Izzy Stradlin is explaining his absence from the Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime reunion tour in a new story by The Wall Street Journal.
"The current GN'R tour has been a great success for the guys,” said Stradlin in a released statement. “My nonparticipation was simply not being able to reach a happy middle ground through the negotiation process. That's life. Sometimes things don't work out."
The trio of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan are in the third year of the reunion run, which is now among the top five biggest-selling concert tours in music history with gross sales of more than $475 million.
Earlier this year, former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven revealed that Stradlin bailed on a guest appearance on the tour last year.
“[Izzy] did get as far as flying out and doing a soundcheck, and he left after a soundcheck, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” Niven told the Appetite For Distortion podcast. “It was last year, it was somewhere out in the midwest, when they were doing stadiums. Obviously had it gone well and everybody had been happy, and there had been a little bit of brotherhood, I’m sure he would have stayed with it. But something must have really upset him, because he left after the soundcheck, and never turned up for another one or an appearance. I would think right now he is probably a little pissed off.”
Stradlin, who co-founded Guns N' Roses with childhood friend Axl Rose in 1985, first shot down rumors of his involvement in the tour when it launched in the spring of 2016, telling Rolling Stone “There was just so much speculation going on regarding my involvement and studio recording. There’s so much misinformation, so I wanted to clarify that I'm not in the studio recording with any of the Guns N' Roses guys. At this point in time, I'm not involved in the actual shows ... A lot of stuff [fans] are reading isn't true."
Rose later referenced Stradlin’s status in a fall 2016 interview with Brazilian TV, according to The Guardian, where the singer said, “I don’t really know what to say about Izzy. It’s, like, you could have a conversation and think it’s one way and the next day it’s another way. And I’m not trying to take any shots at Izzy. It’s just his thing is kind of his thing, whatever that is.”
The rocker’s comments earned a prompt online reply from Stradlin in a tweet (since deleted), saying his absence from the reunion was about money: “They didn’t want to split the loot equally. Simple as that.”
Stradlin – who left Guns N’ Roses in November 1991 during the band’s tour in support of the “Use Your Illusion” albums and was replaced by Gilby Clarke – has performed with the group several times since his departure, including appearances in 1993, 2006 and 2012.
Currently on an extended break, Guns N’ Roses will resume the tour in Berlin, Germany on June 3.
See also:
Guns N’ Roses stream behind the scenes video from reunion tour
Guns N’ Roses stream previously unreleased video for It’s So Easy
Guns N’ Roses add Asian dates to fall 2018 tour
Guns N’ Roses’ Greatest Hits returns to US charts
Search Guns N Roses at hennemusic
