March 8, 2006 12:09

Guns N' Roses legal battle takes new twist

No wonder it's taking Axl ages over this album!

Axl Rose has begun another legal battle with his old Guns N’ Roses bandmates.

Frontman Rose, the only original member of the band left, is finally set to release the long-awaited 'Chinese Democracy' album later this year, 13 years after the group’s last album, 1993’s covers record ‘The Spaghetti Incident?’.

And despite recent comments from ex-guitarist Slash that he’d “always been supportive” towards Rose’s work, MTV reports that Rose has filed a suit against his old bandmates, seeking a federal judge's confirmation of Rose's "ownership of his own creative works".

The action is in response to a federal suit filed in 2005 by Slash and bassist Duff McKagan, who accused Rose of changing the publisher of the group's copyrighted songs without first conferring with them and then claiming the royalties.

A spokesperson for Slash and McKagan, now in Velvet Revolver, said the stars had no comment to make.