Throughout their career, Guns N’ Roses have been notorious for their lack of punctuality when it comes to playing shows. There have been several concerts where they went onstage hours after their scheduled set time, which led to a fair share of negative headlines. But in a new interview (listen below), guitarist  says that is something that is no longer a problem.

“The last year we’ve been going on pretty much dead-on,” Ashba told 93.9 KWSS. “Axl [Rose] has made a very big point to be on stage on time. It’s funny, 'cause it’s nothing that media races out and reports. They tend to get the bigger hits when they have something negative to report. So you don’t really hear about that so much. But yeah, I’ve been really happy. Everybody has been really on it, and the fans are happy, and it’s really cool.”

GN'R has three guitarists, and Ashba says that while it's not completely necessary, Axl Rose wants a trio of axemen so they can recreate the album sound as closely as possible.

“Could two of us pull off those songs?” Ashba asks. “Absolutely. But I think what’s cool, and where Axl is coming from is he wants it to sound like the record; Axl is very big on that. You know, everybody that’s ever made a record, usually there’s more than two guitar tracks on a song; you’ve got rhythms and lead and overdubs. So it’s kind of cool.”

Ashba says that Rose has “really put together an incredible pool of musicians. He handpicked everybody in this band and I’m honored to be a part of it. Everybody in this band is top-notch players. So, yeah, could two of us do it? Of course. But to me, we can do all the bells and whistles … and it sounds very authentic that way, I think. We can really make it sound like the record, like a really cool live experience for people.”

Guns N' Roses' residency at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas wraps up Saturday night (June 7). They filmed a live DVD during a residency there in 2012. ‘Appetite for Democracy 3D: Live From The Hard Rock Casino – Las Vegas’ will be released July 1, and is currently available for pre-order at this location.

Listen to the KWSS-FM Interview with DJ Ashba

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