Former Guns N' Roses [ tickets ] manager Merck Mercuriadis, in an open letter addressed to the band's fans, gave his version of the events that led to his ouster last week.

GN'R frontman Axl Rose announced Friday (12/15) that he had canceled the group's planned January concerts in order to complete the "Chinese Democracy" album, which has been in the works for more than a decade. Rose also announced that he had fired Mercuriadis, whom Rose said had assured him that "any and all things needed to release the album by Dec. 26 at the latest were in place."

Mercuriadis' letter essentially claimed that the reason the album won't be released this year is because it's not complete.

"The reality is all of this year's touring was planned and agreed between Axl and myself, with a view to the album being in the stores before the 31st of December '06," Mercuriadis' statement read in part. "This was confirmed by Axl in numerous interviews--most famously at the MTV Video Music Awards. We planned the tour in February [2006], just after Axl's birthday and we were supposed to finish the album in May, before it started."

According to Mercuriadis, several recording sessions were subsequently scheduled in 2006, but Rose wasn't able to complete "Chinese Democracy." After the tour's initial dates were postponed, Mercuriadis said Rose had an artistic breakthrough after performing at Southern California's Inland Invasion concert in September.

"At this point we were very excited as Axl's feeling was that we had two or three days of work left to tidy things up and we still had three weeks before the tour started, so we were in good shape," Mercuriadis wrote. "Unfortunately the muse disappeared just as fast as she came and the tour started with no single at radio to support it and the album still needing two or three days of work."

Mercuriadis said that he considered postponing GN'R's tour again, "but the reality was that our historic track record left us with very little good will with you, the fans, and we needed the money to be able to complete the album and keep the band alive. We scheduled sessions in New York and once again sent the engineers there for the first two weeks of November while the tour was based there--but the hectic touring schedule meant nothing got done. The record company refused to conclude the renegotiation until we were ready to hand over the finished album and refused to prepare a marketing campaign or commission video treatments until they had it in their hands. This is still their position as of this week."

Mercuriadis added: "I have no regrets. I believe 'Chinese Democracy' is one of the best albums ever made, Axl Rose is one of the greatest vocalists and front men and the new Guns N' Roses [ tickets ] (which kicks the s--- out of the old) is one of the greatest bands. What we accomplished in 2006 only hints at what is to come."