Gilby Clarke Says Guns N’ Roses Asked Him to Take Part in Reunion
When Guns N' Roses partially reunited its classic lineup in 2016, it wasn't completely unexpected that the notoriously reclusive Izzy Stradlin didn't take part. But when he didn't sign on, fans were wondering why his 1991 replacement in the group, Gilby Clarke, wasn't enlisted. According to a new interview with the guitarist, he actually was asked to join, but had to turn the band down.
"Oh yeah, no - they did, yeah, they did, when it first started, they did reach out to me to come and play." Clarke says when asked if the group reached out to him in an interview with Eddie Trunk which can be heard below. "I have said that they did ask me before, I've never said why I didn't do it. The real reason is, they asked me, but you know my daughter Frankie has a band [Frankie + The Studs], they asked me the same day my daughter's band was playing Lollapalooza [in July 2016], which was like the biggest break for her band and stuff. It was the same day they were playing Lollapalooza and I had to be there, and I couldn't really give that up to go be the third guitar player in the band."
Clarke first linked up with Guns N' Roses in late-1991 for the Use Your Illusion tour, and remained with the band until 1995. Though he wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the group in 2012, he did jam on a few songs with them at the ceremony, though both frontman Axl Rose and Stradlin were absent.
"I have nothing against it," Clarke says of possibly performing with GNR at some point in the future. "It's just that didn't work out for me."
The Guns N' Roses "Not In This Lifetime..." tour, which sees bassist Duff McKagan and guitarist Slash back in the fold, has been a massive success. It was listed as the fourth-biggest tour of all time in January of this year. Next month, a staggering 10th leg of the tour will begin in Mexico and run through the beginning of December, closing out in Honolulu, Hawaii. The full list of show can be found here.
Hear Gilby Clarke on Trunk Nation
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