Guitarist Richie Sambora has spoken about his decision to leave Bon Jovi in 2013, and about the likelihood of a return to the band he spent 30 years in.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sambora said, "It would have to be a special situation for me to go back, but I'm certainly not counting it out. I have no malice toward that band."
The comments come less than a month after band frontman Jon Bon Jovi spoke to Germany’s Rock Antenne about the possibilities of a reunion with Sambora, saying, "There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish that Richie had his life together and was still in the band. And yet, in a weird way, it's because of his inability to get it together anymore that we went on and wrote [2016 album] This House Is Not For Sale.
"It was a very strong record. I don't know where we would have gone, but through all that pain and heartbreak came this."
Sambora also responded directly to Bon Jovi's comments, saying, "When people say I don't have my life together - are you kidding me? I'm the happiest dude on the block!"
Sambora, who joined Bon Jovi in 1983, and co-wrote most of the band’s biggest hits, walked away from the band in 2013 prior to a show during the first leg of the New Jersey band’s Because We Can tour.
"I needed a break to freshen up and get a sense of renewal," he told Classic Rock in 2016. "All we did was work our butts off. The last tour I did with them was eighteen-and-a-half months, the one before was sixteen-and-a-half. It leaves you in the lurch with your life. I just said: 'Hey, time to take the reins.'”
Now he adds, "Obviously it hurts and you know, breaking up is hard to do. I was in a situation and it was not easy to make that decision to leave the band and the fans. I was in a dire situation with my family and I had to make a tough decision and I did and I'm sure people weren't happy about it."
Bon Jovi's new album, 2020, was released on October 2 via Island Records.
