of the tension that had existed between Axl and himself was gone, saying: "Well, we haven't really talked in a long time. But a lot of the tension that you were talking about has dissipated. We don't have all those issues anymore." When asked specifically about the chances of Guns N' Roses reuniting, he said: "I gotta be careful what I say there. I mean, if everybody wanted to do it and do it for the right reasons, you know, I think the fans would love it. I think it might be fun at some point to try and do that, but it just starts to get into a whole complex thing. But anyway, it's really between the guys in the band." This sparked the start of what would prove to be a long period of speculation on a reunion by both the fans and the media. Slash later revealed that he and Axl spoke via telephone in March 2015. Suddenly, on July 27, 2015, the news broke that Guns N' Roses' co-lead guitarist, DJ Ashba, was leaving the band. He wrote a letter explaining that he was going to focus his work on his other group, Sixx:A.M., which he had formed with bassist Nikki Sixx and vocalist James Michael in 2007. At the same time he thanked Rose for the opportunity he was given by playing with Guns N' Roses and it seemed like they had left things on good terms. While this news story was picking up, it was at the same time confirmed by a representative of Guns N' Roses that Thal was officially out of the band. The leaving of both Ashba and Thal, combined with Slash's comments on a reunion only a couple months before, further fueled both media and fan speculation about a reunion being in the works. Furthermore, on August 22, 2015, Slash stated to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Axl and he had spoken recently. This was considered a big news story because it was common knowledge that the two of them had not spoken since he left the band in 1996. When asked about the re-connection with Rose, Slash commented "it was probably way overdue". Rumors of a reunited Guns N' Roses started to pick up more and more during late 2015. More reports came in claiming to have a confirmation that a reunion would happen, but no official statement was