well... it's quite funny, we're talking about this now right here. because, I think it's around 10 years since Axl & co. really recorded something we know of. not sure how old are those tracks with BBF guitar in left channel, I guess those are much older and he just added the guitar track for some fiddling purpose, but that's history. we know of nothing after circa 2007 (or when exactly were Frank's and BBF's additions to ChiDem recorded?).
since then - nothing. just first a post-Finck weird tour (I hated the lightning and presentations of those shows... reminded me those retro things that musicians do on TV after they turn 70... and Axl's vocals were tragical... altough I never bought the hate towards DJ Ashba), and after that the current nostalgia tour. which is just - existing out of their past.
funny and sad at the same time. I'd like to say this is the end of the road, but I've realised the end actually already happened about 10 years ago, when the last recordings for ChiDem were made. bizzarre shit.

I guess everybody who ever was in GNR was tired of inability to and unlikehood of finishing anything, since UYI was released. only the guys with little impact for recording or guys with flourishing side projects stayed for a long time. I think Bumble's case might be the best example - he really wanted to record and release stuff and increasingly became frustrated as hell.
I don't think Bucket was that much frustrated - it wasn't the recent time when he keeps releasing albums like a madman, but still when he was in GNR, he also released a couple of albums a year - doesn't feel like a frustrated guy to me... he was just, yeah, way too weird. the tales about a chicken coop in the studio are just unbelievable, but if I consider the whole picture - all that seems perfectly believable to me...

maybe he just had no clue what to do without him, had some kind of panic reaction and felt lost - I can imagine that. and as a reaction, he tried desperatedly to get BH back (to no avail, as we realised right when the 2006 tour started).
the truth is, ChiDem tracks are just made for 3 guitarists. they're thick with guitar melodies and they require a virtuoso. the songs sounded awesome live during Bumble's stint in GNR, because he did a great job in kind of imitating Bucket's parts, and of course nailed his own parts.
now, the ChiDem songs they play live, sound much more humble and scaled down, without that grandiose virtuoso touch. yeah, both Slash and Richard do their best, but this is simple not their league. especially poor Richard trying to play BH/BBF wicked solos just sounds sad, this is not what he's good at. and Slash trying to reinvent the rest is a big hit or miss thing - sometimes it sounds interesting, sometimes I wish DJ Ashba or his clone was still there imitating Robin's parts, because it worked well during his stint. oh well... this is fucked. it has been fucked since day one, but still it's so sad...

Zilla, you might be right, but the problem is simple - an "album cycle" just doesn't work for obvious reasons - Axl never releases anything properly. even the ChiDem release was quite forced and it should already have been released numerous times - summer 2001 was the first realistic date and fall 2006 the last one. another 2 years of delays were just ridiculous.
and yeah, Bucket was one of the neccessary pillars of the album and without him it would probably never materialize from the mess they were doing before he joined - remember that the pre-Bucket years, it was just a huge pile of ideas, not really transformed into songs yet, and he was one of the catalysts, maybe even the most important one, hard to say from 2017 perspective, lol!

no, I don't buy this anymore. everytime Axl or GNR make a move, the community views it as a sign of a release. but nothing ever materialised, ever. except for that Appetite for Democracy thing, which wasn't really heavily promoted and kind of got out like "hey guys we're doing a neverending tour, here's a release okay? okay, we're going on."
so no, until there's a substantial proof of anything getting really out, I don't even remotely believe it.