“It’s not a real reunion without Izzy” is the catch-cry of the vast majority of diehard Guns N’ Roses fans who’ve been watching the band’s long-awaited reunion unfold with bated breath.
Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin is widely regarded as the unsung hero of the legendary hard rock group, after being responsible for many of their best songs from both the Appetite and Use Your Illusion eras.
But sadly, we have to break your hearts today, because it turns out that Izzy will not be involved in the band’s upcoming reunion shows.
The gypsy-punk guitar slinger created a brand new personal Twitter account at the end of last month with the express purpose of letting fans know that the rumours about him hooking up with his old flames were – sadly – not true.
https://twitter.com/IzzyStradlin999/status/701863312737210369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Despite not having one of those official tick thingies on his account, Rolling Stone has since confirmed that the account is legit, and have spoken to Stradlin himself, who also hosed down speculation from Gunners’ old manager Alan Niven that he’d recently been in the studio recording with his old bandmates.
“At this point in time, I will not be playing at any of the April 2016 GNR shows,” he told the magazine. “I’ve also not been in the studio recording or writing with any of the others recently. There is so much speculation, but so very little info, [that] I thought I should reach out.”
“I’m not in the studio recording with any of the Guns N’ Roses guys,” he continued. “At this point in time, I’m not involved in the actual shows … A lot of stuff [fans] are reading isn’t true.”
“So you won’t be needing this.”
Founding GN’R members Slash, Duff and Axl Rose (a.k.a. “the big three”) have all been confirmed for the band’s reunion, but it’s been widely reported that the re-glued lineup will be filled out by Chinese Democracy-era members, a theory that’s been backed up by the fact that rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus and keyboardist Dizzy Reed (who spans both past & present incarnations of the band) both recently left supergroup The Dead Daisies for “a momentous project in 2016”.
Hmmmmmm…..
However, former Poison manager Howie Hubberman has also backed up reports that original drummer Steven Adler could still be in the mix.
According to Ultimate Guitar, That Metal Show host and heavy music authority Eddie Trunk (who also recently broke the sad news about Lemmy Kilmister’s death to the world) says several sources have told him that the guys are working on a deal to include Adler as a part of the lineup, and Hubberman has also corroborated the goss.
He said on Facebook: “Negotiations are not finished. They are doing this the right way! Right way would include Steven (in some way).”
Either way, with Coachella 2016 on the horizon and a US stadium tour to follow, we’re likely to find out more about the identity of the full Guns N’ Roses reunion lineup soon.
All we need is just a little Patience.
Watch: Guns N’ Roses – Patience
