Former Weapons N’ Roses supervisor Alan Niven has taken his dispute with the band to court docket and, on the similar time, requested a decide to bless the publication of his autobiography, Sound N’ Fury.
In line with Loudwire, in filings submitted on Nov. 3, 2025, Niven is searching for a jury trial whereas accusing the camp round Weapons N’ Roses of leaning on an unenforceable settlement to stall his memoir.
On the coronary heart of the swimsuit is a confidentiality clause drafted in 1991. As Niven ready to maneuver ahead with Sound N’ Fury, he says the band’s representatives pointed to that settlement in a letter despatched in Might 2025, linking it to his buyout when he exited the group.
Niven’s place is simple: the clause can’t be enforced as a result of not everybody signed it. He notes that Slash, Duff McKagan, and Izzy Stradlin added their names, however Axl Rose allegedly didn’t. The filings additionally say Izzy Stradlin has not commented, and it stays unclear which particular social gathering is pushing to dam the guide.
Niven argues the horse has lengthy since left the barn. He and varied band members have, by his account, publicly revisited shared historical past for years with out anybody crying foul. He additional says that between 2015 and 2018, somebody throughout the Weapons N’ Roses orbit inspired him to write down down his experiences.
“GNR’s members have commented publicly on Niven; one member inspired him to write down the guide; and he has been talking about his time in GNR for over a decade,” says the court docket doc.
All of this, Niven claims, has delayed publication and prompted tangible hurt to his writer. He’s searching for damages tied to that alleged interference.
The court docket papers additionally body the outdated deal as intentionally broad, privateness and confidentiality “written in broad strokes.” Either side, the paperwork say, agreed to maintain confidences from their time working collectively. However Niven maintains the language doesn’t cowl issues discovered after the break up, and he reiterates that the settlement required signatures from all events to take impact, once more stating that Axl Rose didn’t signal.
Over time, each camps have revealed and spoken in regards to the previous in ways in which, strictly learn, might have tripped the settlement’s wires. Niven provides that he was invited to participate in Weapons N’ Roses’ historical past initiatives and documentaries, and that when he publicly introduced his memoir, there was initially no pushback.
That stance, he says, modified on Might 9, 2026, when his lawyer obtained a letter accusing him of violating the deal and warning that Weapons N’ Roses would search injunctive and financial reduction. The letter, in line with Niven, demanded that he cease publishing or selling the guide. With no settlement in sight, he’s now moved for a declaratory judgment to clear the trail ahead.
It’s additionally price noting that Sound N’ Fury isn’t just a backstage diary of the Axl Rose period. Niven recounts a profession that intersects with The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Clarence Clemons, Whitesnake, Elton John, and a protracted listing of others; materials that, he argues, stands by itself whatever the present deadlock.
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