SLASH Says New GUNS N' ROSES Album Is 'Coming': 'Everybody Is Thinking About It'

In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash has once again hinted that a new full-length album from the band is on the way. He said: "There's so much material at this point — it's a matter of having the discipline to sit down and fucking get into it. But the thing with GUNS is, in my experience, you can never plan ahead. You can never sit down and go, 'We're going to take this time, and we're going to do this.' Every time we've done that, it falls apart. It just spontaneously happens through some sort of inspiration that triggers it. And the next thing you know, it's off and running. So it's coming. I know it's coming because everybody is thinking about it. It'll just happen when it happens."

A year ago, GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan confirmed to SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he and his bandmates had been working on fresh material. "There's definitely a desire and a plan for new music," he said. "Yeah, for sure."

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 2008's "Chinese Democracy", which included only singer Axl Rose from the band's classic lineup. 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.

In June 2024, Duff was asked during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" if he thinks GUNS N' ROSES will ever release more "newly written music" again as opposed to continuing to rework and put out previously composed songs. The GN'R bassist responded: "Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. There's new material. I don't know how we're gona put it out. I think that's a question too. Like, do you put out a record? Do you just keep putting out singles? I don't know what the right answer is there in this day and age."

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.