With such long layoffs between new projects, it's only natural that Guns N' Roses should inspire all sorts of unfounded rumors -- or that fans might worry that the band could be headed for a split. But keyboardist Dizzy Reed has laughed off the most recent rumors of a GNR breakup.

Reed responded to the chatter during a recent interview with Billboard, saying, "You know, so much of that crap gets out there, you can't believe any of it. At this point, having been in the band for so long, nothing surprises me. When I hear things like that I immediately dismiss them until I hear further. I'm never really concerned enough to even ask where it came from, or why, because if it's that important I'll be getting a phone call."

So how did the latest rumor get started? Perhaps it has something to do with a lack of activity on the immediate horizon. "Guns are definitely taking some time off," Reed admitted. "I'm not sure if we're gonna be doing anything else this year. Hopefully we will, but definitely next year. We can't stay away too long."

Meanwhile, there's still the ever-nagging question of when Guns might deliver a new album, and Reed refused to speculate, shrugging, "I gave up on that a long time ago, with the last record. It'll come out when it comes out, when it's ready."

To that end, Reed says the band members have been "handing files back and forth to one another in various combinations," but he also added that there remains leftover material from 2008's 'Chinese Democracy' that "needs to be finished and needs to be released. I think a lot of it is either finished or close to being finished -- it's just a matter of picking which songs and where and when and in what order. And if there's other things that come up that are worthy enough to add to that, then that's gonna happen, too."

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