2008.11.04 - BBC Newsbeat - Slash Praises New Guns N' Roses Album

Slash praises Guns N' Roses album

By Damian Jones
Newsbeat reporter

Slash has said he is pleased that Guns N' Roses' long awaited album is finally going to see the light of day.

Chinese Democracy, which has been over a decade in the making, will be available in record stores on 24 November.

The Velvet Revolver guitarist said: "I'm glad it's finally coming out after all this time. It's good to hear Axl's voice again. That's what's cool.

"But I'm not in the band and I haven't had any input into the record."

Asked whether there is any chance of the band getting back together in the future, he added: "You know what everybody asks the same question. But how the f*** would I know?"

Their last record was the covers collection The Spaghetti Incident? which came out in 1993.

New singer

The ex-Guns N' Roses star said he was currently pressing on with finding a new singer for his current band after former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland quit earlier this year.

"We're trying to find a singer for Velvet Revolver still," he said.

"We've got a lot of really good ones but I don't know if we've found the guy yet but it's plodding along and I'm trying to get that together."

Slash said he is also continuing work on his solo album and he has recorded a cover version of a piece by classical composer Rachmaninov for an upcoming tribute album to Gibson guitar maker Les Paul.

He also confirmed that he has just finished recording a track with Cypress Hill.

The guitarist added: "It was great, I love those guys. I've played with them a lot and we just did this one song on their new record and it's really cool."

With the US elections set to get under way later, Slash said he hopes Barack Obama is the right man for the job.

He added: "He hasn't answered all the questions but I'm hoping he's the right guy because (John) McCain gives me nightmares."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_7707000/7707868.stm