Guns N’ Roses: The Wall Street Journal Attempts to Finally Figure Out “Where’s Izzy?”

In an attempt to assuage the curiosity of the five or six of us who still care, The Wall Street Journal recently attempted to track down rhythm guitarist/vastly under-appreciated songwriter Izzy Stradlin to find out why he’s not currently raking in squillions of dollars as part of the Guns N’ Roses reunion. And the brief answer they were able to obtain from Izzy basically reiterates what the enigmatic musician has said in the past: it’s all about the Benjamins.

“’The current GNR tour has been a great success for the guys. My nonparticipation was simply not being able to reach a happy middle ground through the negotiation process,’ Mr. Stradlin said in an email. ‘That’s life, sometimes things don’t work out.’ He didn’t respond to further inquiries.”

Although that’s less-than-illuminating intel, fans may still wanna read the article, ’cause it has some good stories that basically demonstrate how Izzy isn’t all that much less reclusive than his childhood friend and GN’R co-founder, Axl Rose:

“[Izzy’s post-GN’R project] The Ju Ju Hounds broke up in 1994 while recording its second album. The band members were working at the Caribbean Sound Basin studio in Trinidad, taking breaks to travel, surf and scuba-dive.

“Early that year, Mr. Ashhurst called in after a diving trip and was told Mr. Stradlin had left the country. Confused, he eventually found Mr. Stradlin in a coffee shop in Copenhagen.

“’I don’t think he appreciated being tracked down,’ Mr. Ashhurst said.”

This makes me wonder if Axl and Izzy’s behavior would be considered normal in Lafayette, Indiana, where they grew up. I mean, look, if you wanna break up your band, that’s your business, but don’t just ghost them, bruh.

You can read the entire piece here.

[via Bring Back Glam!]