34. 2014: END TO THE NUGNR ERA; BUMBLEFOOT CLANDESTINELY LEAVES THE BAND

With the band going on a break after the residency in Las Vegas, there was hope that a record would be worked on, implying that it was really up to Axl to finish it:









In September 2014, Bumblefoot would discuss why it is harder for Axl to release music than himself:



Around the same time, DJ would say there had been "more and more talks" about going into the studio before the end of the year:

The commercial was allegedly filmed in São Paulo, Brazil, in March/April earlier in the year.

Back in May 2013, a series of heavy metal autographed baseball-cards had been released by Topps, including a card for Axl:



On July 14, 2014, Topps announced that Axl had signed his card:

In July 2013, it was reported Slash was again working with Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators for a new album, tentativelly planned to come out in 2014 [The Morning Call, July 12, 2013].

Talking about Kennedy and how they came to work together back in 2007 [?]:



And on his role as band leader:




Being asked what the new album will sound like:



In December Slash updated on twitter that they had completed 16 tracks for the record [Twitter/Blabbermouth, December 19, 2013].

By April 2014, the record was finished recorded [Kerrang! via Blabbermouth, April 28, 2014].



Slash continued recording live but this time with guitar overdubs:




Talking about the record in May:




Later in May it was announced that the album, World On Fire, would be released on September 15 via Slash's own label Dik Hayd International [Press Release/Blabbermouth, May 27, 2014].





Talking about the difference between Apocayptic Love and World On Fire:



As for choosing the song World On Fire as the first single:



And talking about the name:



For World On Fire, Slash went with Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who had produced the last Alter Bridge album, as the producer instead of Eric Valentine:

Despite Slash's disdain for a Guns N' Roses movie [see previous chapter], in November 2014, Marc Canter announced that a script for such a movie was currently in the works based on Canter's "Reckless Road" book [for more information about this book, see previous chapters] [Mygnrforum/Blabbermouth, November 15, 2014]. Canter would post on the Guns N' Roses forum mygnrforum, talking about the movie-in-development:



When asked if Axl had approved the movie, Canter responded:



Discussing how far they had come with the movie:



In May 2015 it was revealed that Howie Hubberman, previous owner of Hollywood's Guitars-R-Us and loaner of $25,000 to Vicky Hamilton in the band's early days [see previous chapter], were working on writing a screen play together with Canter [The Music Universe, May 22, 2015]. According to Hubberman, actor James Franco would be involved:




Canter would provide an update in 2016:





After Slash and Duff rejoined the band in 2016 and went on successful touring, Doug Goldstein would indicate that there was an issue between Canter and the band [Unknown interview, mentioned in Appetite for Distortion, April 16, 2018] and photographer Jack Lue, friend of Canter and early photographer of the band would be asked about this:



Lue would also mention that the band had opposed a GN'R gallery that Lue and fellow photographer Gene Kirkland had been planning, and that it might have been to get rid of competition to the band's own pop-up stores during the Not In This Lifetime touring:



The in May 2018, Fernando Lebeis was guesting the fan forum Mygnrforum and received the following question: "Regarding the ultimate kick-ass AFD box with old demos....are there any plans for releasing (pre-)AFD related live videos? Marc Canter is a good guy!!" to which he responded:

As discussed previously, as band members were left to pursue side projects as the band went on a touring break after the residency, the hope was that Axl would finish the next record [see previous chapter]. And in November, 2014, band members started to sound more concrete about the possibility of a new record, with Dizzy saying it was in "the works" and that "people" were now indeed "going through" what they already had recorded:





And Richard stating that both he and DJ had worked on music (we already knew that DJ had recorded songs he wanted on the next album), but interestingly not with Bumblefoot:



Dizzy would also state that the unreleased material wasn't just "leftovers" from the Chinese Democracy sessions but also contained newer music recorded after this:



And furthermore, Richard would say that Axl was currently in the studio recording more vocals:



Richard would also imply that Axl had take ideas from DJ and him to use in songs:



When discussing the new, unreleased material, Richard would also imply that some of it dated back to when Slash was in the band:



In early 2015, Richard would say the process of working on the new album "sort of stops and starts":



When asked if this was frustrating:



In July 2015, Richard would confirm that Axl had plans on releasing the next record after the touring ended in 2014:



Apparently, either Axl did not finish this work, or his plans shifted as reunion talks began [see later chapter].

Richard would also be asked about the status of the songs already recorded:

2014:




Slash would explain why they wouldn't go about looking for a singer the same way as they had tried before:



As for the status of the band:




And who he would choose if he could pick anyone:



In June 2014, Duff was asked why he didn't sing:



And provide an update on the search for the new singer:



In July, Slash would talk about why he had walked away from the band:



And whether Weiland could come back:



In October, Duff would still not give up on the band:



And Slash would say the band stille existed, but in a dormant state:




And that it was "an active project":





Then, on December 3, 2015, Scott Weiland tragically died of an accidental overdose while touring with the Wildabouts.

His former band mates in Velvet Revolver released a statement:



Matt would describe how he had found out:



Talking about his feelings when he heard the news::



And how he would like people to remember Weiland:



In 2019, Duff would look back at Weiland and mention that Feel, one of the song off his Tenderness album from may 2019, was about him:






In June 2016 it was revealed that the reunited Guns N' Roses had rehearsed Slither for the upcoming tour, possibly as a tribute to Weiland [Facebook/Ultimate Guitar, June 16, 2016].

In March 2018, Matt would say "you never know" in response to Velvet revolver coming together again:



Looking back at the band:



In 2018, Slash would state he had "nothing positive" to say about the Velvet Revolver experience:



Duff would be confronted with this comment and share his own opinion:



In 2019, after having formed Deadland Ritual, Matt answered negatively when asked if he still wanted to resurrect Velvet Revolver:



When asked if he couldn't keep doing two thing going at the same time, and when the interviewer suggested Slash had wanted to return to Velvet Revolver, both Frankie Perez and Matt pointed out he had never said that to them [SiriusXM Trunk Nation, January 17, 2019].

Slash, looking back: