Rose was interviewed in a San Fernando Valley recording studio in late November by David Wild as the singer worked on the upcoming GN'R album "Chinese Democracy," a project he first discussed publicly earlier that month with MTV News' Kurt Loder. The piece, titled "Axl Speaks," is set to appear in the February 3 issue of "Rolling Stone."

Wild, who listened to almost a dozen songs in various stages of completion, writes that the industrial-flavored "Oh My God" from the "End Of Days" soundtrack is only a hint of what is to come. He describes the band's new sound as "Led Zeppelin's 'Physical Graffiti' re-mixed by Beck and Trent Reznor" and says the title track is "almost grungy."

The article reveals that other songs we could find on "Chinese Democracy" when it hits stores include "Catcher In The Rye," "Oklahoma," and "I.R.S." (We're unable to recount another title here, though we will pass along that it's an acronym for "There Was A Time.")

Wild reveals to readers that the singer, who has rarely been seen in public since the GN'R of yore last toured in 1993, looks "older and more solidly built" than in his "lean rock god" days, which the writer attributes to the singer's kickboxing workouts and his nocturnal but "zealously healthy" lifestyle.

The interview also reveals that the 1989 GN'R disc "Lies" will no longer host the inflammatory track "One In A Million," and 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?" won't include the hidden cut "Look At Your Game Girl" written by mass murderer Charles Manson. Rose tells the magazine that he decided to pull the ditties because "they're too easily misinterpreted."

Calls to Interscope Records to confirm the plan were not returned.

One of the piece's more humorous moments is reserved for the (politely) mouthy Moby, who has managed to parlay a brief production encounter with Rose into numerous press articles.

"I appreciate the publicity he's been giving us," says Rose, "but shut up already."

-- Sorelle Saidman