Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Guns N’ Roses: The real story behind a Chinese Democracy leak



Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” has made headlines as both the most expensive record ever produced and one of the most-often leaked prior to its 2008 release – and now one of the people involved in a leak is sharing his full story.

Anticipation amongst fans for anything new from Axl Rose and whoever remained in the band would spike at any news of the project, which was worked away at behind closed doors for 14 years.

During that time, songs (or snippets thereof) would occasionally surface online, driving fans into a frenzy and web traffic would jump as a result.

Kevin Cogill, who goes by "Skwerl," is sharing his story on music site Antiquiet.

Cogill’s extensive retelling of his posting of “Chinese Democracy” for one hour – months before the album finally saw the light of day in an exclusive deal with Best Buy – is a story filled with threats, accusations, lies, the RIAA, Guns’ management, the US government and the FBI – who showed up at his California apartment with six guns pointed at him to make the formal arrest.

Cogill claims he got the leak from an unnamed source who took a CD off the desk of Interscope co-founder and chairman Jimmy Iovine.

It’s a fascinating tale told well, outlining the leak, the investigation, the arrest, the defence, the sentence and the aftermath.

Read Cogill’s story on Antiquiet here.

As for Guns N’ Roses, there’s continued claims by the band that new music is being worked on behind the scenes – with Axl telling USA Today in 2012 that it will surface before another 14 years passes.

Guns N’ Roses have just announced dates for a spring tour of South America – read all about it here.






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