2014.11.20 - Intimate Guitar Workshop with Richard Fortus

Great stuff. Lots of GN'R talk. Unverified summary from  "seagullview" form mygnrforum:

Lot's of interesting stuff starting at 18:34 in part 2.

Richard wrote chorus for Better and other bits, but for the most CD was already done when he joined

3 albums worth at least already recorded

Axl is recording vocals the very week that workshop took place (week 47) and some vocals are already done

Richard says Axl is very secretive, he wants stuff out but only when he feels it ready

Also at 00:52 in part 2 Fortus tells his favourite unreleased track from the next album is a song Robin Finck wrote but he's not sure if it even got a title. He says its not Soulmonster and hasn't leaked at all. A lot of songs haven't leaked. He says he probably knows the songs by different titles than we do.

Some transcribed excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus took part in a workshop on November 20 in Sydney, Australia. You can watch video footage of the event in three parts below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net).

On how much he contributed to the writing process for 2008's "Chinese Democracy":

Fortus: "On 'Chinese Democracy', I was adding to ideas that were already there. That entire record was written when I joined the band 13 years ago. Except I wrote the chorus to 'Better'. A lot of the new stuff that [we were] working on, some of that stuff [are ideas that came] from nothing and some of the stuff is stuff that [we had] been working on that were ideas that were already there. Some of the stuff Slash did that was the beginning of the seed of the song that's been around for a while."

On the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to "Chinese Democracy":

Fortus: "DJ and I have worked on stuff… Nobody's worked on stuff with Ron.

"There's so much stuff that's recorded, there's so much stuff that was done. I mean, there's three albums' worth of material, easy…

"I know this week [Axl]'s recording a lot of stuff, vocally.

"That camp is very… I don't know why. It's just that they're very… Axl is very secretive. He doesn't want stuff getting out. He wants to create stuff and then release it when it's ready. Which I… I get it. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, as you can imagine.

"The way [Axl] generally works is that he doesn't wanna take an idea that DJ sent and… What he'll do is he'll take a little piece that I sent, he'll take a little piece that DJ sent on another track, and he's always done that. Back even with the 'Appetite' stuff, he would take a little bit from this, a little bit from that, and then put it together. And when you listen to it, you can sort of hear it. When you listen to the tracks, you can hear that it's… Especially on 'Illusions', the opuses, [where] he took little bits from different people and put them together. He's got a real talent for that."

Another article containing transcribed excerpts; Ultimate Classic Rock, Dec. 5, 2014:
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Will the Next Guns N’ Roses Record Feature a Slash Cowrite?

Axl Rose and Slash can't work together, won't speak to each other, won't even reunite for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- but the next Guns N' Roses record could still feature a collaboration (of sorts) between the former bandmates.

That's what current Guns guitarist Richard Fortus seemed to be suggesting, anyway, when he put in an appearance at a workshop on Nov. 20. Speaking to attendees, he weighed in on the ever-fascinating subject of if or when GNR might release another album, saying, "There’s so much stuff that’s recorded. There’s three albums worth of material, easy. Axl is very secretive -- he doesn’t want stuff getting out. He wants to create stuff then release it when it’s ready. He’s also a bit of a perfectionist, as you can imagine."

Such a perfectionist, in fact, that it might only be on the next Guns N' Roses record that he's finally ready to release a song that got its start way back during Slash's tenure with the band. "Some of the stuff comes from nothing and some of the stuff were ideas that were already there," Fortus explained. "Some of the stuff Slash did -- it was the beginning of the seed of a song that’s been around for a while."

Of course, given the amount of tinkering Rose tends to do with material, who even knows what "beginning of the seed" will mean for the final song, or if Slash will even be able to hear his own input in the end result. If nothing else, it's yet another example of the fact that no Axl Rose track is released before its time ... and only Axl knows when that time will come.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-slash-song/