In an new interview with Japanese music critic Maso Ito, Slash says that Guns N’ Roses are contemplating the creation of a new album. “Axl [Rose], Duff [McKagan], myself and [guitarist] Richard [Fortus] have all talked about… there’s material and stuff going on already for a new record,” he said. “It’s just, with Guns N’ Roses, you don’t go, ‘Oh, there is a plan, and it’s gonna be like this,’ because that’s not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we’re hoping to put a new record out, and we’ll just see what happens when it happens.”
There hasn’t been a new Guns N’ Roses album of any sort since 2008’s Chinese Democracy, and the last time that Axl created original music with Slash and Duff was 1991 when the two Use Your Illusion albums landed. The three core members of the band did put aside their differences in 2016 for the highly lucrative Not In This Lifetime tour. “The band was great, the fucking entourage, the crew, the whole production was just like this really great marriage of people, and we just all had a really good time,” said Slash. “And the fans were amazing. So I’m really happy that it happened.”
They didn’t preview any new songs on the tour, though Slash did put his unique signature on eight Chinese Democracy songs, including “Better,” “This Is Love” and “There Was a Time.” “It’s fun playing them,” Slash told Rolling Stone in August. “There’s nothing weird about it. It’s not like I’m playing something out of my comfort zone. I’m very conscious of maintaining the integrity of the recording, but still doing it in a way that I would approach it.”‘
The Not In This Lifetime tour wrapped December 8th, 2018 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii after playing 125 shows all over the globe. Slash immediately hit the road with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators to promote their new album Living The Dream, though unlike previous tours they are doing just a single Guns N’ Roses song (usually “Nightrain” or “Rocket Queen”) at every show. The tour will keep Slash on the road through August.
Rose’s 2019 plans are less clear. There was speculation that he’d record a new album with AC/DC, but recent photographic evidence suggests that Angus Young has brought Brian Johnson back into the fold to make a new record. Whether or not Rose is using this free time to begin work on the long-awaited Guns N’ Roses record that Slash referenced remains to be seen.