it\u2019s coming.\u00a0 It\u2019ll just happen when it happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As long as G N\u2019R Ver. 3.0 guys are enjoying themselves, I get the feeling there won\u2019t be any major changes in personnel or interband drama.\u00a0 If they set their minds to recording, Slash\u2019s habit of pumping out his solo work at a good pace hints they won\u2019t spend a <\/span>Chinese Democracy<\/span><\/i> amount of time getting it sorted out.\u00a0 Stay tuned as we see what other surprises G N\u2019 R Ver. 3.0 may have in store for us.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Which ever version was playing in Tokyo in 1992 . . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are wondering about my numbering system for the band Guns N\u2019 Roses, let me count them off.\u00a0 Version 1.0, the original line up that found fame with their debut album, included Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagen, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler on vocals, guitar, bass, second guitar and drums, respectively.\u00a0 They came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3727"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3732,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions\/3732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}