GUNS N' ROSES Bassist: AXL ROSE Ain't Just Sitting Up There Watching TV

GUNS N' ROSES bassist Tommy Stinson recently spoke to the GN'R fan site Here Today... Gone To Hell! about the group's long-awaited new album, "Chinese Democracy", and the departure of guitarist Buckethead, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

HTGTH: Have you heard about the rumors about the new guitar player being auditioned?

Tommy: "I knew there were some guys on the hook for checking it out. I haven't heard anything past that. I don't think we've actually..... I don't think there'd be any auditions without me being there. Because I think, we need to put the band together to hear them play. So I would imagine that's probably gonna happen when I get home at some point.

HTGTH: Everything that happened this year with GN'R, people are worried about the band. Are they together?...

Tommy: "No, no... Buckethead going away is the best thing that could've happened to the band. It's gonna be great.

"I won't get too far into that, because I don't really like slamming people or getting into people's personalities or anything like that. It's a really good thing."

HTGTH: You said "Chinese Democracy" is almost done. But people are wondering what's been happening all these years? Have you worked on 18 songs for one album or is it like a bunch of songs that you could put out within a year or so?

Tommy: "Originally we had a fucking whole lot of songs we were working on. We kinda rolled around them and just kinda kept molding them as we went along.

"The process of making the GN'R record is a long process to begin with. Because basically, Axl as a producer is trying to get the best out of eight guys and get them all in a song, like trying to pull everyone in. You know, mush it together like a fucking piece of clay or something. Trying to form a piece of art work out of it. It takes time.

"It's not like when I was in the REPLACEMENTS, Paul would come to rehearsal with a couple of songs. 'OK, this is how they go, watch me play the chords,' we play it, go to the studio and knock it down in an hour. It's not like that.

"He has a way of working with people and pulling them in. Get you to bring something to the plate that's gonna be special and cool for that song. And it just takes a long time. Because you got eight guys you know. So that process takes a while.

"When you're working on 35 or so pieces of music that you're trying to finish. Trying to... Basically the cream of the crop of that, to make a record of. It's really hard to decide. Because out of 35 things, we might all like parts and bits of 30 songs. So then you gotta further narrow that down, and you know. It just takes a while. That's all I can say about that. It just takes a while and when it's done, it'll be done and when it comes out we're gonna totally tour behind it and fucking, and rock out.

"It's really, to say to the GN'R fans that are waiting for that.

"Axl ain't just sitting up there fucking, sitting there watching fucking TV, waiting for the fucking sun to come up. It's like he's been working on this shit for a long time, we've all been working on it sporadically throughout. It's gotta be right."

HTGTH: It's gonna be like your album, all kinds of styles or focus on just one...?

Tommy: "No, no, no... This record is definitely, you know, got some chances on it that I think are great.

"There's some really beautiful pieces, some really hard pieces, there's some real fucking, you know, somewhat self indulgent creative pieces that people are either gonna love or hate. But they're fucking there because, as an artist that's how you fucking have to make records you know."

HTGTH: You've all been writing songs for it? Everyone's basically credited for every song?

Tommy: "Yeah, I mean, I think pretty much everyone's brought something to the plate that we've turned into one thing or the other. I don't know if the song or two I wrote is necessarily gonna make this record or the next record. But everyone's brought stuff together that we've worked out and turned into stuff and it'll probably used at some point one way or the other. We've all contributed to pretty much everything on it in some form or another, you know."

Read Tommy Stinson's entire interview with Here Today... Gone To Hell! at this location.