Guns N’ Roses’ Other Confirmed Reunion Bandmates: Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortus, & Chris Pitman?
There’s been speculation for a while, but we got confirmation a couple of weeks ago: Some version of the classic Guns N’ Roses lineup is indeed reuniting in 2016, playing its first show back together at Coachella. But we still don’t know what, exactly, the lineup will be. We know that Axl Rose will lead the band, of course; he’s been doing that since 1985. And we know that classic-lineup principals Slash and Duff McKagan are back in the fold. But what of the rest of the band?
As Alternative Nation points out, we can begin to piece the rest of the band together through social-media posts. And thus far, this looks like it’s emphatically not going to be classic-lineup GN’R. Thus far, there’s no word that Izzy Stradlin, who co-wrote many of the band’s best songs, will be involved. Likewise, there’s nothing about the brilliant original drummer Steven Adler, or Matt Sorum, his sturdy Use Your Illusion-era replacement.
Instead, it looks like keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who joined the group in 1990 and who has stuck with Axl ever since, will still be around. So will former Psychedelic Furs drummer Frank Ferrer, who joined GN’R in 2006. Backup guitarist Richard Fortus, on board since 2001, and bassist/keyboardist Chris Pitman, who joined in 1998, round out what looks like the lineup.
I should point out that the sources for these confirmations aren’t exactly the same things as real confirmations: A Tweet from Pitman, another one from Reed’s wife, and Ferrer retweeting someone who congratulated both himself and Fortus. It’s also possible that Adler and Stradlin could be involved, or that they’re still negotiating. Still, this is a long way from being classic-lineup GN’R, even if it will be cool to see Slash and Duff back in the mix.