2011.11.16 - Billboard - Dizzy Reed: New Guns N’ Roses Album ‘Eventually’

Guns N' Roses current concert swing through North America has generated plenty of talk about a follow-up to 2008's "Chinese Democracy." But keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who's been part of GNR since 1990 -- second only to founding frontman Axl Rose -- doesn't feel a new release is imminent.

"We haven't really talked a lot about that," Reed tells Billboard.com. "There's a lot we've recorded, a lot of material back when we started working on 'Chinese Democracy,' so there's a quite a bit of unreleased stuff that would be really cool to finish and put out." In addition to that, he adds, "everyone has great ideas and songs and stuff, so we're always sort of bouncing stuff off each other. I'm recording stuff all the time; I'll record something and say, 'Hey, this might be cool' and play it for everybody and just kind of go from there. I think eventually something's got to give, and then it's gonna come out."

Among the reported stash of songs GNR worked on during the "Chinese Democracy" sessions are titles such as "Ides of March," "Soul Monster," "The General," "Atlas Shrugged" and "Berlin." During a recent interview on VH1's "That Metal Show," Rose said that the group and its new management was discussing the group's next release but offered no definitive details. "I just stay out of that," Reed says, noting that "there's not really anything" he can do on his end to push the process forward.

But Reed adds that "all of it is great, so any selection of another 12, 15 songs would be awesome. I'm not just giving you an easy answer; I truly believe all of it's pretty amazing."

Reed remains upbeat about GNR in general, dubbing the current edition of the band -- which has dates scheduled into mid-December -- "the best version of Guns N' Roses that I've ever been in. I think everyone is just super-talented, and it's just great chemistry. Everyone is a lot of fun to be around and a lot of fun to play with, so to me it's definitely the best lineup we've had." Reed has also used tapped his GNR mates for a solo album he plans to put out in 2012, tentatively titled "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Easy" and featuring "stuff that I've done over the years."

As for GNR's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, Reed says he found out late but is rooting for the group to be inducted. "Obviously there's a lot of great, great people that I respect and grew up admiring and idolizing who are in and part of that institution," he says. "So just to be mentioned in the same breath as them, I take it as an honor. "I don't know what's going to happen or how all that goes down, but it's definitely something to feel good about, I think."