1995.12.10 - Los Angeles Times - Fan Alert: Guns N' Roses Gearing Up (Goldstein)

Fan Alert: Guns N' Roses Gearing Up : The long-dormant band plans to go back into the studio next year and possibly tour.
POP EYE
December 10, 1995|Steve Hochman

Guns N' Roses is history.

At least, that was the conventional wisdom a year ago. The L.A. hard-rock band seemed on the verge of splintering, and music-industry pundits wondered whether there was even a place for its metal-rooted music among newer alterna-rockers like Alice in Chains and Nine Inch Nails.

But as the saying goes, history repeats itself.

Guns N' Roses' three principals--singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan--are separately writing new songs for the group with plans to convene in the studio in January. A new album could be out in the fall, with a world tour to follow.

But is the world waiting with bated breath?

"They still have a huge fan base and their old material is still requested a lot," says Carey Curlop, program director of L.A. rock station KLOS-FM, which last spring changed its format to emphasize newer acts. "They fit quite nicely with Alice in Chains and Soundgarden."

Even more enthusiastic are concert promoters, who could use a big attraction to anchor a year that is full of uncertainties. A much-discussed reunion tour of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band seems unlikely before 1997, U2 hasn't yet committed to a proposed tour and perennial box-office leader the Grateful Dead is a question mark after the death of Jerry Garcia.

"Guns N' Roses touring in 1996 is a very exciting proposition," says Brian Murphy, president of Southern California's Avalon Attractions. "I really believe that Guns has the instant ability to turn around and be a huge touring act despite the changes in music."

But GNR manager Doug Goldstein offers a note of caution.

"There are no tour plans set," he says. "And at this point I'm not even sure they'll tour America. It depends on how the record is received here. Though given what I've heard, we'll be touring America."

One possibility, Goldstein says, is that the band will start with a select number of intimate theater shows, as it did in 1991, and then decide whether to go on with larger venues.

Pollstar magazine editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovanni says that's wise. "If the album is right, the whole thing could explode for them again," he says. "But in the concert scene, if you stay out for three years or more, there's always a question about how much demand there is, and you don't know until you put tickets on sale."

Of course, with Guns N' Roses' history of delays and postponements--a Rose throat ailment caused a three-week disruption of its last tour in 1992, at a reported cost of $750,000 a week--it's hard to say anything about plans with certainty. But Goldstein notes that the band seems to be in a frame of mind to reestablish its preeminence.

"The entire band is clean and in great shape," he says of past reports of substance abuse problems. "They all look better than since I've worked with them and I'm going, 'Come on guys, it's a great time to go and show the world.' "