Rose blames Slash for sabotage

Making amends: Axl Rose

Axl Rose believes former bandmate Slash wanted touring to damage the singer’s wellbeing, and forced Guns n’Roses onto the road despite the singer’s opposition.

Rose has maintained for some time that one of the main reasons behind the collapse of GnR’s original lineup was their 1991 Use Your Illusion trek, which he didn’t want to happen.

Now he accuses his former bandmate of being fully aware that the experience would be bad for his health.

Rose tells Adelaide Now: “The Illusions’ lineups comments that I’ve read in media or Slash’s book were, in my opinion, predominantly public gamesmanship, strategy and politics on their part. Pretending to be unaware or innocent to the public has been a common deceptive tactic often used in regard to what was happening with the band and our relationship with each other.

“As I’ve said before, I shouldn’t have been on tour when we started in 1991.

“That had a lot to do with Alan Niven, our then manager, and Slash. In my opinion Alan wanted money and Slash wanted the touring to get the better of me given my circumstances at the time. My safety and well-being were not their concern.”

He admits “things got a little better” after the first few months on the road. But by that time the band’s reputation had been damaged by late or poor-quality shows, compounded by fan riots and angry onstage outbursts from Rose.

He believes the barrage of abuse GnR still receive stem from that era, saying: “Those who wanted to throw stones have had ammo they’ve used for years. Whether it’s real, hyped, a non-issue, reasons beyond our control, justifiable reasons such as injuries, or technical difficulties, or just life, doesn’t seem, and hasn’t seemed, to make a difference.”

Rose’s timekeeping has remained a matter of constant conversation – but the frontman maintains he’s been improving, and he’s tried to make amends wherever he could.

“In a concerted effort to make things up to our fans, friends and associates, we’ve gone back to various cities where things have in the past gotten… ahem… ‘complicated,’” he says, citing the examples of Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Dublin. He adds that GnR enjoyed “extremely successful shows without incident” on those occasions.

Asked whether a follow-up album to 2008′s Chinese Democracy will appear this year, Rose says: “I can give you a definite maybe.”