Prior to the Guns N' Roses reunion in 2016, lead guitarist Slash and vocalist Axl Rose hadn't performed on stage together in 23 years, reports Neil Shah of The Wall Street Journal.

“Axl’s always been great to work with, but then there were also times when things were really, really difficult…That hasn’t presented itself in the last six years,” says Slash. “He’s been super, super f—ing professional, and actually less moody than me, even. And I’m not a moody guy.”

The band’s 2016-19 reunion tour is the third highest-grossing concert tour in music history. In 2021, they grossed nearly $50 million, with plans to resume this summer.

Now, their attention is shifting to new music. Slash has a solo album, 4, out February 11, featuring singer Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. On February 25, Guns N’ Roses, which includes bassist Duff McKagan, releases its first collection of songs since the reunion—a four-track EP, including two songs from Axl’s vault that have been newly reworked by Slash and McKagan.

More of Axl’s Guns N’ Roses material is coming, along with a reissue of 1991’s two-and-a-half-hour-long double-release, Use Your Illusion.

For Slash, it all started with an inquiry into video footage of the band’s 2½–year, 194-show Use Your Illusion tour—a trove he once called “the holy grail of Guns N’ Roses.”

“I was talking to Guns N’ Roses management about making sure all that stuff was intact,” Slash says. “And then, I’d thrown out the idea, ‘It’d be great to find a producer to put this together’” as a film.

When Slash was in Peru, he got a call saying Axl wanted to talk. That led to a home-cooked steak meal at the singer's Los Angeles residence. After that, one of rock ’n roll’s longest-standing feuds ended quickly, according to Slash.

“Over time, and lack of communicating and gossip, and media…all this stuff sort of built up this storm of negativity. But it was like a cloud—you could stick your hand through it,” he says.

“One of the things Axl wanted to get off his chest was a bunch of material he’d recorded,” Slash says. “So we thought, ‘Well, that’s a good way to wet our feet.’” The coming material might arrive in a piecemeal fashion, before being assembled into an album. Work on an entirely new record hasn’t begun in earnest.

And there is no official strategy yet about releasing music. “There are no cut-and-dried answers,” Slash says. “It’s Guns N’ Roses.”

To read the complete interview with Slash, visit this location.

Guns N' Roses have unleashed an official lyric video for the single, "Hard Skool", the title track of the upcoming Hard Skool EP, available on February 25 exclusively through the band's online store, found here. Watch the new video below.

"Hard Skool" is a reworked version of a track titled "Jackie Chan", recorded during the sessions for the band's Chinese Democracy album.

Hard Skool EP tracklisting:

"Hard Skool"
"ABSUЯD"
"Don't Cry" (live)
"You're Crazy" (live)

"Hard Skool" lyric video:

The previously released "Absurd" is available via digital providers here, and you can watch a visualizer for the song below: