Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler says that both he and ex-guitarist Izzy Stradlin are “heartbroken” that they’re not part of the band’s reunion. Frontman Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan began their Not in This Lifetime tour in 2016 and it continues through 2018 . Although Adler has made a handful of guest appearances for a few songs at a time, neither he nor Stradlin have a full-time place in the lineup. Earlier this year he admitted that being left out of the reunion had been a “perfect excuse” to start drinking again – but that he’d resisted the urge.

Speaking ahead of an Australian tour during which his current outfit Adler’s Appetite will play Guns N' Roses' debut Appetite for Destruction in full, the drummer told HysteriaMag, “The thing about Guns N’ Roses that made us so great and so magical is because we were a magic band, like Led Zeppelin, or Aerosmith or Queen. Once we were together we couldn’t do anything wrong. If one person left the band and did Appetite, Appetite would not be Appetite. And it’s a shame because Use Your Illusion when we did the demo tape, I kept saying, or we kept saying, it was gonna be bigger and better than Appetite but once they kicked me out of the band, part of the magic was gone. It’s a different band. A completely different band.

“You know, if they want me, they know my number – I’m ready to rock,” he continued. “My goal was to finish what I started, and Izzy’s too. Iz is just as heartbroken as I am that the three of them decided to leave us out and bring three strangers in – who are those people? It’s just not cool. I love those songs, I love those records. I practice them here at home every day because I love them and I’m so proud of them and I’m proud of what the five of us did – we accomplished our dream exactly the way we wanted to. It didn’t end the way we wanted, or I wanted, but we did it our way. Like Frank Sinatra said, ‘I did it my way.’”

Adler was fired in 1990 after his addiction issues ran out of control, while Stradlin left the following year. In a tweet that was later deleted, the guitarist suggested he hadn’t taken part in the reunion because of a dispute over financial splits. Former band manager Alan Niven recently said that the guitarist had come to rehearse at a soundcheck ahead of one reunion show, but had left before it began.

Meanwhile, Adler said his intention is to deliver Appetite for Destruction “the way it sounds on the record, not the way the G N’ R guys are doing it now, we’re gonna do it the right way, and then some!”