1996.10.30 - Fax from Axl

LIVE!!!! From "Burning Hills", California...

Due to overwhelming enthusiasm, and that "DIVE IN AND FIND THE MONKEY" attitude....

#1. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses tour.

#2. There will NOT be an official Guns N' Roses web site.

#3. There will NOT be any NEW Guns N' Roses videos.

#4. There will NOT be any new Guns N' Roses involved merhandise.

#5. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses Fan Club.

#6. There will be a new Guns N' Roses 12 song minimum recording with
three original "B" sides.

    NOTE: If all goes well this will be immediately repeated.

#7. However*******Slash will not be involved in any new Guns N' Roses
endeavors? as far has not been musically involved with Guns N" Roses
since April 1994 with the exception of a BRIEF feel period with Zakk
Wylde and a 2 week initial period with Guns N' Roses in the late fall
of '95. He (Slash) has been "OFFICIALLY and LEGALLY" outside of the
Guns N' Roses Partnership since December 31, 1995.

                     ***************************************************

               Nothing here is Subject To Change
               Without A PERMANENT SUSPENSION
               Of the "Pseudo Studio Musician Work Ethic"


                               SINCERELY,
                               
                               W. Axl Rose

Big FD Ent., Inc.
Mike "Duff" McKagan

Such a stand-out piece of communication in the history of Guns N' Roses. Axl speaks again, after a long period of silence. And almost every sentence is revelatory.

The reference to burning hills of California was the ongoing wildfires in Malibu at the time.

Discussions about a tour had been frequent in the media with almost as many questions regarding an upcoming tour as an upcoming record. Apparently, Axl had decided to not do this tour because they didn't have a touring lineup with Slash missing and possibly also a missing rhythm guitar player. Or maybe at the time he simply didn't want to tour more. The realization that Slash was out could also mean his aspirations for GN'R had taken a hit.

I haven't read any contemporary articles about a forthcoming GN'R web site, but not unlikely this had been discussed in the media. The same for a new fan club and merchandise. Again, Axl dismissing all these could indicate he was at the time thinking about scaling down any GN'R plans.

Probably the same for videos, which is a bit interesting considering the fact that Axl loved the videos and that they could easily make filmatic videos without a functional touring lineup.

But a new record would be coming out. Up til this point they had been working on Axl's songs and he probably thought they could finish these with replacements for Slash and with himself on rhythm guitar (or possible Paul Huge or someone else). Basically, studio work with a tight lineup or with session musicians was possible. Then Axl could keep to himself and he could still get his music out.

And finally the information that Slash was out of the band. Interesting that Axl claims he has been officially out of the band since December 31, 1995. How can it be official when it hasn't been disclosed publicly? And legally out of the partnership would indicate that a new partnership agreement had been made at the time, or that Slash had declared he was out. But in all the interviews with Slash in 1996, he never said he was out of the band explicitly, and he was back working with the band in September/October. So it could be that Slash hoped they would find back to each other again and that they would go on as nothing had happened, or possibly that Axl and Slash simply had a different opinion of what had happened. In either case, this was the end for the amazing collaboration between Axl and Slash. The iconic Gibson tones to compliment Axl's iconic vocals would leave. Could GN'R survive this? And could Axl survive now when his lightning rod had left the band? With all focus back on Axl?

There are a couple of things (factual and in regards to the wording) in Axl's fax that always stroke me as strange or as not making sense.

I looked into it and it seems that this text that has been circulating online as Axl's fax was transcribed from an MTV News video:
http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=49389.0

The MTV video is the one in this thread:
https://www.a-4-d.com/t4313-1996-11-08-mtv-news-gn-r-s-blizzard-of-acrimony

The text in the screenshots is quite blurry, but from what I could make out of it I think there are some mistakes in the original transcript. I've marked the (in my opinion) mistakes in red:

Due to overwhelming enthusiasm, and that "DIVE IN AND FIND THE MONKEY" attitude....

#1. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses tour.

#2. There will NOT be an official Guns N' Roses web site.

#3. There will NOT be any NEW Guns N' Roses videos.

#4. There will NOT be any new Guns N' Roses involved merhandise.

#5. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses Fan Club.

#6. There will be a new Guns N' Roses 12 song minimum recording with three original "B" sides.

   NOTE: If all goes well this will be immediately repeated.

#7. However*******Slash will not be involved in any new Guns N' Roses
endeavors? as far has not been musically involved with Guns N" Roses
since April 1994 with the exception of a BRIEF feel period with Zakk
Wylde and a 2 week initial period with Guns N' Roses in the late fall
of '95. He (Slash) has been "OFFICIALLY and LEGALLY" outside of the
Guns N' Roses Partnership since December 31, 1995.


                    ***************************************************

              Nothing here is Subject To Change
              Without A PERMANENT SUSPENSION
              Of the "Pseudo Studio Musician Work Ethic"


                              SINCERELY,
                             
                              W. Axl Rose

Big FD Ent., Inc.
Mike "Duff" McKagan

And the text with my corrections (the parts I replaced or added, based on my reading of the screenshots, are in bold):

LIVE!!!! From "Burning Hills", California...
 
Due to overwhelming enthusiasm, and that "DIVE IN AND FIND THE MONKEY" attitude....
 
#1. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses tour.
 
#2. There will NOT be an official Guns N' Roses web site.
 
#3. There will NOT be any NEW Guns N' Roses videos.
 
#4. There will NOT be any new Guns N' Roses involved merhandise.
 
#5. There will NOT be a Guns N' Roses Fan Club.
 
#6. There will be a new Guns N' Roses 12 song minimum recording with
three original "B" sides.
 
    NOTE: If all goes well this will be immediately repeated.
 
#7. However*******Slash will not be involved in any new Guns N' Roses
endeavors, as he has not been musically involved with Guns N Roses
since April 1994 with the exception of a BRIEF trial period with Zakk
Wylde and a 2 week trial period with Guns N' Roses in the fall
of 1996 *. He (Slash) has been "OFFICIALLY and LEGALLY" outside of the
Guns N' Roses Partnership since December 31, 1995.
 
                     ***************************************************
 
               Nothing here is Subject To Change
               Without A PERMANENT SUSPENSION
               Of the "Pseudo Studio Musician Work Ethic"
 
 
                               SINCERELY,
                               
                               W. Axl Rose
 
c.c. Big FD Ent., Inc.
Michael "Duff" McKagan
Matt Sorum

* It's not clear in the screenshot if the date is 1995 or 1996, but I think 1996 makes much more sense, since there are no other sources indicating that Slash rehearsed with the band in the fall of 1995, but we know he did in the fall of 1996.
I think this mistake in the original transcript led Chinese Whispers to get the Paul Huge timeline wrong.

Soulmonster wrote:And finally the information that Slash was out of the band. Interesting that Axl claims he has been officially out of the band since December 31, 1995. How can it be official when it hasn't been disclosed publicly? And legally out of the partnership would indicate that a new partnership agreement had been made at the time, or that Slash had declared he was out. But in all the interviews with Slash in 1996, he never said he was out of the band explicitly, and he was back working with the band in September/October. So it could be that Slash hoped they would find back to each other again and that they would go on as nothing had happened, or possibly that Axl and Slash simply had a different opinion of what had happened.

I think the picture will become a little clearer when later sources are added.

I still don't know what Axl meant when he said "Dive in and find the monkey."