Axl Takes a Bite Into Crime

Tue., Jun. 27, 2006 12:15 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Looks like Axl Rose's appetite for self-destruction has gotten the better of him once again.

The ever-volatile Guns N' Roses frontman spent some quality time in a Stockholm jail Tuesday following his arrest for allegedly biting a hotel security on the leg following a rampage through the Bens Hotel.

The group, in the middle of European tour, had been staying at the hotel. According to published reports, the guard tried to break up an argument between Rose and an unidentified woman in the lobby around 8 a.m. Rose, 44, was arrested and booked on suspicion of attacking and threatening the guard and causing damage to the hotel.

"He was deemed too intoxicated to be questioned right away," police spokesperson Towe Hagg told the Associated Press.

Rose's riotous behavior followed Monday's sold-out show at Stockholm's Globe Arena. Per local media accounts, Rose turned up at an after-party at the popular nightclub Caf? Opera at around 2 a.m., with several blonde groupies in tow, and reportedly partied into the wee hours before returning to the hotel.

The Swedish daily Aftonbladet quoted arresting officer Frank Nylen as saying the "Welcome to the Jungle" rocker needed to be "handcuffed and restrained," at which point the purported brawl broke out. Rose ended up hitting, then chomping one of the guards on the leg, prompting the latter to later seek a medical evaluation at a local hospital, the newspaper reported.

"He kept a high profile, so to speak," Nylen quipped.

Witnesses on the scene told the newspaper that Rose broke a mirror in the hotel's reception area during the dust-up. No word exactly what triggered the initial argument with the woman.

Rose, meanwhile, spent much of the day drying out in a jail cell, before he admitted to the charges and agreed to pay a fine of $5,500 and $1,360 in damages to the guard, according to Hagg.

The arrest comes a month after he was on the business end of Tommy Hilfiger's fists at a birthday bash for Rosario Dawson at club Plumm in New York. Per reports, Rose moved a drink belonging to the fashion designer's girlfriend and, to the surprise of partygoers, Hilfiger jumped the Gunner and began pummeling him until bouncers pulled Hilfiger off and evicted him from the club. Rose later took the stage and dedicated the song "You're Crazy" to "my good friend Tommy Hilfiger."

In 2002, Rose sparked a riot when he failed to show up for a Guns N' Roses gig in Vancouver for the newly revamped band's long-awaited comeback tour.

The band stiffed fans again in Philadelphia when it failed to perform, citing the illness of a band member. That caused yet another riot to erupt, which sent 15 people to the hospital and prompted the promoter, Clear Channel, to scrub the remaining dates of their comeback tour.

So far Guns N' Roses hasn't skipped any shows on the current tour. The revamped lineup, featuring Rose and a bunch of all-star sidemen, returned to the stage with a sold-out run at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom last month. They're currently playing a series of festival dates in Europe as a prelude to what Rose has said will finally be the release of GNR's near-mythical album, Chinese Democracy, sometime in the fall.