GUNS N' ROSES Bassist: AXL ROSE's 'Passion Was Always In The Right Place'

GUNS N' ROSES bassist Tommy Stinson recently spoke to Gasoline magazine about the band's "Chinese Democracy" album and the process in getting the record completed and released.

"Chinese Democracy" came out on November 23, 2008 as a Best Buy exclusive after a wait of more than 15 years.

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

"I really don't know if there was one thing," Stinson said when asked what took so long to get the album out. "I think it was a multitude of things. That's my straight-up answer without getting into specifics, because I think if I get specific, it can be taken as sort of negative, and I don't want to go there.

"I think the main thing is, we just didn't have a lot of help doing it. Geffen merged with Interscope; that definitely changed what was going down with the record. For whatever reason, because of the merger, it seems to me that that was the point when things slowed way, way, way down."

On how he feels now that "Chinese Democracy" has finally been released, Stinson said, "It's a little bittersweet. It took so long [to record the album], which is a drag, but the sweet thing is that it's actually out now, and people can actually check it out and judge for themselves on its worth or not. But ultimately for us, [the experience] was totally worth it. It turned out great, and I think it turned out right. I don't know if it would have turned out right a year ago or four years ago."

"I'm just glad it's out. I think whatever happened happened. Would it happen that way again? Probably not. But I think [Axl's] passion was always in the right place. He was like, 'You know what? When I feel that it's done, that is when it is going to be done,' You can look at that any way you want. And if you're the leader of the band, it fucking falls on him anyway. Good or bad, successful or not. I think whatever he had to go through to get to that point is totally cool. There's none of us that could have ever gone to him and said, 'Dude, I think you're taking too long.' That wouldn't have made sense. He had to do what he had to do to make it the right record, and only he knew in his head what that was going to be."

Read more of Stinson's Gasoline interview at GnrDaily.com.