For the past few weeks, and the months leading up to the album’s release, Axl Rose has been pretty silent regarding Guns N Roses‘ Chinese Democracy. Some may argue that the album’s mediocre sales are a result of the reclusive frontman’s lack of promotion. However, this past weekend, Rose went public… literally.

On fan-based message boards MyGNR.com and Here Today… Gone to Hell, Rose answered a long rotation of questions from fans, all hungry for information. To some, this was like the second coming of Christ, and Rose capitalized on the moment, touching base on a few important issues that have come up over the past few months (and years).

For one, Rose addressed the former line up’s battles (on stage and in court) and how much of his publicized antics on stage were a thing of fiction. He focused a lot on Slash:

“Media and others ignorantly, wrongly and falsely harped on about [Rose's "antics"] at mine and the fans expense for years and Slash has hoped to use all that to continually sue and have some sort of legal nonsense going on behind the scenes in an effort to reverse things,” Rose wrote. “He wouldn’t have been able to get the support and action on the part of his various team members over the years to do so if the truth were out there especially when the statute of limitations had run out years ago.”

And the question on everyone’s mind: “Why use the name Guns N’ Roses?”

“It’s a band name more than a brand name,” Rose insisted. “As Tommy [Stinson] said regarding our struggles to make this happen “We’re not lettin’ what took so much blood and heart get turned to shit and dust.” And I guess you could apply that to current former or whatever.

“Slash never had ANY arguments for keeping the name until long after and again I feel that had a lot to do with seedy biz types and him feeling he had to save face.

“Keeping the band name alive was very important. Not out of ego and I don’t know exactly why in the sense of putting into words but I think it has something to do with the global effect it has and how Guns surviving in some way is sometimes inspiring to others around the world and in that there’s a sense of obligation.”

There’s more, two whole transcripts worth (view here and here), but there are some excellent quotes to take away from this. He even touched upon his feelings with former lead guitarist for the band, Buckethead.

“I have no issues with Bucket,” he wrote. “It’s hard to tell what was real or not in things we were told by Merck. He’s more than welcome to tour with us in some form or other provided we’re both interested at the time and come to some type of reasonable terms. Personally I have a blast w/Bucket on tour and get a big kick out of the guy. A lot of feelings were hurt on this side of the fence in how things went down and unfortunately others used our silence and the public’s not knowing for their own purposes at both Bucket’s and our expense.”

The fans were ready, naturally, and they squeezed out every possible question imaginable. One fan even brought Rose’s attention to the alleged “two or three albums” that might still be in the vault, to which Rose quickly responded, “For now we’ll concentrate and keep our focus on this album but I will say I’ve always thought of it as a double.” The most interesting aspect of the “interview” was how Rose reacted to questions of the most severe, including his record charting rivalry with Kanye West.

“I met Kanye at the Versace awards,” Rose wrote. “He was very gracious. I love “Gold Digger” and told him so. I’m a big fan of his stage performance as he seems to go for it physically which I relate more to. Before our release, I sent him a message that any nonsense from the media had nothing to do with us and wished him the best. I’m humbled we’ve done as well as we have considering.”

For those itching for some GNR publicity, it should be right around the corner, too. Rose hinted at upcoming interviews, a video for current single “Better” (”Soon is the word as in a week or so”), and a possible future tour (”It’s more about seeing where things are when Guns decides it’s right for a tour and if we’re able to make agreements we both are comfortable and can live with at that time.”). All in all, both transcripts were inordinately jovial, and at times even deviated from typical GNR discussion, everything from Rose’s choice of cough syrup to favorite Disney films.

It’s quite a read, and in all honesty, it paints a whole new picture of the guy.

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Tags: Guns N' Roses