If Axl publicly expressed interest in a reunion and Slash refused, how would you feel?

[wasted]

I believe Axl was misguided by management when he made that press release regarding Buckethead and has since clarified that he had no problem with him. I think Buckethead left out of frustration with the bands' inability to release music and perhaps Tommy.

I'm a bit iffy of the source but I think this was Bucket's take after CD came out and what I read was snippets of this translation.

http://www.gunsnfnroses.com/index.php?/topic/2198-new-allegedly-real-buckethead-interview/

In total how many songs you worked with Guns N 'Roses?

Buckethead: I'm not sure if the total is the correct answer, but I would say that music has many incomplete and lacking many things, I would say it could be more than 25 songs featuring the album Chinese Democracy.

Why did you leave Guns N 'Roses?

Buckethead: I imagined that I would not so easily escape this question, but I'll answer with clarity and sincerity. I was tired and worn out by that Chinese Democracy has never worked out, Axl Rose always had new ideas and we had to start all over again and all the work that was done. It had to be wasted and thrown away, and the relationship with the band was a little worn out after the 2002 tour. We needed a time for each other to start all over again. So I decided to leave the Guns N 'Roses and go back to doing shows and recordings going back to manage and take care of my solo career. I think it is.

You want to work on future projects of Guns N 'Roses?

Buckethead: I personally am not sure, it depends on Axl Rose, the production and delivery of a disk around them. But I left work incomplete and some compositions by the time I left the band, I have no idea if these compositions will be used in future and never told me anything about this matter after the Chinese Democracy.

[darknightfan]

like nothing has changed and my lifey has no purpose on herez

[rockerman]

Link to Buckethead's explanation for leaving? I'll wait.....

This what his department had to say about his departure:

Guitarist Buckethead has officially left GUNS N' ROSES. According to MTV.com, Buckethead became fed up with GUNS' inability to complete an album or tour and stopped working the group late last year, his manager said.

Although Buckethead appeared on the green carpet at the Grammy Awards last month and was introduced by PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC bassist Bootsy Collins as a member of GUNS N' ROSES, he had already told GUNS frontman Axl Rose he no longer wanted to be in the band, the manager told MTV.com.

The guitarist will now focus on numerous projects, including two solo albums — "Population Overdrive" and "Cuckoo Clocks of Hell" — which are due this summer.

GUNS N' ROSES are scheduled to headline the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 30. It is unclear whether the band will have a new guitarist by then. GUNS N' ROSES' label would not comment on Buckethead's departure, according to MTV.com.

And this is what cry baby still-bitter never-wrong Axl Rose said after that:

A Message from W. Axl Rose

LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2004--Guns N' Roses will not be performing as scheduled at Rock In Rio - Lisbon.

The band has been put in an untenable position by guitarist Buckethead and his untimely departure. During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment - despite being under contract - creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever. Last time I talked to Bucket, he called to tell me he had bought a bootleg DVD off EBay and how proud he was to be in Guns and how impressed he was with everyone's performance. Then, in February we got word from Brain that Bucket had called him and said he was back in Guns!? Apparently, according to Bucket he had been "Gone" but had turned himself around and was really excited to do Rio-Lisbon and a European tour. Somewhere in the following month things changed once again. According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with Sanctuary Records which I encouraged my management to make available to him, quit GN'R and to use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts...Nice guy!

There is not a member of this camp that is not hurt, upset and ultimately disappointed by this event, and more to the point - if not this individual, certainly this individual's choices. Regardless of anyone's opinions of me and what I may or may not deserve, clearly the fans, individuals in this band, management, crew and our support group do not deserve this type of treatment. We as a whole, definitely feel that we afforded Bucket every accommodation perhaps so much so that it may be that we or more precisely, I may have done Guns a disservice and unintentionally allowed Guns to be put in this position.

On behalf of Guns N' Roses and myself I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock In Rio - Lisbon. The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who chose to embrace Buckethead's role in Guns and support our new line up. We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve. In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further. Regardless we hope to announce a release date within the next few months.

Sincerely,

W. Axl Rose

The Festival will shortly announce the name of a new headliner to perform with EVANESCENCE, KINGS OF LEON and XUTOS E PONTAPES amongst others

and there we have a possible explanation as to why CD2 hasnt dropped...When BH hit the exit door he may have just said...contract or not..I dont want my music associated with Guns in the future?? With grievances and issues unresolved-royalties that are severely reduced IS it possible to maybe think that BH may have leveled some lawsuit to block his finished work on future releases thus forcing a complete reworking of the songs???

What if Axl is faced with rerecording, rearranging and redoing 30 plus songs(rumoured ) and no Record company support to do so . at least to Axls exacting standards- is this the major time and buzz kill that keeps the music from even being played live??

f BH (and for Fink as well) had a gripe about Axls work ethic or lack of focus on recording and releasing material that demanded and extracted their time and efforts-aside from just leaving they clamp down on their material that they did contribute. As we in America know , a weasle eyed lawyer can get just about anything he or she wants. Its possible. We heard many times of the music being completed and it was Axl and his muse that need to top the material off... and it not being done consistenly( Merk saying that they had booked studio time and Axl never showed up?)

[wasted]

Buckethead: I imagined that I would not so easily escape this question, but I'll answer with clarity and sincerity. I was tired and worn out by that Chinese Democracy has never worked out, Axl Rose always had new ideas and we had to start all over again and all the work that was done. It had to be wasted and thrown away, and the relationship with the band was a little worn out after the 2002 tour. We needed a time for each other to start all over again. So I decided to leave the Guns N 'Roses and go back to doing shows and recordings going back to manage and take care of my solo career. I think it is.