SLASH Says He 'Loathes Looking Back And Fantasizing' About Classic GUNS N' ROSES Lineup

Slash says that he doesn't care about the fact that ex-GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan played several shows with the band's current incarnation this past spring.

McKagan joined the Axl Rose-led group for five shows in South America and the Revolver Golden Gods awards show in Los Angeles in April. McKagan was filling in for GN'R's current bassist, Tommy Stinson, because Stinson reunited with THE REPLACEMENTS for high-profile dates at Coachella.

Slash, who was part of GUNS N' ROSES' classic lineup, tells TorontoSun.com: "When [Duff] told me he was doing the shows, I didn't think much about it. Why would I care? If you remember correctly, Duff was the last guy in the band."

Asked if he ever wonders about what would have happened if the original GUNS N' ROSES had stayed together, Slash said: "I don't think about that because that's not what happened, so what's the point? People are always like, 'What if you had done things differently?' Not only with GN'R. But it's just such a waste of time. Things happened and it's done. I sort of loathe looking back and fantasizing about anything one way or another because in the end it didn't happen."

Former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum recently told Radio.com that he was "cool" with McKagan's reunion with Rose. "Duff's like a really consummate gentleman, he's always been the mediator," Matt said. "I think he got caught in the middle of all the other stuff. So for him to mend fences [with Axl], it was cool. It's time. Rather than sitting around and saying 'What if?' He was really cool about it, he sent us all e-mails. It was nice, it felt cool, it felt right."

Asked if he would play with the current version of GUNS N' ROSES if Axl called him to do it, Sorum replied: "Yeah, sure. I got no problems with any of that, you know? Life's too short. It's getting shorter too."

Slash recently told DailyStar.co.uk about Duff's reunion with Axl: "It really isn't that big a deal. Duff told me he was going to fill in for what's his name."

He added: "It's a different dynamic than my relationship with GUNS or Axl. I don't let them worry me."

Slash told TeamRock that he bears no ill will toward McKagan for doing the aforementioned GN'R shows, saying, "I don't judge Duff. He's cool. He just has a way more amicable, neutral relationship with Axl than I do."

Slash told The Pulse Of Radio awhile back how his relationship with Rose disintegrated during the final years of the original GUNS lineup. "His sort of m.o., as far as the band was concerned, over time got so exaggerated in the rock star sense or whatever and he became such a dictator and this and that and the other, that it was impossible for me to work with him, because I'm not the kind of person that takes orders, you know," he said.