August 7 [14:00 EDT] -- If you're wondering what's been happening lately with Guns n' Roses and the band's frontman Axl Rose, you're not alone.

It's been ten years since G n' R burst upon the scene with their "Appetite For Destruction" album, and six years since the group released its last hit (the separate-but-equal, double CD collection "Use Your Illusion"). During that period, Guns was probably the biggest hard-rock band in the world.

Since then, however, Rose (who legally owns the rights to the group's name, and has slowly divested himself of such key bandmates as songwriter Izzy Stradlin and guitarist Slash) has apparently been holed up at his house in Los Angeles, keeping a very low profile.

He's a recluse," Gerri Miller of "Metal Edge" magazine told MTV News. "I haven't even seen the guy. I live in L.A. I've lived here for four years. I've not run into him once. He doesn't go out.

Rose apparently does get out of the house occasionally, as he

was recently spotted at a Radiohead concert in L.A. However, there's no denying that the man is keeping a very low profile.

I would imagine that he's maybe avoiding going through some of the painful things that we've actually been through," Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee told MTV News. "When you release a record, and it's just a different time and just a whole new wave of music and a lot of changes took place. Maybe Axl's got his storm windows up and they're all boarded up and he's waiting 'til it passes.

Well, he's been doing a lot of reading and learning a lot of new instrumentation, he's been learning how to play guitar," Bryn Bridenthal of Geffen Records, Gn'R's label, told MTV News. As for reports that Rose with techno star Moby and is said to be planning a new, experimental Guns n' Roses lineup that will include original bassist Duff McKagan, nothing is certain yet.

All I can tell you is there will be an album when Axl says it's done.