Guns N' Roses last album Chinese Democracy was released all the way back in November 2008. "We haven’t started recording anything, when I say that, as far as in the studio doing an album. We’ve been recording a lot of stuff, just ideas, assembling ideas, but not going into a studio and actually tracking a new record," says Fortus.
Speaking on the StageLeft podcast, he said: "It’s sort of too good not to happen at this point, that’s how I feel about it. This band is really a force right now, and I definitely hope that we do, and I think we’re all sort of counting on it, and we’re also planning on it.”
Richard Fortus describes Axl Rose as a songwriting "genius", saying: "“I think the genius of Axl is his ability to assemble songs, from different parts, and make them feel cohesive as a song. I’ve never seen anybody able to do that in the same way.”