Axl Rose breaks his silence and speaks to Billboard

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose gives Billboard a world exclusive interview about his band's first new album of original material in 17 years, Chinese Democracy. From Billboard:

This is the first interview you've done in a long time. Why have you been so reluctant to do press now that the album is out?

Lots of reasons I've gone into elsewhere, but I can say why I'm doing this one. First, because in all this time it's one of the first actually formally presented: I was asked to consider it, I liked the questions and I felt it was a good time to address some of these issues publicly. Also, because it's my understanding that these answers may be "considered" for use with Billboard.com and Reuters [with which Billboard has a syndication deal] and this seemed like a wonderful opportunity to express myself accordingly.

With Reuters, I get their reach. That said, they've been particularly ugly toward me and this band for years, with nearly everything they've written being condescending or negatively judgmental with the cute little press trick of using negative adjectives across the board whenever they've written anything. In our regard they're one of the media outlets that appear to continually attempt to set a tone for a negative mainstream public perception regarding either us or myself, at least in the United States, if not the world.

Also read:
My letter to Axl Rose
Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy Pre-Launch Listening Party in Singapore