Chinese Democracy According to "Rolling Stone", engineer Andy Wallace, who had worked with Nirvana, Sepultura, Slayer, and Bad Religion, was working on the album that year. Stinson stated that year that most of the album had been recorded collaboratively in 2001, and had been "pretty much done" since then. On December 14, on the Guns N' Roses website, Rose announced the cancellation of four shows, citing the need for more time to work on "Chinese Democracy". He also announced that the band had ended their relationship with Mercuriadis, and announced a tentative release date of March 6, 2007, the first time the
Chinese Democracy Geffen had removed "Chinese Democracy" from its release schedule and withdrawn funding, stating: "Having exceeded all budgeted and approved recording costs by millions of dollars, it is Mr. Rose's obligation to fund and complete the album, not Geffen's." Around that time, manager Merck Mercuriadis said the album was close to complete. According to a March 2005 "New York Times" article, production costs for the album had reached $13 million, making it probably the most expensive recording "never made". Mercuriadis dismissed the article, writing in a letter that the newspaper's sources had not been involved with the project for several years.