Thursday, December 14th 2006

An open letter to our fans:

Guns N' Roses regrets to announce that the following concert tour dates have been cancelled:
January 10th Sacramento
January 11th Bakersfield
January 13th Reno
January 16th San Diego

Due to the schedule of these particular shows valuable time needed by the band and record company for the proper setup and release of the album Chinese Democracy would be lost. Rather than delay the album yet again all involved have decided to remove these shows from GNR's schedule. We sincerely hope our fans understand and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. Tickets may be refunded at local point of purchase.

To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement. Overcoming the endless and seemingly insanity of the obstacles faced by all involved, not withstanding the emotional challenges endured by everyone: the fans, the band, our road crew and business team has at many times seemed for all like a bad dream where one wakes up only to find they are still in the nightmare and unfortunately this time it has been played out for over a decade in real life.

The true ongoing behind-the-scenes triumphs and casualties are much more complicated than any negative speculation that media or otherwise has managed to hit upon. For much of the time some form or another of legalities have been taking place that really the best way to deal with publicly was to keep our mouths shut in an attempt to ensure the best outcome and especially one that wouldn't jeopardize the band or the album. One can easily point to how others have done things or how they themselves feel that they would were they in the same situations but without full knowledge of the various dynamics and circumstances involved, again these types of comments or commentary are uninformed, outside, generally useless and often hindering speculation.

When I agreed to do our recent North American tour I agreed with the understanding that I and my manager Merck Mercuriadis were in full agreement as to our strategy, touring plans and most importantly that any and all things needed to release the album at the latest by Dec. 26th were to be in place. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case and not only do I regret to say that again the album will not be released by the end of the year but that though many things went extremely well and were very exciting there were in our opinion unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that played hell on all involved especially our crew. This was compounded by an overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise that has resulted unfortunately in the end of both Guns and my relationship in having a management or sense of band involvement with Merck Mercuriadis.

In regard to a release date for the album itself certain minor and by that I do mean minor things and or additions as well as contract negotiations need to be completed and barring any unforeseen complications these things have now been adequately scheduled. Both the band and I along with our record company feel that this record deserves the proper setup and promotion not the “13 Tuesdays left” and “it may just appear in your record store” approach offered by management. We believe this strategy may have been used in order for management to sell this latest tour to the various promoters. We feel that if this was so, this was obviously unfair to them. The stress of dealing with this situation has been considerable for everyone as well as to the band themselves as a whole but that this was more importantly in our opinion something utterly insane to do to our fans. Our apologies and please know we have been laboring over this with management for the entire North American tour.

It takes approximately 8 weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons it appears it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this could be condensed to three. That being said this is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee but we do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6th. This is the first time we have done this publicly for this album. Any and all other dates have been made up by others for their own reasons. We would like to assure the fans that though tentative everything in our power will be done to meet this date. Once it is finalized and official you will be notified. If we are delayed for unseen reasons you will also be notified as soon as possible in regard to a new date and the album will be released as shortly thereafter as is possible. We thank you for your patience.

In the end it's just an album and one that I, the band, our record company and all involved believe and feel is a true Guns N' Roses album. Ultimately the public will decide and regardless of the outcome our hearts, lives and our passion has been put into this project every step of the way. If for no other reason we feel those elements alone merit your consideration. We do hope you can hold on just a bit longer and if not we hope you would please feel free to take a break and we'll be more than glad (if you so choose) to see you again later.

Once again, our sincere apologies and our deepest thanks, Guns N' Roses would also like to thank all the fans who attended the 70 concerts in 21 different countries for their support in 2006. All the best to each and every one of you over this holiday season, thank-you and God bless.

Sincerely, Axl Rose.

March 6th is the tentative release date right now...

ironically enough, they didn't put the year of release after the date.

In it's own way, all of this is kind of worth it, just for amusement purposes.

i might just buy this record out of pity. i figure by the time it's released axl will be selling them out of the back of a chevette anyways.

13th

march 6th is my dad's birthday. it's gotta be true this time

Where does that come from?

NME says March 6th:

http://www.nme.com/news/guns-n-roses/25496

yeah... I know... NME...

I bet it sells a million copies; 975,000 of those sales will be out of morbid curiousity, pity, a lost bar bet, etc. I know when I buy it it'll be for some combination of those reasons.

this is the first thing axl has done that i actually respect him for. fans have been jerked around so much recently, i'm glad he stepped up and took some responsibility for it.

ah, stereogum had it listed as the 13th, saying it came from GNR's site *shrug*

hope it comes out the same day as the new Arcade Fire tho

I've heard some of the stuff thats gonna be on the new album and apart from a few pieces of goodguitar work the songs are pretty crap. The new sstyles pretty hard to describe but if you liked the early stuff you probably wont like it

i wouldnt say its crap. there was a time is really good, same with catcher in the rye. IRS is okay, but a lot of people seem to like it. better will make a good single. madagascar and the blues are also pretty good.

some of the other songs arent that good, i dont think theyll be on the album anyways.

what songs are you referring to?

I've yet to download any leaks, and don't plan to. I will buy this album the day it comes out, along with half the world, to see what the fuck Axl has been doing these last 13 years.

what songs are you referring to?[/quote]

The blues, Prostitute, Crash Diet, Rhiad, Silk worms, Just Another Sunday, Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

Axl Rose says:

Blah blah blah blah I'm a douchebag

I'm actually encouraged by the fact that he's stamped his name on this release date. If it actually happens is a whole other story, but he, himself has never actually come out with a firm date before.

The weight of the expectations of this album, perceived or otherwise, will ultimately sink this release. This has gotta be one of the most drawn out soap operas in modern day rock'n'roll - it's sure to bomb from a critical acclaim standpoint, but will probably sell millions of copies. That said, I will buy it the day it's released.

For sure.

And if this sells a million, or even close, I'll be shocked. The 80's are dead, and we can only hope Axl is gone with them.

one of the worst frontman in history...they could've had it all.

High profile and enigmatic, but yes, pretty awful all the same.