Axl Rose was notoriously late to Guns N’ Roses shows for years before reuniting with Slash and Duff McKagan for the ‘Not In This Lifetime’ tour in 2016, and in 2011 he did his first television interview in several years on VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show.
Jim Florentine recently told Metal Injection, “And that was Axl’s first interview in many years … Somebody, maybe Axl’s manager at the time, tricked him and said ‘Hey, VH1 Classic is going to come down to Miami and film your version of Guns N’ Roses performing to promote the North American tour. And they might interview some of the guys in the band for a whole special.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t care…’
So, then the manager tells us, ‘Axl will do the interview with you guys!’ And we’re like, ‘Holy shit, we’re going to Miami! For Axl? Absolutely!’ When we got there and asked if it was going to happen before the show, the manager said ‘Nah, it’ll probably be after.’ So, the manager was just dicking us around thinking ‘Alright, I got them here, and Axl’s probably not going to show up.’
And then, when the show ended at like 3 a.m., Axl was like, ‘Wait they want to interview me?! I didn’t even know! Nobody told me! Well, then let me go shower.’ So then by 5 a.m. we interviewed him… it might have been 5:20 a.m. [laughs]
He added, “Yeah, I remember they went onstage at midnight and they didn’t get off until 3 a.m. I remember all of these workers from the arena backstage, they had no idea about Guns N’ Roses or Axl Rose, and they were like ‘When is this motherf**ker getting offstage?! This is bullshit!’ They were miserable!”
jacdaniel posted about 2020 GNR new album and tour rumors on MYGNRForum.com, “NITL was supposed to be finished in 2018. Then they announced the current run of US shows which we were told would just be a short run. Then Slash more or less confirmed another run next March. Now there are some small rumors starting about Europe next summer. A new album can’t be close. Whenever they’re not touring, Slash has been releasing new music and touring with SMKC as well as doing his horror film stuff. Duff as well. (Axl Rose apologized for a Guns N’ Roses show accident recently)
Slash himself more or less said that they hadn’t started on an album. I imagine when the current run ends that will pretty much wrap up 2019. Next year should be interesting. If more runs are announced, I’ll start to doubt that they’re actually working on an album.
Will have to keep an eye on Slash in particular as he’s a workaholic. If he goes quiet and GNR are not on the road, that will be encouraging. Personally though, I think we’ll be getting more dates. What do you all think?”
You can read the full Jim Florentine interview at Metal Injection.
