bumbleslash69

The long wait for the vinyl’s release is more likely to do with the record pressing process being super backed up and slow right now. Even for GnR it’s slower than pre-pandemic to get vinyl pressed. I’d imagine they’ll give Perhaps time to breathe then release the General during the tour so they can promote the 7 inch.

Tinfoil hat theory: a proper comeback album or proper comeback single in 2016 had too much potential to slow the momentum of the tour. Dropping Absurd way after the fact broke the ice and lowered expectations on what was going to be released going forward. The "real" comeback material was Shadow of Your Love and the AFD/UYI boxsets.

Me to my fiance, "look, it all started at the VMAs. I was 12 years old and Axl had dreads and a Jerry Rice Raiders jersey..." After 15 minutes of word vomit all I ended up with was, "Jerry Rice played for the Raiders?"

As goofy and stupidly optimistic as it sounds. We'll know a bit more on that if we get to a point where they're going to continue releasing singles and they've already released the General and Atlas. If they put out Eye on You with the Mac daddy nonsense there may be pause for concern. If they put out Cuban Skies or any other alleged CD2 songs then they may be drip feeding that album. In all likelihood, the songs that have been released (and the ones that may still be released) are the songs that required the least amount of work to put out. Probably a coincidence more than anything that these were songs involved with the locker leaks. Likely songs that just missed CD or were planned for CD II since those would have been the most polished. Or perhaps Perhaps will be the last single and they'll be done releasing music or put out new original music.

Nothing but speculation of course. If the plan was to always release singles and that wasn't spurred on by the locker leaks or some other force that can move Axl to release music, it's not crazy to think these were the intended singles. Hard Skool and Perhaps cover the hard rockers and the piano rockers and Absurd..uh, it lowered expectations and was a fun live song. But all three are drastically different enough from one another that it covers all the bases like CD itself did. There likely are more finished songs in the vault. But it has always been suspicious that these were the selected songs to be released as singles, and the other rumored songs are either other songs from that era (OMG) or the only other song that hasn't been leaked officially but we know has vocals (the General.) So yeah, if there actually were only 10 or so finished songs not on CD, then these three track as the ones to be released. Atlas on its own would have made a fine single too. But I'd speculate the growth of the cult like following behind the book Atlas Shrugged (I know it's always had a strong political follow, but the last 15 years its boomed) and Axl's outward political views may make it a song he'd rather not release it. Not that anything about the song is about that novel, but people be people.

They're definitely two similar songs musically and lyrically. Probably would of held similar positions on two separate albums. Sort of that Side B mid-tempo piano driven rocker. It and CITR would have both been right at home in 1997 as a follow up to UYI. A bit more refined and mature sounding songs. They're not necessary singles but good examples of what a third album/10 years in as a band/mature type music could have sounded like if the band held together and wasn't chasing chart topping hits. I felt from the locker leaks it was the best song that wasn't on CD. I still feel that way although I'm not quite as high on it as I was in 2019. I think it's had more refining compared to Hard School and Silkworms, and it works really well. The drums are great on it. Pretty sure from my bar tab last night and using a few fast passes I have paid more to listen to Perhaps a handful of times than I did buying my copies of CD back in the day and I have zero Dr. Pepper to show for it.

Strangely enough, Curley Shuffle's appearance in the Universal vault video makes it one of the few songs that weren't on CD that have been acknowledged as existing by the label. Not that this is an official Universal video, but still pretty cool.

People want to believe that GnR is an active band that's hungry for success and has a desire to release new music for the sake of it. It's not. It's a legacy touring act. The new music is nice and a great bonus. I'm pumped to hear Perhaps and I general-ly hope there are more Chinese leftovers to come. It's fun to be excited and to know that a new song is around the corner. But new GnR music is the last thing anyone should be stressed about. It's not important to the band and it shouldn't be something that's worth getting up in arms about for fans.

I really didn't give this X-files thread a lot of thought for the longest time, but now... i want to believe (pardon the terrible play on words.) Has anyone been trying platforms other than Spotify? I've used Apple Music and I get an official Apple playlist (i think it is official at least) of the Guns N' Roses 2023 Tour Set List when I search "perhaps guns". Complete with animated graphics and a description of the current tour. On the Perhaps linkfire page, if you stop the page from redirecting and check the source code there are links for Tidal and Amazon Music. I was unable to find anything Perhaps related on Amazon. But I don't have Tidal. Maybe that's worth a shot too.

The graphics and countdown all could be coded to display "next friday" too. We really don't know much. We can speculate. Web pages easy to make live on accident. Especially ones where multiple people are editing and tinkering around. Some sites even get auto redirects set in place when a page is made live and then turned back in to a draft. Someone could have set that page to live on accident. Happens. But the graphics may have been coded to display Aug 11 or Aug 18 or Aug 1 or whatever date was the follow Friday. I'd speculate that they wouldn't have pre-saves in the cards if it wasn't going to be a pre-planned Tweet a few days before release day. I'm guessing someone blundered. I don't believe a band/brand like GnR really needs any sort of hype or extra press, especially from the Blabbermouths of the world. The band doesn't need any sort of excuses for sure. It is pathetic. One original album and three original songs recorded in the late 90s the past 30 years. Unfortunately, new music has never been a driving force for them to make money. I'd speculate with the page being posted there was some sort of fuckery going on and someone messed up or there was a delay. But i have a hard time seeing a delay being based around a website being posted early and clickbait articles being ran about it.

Can you imagine how paranoid this forum is going to be this fall when we know the General is about to be released? If that's the next song to get released.

Perhaps brings up an official GnR Apple playlist too. My bet is between 10-11 am eastern time a Tweet goes out with a link in a fairly unceremonious fashion. The (magic 8) ball is in Universal’s hands now and not Team Brazil. It should be pretty status quo rollout and lack the fuckery from yesteryear. Perhaps I’m wrong, but barring some miraculous I wouldn’t get expectations too high.

Doesn't the official release of TWAT have a bit of inaudible lyrics? The whole "never mind who gave you head/near the man who gave you head/near the man who reaped it in" bit? I remember when it leaked for years we thought that was a placeholder. It's subjective of course, but TWAT was probably the "biggest gun" of all the songs in the war chest and it still had unfinished sounding vocals and lyrics. When it comes to interpersonal songs, Axl isn't the world's greatest songwriter, but there is something special there. He's definitely struggled to put pen to paper. Which is a shame, because he's clearly talented and can do more than write great rock lyrics. I felt with CD and the leftovers, he really wanted to become known as a great songwriter as opposed to someone who knows how to write a great stadium rock song.

My guess from launching similar webpages with counters is that the counter is irrelevant. It's a feature baked into the page design. If it went live last week it would have been for 10 days XX hours XX minutes. If it goes live Thursday it'll be for 23 hours 59 minutes. Then it'll disappear once the end date/time is reached. From other bands I listen to that release singles nonchalantly (which I feels this will follow a similar pattern), Tuesday morning the link will go up with some little announcement. Tuesday mornings tend to be king for social media engagement, particularly when announcing something for the end of the week. I'm guessing this is a pretty standard rollout with minimal effort put into it. Single releases Friday, in a few weeks we get a lyric video on Youtube, and that'll be about it. I wouldn't expect an actual music video or album announcement or anything significant.

I’ll go one further with this Spotify conspiracy theory research. If you search Perhaps Guns on Apple Music you get an Apple Hard Rock playlist of the 2023 world tour. Perhaps isn’t listed on it yet. As far as I know this is an “official” Apple Music playlist.

There are definitely some cobwebs in my brain thinking that far back for most of that word spew lol. Thank you for reading through it. Rocknroll 41 did the homework for me. I appreciate that. The only two things I'll add are I thought they tried to discredit the CITR leak or claim it wasn't GnR? Very foggy memories on that one. And the Slash bit was how i inferred his interview about re-working a few older songs during the lockdown with Duff. There is an Eddie Trunk interview with him on that one. Nonetheless, I wish there were enough breadcrumbs to suggest there actually is more than another album's length of finished songs in the vault. Despite the circus of that whole mess, it's a shame we didn't get to hear more from that blend of musicians. They definitely had it in them to make more songs like TWAT and Better.

It's really hard to say if there are more songs with vocals. At one point around 2006 we were told a few of the 2001-02 duds (Riad, Silkworms) wouldn't be on Chinese Democracy. I want to say we were also told CITR wouldn't be on it. Yet, they were on it or released way down the road. Before the Village leak the only other song we had vocals on that was in general circulation was Checkmate, and that was there too and eventually released. That really does lend itself to the theory that we got all there was. There was a Tommy Stinson quote saying there were 22 songs written and recorded during CD. If 14 were on the album and the other eight are comprised of Absurd, Perhaps, Hard Skool, the General, Atlas, State of Grace, OMG, and Going Down. Then that's 22. Maybe the General is State of Grace and OMG doesn't count, maybe a few of the scratch track songs with vocals were completed. Still gets right around 22. Slash has also implied there weren't that many leftover songs when talking about recording new parts for them. However, on a more optimistic note some of the songs had vocals added down the line after the Village demos. Better and Shackler's come to mind. Axl gave numbers in the low 30s when talking about "finished" songs. Tommy Stinson and all his Replacements glory is pretty far from what I'd call a reliable narrator when it comes to recollecting on the past. He's fun, but hard to take too seriously. Perhaps there are more songs out there. I liked to believe there are a few more collections of demos like the Village sessions. For instance, in 2006 a few of the songs had been reworked - Chinese Democracy and TWAT. You'd think there'd be more sessions to account for that in some degree. There are also different vocals on the This I Love remix that aren't on the album if I'm remembering right. As far as Axl's production though. A GnR forum probably isn't the right place to say it, but he's just not a prolific or great song writer. Outside of the early days of Guns in the mid-late 80s, there isn't a lot of documented evidence of him producing a ton of lyrics on his own. From what I gather, he's much more a band leader type of frontman who enjoys the process of overseeing recordings. Imo after 20 some odd years of trying to piece this together. There probably are another 15-20 songs, counting what we've heard, that weren't released on Chinese Democracy. I don't think there is a vault of finished songs. I think there is a vault of Eye on Yous and Quick Songs and Buckethead solos.

Sound checks can be used for tons of different purposes. Especially with stadium shows where the dynamics are different at every stop. Think of it like the final dress rehearsal, but not the only time they practice. The fact that Perhaps has been sound checked means it's in the hopper. Maybe the reason they're no longer sound checking it is because it's good to go. The lack of it being played shouldn't lead to too much pessimism.

I honestly think if they dropped a new album, the potential for it to bomb and wreck ticket sales is more harmful than never putting out new music. Partly why the single over dropping an album approach may be the best bet going forward. Strictly my own theory, but I think they do want to release new music. And I think Axl has to release more CD-era music and wants to put out those songs. I just think they know they only have a limited amount of time left to sell out stadiums and the best way to do that is by not changing a thing. If you sub out Rocket Queen, Civil War, etc. for the 25th anniversary remix of OMG then you're possibly shooting yourself in the foot down the line when it comes time for the 2025 and beyond tours at the end of this nostalgia act boom.

They also could change or "stylize" the names of the songs for official release. Perhaps could be "PEЯHAPS" or "Perhaps I Was Wrong" or something else entirely and not match what's on the setlist. Think back in the day with the Blues becoming Street of Dreams. They could also have a web admin manually make the links live when they're ready to release. I have found finding new singles ahead of release has been easier on YouTube. The Menzingers, Gaslight Anthem, and the Mountain Goats all put out singles for fall tours on different days this week on YT, and by using a VPN you could listen to the songs early. It's obviously a bit different with GnR since a new single is more of an event than it should be.

We need the songs to be played and the singles dropped so we can talk about how we've heard Perhaps before and the General is too brooding and slow. Kidding. But the optimism to pessimism swings are something else. Always have been. Part of the fun of being a fan and lurking around these forums. The songs could be released any day now with little to no fanfare. People forget it's not 1990 anymore and artist can just drop singles without announcements of announcements. Just like Guns did with Absurd and Hard School. People are also jaded as hell from all the "soon is the word" type comments from band members and personnel. My two cents are that we're close to some new music, and really close to one of those elusive CD songs we've spent 20 years thinking about but haven't properly heard.