Slash teases new Guns N’ Roses song with soundcheck TikTok video
Titled Hard School, the song – like the band's recent single, Absurd – dates back to the Chinese Democracy sessions
Back in August, Guns N' Roses released Absurd, a hard-rockin' tune that marked the first studio material from the band to feature Slash and bassist Duff McKagan in over 25 years.
At the time, the song – which, under the original name of Silkworms, dates back to the sessions for the band's Slash- and McKagan-less 2008 effort, Chinese Democracy – appeared to be a standalone single, but it might soon have some company.
From the looks of Slash's TikTok feed, Absurd isn't the only new tune the hard rock giants have up their sleeves.
Late last week, September 17, the top-hatted electric guitar great shared a video of the band soundchecking another previously unreleased song from the Chinese Democracy sessions, Hard School. You can check the video out below.
@slash Wrigley Field soundcheck Chicago 8.16.21 video by @meeganhodges iiii]; )'
♬ original sound - Slash
Rumors about the release of Hard School picked up last week, after it was reported that a fan had been assured by frontman Axl Rose, in a backstage conversation, that a studio version of the song would be released "soon."
Originally titled Jackie Chan, the song had over the years been leaked in bits and pieces, before a full version of the song was leaked in 2019. Though the band has soundchecked the tune multiple times, and despite its reported appearance on multiple setlists, they've yet to perform the song publicly.
New material has been but one of the highlights of the band's blockbuster summer tour, which also, in a climactic moment at the BottleRock Festival earlier this month, saw the band (plus Dave Grohl) carry on with their encore of Paradise City even after the festival's organizers pulled the plug on the band for playing past curfew.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.