Guns N' Roses superfan Rick Dunsford has been handed a lifetime ban from seeing Guns N' Roses after being accused of leaking rare material.
A man who named his son Axl in tribute to Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose has been banned from ever attending a Guns N’ Roses concert for the rest of his life.
Rick Dunsford – who, in addition to naming his son after the frontman, has seen the band 32 times and has their autographs tattooed on his body – has been accused by the band accused of leaking Chinese Democracy-era songs recorded by the band in the early 2000s.
And on October 7, the superfan – who is well-known within the GN’R community – was allegedly waiting in line at their Wichita show when he was flagged by security and told to leave the property.
He also apparently received an email from the band’s legal representative telling him not to attend while he was standing in line.
The incident stems back to when Rick came across a storage shed belonging to former Guns N’ Roses A&R rep Tom Zutaut.
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“About two and a half months ago, I drove to Virginia, and there was a storage locker that belonged to Tom Zutaut,” Rick explained to U.S. radio personalities Greg Dwyer and Bill Michaels. “He didn’t pay his bills or something and it was auctioned off. The individual that bought the locker, there was about 20 CDs in this locker of unreleased Guns N’ Roses music from around ’99 to 2000 or 2001.”
Rick and few other fans banded together and came up with the $15,000 asking price. Representatives for the band later reached out asking for the material back. Initially there was an agreement for Rick to get his money back, though that was apparently later voided.
And while Rick has been singled out for the leaks, he insists that it wasn’t him. “I know the seller that I bought them from was continuing to sell to other individuals," he said "and there was a massive leak. So pretty much, I’ve been blamed for this.”
While the ban might seem impractical – if not impossible – to enforce, it’s clear that Guns N’ Roses are nevertheless taking it very seriously indeed.
“[The ban] is pretty much for the rest of my life, is what the head of security in that video was telling me,” said Rick. “They made it clear that if I am spotted at all, I will be arrested on the spot.”
