1996.11.02 - The Hollywood Reporter/The Record - Sans Slash

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SANS SLASH

Guitarist Slash is leaving Guns N’ Roses, but the band will continue under the direction of lead singer Axl Rose.

A Geffen Records spokesman said Slash’s exit was a mutual decision. “They had been rehearsing together in Los Angeles, but couldn’t work out their differences,” the representative said.

Bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum are apparently still with the group, and there is no word on a replacement guitarist.

Slash is reportedly looking for a new singer and will put together his own band, which will likely be on Geffen Records. He had a solo band, Slash’s Snakepit, but the spokesman said the new group would likely have different members and a new moniker.

GNR is working on its first new studio album in five years; it’s due for release sometime in 1997.

Guns N’ Roses' 1987 debut LP “Appetite for Destruction” is the second-bestselling hard rock record of all time at 14 million copies, behind only Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album (16 million).

— FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS

Almost identical article in the Tennessean, November 10, 1996:



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Slash pulls out of GNR jungle

By JEFFREY JOLSON-COLBURN
The Hollywood Reporter

LOS ANGELES — Guitarist Slash is leaving Guns N' Roses, but the band will continue under the direction of lead singer Axl Rose.

A Geffen Records spokesman said Slash’s exit was a mutual decision. “They had been rehearsing together in Los Angeles but couldn’t work out their differences,” the representative said.

Bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum are apparently still with the group, and there is no word on a replacement guitarist.

Slash is reportedly looking for a new singer and will put together his own band, which will likely be on Geffen Records. He had a solo band, Slash’s Snakepit, but the spokesman said the new group would likely have different members and a new moniker.

GNR is working on its first new studio album in five years, which is due for release sometime in 1997.

The band’s last original albums, released simultaneously in 1991, were Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. It also made an of cover songs, The Spaghetti Incident? in 1993.

Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 debut LP Appetite for Destruction is the second-best selling hard rock record of all time at 14 million copies.