60 seconds with Slash

Slash, born Saul Hudson and brought up in Stoke-on-Trent, is touted as one of the best rock guitarists. The 42-year-old performed legendary solos on Guns N' Roses songs Sweet Child O' Mine and November Rain. He fell out with singer Axl Rose and is currently lead guitarist in Slash's Snakepit and rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. His autobiography is out now.

Did you learn anything about yourself from writing the book?
No. I just cemented what I already knew. It’s a pretty good snapshot of my existence up to now.

Have you been back to Stoke-on-Trent lately?
I haven’t been back to visit. I have family there and I talk to them regularly but I haven’t made the effort to go. I should. I’ve driven past on the motorway a couple of times but that’s it.

What was the high point of your time in Guns N’ Roses?
The whole thing was a high point. It was the best thing I could have got involved with. I always judged how successful we were by the response from the fans. Towards the end it was overwhelming. The biggest concerts we did were two Rock In Rio festivals, where we played to more than 190,000 people. Playing in front of that many people is a lot to take in so I hid behind the guitar, the hat, the hair, the cigarette – but you can definitely still feel them out there.

You’ve worked with a variety of famous musicians. With whom did you get on best?
I really got on great with almost all of them. Michael Jackson’s record was a special moment, so was working with Iggy Pop, Lenny Kravitz and Ray Charles. A not-so-great one was with Bob Dylan. That was a huge learning experience. I was recommended for a guitar solo on his track Wiggle Wiggle during one of his darker periods in the late 1980s. I put a solo on there that I was quite proud of and put an acoustic rhythm track underneath it. When I heard it, only the acoustic track was there. Apparently he took the solo off because it sounded too much like Guns N’ Roses.

That must have been disapointing.
A bit. It was one of my first sessions. If I knew then what I know now I'd have done things differently.

What bands do you like at the moment?
Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Megadeath, White Stripes. Mostly bands that have been around for a while. There haven't been any new bands I've heard recently that have caught my ear.

What was Michael Jackson like?
Very astute and professional – he knew exactly what he wanted me to do in the songs.

What about as a person?
He was great. All that stuff about his extra-curricular sexual preferences – I hope isn’t true. I never encountered anything like that. He was just a pleasure to work with.

Will you ever work with Axl Rose again?
I always say ‘never say never’ but it’s not going to happen in the foreseeable future.

Do you still collect pinball machines?
Yes, I just gave away a couple so now I only have 13. I want to get the new King Kong and the Pirates Of The Caribbean ones. My favourite is an old one called Funhouse. They’re programmed not to take money, or else I’d need a lot of loose change.

What are the highs and lows of dating a porn star [Slash has gone out with at least two]?
It depends on the porn star. The sex is great and very uninhibited. The lows were getting too much of the same thing. It starts to feel like you’re making a movie every time you have sex.
Is keeping a pet cougar hard?
You have to be very tenacious and respectful. It was a great experience. His name was Curtis and he was an amazing buddy of mine for a long time. He got really big and I couldn’t hide him any more. It’s illegal to keep a cougar as a pet in Los Angeles. I took him away to live with one of my friends in the country.

How many snakes do you own?
I’ve only got one now. When my son London was due I got cold feet about keeping snakes. I didn’t like the idea of a toddler running around with 80 pythons on the property. It was a wise move. It was quite possible one would have eaten him. I’ve only got a baby anaconda now.

You were dead for eight minutes after a drugs overdose. Did you see a white light?
No, I didn’t. That would have been awesome. I was too inebriated to recall anything. That time was a oneoff. I’d kept my nose clean prior to that. I stayed away from drugs for a little while after.

How did you hit upon wearing a top hat on stage?
I just saw it in a store one day and thought it was cool. It just spoke to me and became an item I wore all the time.

Have you ever thought of wearing a beenie hat instead?
Not really.

Source: Metro.co.uk

In other news, there's a little Slash mention in this article about Gibson's self-tuning guitars.

Slash talks about drinking

The following was published by the indian site DNA:

I could have matched Winehouse's drinking: Slash

Former Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash believes he could have matched R&B singer Amy Winehouse drink for drink - a few years ago.

The 42-year-old Slash believes he could have been Winehouse's drinking friend and he would have presented tough competition, Mirror.co.uk reported.

He said: "Amy talks a lot about how much she can drink and I put a lot of booze away in my day. If I was still drinking I'm sure we'd be hanging out."

Slash is now with the reformed band Velvet Revolver consisting of former members of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns 'N Roses.

Duff McKagan: "I hope that one day Axl and I can at least talk and be friends"

Steve Bell of Australia's Time Off magazine recently conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the fact that their collective pasts may put more pressure on them to produce the goods, and opens them to more public scrutiny than the average band:

"I don't think any of us pay any attention to that at all. I've never, ever felt pressure — I've never felt pressure to follow up one record with a better record. It's just about keeping it real, and if people dig it then that's cool, and if they don't that's cool too.

"Once you start trying to make music a product and start following a formula — and I know bands who do this, they follow the formula of their hit record instead of just following their instinct of what a good song is to them — then it's all over. You've got to write for yourself first."

On how the material from the band's second album, "Libertad", is being received:

"It's been going over good. We've done a lot of South American dates, and that was pretty unreal. It's a great place to start a tour if you're us. We didn't know how many fans we had down there, and it was fucking insane.

"Then we went to Europe — that was great. We did a couple of North American runs, which were also cool — we had ALICE IN CHAINS opening on the last one. They're fucking awesome and really good friends of ours, so it was cool. It's a fun record to play live, and it's great now that we have obviously a couple of records worth of material to play.

"We're doing a cool thing in the middle of our set where we strip everything down and do some old songs from our collective bands — some STP and GN'R songs. Songs that you might not expect us to play, and we sort of sit on stools and do them semi-acoustically. It's pretty cool. It's worked really well, I think it's powerful."

On being able to embrace their incredible pasts:

"It's better than having a past that you're fucking trying to hide from — maybe if I'd been in WINGER we wouldn't be so open to it. Nothing against WINGER, of course, but you know what I'm saying. I mean it's true — the songs we wrote in GUNS N' ROSES were fucking killer songs, and they're great to do live, so why not?"

On whether the former members of GUNS N' ROSES feel that Axl Rose is tarnishing the amazing legacy that they left behind:

"I haven't really paid attention to it — maybe part of me doesn't want to. Probably a large part of me doesn't want to. I haven't tried to analyze it too much. As far as the name being tarnished, I think that's for the fans to figure out on their own.

"I have my own feelings about it and I keep them pretty private, but I hope that one day Axl and I can at least talk and be friends. Because we did a lot together. We did some pretty amazing things, and it's kind of a shame. He's always talking trash, and it's kind of goofy at this point, I think."

On the the biggest change that McKagan has noticed in the music industry between the '80s and now:

"The biggest difference now — and this is really over the last, like, seven years — is back when Gunners was doing it a tour was still thought of as something to promote your record. That's the way it had been since the 50s, but now with record sales slumping everywhere bands are figuring out other ways to make money on the road.

"So now, really, a record is sort of like advertising for your tour. That's where bands are getting smarter about touring economically, and paying more attention to merchandise and T-shirts and all that shit. Doing 'meet-and-greet' packages — all kinds of shit. And it's now not a bad thing to have your song on a commercial, or in a movie or on a ringtone — that's just the way it is now.

"Whereas ten years ago that would have been fucking 'selling out!' It's not even considered selling out any more, it's just good business. So really the biggest change in the music industry is actually the business of music. Not much has changed as far as songwriting or the attitude towards playing music live — you keep it real and you keep it honest, and the rest will follow."

On having had some pretty incredible adventures over the last 20-plus years:

"I guess so, man. I wish I remembered more of them. There's a period from '90 to '93 that I don't remember, but for the most part it's been great. I'm alive to tell some of the stories anyhow, and I look back and know that I have had a pretty great run.

"I'm 43 now and I'm still out doing it, and still kind of looked at as a semi-viable proposition as a musician. And I think I've fucking earned that by now. Obviously the most fun thing for me is having a great family, and being a father that my girls look up to, and leading for them by example. For me that's the most important thing — this rock music is all sort of just frilly extra stuff."

Source: Blabbermouth

Sebastian Bach: " Axl was very serious about putting something out before Christmas"

According to Sebastian Bach:

Rock My Monkey: Do you have any idea when fans will get to hear you sing on the Chinese Democracy song, “Sorry”?
Sebastian Bach: I think it will be sooner rather than later. I really do, because I’ve heard it. I know Axl was very serious about putting something out before Christmas. He was talking to me about it. He was talking about finishing liner notes. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why the fuck it didn’t happen. I know it wasn’t him. People like to say ‘Why doesn’t Axl put out his record?’ I think there’s a lot of business shit that goes on with him. It’s just not as easy. It’s a little more complicated than people think.

Source: Rock My Monkey
Thanks to: Perfect Crime