SLASH Says GUNS N' ROSES Will Take 2027 Off From Touring To Work On New Music: 'We Have So Much Material'

During an appearance on the October 12 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash spoke about the latest leg of the band's reunion tour, which informally began with a club show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on April 1, 2016. The 14th leg of the tour brought Slash and his bandmates to stadiums across North America throughout the summer. The guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The last run that we just did, the one that we're sort of, like, on the tail end of, has been awesome. And as far as I'm concerned, the last U.S. run that we just finished was the best U.S. run that I feel like we'd done since it started. And the European run, the same. So this last year or so has been really fucking cool. Not to say that the years before that [weren't], but it just keeps getting better. So it's a blast, man."

Regarding GUNS N' ROSES' plans for the coming months, Slash said: "We'll get done with [shows in India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in November and December], and next year basically GUNS is off. But I'm hoping that, because we have so much material that we need to sort of, like, put together and start getting into that whole phase, so I'm hoping that's what the next phase is gonna be."

After "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk asked if "the idea is" for GUNS N' ROSES to take a break from touring next year and try to come together with material, Slash said: "Exactly. We have so much material, and it's all over the place, and it needs to... That's one of the things that's been hard to do, is the amount of time and focus it takes to sort of get all that material together and start working on it."

Slash went on to say that it's impossible for him and his GUNS N' ROSES bandmates to work on new music when they are touring. "It doesn't work on the road," he said. "Writing on the road for me is easy, and I'm the only one that seem, seems to like to sort of sit up all night and do that. But Duff [McKagan, GUNS N' ROSES bassist] does his own thing, and Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES singer] does his own thing. And so we're all creating on the road just individually. But getting us together and trying to do that while you're touring is next to impossible."

This past January, Slash talked to longtime radio host Abe Kanan of Audacy about GUNS N' ROSES' recently released two new songs called "Atlas" and "Nothin'". When they were made available in December 2025, the tracks marked the first new GN'R music since the 2023 singles "The General" and "Perhaps". Both "Atlas" and "Nothin'" were produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo (Janet Jackson, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE); Costanzo co-produced GUNS N' ROSES' latest album, 2008's "Chinese Democracy", alongside Rose. Asked if it's true that he and Duff were instrumental in reworking some of those songs which were originally written before they rejoined the band, Slash said: "Well, there was a conversation that we had at some point after we got back together. Axl had a bunch of unreleased material, and so we listened to it. We said, 'We could redo the bass and the guitars for this song and this song,' and 'this one would be cool.' And we ended up doing that over time. We did a couple songs to begin with. I think 'Hard Skool' and 'Absurd' were the first two that we did, and then a couple of more after that. And 'Nothin'' and 'Atlas' were the last two songs that we did; everything's been done, and these are the last two that were left over. And, yeah, it's been fun, because they're all really cool songs. And it's not like writing it from its inception, but I still have to write stuff to go over the changes and everything. So it's a fun kind of a project for me — and I think for Duff too, just to come up with new ideas for something that's been pre-recorded."

Earlier in January, Slash told Sylvia Alvarado of the Las Vegas radio station KOMP 92.3 about "Atlas" and "Nothin'": "It's good to have a couple of songs that we're promoting and then a tour that's really a long tour. It's gonna go from the end of March until the end of December. And it's exciting, 'cause we're coming back to the U.S., which is the first time we've been in the U.S. in a while."

Asked if releasing standalone singles is how GUNS N' ROSES plans to make new music available going forward or if there are still plans to release a new full-length album, Slash said: "I think in this instance it's what we're doing, because we only re-recorded those songs — like a couple of songs here, a couple of songs there. These were the last two that are left to do, and we actually did them not even back to back. 'Nothin'' was one, and 'Atlas' was at a different time, but they hadn't been released yet. So, we're releasing 'em now. And then there's really no more of that sort of old rehash stuff to release. But I think what we're gonna do, we're gonna take all those songs and put them on something and release that as a package. And then the next record that we're gonna do is gonna be all new original stuff, and that'll be an actual album."

Slash added: "It's a really weird time for especially rock and roll and how it works in this industry and how it works for fans. I think most die-hard rock and roll fans would like to get an album and they love vinyl, but they would want a package of songs. But some of the younger kids who are sort of raised in this new fancy kind of digital era that we're in don't know about albums, really, being released as a whole. So it's a strange time. It's harder to navigate. But to me, it's a no-brainer. Make a record. You can do all the digital stuff in any configuration you want. But make sure that there's an album. Yeah."

Regarding the fact that all the recently released GUNS N' ROSES songs had existed in the GUNS sphere in the past, with "Atlas" having once gone under the working title "Atlas Shrugged", Slash said: "Well, we took a bunch of material that Axl had, and we all sat down and listened to it. And so we sort of picked out all the different songs that we wanted to do and what Axl wanted to do. And we just sort of took all the guitars and the bass off and redid it. And it was fun. And it was the kind of thing where we did one song at a time. We did one or maybe two in the same week. But for the most part it was spread out over a long period of time. So it was just something fun to do and go, 'Okay, what's gonna be my approach for it?' So each one of 'em has been an interesting sort of little project."

On the topic of what his approach was for recording "Atlas" and "Nothin'", Slash said: "'Atlas' has some really cool chord changes and time signatures, so that was interesting in itself. And then coming up with the right voicings for that. With 'Nothin'', it was a very spontaneous, very sort of simple, bare-bones approach. Not much thought went into it at all. It was just improvising."

"Nothin'" and "Atlas" find GUNS N' ROSES showcasing two different sides of the band's personality. "Atlas" is GN'R in full surging rock mode, while "Nothin'" grows more introspective over floaty keys and an emotive guitar.

GUNS N' ROSES released a four-song EP, "Hard Skool", in February 2022. The effort, which was exclusive to the GUNS N' ROSES' official store, contained the two new songs the band released in 2021 — the title track and "Absurd" — as well as live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

The legendary hard rock outfit has not released a full-length effort since "Chinese Democracy", which included only Rose from the band's classic lineup. Bassist Duff McKagan and Slash reunited with Axl in 2016 and have since released several standalone singles — "Absurd" (stylized as "ABSUЯD"),"Hard Skool", "Perhaps" and "The General" — but have not made any announcements about another LP.

If and when it happens, the new GUNS N' ROSES studio album will be the first under the GUNS banner since "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Slash, Rose and bassist Duff McKagan since 1993.

Written by Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, "Hard Skool", which had the working title "Jackie Chan", was originally recorded during GN'R's "Chinese Democracy" era but was eventually omitted from that album. Short clips of the song were later posted online and a full version was leaked in August 2019.

"Absurd" came out on August 6, 2021, three days after GUNS N' ROSES performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston's Fenway Park.

GUNS N' ROSES last performed "Silkworms", which was also reportedly written during the "Chinese Democracy" sessions, in 2001.

"The General" was the B-side of GUNS N' ROSES' limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single titled "Perhaps", which was made available for pre-order in August 2023.

Like "Perhaps", "Hard Skool" and "Absurd", "The General" was written during the sessions for the "Chinese Democracy" album. It was previously talked about by ex-GN'R drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, who reportedly wrote some of the song's music and gave it its title, and former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach.

GUNS N' ROSES are Axl Rose (vocals, keyboards),Duff McKagan (bass),Slash (lead guitar),Dizzy Reed (keyboard),Richard Fortus (rhythm guitar),Isaac Carpenter (drums) and Melissa Reese (keyboard).

Photo courtesy of GUNS N' ROSES