Drummer Steven Adler Calls Current Guns N' Roses "Axl and His Hacks"

Update: Since the original article was published this morning, Steven Adler has issued a public apology, stating: ""Sometimes my emotions get the best of me when talking about my former band. It's hard to see your ex in bed with somebody else. We created one of the biggest-selling debut albums of all time and it's no secret that I want to finish what we started 25 years ago and play together at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The guys that Axl has put together are all great players. They're not hacks in the sense that they can't play, they're all incredible musicians. I just meant that they are not the original lineup. I would like to apologize to Axl, Bumblefoot, D.J., Tommy, Dizzy, Richard, Frank, and Chris for my statement." The original article follows.

In this whole Guns N' Roses saga, original drummer Steven Adler has always seemed to be the optimistic, excitable one in the band who just wishes everyone could get along and play those original Appetite-era songs the way they were meant to be played.

In a new interview with Loudwire, however, Adler let the venom fly just a bit, letting his true feelings on the current incarnation of Guns N' Roses be known.

“He wants to do it," Adler said of Slash's desire to play the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. "I want to do it. Just from what I hear, Izzy [Stradlin]‘s not gonna show up and Axl will probably want to play with his hack band — his band of hacks. ‘Axl and His Hacks’ — it shouldn’t even be Guns N’ Roses. He’s just driving that name into the freakin’ ground. ‘Axl and His Hacks.’"

As much as Slash and Axl's ongoing bad blood seem to be at the focal point of the band's issues, it's true as well that rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin is the wild card here. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed told Billboard last month that everyone in the original band would be in attendance, but no one seems to have heard from the elusive guitarist, once again promoting the immortal question: "Where's Izzy?"