WATCH: Axl Rose and Duff McKagan discuss Guns N’ Roses reunion for the first time
They give a rare interview to Brazilian TV
Axl Rose and Duff McKagan have spoken publicly about Guns N’ Roses’ reunion for the very first time.
Filmed earlier in the summer, the interview was aired on Brazilian television channel Globo TV last night (4th September) and saw them describe the driving force behind Axl, Duff and Slash getting back together.
"Actually, it had a lot to do with Paul Tollett of Coachella,” Axl explained. “He started talking about it. It seemed real. So at that point, I just told my people that they could go ahead and start talking to people and see what's going on.
“And then as it became more real, I texted Fernando (Lebeis from the GnR management team) and asked for Slash's number. And then Fernando texted his mom (Beta Lebeis, also in the management team], and he was, like, 'If this is a joke, I'm gonna kill you.'"
Speaking about meeting up with Slash once again, Axl continued: “I had asked for his number. And then I had called him and he was on tour or something, and then we set up when we were gonna see each other, and I think something happened to both of our plans and that didn't happen.
“And then eventually in October, we got together and we had a dinner at my house. And then Duff and I went and hung out right after that — like a week or so after. And then it was just kind of talking and planning.
“We initially were gonna do some kind of promos and stuff, and then other things came up that got in the way of that. And then it was rehearsals. And I went down to rehearsal, and everything just sounded right. And we just went to work. It was time to sing, see what the sound sounded like and stuff and get ready for the show, and it was all working."
Duff also opened up about how he enjoyed immersing himself in music he hadn’t originally performed: "I really got to discover, in the best of ways, the album 'Chinese Democracy' that Axl made, and it was these songs he had worked on. And I had listened to the record, but when you start to play the songs as a player, you really discover all the layers in the songs.
“But really kind of how you hear it and how I'm hearing the songs are maybe a little bit different. And when we went into rehearsals, we wanted to really own… like this is gonna be what we're doing."
Axl also shed some light on whether Steven Adler and Izzy Stradlin will join Gun N’ Roses permanently in the future: "Steven did join us (at some shows). At the same time, I have no idea. When this started, Steven had just had back surgery and stuff, so I don't have any idea about that. And with Izzy, that's just something that… I can't really describe to say… I don't really know what to say about Izzy. It's, like, you could have a conversation and think it's one way and the next day it's another way. And I'm not trying to take any shots at Izzy. It's just his thing is kind of his thing, whatever that is."
You can watch the full interview with Duff and Axl right here: