In April 1997, "Rolling Stone" reported the lineup as Rose, McKagan, Tobias, Finck, Vrenna and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Reed's friend and roommate Sean Riggs worked with the band as a studio drummer sporadically during the mid to late 90s. After Vrenna left, Josh Freese was hired as full-time drummer in mid-1997. McKagan, who had recently become a father, left in August 1997. According to McKagan, "Guns had been paying rent on studios for three years now—from 1994 to 1997—and still did not have a single song. The whole operation was so erratic that it didn't seem to fit with my hopes for parenthood, for stability."