Guns N Roses: new album on track for 2012?

“It won't take as long, I promise.”
- GNR guitarist DJ Ashba

Talk of a new Guns N’ Roses album?

Let’s hope it’s for real.

At the release party of the new video game, "Call Of Duty: Black Ops," in Santa Monica on Thursday, GNR guitarist D.J. Asha dropped an update on the status of a new album by the band.

"We're talking about that right now," said Ashba. "We've been throwing around a bunch of ideas and it should be good, man. We've got a lot of good stuff on the plate coming out. It won't take as long, I promise.”

13 years in the making, it’s been two years since “Chinese Democracy” was released.

“Yeah, I'm excited to get this next one rolling,” added Ashba. “A lot of great s**t. Axl (Rose) has a lot of good s**t up his sleeve, so I'm really excited about it."

Guns N’ Roses – D.J. Ashba interview
Artisan News Service
Call Of Duty: Black Ops launch - Santa Monica Airport - November 5, 2010


The timeline could turn out to be exactly what Axl has been saying for years.

In a November, 2002 interview with WRIF Detroit, Rose talked about his master plan, starting with “Chinese Democracy.”

“The plan is to drop the record,” said Axl. “Have a bunch of extra tracks…about a year or so down the road, drop another record, and drop a third record. This is a three stage thing; we'll be touring for a reaaaaaal loooooong time.”

In a 2007 interview with Metal Edge, Axl’s pal - Sebastian Bach - shared some details that confirmed Rose’s 2002 comments.

“One of my favorite songs,” began Bach, “Is this song called "The General," which is so, it’s by far the heaviest metal tune I think I’ve ever heard Axl do…this slow grinding riff with these high piercing vocals, screaming vocals. I was like, ‘when is this coming out?’and he said ‘2012.’"

“I was like 'dude, your killin’ me!,'” Sebastian continued. “He goes, ‘well this comes out on the third record…it relates to this song....it’s a trilogy, this goes with this lyrically." He’s got it all figured out.”

“(Axl’s) just different than other people. He does things on his own time, in his own way, but you know...the world’s not prepared for what I’ve heard from this guy. It’s got the grandness and the epic-ness of “November Rain” but with the snarl, the attitude of “Appetite.”

“Because the album that I’ve heard, a lot of the drumming is by Brain, who plays so heavy and mean. It’s a really...grand is the word for it, but it’s still got that attitude. There's some great music comin' your way.

Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
Rock In Rio 3 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – January 14, 2001