Guns N’ Roses were in a big mess when Izzy Stradlin walked off from the band. The year was 1991 and seems like Slash is still angry about it. Last year, Slash talked about Izzy’s exit and revealed why he isn’t involved in the GN’R reunion.
Slash shared that he still shares his own ‘resentment’ over that issue. Stradlin grew up with the band’s frontman Axl Rose and they later on reconnected in LA. That’s when they formed Guns N’ Roses alongside Slash, Steven Alder, and Duff McKagan in 1985. Back then, they didn’t know how big they were going to be, and after 1987’s Appetite for Destruction, Adler was fired in 1990. The following year, Stradlin also followed.
Back in January 2022, Slash was chosen as the cover star of the new issue of Classic Rock magazine. He had an in-depth interview with writer Paul Elliot and talked about his feelings on Izzy’s exit from the band in 1991. He disclosed the band’s internal issues and substance abuse.
Slash said, “At that time, the fact that he quit wasn’t an issue, There was no judgement about any of that. I don’t think anybody judged anybody else on how they behaved outside of being able to show up and do the gig. I was admittedly resentful of that whole trip with Izzy leaving, because whatever had gone on for him that forced that sudden change, I was like, man, I died eighteen times prior to that! It didn’t faze me!.” He continued,
“But when he quit, he was looking at us going: ‘These guys are gonna fucking die!’ My whole attitude was like: ‘I’ll get on with it. Don’t fucking worry. I’ll manage.’ So there was a certain kind of resentment there – of not really understanding or appreciating where Izzy was coming from. In hindsight, I still sort of feel the same way, I guess, about that. Like, don’t worry about me.”
In 2016, the fans were eager for the band’s reunion. They also had hopes for Izzy but sadly, it didn’t happen and Slash also pointed out, it was never going to happen. Slash commented, “I haven’t really talked to him since then, There were a lot of different issues that I’m not really going to get into. We wanted it to work out, but we couldn’t seem to meet eye to eye on the whole thing. So it just never happened.”
That’s when he revealed that the band is coming with new materials. A year later, that has not happened yet, but if it happens it will be their full album since 2008’s Chinese Democracy. Slash was really excited about the new stuff of the band. He also revealed how he and Axl Rose helped each other get over the hump of negativity. Regarding the new materials, Slash explained,
“There’s new Guns material coming out as we speak, and we’ll probably keep putting it out until the entire record’s worth of stuff is done and then put it out solid.
It’s cool. I’m enjoying working on the stuff and having a good time doing it.”
No release date was revealed, but it will most likely be 2023. It will also be their seventh studio album and first one in 15 years. Slash also talked about Axl and said, “It was a real simple, relatively short conversation that we had… In all these years that we’ve been apart, [Axl’s] become super-fucking professional. And he’s never missed a beat during this whole time. So it’s been great. There has been a sort of synergy that’s been happening this last six years that we never had in our first incarnation.”
