Ex-GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist DJ ASHBA Signs 'Huge Deal' For Solo Project

Former GUNS N' ROSES and current SIXX:A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba will launch his new solo project later this year.

Although Ashba initially started work on the project as a collaboration with with his SIXX:A.M. bandmate James Michael — under the band name PYROMANTIC — it has since evolved into an Ashba solo thing, with Michael announcing in 2018 that he was stepping away from the group.

DJ offered an update on his latest effort during an interview this past week with Fox5's "More". He said (see video below): "I just signed a huge deal. I have a thing coming out called ASHBA. It's a solo deal. So, for the first time, I get to spread my wings and fly. So I'm excited about that. I'm gonna be featuring different singers from different genres on every song. And then I'm gonna tour with just a VJ — just a guitar and a VJ.

"I spent three years in the studio creating this new sound and I took Latin, pop, rock and EDM and I just threw it in a blender as a producer," he explained. "I've done the rock thing, I've done that my whole life, but I wanted to create a new sound — something fresh, something anybody could latch on to. If you like Latin, there's enough of that; if you like rock, there's enough of it in there. So it's a really cool, unique sound. I'm pretty proud of it."

Last year, Ashba spoke to "Vegas Junkeez" about how his new project came together. He said: "It started off in the beginning, me and the singer from SIXX:A.M., James Michael, we had some time off and we started writing like we did. And it eventually evolved, and obviously, it went in a direction, and I pushed it really hard in a direction, and then James kind of got busy and went off [to do] his thing. But it's evolved into this incredible thing that's just awesome. And to have congas and horns… And it's very worldly. It's designed to make the body move. It's full-on dance stuff, but it's great."

Calling his solo effort his "number one priority," Ashba said that he is "so, so inspired" by the music that he recorded thus far. "This is everything I've ever wanted to do," he said. "It's kind of like your whole career, you learn all these things, you work with all these people… [This] is kind of just my labor of love — it's something I truly wanna do for me — and it's so gratifying to be able to be in a position…

"I've had an incredible career — thank god — but this new thing is just the next chapter," he explained. "It's really special, and it's really a lot of fun. And it's given me the freedom as a songwriter and a producer just to create any style… Basically, I don't have to write for one vocalist or one voice… I can write not only for that, but multiple genres, as long as we keep it within kind of these wide walls that we call [ASHBA]. It's finally my vision unfiltered. So it's really cool. And I'm excited. I think people are really gonna like it. It's something completely different than I've ever done — something new. It's very creative. And me being a creative person, it's the perfect, perfect thing for me, I guess — the perfect project."

Last September, SIXX:A.M. released a new song called "Talk To Me". The band, which also features bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Dustin Steinke, had been on hiatus since 2017.

Photo credit: Michael Pool