AXL ROSE Gives Hour-Long Interview To VH1 CLASSIC's 'That Metal Show'

GUNS N ROSES singer Axl Rose gave an hour-long interview to VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show" early this morning (Sunday, October 30) a couple of hours after the band's headlining performance at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

In a series of tweets, "That Metal Show" co-host Eddie Trunk expressed his frustration about having to wait around for Axl to decide whether or not he wanted to speak on camera, "[It's] 5:30 a.m. [now], [and we] got to this arena at 3:00 p.m. [on Saturday]," he wrote. "[We are] still here.... If this interview happens, I might dose off for the first time ever in an interview. . . My producer ain't giving up on this and I'm [here] working for VH1, so [I'm] sticking it out until he calls it. But this is nuts!" Shortly before 7:00 a.m., Trunk tweeted, "[Five] years after [Axl gave a] radio interview [to 'Friday Night Rocks', a show hosted by Trunk. Ed.], Axl Rose has just done an hour interview for ['That Metal Show']. History made! Will air [on November 11] on VH1 Classic! Get ready!"

Several photos of the "That Metal Show" crew, Rose and GUNS N' ROSES guitarist D.J. Ashba, taken early this morning, can be seen below.

The last time Trunk interviewed Rose was in May 2006 when Axl dropped in on Eddie's WAXQ (104.3 FM) radio show and hung out on-air for two and a half hours. On that occasion, Rose came from a GUNS N' ROSES rehearsal to the WAXQ studio around 12:30 a.m. to join Trunk, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian, WWE wrestler Chris Jericho and former SKID ROW singer Bach, who Trunk says "really made it happen."

According to the New York Daily News, Rose drank Red Bulls, swapped stories, cracked a few jokes about himself and his reputation and suggested Trunk play MOTRHEAD's "Ace of Spades". He also told stories about the hard-rock world and talked about growing up and listening to bands like KISS and W.A.S.P.

He answered some questions from Trunk, saying the long-awaited "Chinese Democracy" CD would be out in the fall of 2006, and deflected others. He declined to identify the band's then-new lead guitarist (later revealed to be Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal) or explain why he aborted a 2002 tour beyond saying the tour wasn't his idea.

Trunk's connection to the GUNS N' ROSES camp goes back to 2003 when a version of a then-new GN'R song called "I.R.S." surfaced on a CD marked "New GNR" that was sent anonymously to then-New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who proceeded to play the track on Eddie's show, "Friday Night Rocks". Shortly after the song was aired, GN'R management contacted the station and issued a verbal cease-and-desist order before arranging to meet with Trunk to retrieve the disc.

Rose gave a rare interview his first in-person one with a print publication in 14 years in December 2010 with the United Arab Emirates outlet Gulf News. Rose granted the interview prior to the band's gig in Abu Dhabi.

"Chinese Democracy", the 2008 album released by the current edition of GUNS N' ROSES after a 15-year wait, was officially certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 2009 for shipments in the United States in excess of one million copies.

Aside from Billboard and Spinner interviews and answering a number of fan questions at a GUNS N' ROSES message board, Rose has done no promotion of any kind for "Chinese Democracy".