Guns n' Roses: coming up roses?

LOS ANGELES (GnR Fans Website) - Guns n' Roses will begin an overseas tour on August 14th in Hong Kong, which will include the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo and Osaka. The band will then head to Europe to play the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium, the Carling Festival in Leeds, and two additional shows in London. G n' R are then planning to return to the U.S. for a tour to run from September to December.

The all-new Guns n' Roses - Axl Rose is the only remaining original member of the band -- had scheduled a tour of Europe last year but called it off because of an illness to guitarist Buckethead. Make-up dates booked for last December were also cancelled.

The band - which now also features previous G n' R keyboardist Dizzy Reed, former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck and Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia - has been largely dormant for the past decade, following the release of the band's 1993 collection of covers, The Spaghetti Incident. So far, the group has only managed to make New Years Eve appearances in Las Vegas the past two years and the Rock In Rio festival in Brazil early in 2001.

Rose and Co. have been working on their fourth album of new material, Chinese Democracy, for several years, but there are no plans yet for a release.

Meanwhile, former Guns n' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum have teamed up with Buckcherry members Josh Todd and Keith Nelson and are jokingly referring to themselves as "Cherry Roses." The pairing is still in the experimental stages, and, according to a spokesperson for the group, it may not develop into anything. The band made its unofficial debut at a tribute concert for late drummer Randy Castillo (Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue) in late April. The members have been writing material together over the last few months.