Since Slash and Duff McKagan reunited with Axl Rose in Guns N’ Roses in 2016, the band has released a few new songs, but these were actually re-recordings of ideas from the “Chinese Democracy” era. That album originally involved only Axl Rose, along with several former band members and session musicians, and was released in 2008 after more than a decade in the making. Many songs from those sessions were left unreleased and were later re-recorded with Slash and Duff. However, the guitarist has now said that the remaining tracks from that period are finished and that the band’s next release will be an original album.
Slash says “Chinese Democracy” re-recordings are over and they will do an original album
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.”
“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.”
He continued:
“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,” Slash said in an interview with KOMP 92,3 (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).
One of the most influential bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Guns N’ Roses entered Rock history with the groundbreaking albums they released during that period. However, after Slash and Duff decided to leave the band in the 1990s, Axl Rose’s perfectionism and other issues delayed the next album for so long that it was ultimately released only in 2008 due to contractual obligations. It is considered the most protracted and expensive recording process in Rock history, with reports saying it cost more than $13 million.