Guns N’ Roses Prepping First Release Featuring Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan in 28 Years
Slash – Story by Charles Ken, photo by Anne Erickson
Guns N’ Roses will release their “Hard Skool” EP in February 2022, marking their first release featuring Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan in 28 years
Against all odds, Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan famously reunited back in 2016 for Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime World Tour, bringing together the band’s classic, “Appetite for Destruction” lineup. Now, band members are slated to release their first official recording back together.
Guns N’ Roses have announced their new, four-song “Hard Skool” EP, out Feb. 25. The album is the group’s first new release bringing together Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan together in a whopping 28 years.
The EP features the band’s new singles, “Hard Skool” and “ABSU?D,” with live versions of the songs “Don’t Cry” and “You’re Crazy.” The EP will be out on CD, digitally and even via cassette, a very ’80s-appropriate move. The band will also release a seven-inch vinyl version of the EP on June 24, packing only “Hard Skool” and a live version of “ABSU?D.” For more information and to pre-order the EP, visit Guns N’ Roses’ official merch page.
In addition to announcing the new EP, Guns N’ Roses recently performed “Hard Skool” live for the first time at their show in Baltimore, Maryland. Watch footage of the performance below. Both “Hard Skool” and “ABSU?D” are “Chinese Democracy” songs that were never properly released and called “Jackie Chan” and “Silkworms,” respectively. The new versions of the songs feature Slash on guitar and McKagan on bass, and along with Axl Rose, are the band’s first studio recordings back in the fold since 2016.
Guns N’ Roses’ latest round of tour dates kicked of July 31 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, making the band’s first show since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The band is scheduled to wrap up their latest run with two shows at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida, on Saturday (Oct. 2) and Sunday (Oct. 3).
Guns N’ Roses’ “Hard Skool” EP Track List:
1. Hard Skool
2. ABSU?D
3. Don’t Cry (Live)
4. You’re Crazy (Live)
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