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 fist holding a star covered by flailing human figures. Photographs of the Hong Kong skyline and the Chinese military also appear in the booklet. The booklet also includes pictures of Rose, Buckethead, Stinson, Pitman, Finck, Fortus, Bumblefoot, Reed, Brain, and Ferrer alongside lyrics to the songs. Rose stated in December 2008 that two alternate booklets were pending release, adding "the artwork has always been something I've been passionate about, and to release the album with unapproved and unseen final artwork with a 1st work only error filled draft when others more recent were readily available still has not been explained."