GUNS N' ROSES' DIZZY REED Speaks Out On Former Bandmates, Upcoming Album

GUNS N' ROSES keyboardist Dizzy Reed has a word of advice for his former GN'R bandmates Slash (guitar),Izzy Stradlin (guitar),Duff McKagan (bass),and Matt Sorum (drums),who have joined forces in an as-yet-unnamed new project: "I say good luck, and I hope they have a good time — and they should enjoy it 'cause Izzy'll probably quit in a couple of weeks," the 39-year-old Reed told United Press International.

"I think some of those guys really go complacent," Dizzy continued. "I know Axl thought we really needed to change, and in their mind we didn't need to change, we should just do what we do and everything will be cool.

"But you look around and you see bands that did that, and they're trivial now. They're nostalgia. We didn't want to be that way ... and one by one, people started quitting. The old band was a little more hell-bent on self-destruction, This [new version of GUNS N' ROSES], I think, is kinda headed upwards as opposed to downward."

With regards to the group's upcoming album — GNR's first studio effort since 1993 — both Reed and bassist Tommy Stinson, 36, are purposefully vague in describing the effort, which the group has produced with collaborators such as Sean Beavan, Roy Thomas Baker and Youth.

Reed says to expect "a pretty intense musical journey. It takes you to some really interesting musical places."

Stinson, meanwhile, promises that "it touches on a lot of different elements of old GUNS N' ROSES in some ways in other ways it touches with more current-sounding music." He also lauds Rose's lyrics, which he says are "a lot deeper" than on previous GN'R releases.

Neither, however, was willing to divulge a definitive release date for the album, which has some wondering if it will ever actually come out at all.

"We wouldn't be doing this if it weren't going to come out — are you kidding?" Stinson said with a laugh. "If it works out, it could be history making, 'cause no one's ever done this before. A lead singer's never taken the (band) name and continued on with an entirely new band and done that successfully before.

"I kinda got into this for exactly that reason — if you're gonna try to do something really whacked, this would be the way to do it. I really don't think about the consequences either way — it's either gonna work or it's not, and in the meantime we're all having a good time trying to make it happen."