Title: Chinese Democracy

Release Date: TBA

Composer(s): Guns N' Roses

Topics Discussed Below:

• Leaked Songs, Confirmed and unconfirmed titles.
• Production and Collaboration/The Cost.
• Key stages in the history of Chinese Democracy.
• Leaked mixes/Studio demo history.
• Where we stand in 2007.
• Sources.

(Last Updated: 20th November 2007)

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Confirmed Titles for 'Chinese Democracy'

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Song played live that will not feature on Chinese Democracy

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Rumoured Titles

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Members who will feature on Chinese Democracy:

Axl Rose - Lead Vocals, Piano

Dizzy Reed - Piano, Keyboard, Percussion

Tommy Stinson - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals

Robin Finck - Lead/Rhythm guitar, Backing Vocals

Richard Fortus - Lead/Rhythm guitar

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal - Lead/Rhythm guitar, Baking Vocals

Frank Ferrer - Drums, Percussion

Brian Mantia - Drums, Percussion

Chris Pitman - Keyboard, Programming, Backing Vocals

Former Members who may feature on Chinese Democracy:

Josh Freese - Drums, Percussion

Buckethead (Brian Carroll) - Lead/Rhythm guitar

Paul Tobias - Rhythm Guitar

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Production

• Youth (Producer) - Killing Joke and Verve producer was reported to have worked on the album in its early years.
• Mike Clink (Producer) – long time GN’R producer and producer of their biggest hit ‘Appetite For Destruction’ was reported to have worked on the album in its early years.
• Sean Bevan (Producer) – joined the Chinese Democracy project in 1997, only to leave in 1999
• Roy Thomas Baker (Producer) – joined in 1999 to co-produce the album after Sean Bevan left. The album was re-recorded with the intention of making it more ‘epic’. He left in 2002.
• Axl Rose (Producer) – became sole producer of Chinese Democracy after the departure of Roy Thomas Baker. It has been reported that the album was actually re-recorded.

Collaboration

• Moby – turned down an offer to work on the album.
• Brian May – flew to LA to work especially on Chinese Democracy. He recorded the lead guitar in the song Catcher in the Rye.
• Dave Navarro – lead guitarist on the song Oh My God.
• Zak Wylde – legendary Ozzy Osbourne guitarist and Black Label Society founder was reported to have worked on the song Oh My God.
• Gary Sunshine – Axl’s guitar instructor and guitarist on the track Oh My God.
• Shaquille O’ Neal – NBA star rapped on a song with the band. After taking a break from his own recording session, he found Dizzy Reed and former GN’R drummer Josh Freese working in the same studio. He stated:

“I saw Guns N’ Roses listed on the bulletin board in the lobby of the studio so I stuck my head in to check it out. They asked me to join them, so I started freestylin’ over their track. It was the first time I ever performed with a rock group and it felt good.”

His collaboration was reported, yet will not be included on the actual CD.

• Paul Buckmaster (Classical Composer) – worked on arrangements for Madagascar, The Blues, There Was A Time and Prostitute.

The Cost

• According to the New York Times (March 3rd 2006) the total cost of the album to date exceeds $13 million, a sum refuted by ex-manager Merck Mercuriadis.

Key Stages in the History of Chinese Democracy

• The final number of tracks on the new album is still uncertain. Axl Rose himself has announced conflicting numbers e.g. 18 songs + 20 bonus tracks (London Docklands concert, 2002), 13 (January 2006). In addition to this, Tommy Stinson’s view of November 2004 that there would be 10 or 11 songs… At this stage, who knows the reality? However, Axl Rose also added in January 2006 that the band were currently working on 32 songs, 26 of which are near completion. This figure would certainly tie in with the press release in 2005 of Rose’s publishing deal with Sanctuary which spoke of “dozens of new tracks” Rose had recently recorded.
• The biggest development in four years came on January 13th 2006 when Axl spoke about the album at nu-metal band Korn’s tour launch party:

“It’s a very complex record; I’m trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, ‘It doesn’t sound like Axl Rose, it doesn’t sound like Guns N’ Roses’. But you’ll like at least a few songs on there”

Indeed, former GNR guitarist, Slash is said to have left the band disillusioned by the apparent change of musical direction.

• GNR touring bands of 2001 – 2006 performed many new songs, including Better, Chinese Democracy, There Was A Time, I.R.S, The Blues, Silkworms and Riyadh and the Bedouins. An interview with Dizzy Reed in 2006 confirmed that “Silkworms” and “Riyadh and the Bedouins” however, would not appear on the album. In addition, composer Paul Buckmaster had also prepared orchestral arrangements for named tracks. January/February 2006 witnessed two further important developments: Axl Rose admitted that his favourite tracks on the forthcoming album were “Better”, “TWAT” and “The Blues” and a total of four high quality demos had been leaked: There Was A Time, I.R.S, Better and Catcher in the Rye. Axl Rose stated during an interview in 2002 whilst GN’R were in the middle of the Chinese Democracy tour that the band had yet to bring out their ‘big guns’ with regards to previous songs from Chinese Democracy played on the tour.
• In a Rolling Stone article from 2006, former Skid Row frontman and GN’R tour partner Sebastian Bach described the album as “mind-blowing” and added:
  “It’s a very cool album – its badass with killer screams, killer guitar riffs, but it’s got a totally modern sound. The word for it is ‘grand’. It’s fucking epic. He’s reinvented himself yet again”
  Sebastian also described a song called “Sorry”:
  “There’s this one song called ‘Sorry’ that’s almost like doom metal with Axl singing really clean over this grinding, slow beat that is fucking mean. I cannot get it out of my head.”
• A press release in 2006 regarding the tour of that same year stated:
  “As for Guns N’ Roses’ forthcoming Chinese Democracy album, the only comment at this time is that there are 13 Tuesdays left between now and the end of the year.”
  In a later interview with Rolling Stone in 2006, GN’R manager Merck Mercuriadis again stated that the album would appear on a Tuesday of that year and may appear on record shelves without a release date.
• A promotional video on Harley Davidson’s official website contained the unreleased GN’R song “Better”. This was later replaced by the song Paradise City, so far Better has not again featured on the site.
• On December 4th 2006, Axl release an open letter to fans stating that, for the first time in the last 13 years, the band set a tentative release date of March 6th 2007. This letter also indicated that the band had fired manager Merck Mercuriadis for pushing the band too hard to release the album. Merck later replied to this open letter through a popular GN’R forum.
• March 6th 2007 has been and gone, with still no confirmation or release date of the album!

Leaked Mixes / Studio Demos

• There have been numerous leaks via radio and the Internet of the new songs. The band successfully stopped further broadcasts of “I.R.S” following a leak in September 2003 by radio DJ, Eddie Trunk under request by his studio guest, Mike Piazza who had apparently received a CD in the post containing the track. An excerpt of the same song had been leaked again, this time on the Internet in April 2005. GN’R management responded calling it a “low quality demo”.
• In February 2006, 4 songs, “Better”, “Catcher in the Rye”, “I.R.S” and “There was a Time” were all leaked on various Internet sites. This sudden share of the new material soon stopped when GNR management started to threaten sites with a $250,000 fine if the songs were not removed immediately. Further more, more recently a new version of “Better” was leaked which included Robin Finck on lead guitar. Axl Rose later admitted that Brian May (lead guitarist in Queen (legend amongst men)) had recorded the guitar part for “Catcher in the Rye” demo in 1999 and it was later added that this version would not appear on the album. Three months later, in May, two new versions of “There was a Time”, “I.R.S” as well as a 16 second clip of “Checkmate” were also leaked on the Internet. Whether there are “new” leaks or earlier recordings remains to be confirmed.
• On February 20th 2007, a newer, cleaner version of the song “Better” was leaked onto the Internet. Dizzy Reed confirmed the song, however he insisted that the song was not a final mix.
• On March 28th 2007, a 7 second edited clip of the album’s title track “Chinese Democracy” was leaked on a GN’R fansite. Prior to this leak, a 1 minute 5 second long introduction for the song was used on the same GNR fansite as the site’s introduction.
• The next day (March 29th 2007), a further song was leaked; this time a full version of the song “Madagascar” played on tour since 2001.
• On May 4th 2007 three more tracks from Chinese Democracy were leaked: “The Blues”; a newer version of I.R.S and a full mix of Chinese Democracy.
• A further track, a newer version of “There Was A Time”, was leaked on 6th May 2007.

Current Status in 2007

• According to the January edition of the Las Vegas Review Journal, Axl Rose was putting final vocals down for Chinese Democracy, which he had been working on at the Palms recording studios.
  On February 22nd 2007, Del James gave the following update on the official GN’R website:

“The good news is that all of the recording for the album has been completed. Drummer Frank Ferrer and guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal integrated themselves into the recordings seamlessly and will have their presence felt."

• There is no official release date, as the band is currently mixing, but after some delays and scheduling difficulties, things appear to be moving along."
• The July issue of Classic Rock magazine reports on the new leaks giving short reviews of each one. They also commented on being sent further demos of a 2000 demo of Chinese Democracy (apparently with Josh Freeze on Drums), as well as further studio demos of Rhiad and the Bedouins, Prostitute , Atlus Shrugged and Silkworms.
• The band began the 2007 leg of the Chinese Democracy tour on June 2 in Mexico. So far, dates have been confirmed in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

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Sources: include the Wikipedia Chinese Democracy page (alot of the information found on this page is from this source), Harley Davidson, Rolling Stone, My own knowledge and the July issue of Classic Rock.