RICHARD FORTUS: “MADAGASCAR” SOLO IS BUCKETHEAD

For all the GN’R geeks (like myself) out there who’ve been wondering who’s playing that guitar solo on last week’s leaked track “Madagascar,” current GN’R axeman Richard Fortus has revealed in an e-mail to fan site MyGNR.com that “The solo on Madagascar that you heard is indeed Buckethead.” Fortus has been playing the solo live since Buckethead left the band in 2004, and while rumor has it that all of BH’s parts have either been deleted from or re-recorded for the actual album, there’s been no official confirmation either way. But if they are getting rid of Bucket’s parts, I wanna go on record as saying that’d be a real shame: even if the dude is a real weirdo, he’s one of the most brilliant guitarists working in any musical genre today.

-AR