What Every Ex-Member Of Guns N' Roses Is Doing Today

Since its formation in 1985, Guns N' Roses has existed in some way, shape, or form. As one might assume from a group that has rocked the world's faces for nearly four decades, there have been a few lineup changes over the years. In fact, at this point, the group's only constant member has been singer Axl Rose. Every other position in the band has been a revolving door of new, returning, and briefly visiting faces, to the point that apart from their active lineup, there are no less than 16 people (plus assorted touring members) who have been a part of the Guns N' Roses story. Some of them you might be very familiar with, others you might know from very different circles, and others still you might be hearing about for the first time. 

So who are these ex-Roses, and what are they up to these days? Let's take a look at what every former member of Guns N' Roses is doing today.

The original 1985 lineup of the band called Guns N' Roses was more than a little different from the classic lineup of the late 1980s and 90s: Axl Rose, Tracii Guns, Izzy Stradlin, Ole Beich, and Rob Gardner. Some of these names are decidedly more obscure than others, and Gardner definitely qualifies for the "wait, who?" category. 

In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, fellow early band member Tracii Guns noted that Gardner was indeed the first drummer of Guns N' Roses, but his train to stardom was quickly derailed when love intervened. According to Guns, Gardner's girlfriend did not much care for him being in the band, so she forced him to quit the group early on. Unfortunately, she subsequently left him, and Gardner has not found his way back into the limelight since, despite Guns pointing out that he was a "great drummer."

Gardner has cited additional reasons for his departure, including Guns' exit from the band and dissatisfaction with the direction the group was taking. In a July 2022 interview with the "First 50 Gigs" podcast, Gardner said he'd come to terms with the band's success and the timing of his departure. "All in all, I was glad to be part of it," he told the hosts. "You gotta move on, you know?"

Fans of hard rock are probably quite familiar with original Guns N' Roses guitarist Tracii Guns, whose name provided the "Guns" in "Guns N' Roses" – the "Roses" obviously being a reference to Axl Rose. Guns was initially a member of the L.A. Guns, which joined with the band Hollywood Rose to become Guns N' Roses. Guns left after just a few months, though, and the L.A. Guns had a second life. As of 2024, Guns' four decades as a musician have left him with his own share of hard-rocking hits and no less than 14 studio albums with L.A. Guns. Apart from that, Guns has also worked with several notable artists, including Motörhead, Johnny Thunders, Poison, and WASP. 

As successful as Guns became in his own right, Guns N' Roses weren't exactly stabbed in the heart by the talented guitarist's departure. After all, he was soon replaced with a certain top-hat aficionado known as Slash. 

Out of all the original members of Guns N' Roses, the Danish bassist Ole Beich is perhaps the most tragic (and arguably the most obscure) figure. According to Ultimate Guitar, former GN'R member Tracii Guns described his old bandmate as a metal guy who had already played with Mercyful Fate and (possibly) King Diamond. As such, Beich soon grew frustrated with the glam-tinted hard rock direction Guns N' Roses was taking, and he was the first — but far from the last — member to leave the band.

According to Guns, Beich was about a decade older than him, and a nice, helpful guy who was quite serious yet had a wonderful sense of humor. Unfortunately, Beich's fate is one of the most tragic elements of the Guns N' Roses' story. He dealt with depression and ultimately met a tragic end when he drowned in his native Denmark in October 1991. 

Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N' Roses, but he eventually started feeling that his role in the band was diminishing. "I didn't feel my opinions were really being taken seriously anymore," he told Rolling Stone (via Ultimate Classic Rock). The public first discovered the situation in 1991, when the "Don't Cry" music video featured a sign that asked "Where's Izzy?" instead of the man himself. Stradlin left the band soon after this. 

Slash has stated that his former band member grew weary of touring and left the rest of the group hanging. Meanwhile, Stradlin said he was frustrated by the lax attitude of his band members and his old friend Axl Rose's growing "tyranny" (a factor that also contributed to Rose's eventual feud with Slash). Regardless of what his real reasons were, the rhythm guitarist has remained a semi-elusive figure ever since. Stradlin's only band after his GN'R tenure was the short-lived Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds, after which he released 10 solo albums (the last of which came out in 2010). More recently, he has been in the spotlight because his negotiations to rejoin the "classic" Guns N' Roses lineup keep falling apart. Even Rose has remarked that Stradlin is a notoriously tough guy to negotiate with.

As the BBC tells us, drummer Steven Adler joined Guns N' Roses in time for their "disastrous" 1985 tour that involved a broken van and a stint of hitchhiking. He was around during the band's rise to success, but he developed an addiction to both cocaine and heroin and started having problems with his playing. For this, he was ultimately fired in 1990 — though Adler has argued that the band deliberately made him play a song he hadn't rehearsed with them to make him sound like "an ill-equipped, crappy drummer" and have a reason to throw him out. 

Adler wasn't too happy about the decision and filed a lawsuit against the band in 1991 — earning a $2.5 million settlement from the band. Adler made bitter comments about his dismissal as recently as 2019. However, he has remained friends with Slash, and even took the stage with the band for a few gigs in 2016. Apart from that, he's been making moves with his own band, Adler's Appetite, which is ... basically a Guns N' Roses cover band. Ouch. 

Throughout the years, Guns N' Roses has gone through enough drummers to make Spinal Tap proud. Matt Sorum sat behind the drum kit after Steven Adler was fired, and he too was eventually shown the door in 1997, courtesy of Axl Rose. However, Sorum wasn't about to start resting on his laurels. He has since played with Velvet Revolver, the Cult, and Hollywood Vampires, and in 2018, he began working with Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler on a short-lived project called Deadland Ritual. As Forbes tells us, that was the same year he founded a "crypto-based" concert hosting platform called Artbit. 

Apart from his various ventures and successes, Sorum has also seen his share of the shadier side of life, and in 2022 he penned a memoir titled "Double Talkin' Jive." In a 2020 appearance on the "2 Hours with Matt Pinfield" podcast, Sorum promised his autobiography was "the juiciest of the juiciest of the GN'R books" (via Blabbermouth).

Gilby Clarke's Guns N' Roses stint was a roller coaster, to say the least. He took guitarist Izzy Stradlin's spot in 1991 after the founding member left the group. In 1994, he discovered that he was no longer a part of the band in a strange way: First, his paychecks simply stopped coming, and Slash informed him that Axl Rose didn't want him in the group anymore. Then, Slash assured Clarke that he was still in the band — but the paychecks never returned, so Clarke took the hint.

Despite the odd manner of his dismissal, Clarke told "Riki Rachtman's Cathouse Hollywood" that he holds no grudges (via Blabbermouth). He has collaborated with Slash on his Slash's Snakepit project, and he has recently kept himself busy with his solo career. Clarke released his latest solo album, "The Gospel Truth," in 2021.

Rhythm guitarist Paul "Huge" Tobias replaced Gilby Clarke in Guns N' Roses, which Ultimate Classic Rock tells us had huge implications for the band. Slash was not thrilled with Axl Rose's insistence on bringing Tobias on board, and his views about the new man's abilities were, to put it diplomatically, less than enthusiastic. This controversy played a part in Slash's departure from GN'R in 1996.  

Tobias and Rose were childhood friends, which may have been a factor in the singer's insistence on bringing him in despite Slash's protests. Unfortunately for Tobias, even a history of friendship couldn't make him a permanent fixture in the band, and in 2002 he was replaced by current GN'R member Richard Fortus. After Tobias' departure, mentions of him have been few and far between. In November 2018, GN'R Central reported that an old song from his other band, Mank Rage, had "leaked" online. 

Robin Finck first played guitar for Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 1999. According to Rolling Stone, he was part of a peculiar "recording" lineup that included Axl Rose, Paul Tobias, Dizzy Reed, Josh Freese, and Tommy Stinson. Though his time with the group was comparatively brief, a spokesperson for their label said that Finck recorded "several albums' worth of material" with them. Ultimate Guitar tells us he was one of the "main contributors" on 2008's "Chinese Democracy."

Finck later rejoined the band, only to leave again in 2008. His departure came as something of a shock to Guns N' Roses, though he had a pretty decent reason to leave Rose's troops behind. Finck happens to be a long-serving guitarist for a little band called Nine Inch Nails, who were about to commence on a tour. As of 2024, he's still holding the six-string fort for Trent Reznor whenever NIN hits the road. 

For some people, playing with Guns N' Roses is the highlight of their life. For Josh Freese, it was a Tuesday. As The Drummers' Journal tells us, Freese is a noted session drummer who had a two-year contract with GN'R from 1998 to 2000 but chose not to renew it because the band was pretty much buried in the studio abyss at the time. 

Instead of devoting his professional career to Axl Rose, Freese chose to work with ... well, pretty much everyone else. He has been a prominent member of A Perfect Circle, and has drummed for Bruce Springsteen, Weezer, the Replacements, Chris Cornell, Danny Elfman, Avril Lavigne, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Michael Bublé, and Miley Cyrus ... among others. Freese has several world tours with Sting under his belt, and he keeps up with his punk side as a member of the Vandals. In May 2023, Freese was announced as the new Foo Fighters drummer, replacing the late Taylor Hawkins. Oh, and just in case the hat didn't tip you off, Freese is also a longtime member of Devo. Axl who? 

Tommy Stinson held the bass player position in Guns N' Roses from 1998 to 2014, when he semi-accidentally quit the band due to his failing marriage and hectic home life forcing him to withdraw from touring. According to a 2017 Rolling Stone interview, he doesn't particularly miss his time with the band. Though he was just fine with the people involved, he said he was happy to have moved on. "It wasn't the easiest gig at all times, but it was a good experience. I got a lot out of it," Stinson told the "Life in the Stocks" podcast in 2023 (via Louder).

Stinson has had his fair share of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, even without the GN'R gig. He was in Soul Asylum from 2005 to 2012, but he is better known for his lengthy tenure with alt-rock icons the Replacements, which he co-founded at the ripe old age of 13. After moving on from that group as well, he resurrected his old band, Bash and Pop. In 2023, he joined up with guitarist-songwriter Chip Roberts to form the duo Cowboys in the Campfire. The pair put out a debut album, "Wronger," that summer and toured together in July 2024. 

Chris Pitman joined Guns N' Roses as a backing vocalist, second keyboardist, and second bass player in 1998. However, he fell out with the band (read: Axl Rose) over money. By 2012, Rose reportedly owed Pitman about $125,000 for a year's worth of work, and when Rose failed to pay on time, Pitman took him to court for $163,000. They eventually reached a settlement in 2016, though TMZ reports that the money Pitman actually received was significantly less than what he was seeking. 

Though Pitman was supposedly set to rejoin the band on its 2016 tour featuring classic-era members Duff McKagan and Slash, his place was ultimately taken by current member Melissa Reese. This may or may not have something to do with Pitman's acidic and extremely public remarks about said tour as "a money grab" and "an oldies reunion" (via Loudwire).

Buckethead, the prolific guitarist who famously wears a mask and a KFC bucket hat onstage, spent four years as a Guns N' Roses member, but he left to do his own thing in 2004. (Blabbermouth says this may have had something to do with his frustration with the band's "inability to complete an album.") The masked guitarist has gone through some pretty tough times since. In 2017, the man, whose real name is Brian Carroll, gave a surprisingly honest, out-of-character interview for the "Coming Alive" podcast (via Spin). He revealed that he had gone through a roller coaster of difficulties, including the death of his parents, a nasty back injury, and a condition that caused his heart to beat out of rhythm. 

Judging by his recent musical output, Buckethead seems to be more or less back on track. He released a live album in 2018, and in October 2019, he collaborated with his musical hero, the legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins, for a manic funk-metal cover of "Monster Mash." It's not always easy to understand what Buckethead is doing, but he's still doing it; summer 2024 saw him hit the road with a packed tour schedule. 

Drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia is one of those guys who have played with pretty much everyone. He tends to work with cult characters such as Tom Waits, Primus, Godflesh, Praxis, and the aforementioned Buckethead. However, his resume also includes a six-year stint with Guns N' Roses: Axl Rose invited the drummer to join the band in 2000, and he performed with them until 2006. 

Though Mantia is well known for his tenure with GN'R, it by no means characterized him. A drummer's drummer and "one of the premiere drummers in contemporary music" according to Drummerworld, he is an advanced music (and music theory) enthusiast who has released instructional DVDs and written columns for Drum! Magazine. Oh, and you've almost certainly heard his work, even if you've never knowingly listened to any artist he's played with. He's a member of Brain and Melissa, a musical duo responsible for a wide array of music from all walks of pop culture. The pair has contributed to movie soundtracks, NFL and MLB original game music, various high-profile commercials, and even video games such as "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4," not to mention "The Last of Us Part II" and "Cyberpunk 2077." It's "Brain" Mantia's world of sound, and the rest of us are just living in it.

Guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal first joined Guns N' Roses in 2006. He says he doesn't want to dwell on the negative sides of the job, but he found it difficult to fit into the group and told Rock.About.Com that he even had to "get a little violent" to gain respect at first (via Blabbermouth). He remained with the band until 2014, and though his departure was never officially announced, he told the "Radio Chatter" podcast that the decision to leave was an extremely difficult one and at least partially fueled by the knowledge that some of the best-known band members were planning a reunion. 

After leaving the GN'R ship behind, Thal's official website reveals that he has focused on solo work, running music camps, and playing in a supergroup called Sons of Apollo with former members of Dream Theater, Journey, and Mr. Big. Interestingly, he also has a line of award-winning hot sauces. Chowhound ranked his "Bumblef**ked" ginger-ginseng-caffeine sauce among the spiciest in the world.

DJ Ashba joined Guns N' Roses in 2009 and ended his tenure with the band in 2015. He stated that he wanted to spend more time with his family and his other musical ventures, though it may be worth noting that Slash's return to the band was announced that very same year. 

Since leaving the GN'R solo guitar spot open for the more famous hat-wearing shredder's grand comeback, Ashba has remained quite busy. He played guitar in Mötley Crüe main man Nikki Sixx's Sixx:A.M., and his official website reveals that he has his spoon in many other soups as well. Apart from the occasional TV appearance, he is currently dedicating his energies to what he calls GDM, or guitar dance music, which he defines as "morphing big rock guitar with electronic music." He also operates a company called Ashba Studios, which creates props and "themed environments" for television, film, and live events. 

If you or anyone you know is struggling or in crisis or needs help with addiction issues, contact the relevant resources below:

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
• Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).