I'm not interested in hearing any demos. Next album, if it ever happens, I would like to hear the songs as the maker intended for a change.

I think all the guys said things of a similar vein about leaving GN'R, Slash just did more interviews and said it more often.

Heres exerts of an interview with Duff in Hard Force Magazine 99, it seems to be just as, if not more critical than anything Slash said:

HF : After you finished the tour with NO, the medias started to talk about line-up problems in Guns N’ Roses. Was this the beginning of the band’s downfall?

D : Everything started when Slash turned his back and said : « This is shit. » [referring to their musical differences.] He and Axl didn’t talk to each other anymore. It had become quite irrational.

HF : The communication between them?

D : About schedules and the way Axl was late for the next album. Susan, my girlfriend, was pregnant. We were going to have a baby, but this band was becoming a dictatorship, everything had to get done in Axl’s way or it wouldn’t get done at all. It wasn’t like that when we started out. At one point, we were offered a huge sum of money to play a concert in Germany. I thought : « I never played for money and I’m not gonna start now! ». I’ve got a house, I’m secure financially. Post-Neurotic was the worst moment of my career in Guns. I went out for dinner with Axl and I told him : « Enough is enough. This band is a dictatorship and I don’t see myself playing in those conditions. Find someone else. »

HF : Why did Axl become so egomaniac and arrogant?

D : Because many people around him maintain him in that state of mind. They kept telling him he was right. Some of them feared him cause they were scared they were gonna lose their job. It’s as simple as that. I don’t want to do anything that goes against what I am now. I’m honest with myself and with the people surrounding me. Had I stayed with Axl, I would have acted against my personality. And nothing worse could ever happen to me. In this story, the real losers are Guns N’ Roses fans, unfortunately.

HF : Why didn’t you pursue your career with Slash and Matt, in another band?

D : I believe this will happen. And I think that would be fabulous. We’re very close friends as well as with Izzy. We’re in daily contact. Slash, Matt and myself played at the Slamdance film festival [ in Park City, Utah.] You can’t create a good feeling between three or four people. It has to be already there. And when we played together, not only was there the feeling, but also a big energy. Those who attended that show probably remember it cause it was really powerful. We felt so good on-stage that the music just seemed to flow. It was one of those magic nights....

HF : Don’t you think it’s a bit unfair to play this semi-Guns concert, given that the band’s not complete?

D : We play together very often and what would be unfair would be to ask us to stop doing it. It would be like forbidding a kid to go play outside with his friends or telling him, if his parents were divorced, that he had to stop seeing one of them. But I think that, if we don’t want to form a band right now, it’s because we want to get away from that Guns image. We’d like to prove to ourselves that we are musicians. I left Guns N’ Roses because the band didn’t correspond to me anymore. What’s left of the band has nothing to do with what we had created. I even think what’s left is not Guns N’ Roses.

HF : How did you react when Axl hired the bassist Tommy Stinson [ex-Replacements] and the guitarist Robin Finck [ex-Nine Inch Nails]?

D : I played with Robin a few times and he’s a great guy. But if I were Axl, in no way would I call that band Guns N’ Roses. The kids know GNR. No need to explain you, just listen to the albums we recorded. You can’t argue with that. For me, too much discussion would make the music lose its value. The kids have an idea of what that band is. My reaction? I thought : « This is not cool, it’s not the right thing to do, but it’s none of my business. If he thinks it’s right.... »

HF : So you’re not friend with Axl any longer?

D : Yes I am, but it doesn’t mean we agree on everything. We’ve been thinking too much about this band. We’ve been teenagers together, we became adults together. Nobody can ask me not to be friend anymore with my brother. But he’s got a problem : too many people around him confusing his mind. To be honest, he probably doesn’t live in the same world as you and me.

HF : We can only hope for better days.

D : Yes and I hope Axl won’t feel like I let him down. I was just honest. I didn’t wish to go on that way. I don’t think it’s fair for our fans, and it’s certainly not fair for Slash and myself since we were the founders of this band too and contributed to its identity. But life is unfair, so I’m not gonna waste my time complaining.

I think trying to capture the hearts of GN'R and rock fans with releasing a single that sounds kinda like old GNR is a non starter. Rock fans all know about Axl and Chinese Democracy and are either fans already or aint.

Releasing something like ITW or Scraped has a unique sound which might just appeal to other members of radios audience and bring in a new generation of fans.

At this point in time Axl should just fucking forget about the history of Guns N Roses and go out there and treat this album as a new beginning. Himself and the band should go out and push the thing and promote, tour, play one off shows - fucking do some work.
Fuck the past, consider yourself a newbie and go out and put in the effort to tell the world how good you are and how good your music is.
At the moment there are kids across the world with fire in their bellies determined to make it as musicians, determined to make their band as great as they possibly can, they eat sleep fuck and shit their band.

Axl and co have done nothing for their band and their album.

At the moment he just comes across as a surly old man who grudgingly released some music and is now in a huff because it didnt go his own way.

I found it strange as well. Duff is more than capable of sorting things out for himself. Honestly of all the "alumini", I'd wager Axl is least capable of getting things done.

Even Steven, when clean, can throw together a band, record and tour in next to no time.