Guns N' Roses clarifies reasons for video delay

Guns N' Roses has denied a report that the video for the band's new single, "Better," has been delayed because of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. A story posted at Blabbermouth.net on Monday (December 29th) reported that Guns N' Roses associate Fernando Lebeis wrote at a Guns message board that the debut of the clip was being held up because Ulrich, who briefly appears in the video, had not signed a release form permitting the use of his image.

Asked about the delay at MyGNRForum.com, Lebeis replied in a post that was later taken down, saying, "Tell Lars to OK the vid and it's done. That's all that is pending ...We are pending his release form to be signed."

Lebeis later told Blabbermouth that his post was "a fun comment and not an attack on Lars."

Guns N' Roses also issued a statement saying, "Lars isn't holding anything up with our video. Our message board comments were meant casually, in fun and amongst friends. Unfortunately, someone with Blabbermouth may have taken things a bit out of context and made them into a bit more than they are in reality. Our apologies to anyone who may have been confused. We hope to have our video out shortly."

Ulrich has reportedly remained friendly with Guns singer Axl Rose ever since Metallica and Guns toured together in the early '90s. He was allegedly spotted backstage at several shows on the 2006 Guns N' Roses tour and even performed "Out Ta Get Me" with the group at a show in Oakland on December 15th of that year.

"Better" is the second single from the new Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, which was released late last month.

In other news, Guns guitarist Richard Fortus denied telling TheTelegraph.com that the band was starting a two-year tour in March. Fortus said in a statement that he was "being misquoted once again ... Never said it."