[madison]

I realize the official press release from BusinessWire was already posted in the other thread (*thanks Bubba*) -- but I thought I'd repost it again in this one -- just to get people's reaction to the fact that Axl apologized to fans and spoke out. A lot of people have been dissing him lately for not speaking out and for not caring about his fans. Obviously, this letter shows he does.

Guns N' Roses Not Able to Perform at Rock in Rio; A Message from W. Axl Rose

30 March 2004
06:00
Business Wire
English
© 2004 Business Wire. All Rights Reserved.

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

[mikegiuliana]

Not something negative from axl...This is the guitarist, not the lead singer..

[Carne_asaDA]

Quote

During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment

Like I said............Axl has some nerve.

Quote

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.

HMmmmmmmmm..........does Axl feel guilty about something????

[BuickMackane]

Wow. What is this ? Axl blaming someone else for his own shit ? Surprise surprise !

[mikegiuliana]

Quote

HMmmmmmmmm..........does Axl feel guilty about something????

Obviously he is guilty... He blames Rio 4 on Buckethead, but if he releases Chinese Democracy a while ago Buckethead would have had no reason to leave.. Axl knows how to break up bands.. He never takes the blame for anything..

I guess the Buckethead was the reason axl missed the first show in canada duringthe states tour in 2002, and the one in Philly on dec 6th as well...

Guy is loaded with excuses.. Honestly, if he wanted to play Rio 4 he would.. He could go with the two guitarist-buckethead.. He made a commitment and should do what he can to fufill it..


He just used this as an excuse to put something else off.. In one month he has blamed the greatest hits for the no release of CD, and no rio 4 because of buckethead..

Hey Axl, EVER THINK MAYBE IT"S YOU??


Oh and axl we're still waiting for the apology for the failed USA tour in 2002..

[Carne_asaDA]

Quote

Oh and axl we're still waiting for the apology for the failed USA tour in 2002.. 

Or at least an explanation.

[mikegiuliana]

da_illest_in_402, on Mar 30 2004, 08:41 PM, said:

Quote

Oh and axl we're still waiting for the apology for the failed USA tour in 2002.. 

Or at least an explanation.

How can anyne have sympathy for this guy..? If it was another group's lead singer everyone would be laughing and saying they suck and so on..

[FinAxe]

This will be my last post in this forum of other GNR-forums.

Axl is a fucking maniac if he thinks that we could wait a bit longer because of that letter. We have been waiting too fucking long just to be lied at again.

Axl created newGNR, Axl gave us false hopes, Axl gives us poor explonations, Axl has no additude, Axl has no respect for us, Axl likes to talk shit and play X-box.

Quote

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.

AXL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? THAT WAS THE FUCKING STUPIDEST THING SAID IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK N ROLL. THE HOLE SENTENCE IS FUCKING ABSURD! WHAT RECORDING? EXTRA STEP? HAHAHA!

WHITOUT ANY DETAILS!!!! THATS THE ONLY THING WE NEED! DETAILS!!!! CANT YOU SEE THAT YOUR FANS ARE GIVIN UP AND GETTING BITTER!

I have waited, i have been lied at, i have trusted... NO MORE!

BYE BYE, SO LONG!

See ya all in hell

[nunchuck]

Oh well, at least the album will be out in the next few months...big NOT!

[mikegiuliana]

Quote

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.

MORE RCORDING??? HOW ABOUT A RELEASE?


Where could that extra step be to? Over a cliff?

This post has been edited by mikegiuliana: 30 March 2004 - 08:54 AM

[TealaRose]

Madison....

Did u honestly think you were going to get anything out of these people but dissin and bashing. It is all they know how to do.

YES it is a positive thing that Axl released the statement. First time in a long time. Maybe things are looking up.

[LA_0013]

What gets me is the fact that Buckethead left when Axl says there should be a release date in the next few months?? Bucket obviously has no faith in the material on CD, or he would've stuck around to play Rio and to be involved in the album. Maybe he feels the album will be a BIG let down. JMO.

[lawrence]

axl's book of excuses has more chapters than i thought
i thought he'd used every excuse in the book, clearly i'm wrong
why will the release date of cd be mentioned in a few months??
i thought cd was finished?
obviously in aint that good cos buckethead would have hung around to take some credit for it
my pearl jam contact was right months ago this cd will never get off mixing desk
axl will probably file a lawsuite against buckethead now for breach of contract( next excuse)
the way he treats his fans is an utter disgrace, ive never known it before.its the fans that make or break a band,he obviosly comes on here to check out our comments, & he knows fans want the cd,i'm not even gonna throw a trademark in today i'm that disgusted with it all, i'm gonna hav re-think about all this
ps i told you months ago they wouldnt be at rock in rio 4
i told you months ago about the lawsuites,
at the moment were gnr is concerned i'm one faithless mother f*cker

[Rustycage]

one thing we should know from this is that with his making a statement like this that he really does realize he has to release this cd.with the gh's situation,the buckethead chit,and then having to cancel rir.it's sink or swim time and i think he realizes it.yea its a negative situation but am i the only one that has an optimism in here?i've been a fan since 91 and i've never turned on em.think a little deeper and read between the lines(not to bash someone you dont know but to try to find positives)!

[lawrence]

LA_0013, on Mar 30 2004, 01:54 PM, said:

What gets me is the fact that Buckethead left when Axl says there should be a release date in the next few months?? Bucket obviously has no faith in the material on CD, or he would've stuck around to play Rio and to be involved in the album. Maybe he feels the album will be a BIG let down. JMO.

you beat me to it
2 great minds think alike