GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist DJ ASHBA: Writing New Material Is 'Definitely Our Main Focus Right Now'

July 18, 2012

K5 TV conducted an interview with GUNS N' ROSES members Dizzy Reed (keyboards),Tommy Stinson (bass) and DJ Ashba (guitar) on July 16, the day before the band's concert in Split, Croatia. The guys talked about the group's current European tour, as well as plans to work on new material (see video below).

"That's definitely our main focus right now," Ashba said of the songwriting process for the next CD.

"We're always sort of kicking material back and forth and trying to come up with new ideas," added Reed. "Throwing it in the big melting pot that, hopefully, will become the next GUNS N' ROSES record."

When asked about who would be contributing new music from a songwriting standpoint, Stinson said, "It will be all these guys; it'll be all of us, probably. I wouldn't totally rule it out, but probably all of us will be included in making a new record."

"Chinese Democracy", the 2008 album released by the current edition of GUNS N' ROSES after a 15-year wait, re-entered The Billboard 200 chart in April 2011 after it was made available at BestBuy.com for a reduced price of $1.99.

Best Buy was the exclusive U.S. retailer for "Chinese Democracy", reportedly paying $14 million for 1.6 million copies. But the album was a major sales disappointment, moving less than 700,000 copies to date despite the curiosity and hype surrounding its release.

The CD was officially certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 2009 for shipments in the United States in excess of one million copies.

"Chinese Democracy" came out 15 years after its predecessor, 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident". It took more than a decade to record, during which every original member of the band except Rose was replaced and four different producers were used.

Nevertheless, Rose hinted in a 2002 interview that the lengthy sessions for the record had left him with enough material for two follow-ups.

In addition sole original member Axl Rose, the current lineup of GUNS N' ROSES includes guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Richard Fortus and DJ Ashba, Stinson, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman and drummer Frank Ferrer.

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