‘Everybody is Thinking About It’

Slash is once again giving fans hope that a new Guns N’ Roses album is in the works.

In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, the guitarist said that the band has plenty of music to work with and that while a new album is “coming,” there is still no release date in sight.

More from Rolling Stone

“There’s so much material at this point — it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and fucking get into it,” said Slash. “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.”

The musician also shared some insight into the group’s creative process: “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,” he added. “It’ll just happen when it happens.”

A representative for Slash and Guns N’ Roses did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, when speaking to the Daily Star (via Music News) about his solo album, Orgy Of The Damned, Slash was asked why the record didn’t feature bandmate Axl Rose or the Conspirators collaborator Myles Kennedy. “It was my own side thing, so I wasn’t dragging my own guys in,” said Slash at the time, before sharing that the band was working on a new project. “Guns N’ Roses are trying to make their own record and I’m working with them in that capacity but this didn’t involve anyone else.”

Bassist Duff McKagan has also hinted at upcoming music in the past. In 2019, when speaking to Trunk Nation, McKagan said that following their massively successful Not in This Lifetime reunion tour, which saw Slash and McKagan return after nearly two decades, the band had an LP in the works.

“Oh, it’s real, but the fun part and the cool part about Guns N’ Roses is we don’t really talk about it, and what happens next just happens,” McKagan said of the new album.

The year prior, guitarist Richard Fortus told a St. Louis newspaper that a new Guns N’ Roses album could arrive “faster than you think.”

While eager fans have patiently waited for a followup to 2008’s Chinese Democracy — and the first Guns N’ Roses record with both McKagan and Slash since 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident? — it appears that they’ll need to hang on for just a bit (or much) longer.

Best of Rolling Stone

Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.