It turns out that Guns N'Roses' track 'Atlas' has deep rooted connection to Queen guitarist Brian May.
The song was one of two singles released by the band in December last year, with the other one titled, 'Nothin'.
As it happens, both songs can be traced back to lengthy recording sessions from the band's 2008 album, Chinese Democracy, which featured many musicians and producers in and out of the sessions.
Brian May had worked on an early version of the track, which was originally titled, 'Atlas Shrugged', which saw long time Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker bring May into the mix.
"[He] was doing some production for them at the time and they came up with the idea of contacting me to help them work out a direction," May said in a 2011 interview. "I flew out there to meet him and he played me pretty much the whole album. We had a long night talking, thinking, figuring out potential directions".
May also worked on several other tracks, including, 'Catcher in the Rye', which featured on Chinese Democracy.
The new version of 'Atlas' which you can check out below, features Slash playing guitar, who admitted that he was surprised to learn that May had been part of the long version of the track.
"I didn't even know Brian was on the track [until today]," Slash said in a new interview. "Had I known, had I heard it, it might have been something that I would have wanted to play off of Brian. It would be interesting now that I know to go back and listen to what Brian did".
May's solo band then toured with Slash in support of his solo album, Back To The Light, as well as opening several Guns N'Roses shows as part of the Use Your Illusion tour. That era also saw Slash and May jam together on The Tonight Show.
"Brian is one of my all-time favorite guitarists, but also one of my favorite composers. And I say composers because Queen stuff is so epic," Slash added. "Queen was, all around, one of our favorite bands, so it was an honor to work with Brian. It always has been. I've worked with him a bunch of times over the years".
Last month, Brian May also made his feelings known about touring the US, where he admitted that he is “very sad” if Queen were forced to cancel potential US tour dates, as he raised serious concerns about safety and political instability in the country.
More on this from Nova here.
