Irving Azoff, manager for Guns n Roses has issued a statement denying a claim by German musician Ulrich Schnauss that Axl Rose stole his music for one of his songs.
Schnauss has staked a claim to the `Chinese Democracy’ track ‘Riad N’ The Bedoiuns’ claiming Rose sampled his songs ‘Wherever You Are’ and ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ without permission."The band vigorously contests these claims and intends to respond accordingly," Azoff said in a statement. "The band believed when the record came out and still believes that there are no unauthorized samples on the track. The snippets of 'ambient noise' in question were provided by a member of the album's production team who has assured us that these few seconds of sound were obtained legitimately. Artists these days can't read the minds of those they collaborate with and therefore are unfortunately vulnerable to claims like this one. While the band resents the implication that they would ever use another artist's work improperly and are assessing possible counterclaims, they are confident this situation will be satisfactorily resolved."
Schnauss records for British label Independiente.
The lawsuit is seeking $1 million in damages.
