Slash (2012)
Interview Background
This chat became somewhat infamous after various media outlets around the globe excitedly picked up the quotes about Slash being keen on a Sesame Street guest spot. It seems Slash got a little peeved by the story after a while, since he actually downplayed this interview a few months later and refuted he wanted to do Sesame Street! It seems a shame he backed down – I think catching Slash hanging out with Oscar the Grouch or playing some riffs with Cookie Monster would be just as exciting as seeing the guitarist back on a stage with his old Guns N’ Roses partner Axl Rose. This interview was offered to me less than 24 hours before the scheduled 20 minute window with Slash, so I sped-read Slash’s autobiography just to be sure even my questions about old topics took different angles. Despite being known as quite a shy fellow, Slash proved a great interviewer happy to cover a gamut of subjects during our conversation. And Slash: I’ll be first in line to take credit when you inevitably end up on Sesame Street one day…
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in Rip It Up, August 2012.
Slash - Rockstar 101
by Scott McLennan
“She is a frisky little lady,” rock icon Slash admits of a recent female collaborator. No, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist isn’t describing a new partnership with former musical associates Fergie or Rihanna – he’s talking about cheeky 90-year-old actress Betty White.
To celebrate the opening of the Los Angeles Zoo’s new amphibians and reptiles exhibit, long-time snake-lover Slash appeared in television commercials with The Golden Girls veteran to promote The LAIR.
“I’m on the board of directors for the LA Zoo and Betty White is the president of the board of directors now,” Slash explains of the unique hook-up. “We’ve been friends for years, so when The LAIR was opening the zoo came to us and asked us if we’d do a commercial for the new reptile exhibit. ‘With Betty? Fuckin’ sure!’ Betty is one of the coolest rock’n’roll personalities I’ve ever met – we had a great time.
“I loved her in The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Slash says of White’s popular ‘70s television role. “She was great in that as she played herself, really – she always plays herself, but she was a little bit more randy in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She is a frisky little lady.”
When not wooing nonagenarians, Slash has spent 2012 promoting his latest album, Apocalyptic Love. Rather than the revolving door of guest vocalists of 2010’s Slash album, Apocalyptic Love finds the guitarist helming an energised collection of raw punk blues numbers with collaborator Myles Kennedy. Although live shows routinely tip their hat to Slash’s chequered history with Guns N’ Roses, Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, the release of Apocalyptic Love has exponentially increased set-list options each night.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head. I had a great time touring the last record, but we only had what I would consider two original songs between Myles and I! Having new material that is ‘ours’ to do has been really gratifying, especially as it’s been so well received.”
At one time as renowned for his alcohol intake as his signature guitar riffs, Slash would regularly hide his chronic onstage shyness behind bottles of Jack Daniel’s. Having incrementally kicked his vices – including doing away with the once ubiquitous cigarettes that would nonchalantly hang from his mouth during solos – does the clean Slash of 2012 still feel a charge of nerves before a performance?
“That’s an interesting question. I remember with Velvet Revolver during the first shows we did, I was really perplexed about how I was going to go out and do this without something to take the edge off, but I was able to go out and do it and it’s been fine ever since. I’m one of those guys that for as long as I can remember I’ve always been the victim of the butterflies – I always get nervous before I go on stage.”
The dates Slash plays across Australia this month are intimate enough that he’ll be able to see the whites of fans’ eyes – even if they can’t see the whites of his. With a history of playing to stadiums and far-reaching fields of fans, are the nerves exacerbated when it’s up close and personal?
“There was only really that one period from ’90 to ’94 where there was nothing but stadiums, but I’ve always tried to break it up,” Slash says. “Even when we are doing festivals in arenas I try to break it up by playing clubs as well. I actually enjoy playing the intimate venues a lot, because the reaction is immediate and there’s something about playing in a room full of people that’s very personal. I like playing the stadiums when we do them as well, but it’s definitely not as personable an experience - you don’t have the connection to the back of the room you’d normally have in a smaller place.”
When Rip It Up speaks to Slash, it’s exactly 20 years since an incident that irrevocably altered the course of Guns N’ Roses. Playing before Guns N’ Roses in Montreal on a co-headline tour, Metallica’s James Hetfield walked into a pyro flash pot and suffered extensive burns that landed him in hospital and abruptly ended the band’s set on Fade To Black. Instead of appeasing an agitated crowd after Metallica’s abridged performance, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose spent hours holed up in his hotel, arrived at the venue late and walked offstage after just 45 minutes due to a sore throat. A massive riot ensued, with Olympic Stadium ripped apart and vehicles in the car park torched. Slash’s autobiography suggests it was one of the final straws for the guitarist when it came to walking away from the band in the wake of their Use Your Illusion success.
“Yeah, well it was one of a handful of red flags,” Slash laughs. “I couldn’t not feel a sense of responsibility – guilt by association, you know? Guns N’ Roses and Metallica as two entities weren’t speaking to each other after that night. We went on to the next stage of the tour and James showed up sans guitar and continued on, but I don’t remember having a healthy, positive conversation with James again until way after that. I was still friends with them, but I was actually too ashamed to be able to go over to them and say anything. When you’re in a band it’s like a game: anything the band goes through, you go through. You have to stay by your people, so it was a very awkward and unfortunate turn of events [in Montreal] and for the rest of the tour I could definitely feel it.”
In Slash’s eponymous autobiography, the musician suggests Use Your Illusion I and II sounded far better before the albums were mired in production flourishes. Just as The Beatles later released Let It Be… Naked and stripped the original 1970 release of its orchestral overdubs, does Slash believe we’ll ever hear a Use Your Illusion… Unmasked?
“I would love to see it happen, but it’s something that would have to be agreed upon by all parties. There’s nothing wrong with the finished albums and the shit Axl did with the synthesisers on the record was brilliant – I thought he did a great job – but at the same time the raw and basic tracks were just so rock’n’roll that they suffered when we put all the other stuff on there. It would be interesting to go back and hear those raw tracks again.”
A quarter century since Guns N’ Roses’ debut Appetite For Destruction landed him in the public eye, Slash’s iconic status has been further cemented in 2012. Not only was the 47-year-old inducted into the Rock And Rock Hall Of Fame with Guns N’ Roses this year, he also earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame last month. A few achievements remain outstanding: as an American institution, it seems extraordinary he’s not yet popped up in either The Simpsons or Sesame Street.
“Well apparently I was the inspiration for a character in The Simpsons. I can’t remember what his name is. Otto The Bus Driver? Yeah, I think that’s the one - that’s what I’ve been told a bunch of times. As for Sesame Street, they’ve never approached me, though I would do it and I love kids.
“There’s no way I’d ever turn Sesame Street down,” Slash chuckles, “but I don’t know if parents would think I’m the best public influence on little kids?”
Apocalyptic Love (Sony)
Unpublished Interview Material
Happy birthday for last week.
“Thank you. I was on the road and we had a show that night, so it’s always great to have a birthday when you’re on the road as it goes by quickly.”
Is it possible for you to have a quiet celebration in a restaurant without being recognised or do you always run the risk of someone thrusting an iPhone in your face?
“You know what, it’s an interesting question. I might be recognisable and people do come up and ask for autographs and what-not in certain places, but maybe because I’m just a guitar player and I’m not one of those Entertainment Weekly celebrities people are very cool with me. I obviously don’t go down to a restaurant with my hair down and a top hat on since it’s just asking for trouble, but if I dress down, put my hair back and become as unassuming as possible people just leave me alone.”
You’ve had more than your share of health scares, so how is Slash in 2012?
“I’m probably in the best health I’ve been in - in recent memory, at least.”
You made a guest appearance at Soundwave this year with Alter Bridge having played it last year – at a festival events like that, is it hard to avoid coming into contact with all the vices you’ve managed to kick over the years?
“Well the thing is I’m in the rock’n’roll business, so I’m surrounded by it 24-seven. I just lost interest in all that stuff – I did it until I burned out on it more than anything. That’s what happened in my case. I did struggle with it for a long time for obvious reasons but there was a sudden moment when I was like, ‘You know what? I’m done.’ I haven’t looked back since and I haven’t felt the urge to go back there. I can be around all that without feeling pangs of wanting to go back and start using again.”
Do you hear your own story in any of Myles’ Apocalyptic Love lyrics? Addictions, dark days, bad people, unhealthy dealings…
“Yeah, in talking with Myles he always says that a lot of the songs stem from conversations he and I had. Obviously I can relate to those songs. Myles and I are very similar in a lot of ways anyway, so I can relate to where he’s coming from lyrically on just about anything.”
With recent talk of clearing out the Michael Jackson archives, are you concerned that some riffs you laid down for Michael 20 years ago might appear in half-finished form on more posthumous releases?
“You know, I don’t think there’s anything that I did with Michael that hasn’t been released already. The stuff on the Dangerous record was all I did, so the stuff on the record after that (History) was the last of those recordings. So no, I’m not worried about that – but famous last words, right?”
Michael was always big on the epic videos and you’ve appeared in many in your time as well. You say in your autobiography that filming the amazing video for Estranged as the final Use Your Illusion clip left you “fed up” because you were forced to do guitar solos for hours while soaking wet. Can you look back at these videos and admire the epic nature of them, both in the good and bad applications of the term?
“In the good way the guy who directed them Andy Morahan did a really great job and caught some great moments, but the bad side of it – and this is just my personality speaking rather than a criticism – was that it was very self-indulgent, epic storytelling at the expense of everybody around (laughs). I don’t think anybody involved besides Axl was really that into the thing, but that’s just because I like simple, straight-forward, get-to-the-fucking chase sorta shit. I don’t really enjoy it - the prospect of making a video always makes me sigh! All things considered, nothing against Axl but he is that guy who is very epic and dramatic. He had this vision of all this stuff going on and we all sort of had to go along with it.”
Having also worked with Hollywood on films such as The Dead Pool, you must have done your fair share of waiting around on sets.
“There was a lot of waiting around on The Dead Pool, this is true – entire days spent waiting. I think Joe Perry said it best when they [Aerosmith] were doing Sgt Pepper [the movie] and hanging around the set like that: it gives you an insight into why you didn’t become an actor!”
Some fans seemed perplexed when you worked with people such as Fergie and Adam Levine on the Slash album, but given the fact you’ve appeared on albums by everyone from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan through to Rihanna and Spinal Tap, plus appeared in The Strokes’ music video for Someday, you’ve never been one to limit yourself to a genre in terms of who you are comfortable working with. Who’s next on your list of collaborators?
“There isn’t! There never has been a list - things just pop up and I take advantage of the opportunities. I’ve never sat back and said, ‘You know, I’d like to work with such and such a person…’ except for the last record, when I had to call all those people up and get them to sing on it. That was hard to do as it was out of my comfort zone to call people up and go, ‘Listen, I’ve got this song that you would sound great on. Would you like me to send you a demo?’ Prior to that, all those sessions with all those different people were just opportunities that presented themselves that I just jumped at, you know?”
If you were able to go and play one gig again from your career – either to fix the wrongs or relive a perfect night – which gig do you choose?
“You know what, I wouldn’t, period. There’s no sense in going back and I very much live in the moment and the immediate future. I definitely don’t like going backwards too far or even going too far forwards.”
This chat became somewhat infamous after various media outlets around the globe excitedly picked up the quotes about Slash being keen on a Sesame Street guest spot. It seems Slash got a little peeved by the story after a while, since he actually downplayed this interview a few months later and refuted he wanted to do Sesame Street! It seems a shame he backed down – I think catching Slash hanging out with Oscar the Grouch or playing some riffs with Cookie Monster would be just as exciting as seeing the guitarist back on a stage with his old Guns N’ Roses partner Axl Rose. This interview was offered to me less than 24 hours before the scheduled 20 minute window with Slash, so I sped-read Slash’s autobiography just to be sure even my questions about old topics took different angles. Despite being known as quite a shy fellow, Slash proved a great interviewer happy to cover a gamut of subjects during our conversation. And Slash: I’ll be first in line to take credit when you inevitably end up on Sesame Street one day…
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in Rip It Up, August 2012.
Slash - Rockstar 101
by Scott McLennan
“She is a frisky little lady,” rock icon Slash admits of a recent female collaborator. No, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist isn’t describing a new partnership with former musical associates Fergie or Rihanna – he’s talking about cheeky 90-year-old actress Betty White.
To celebrate the opening of the Los Angeles Zoo’s new amphibians and reptiles exhibit, long-time snake-lover Slash appeared in television commercials with The Golden Girls veteran to promote The LAIR.
“I’m on the board of directors for the LA Zoo and Betty White is the president of the board of directors now,” Slash explains of the unique hook-up. “We’ve been friends for years, so when The LAIR was opening the zoo came to us and asked us if we’d do a commercial for the new reptile exhibit. ‘With Betty? Fuckin’ sure!’ Betty is one of the coolest rock’n’roll personalities I’ve ever met – we had a great time.
“I loved her in The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Slash says of White’s popular ‘70s television role. “She was great in that as she played herself, really – she always plays herself, but she was a little bit more randy in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She is a frisky little lady.”
When not wooing nonagenarians, Slash has spent 2012 promoting his latest album, Apocalyptic Love. Rather than the revolving door of guest vocalists of 2010’s Slash album, Apocalyptic Love finds the guitarist helming an energised collection of raw punk blues numbers with collaborator Myles Kennedy. Although live shows routinely tip their hat to Slash’s chequered history with Guns N’ Roses, Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, the release of Apocalyptic Love has exponentially increased set-list options each night.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head. I had a great time touring the last record, but we only had what I would consider two original songs between Myles and I! Having new material that is ‘ours’ to do has been really gratifying, especially as it’s been so well received.”
At one time as renowned for his alcohol intake as his signature guitar riffs, Slash would regularly hide his chronic onstage shyness behind bottles of Jack Daniel’s. Having incrementally kicked his vices – including doing away with the once ubiquitous cigarettes that would nonchalantly hang from his mouth during solos – does the clean Slash of 2012 still feel a charge of nerves before a performance?
“That’s an interesting question. I remember with Velvet Revolver during the first shows we did, I was really perplexed about how I was going to go out and do this without something to take the edge off, but I was able to go out and do it and it’s been fine ever since. I’m one of those guys that for as long as I can remember I’ve always been the victim of the butterflies – I always get nervous before I go on stage.”
The dates Slash plays across Australia this month are intimate enough that he’ll be able to see the whites of fans’ eyes – even if they can’t see the whites of his. With a history of playing to stadiums and far-reaching fields of fans, are the nerves exacerbated when it’s up close and personal?
“There was only really that one period from ’90 to ’94 where there was nothing but stadiums, but I’ve always tried to break it up,” Slash says. “Even when we are doing festivals in arenas I try to break it up by playing clubs as well. I actually enjoy playing the intimate venues a lot, because the reaction is immediate and there’s something about playing in a room full of people that’s very personal. I like playing the stadiums when we do them as well, but it’s definitely not as personable an experience - you don’t have the connection to the back of the room you’d normally have in a smaller place.”
When Rip It Up speaks to Slash, it’s exactly 20 years since an incident that irrevocably altered the course of Guns N’ Roses. Playing before Guns N’ Roses in Montreal on a co-headline tour, Metallica’s James Hetfield walked into a pyro flash pot and suffered extensive burns that landed him in hospital and abruptly ended the band’s set on Fade To Black. Instead of appeasing an agitated crowd after Metallica’s abridged performance, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose spent hours holed up in his hotel, arrived at the venue late and walked offstage after just 45 minutes due to a sore throat. A massive riot ensued, with Olympic Stadium ripped apart and vehicles in the car park torched. Slash’s autobiography suggests it was one of the final straws for the guitarist when it came to walking away from the band in the wake of their Use Your Illusion success.
“Yeah, well it was one of a handful of red flags,” Slash laughs. “I couldn’t not feel a sense of responsibility – guilt by association, you know? Guns N’ Roses and Metallica as two entities weren’t speaking to each other after that night. We went on to the next stage of the tour and James showed up sans guitar and continued on, but I don’t remember having a healthy, positive conversation with James again until way after that. I was still friends with them, but I was actually too ashamed to be able to go over to them and say anything. When you’re in a band it’s like a game: anything the band goes through, you go through. You have to stay by your people, so it was a very awkward and unfortunate turn of events [in Montreal] and for the rest of the tour I could definitely feel it.”
In Slash’s eponymous autobiography, the musician suggests Use Your Illusion I and II sounded far better before the albums were mired in production flourishes. Just as The Beatles later released Let It Be… Naked and stripped the original 1970 release of its orchestral overdubs, does Slash believe we’ll ever hear a Use Your Illusion… Unmasked?
“I would love to see it happen, but it’s something that would have to be agreed upon by all parties. There’s nothing wrong with the finished albums and the shit Axl did with the synthesisers on the record was brilliant – I thought he did a great job – but at the same time the raw and basic tracks were just so rock’n’roll that they suffered when we put all the other stuff on there. It would be interesting to go back and hear those raw tracks again.”
A quarter century since Guns N’ Roses’ debut Appetite For Destruction landed him in the public eye, Slash’s iconic status has been further cemented in 2012. Not only was the 47-year-old inducted into the Rock And Rock Hall Of Fame with Guns N’ Roses this year, he also earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame last month. A few achievements remain outstanding: as an American institution, it seems extraordinary he’s not yet popped up in either The Simpsons or Sesame Street.
“Well apparently I was the inspiration for a character in The Simpsons. I can’t remember what his name is. Otto The Bus Driver? Yeah, I think that’s the one - that’s what I’ve been told a bunch of times. As for Sesame Street, they’ve never approached me, though I would do it and I love kids.
“There’s no way I’d ever turn Sesame Street down,” Slash chuckles, “but I don’t know if parents would think I’m the best public influence on little kids?”
Apocalyptic Love (Sony)
Unpublished Interview Material
Happy birthday for last week.
“Thank you. I was on the road and we had a show that night, so it’s always great to have a birthday when you’re on the road as it goes by quickly.”
Is it possible for you to have a quiet celebration in a restaurant without being recognised or do you always run the risk of someone thrusting an iPhone in your face?
“You know what, it’s an interesting question. I might be recognisable and people do come up and ask for autographs and what-not in certain places, but maybe because I’m just a guitar player and I’m not one of those Entertainment Weekly celebrities people are very cool with me. I obviously don’t go down to a restaurant with my hair down and a top hat on since it’s just asking for trouble, but if I dress down, put my hair back and become as unassuming as possible people just leave me alone.”
You’ve had more than your share of health scares, so how is Slash in 2012?
“I’m probably in the best health I’ve been in - in recent memory, at least.”
You made a guest appearance at Soundwave this year with Alter Bridge having played it last year – at a festival events like that, is it hard to avoid coming into contact with all the vices you’ve managed to kick over the years?
“Well the thing is I’m in the rock’n’roll business, so I’m surrounded by it 24-seven. I just lost interest in all that stuff – I did it until I burned out on it more than anything. That’s what happened in my case. I did struggle with it for a long time for obvious reasons but there was a sudden moment when I was like, ‘You know what? I’m done.’ I haven’t looked back since and I haven’t felt the urge to go back there. I can be around all that without feeling pangs of wanting to go back and start using again.”
Do you hear your own story in any of Myles’ Apocalyptic Love lyrics? Addictions, dark days, bad people, unhealthy dealings…
“Yeah, in talking with Myles he always says that a lot of the songs stem from conversations he and I had. Obviously I can relate to those songs. Myles and I are very similar in a lot of ways anyway, so I can relate to where he’s coming from lyrically on just about anything.”
With recent talk of clearing out the Michael Jackson archives, are you concerned that some riffs you laid down for Michael 20 years ago might appear in half-finished form on more posthumous releases?
“You know, I don’t think there’s anything that I did with Michael that hasn’t been released already. The stuff on the Dangerous record was all I did, so the stuff on the record after that (History) was the last of those recordings. So no, I’m not worried about that – but famous last words, right?”
Michael was always big on the epic videos and you’ve appeared in many in your time as well. You say in your autobiography that filming the amazing video for Estranged as the final Use Your Illusion clip left you “fed up” because you were forced to do guitar solos for hours while soaking wet. Can you look back at these videos and admire the epic nature of them, both in the good and bad applications of the term?
“In the good way the guy who directed them Andy Morahan did a really great job and caught some great moments, but the bad side of it – and this is just my personality speaking rather than a criticism – was that it was very self-indulgent, epic storytelling at the expense of everybody around (laughs). I don’t think anybody involved besides Axl was really that into the thing, but that’s just because I like simple, straight-forward, get-to-the-fucking chase sorta shit. I don’t really enjoy it - the prospect of making a video always makes me sigh! All things considered, nothing against Axl but he is that guy who is very epic and dramatic. He had this vision of all this stuff going on and we all sort of had to go along with it.”
Having also worked with Hollywood on films such as The Dead Pool, you must have done your fair share of waiting around on sets.
“There was a lot of waiting around on The Dead Pool, this is true – entire days spent waiting. I think Joe Perry said it best when they [Aerosmith] were doing Sgt Pepper [the movie] and hanging around the set like that: it gives you an insight into why you didn’t become an actor!”
Some fans seemed perplexed when you worked with people such as Fergie and Adam Levine on the Slash album, but given the fact you’ve appeared on albums by everyone from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan through to Rihanna and Spinal Tap, plus appeared in The Strokes’ music video for Someday, you’ve never been one to limit yourself to a genre in terms of who you are comfortable working with. Who’s next on your list of collaborators?
“There isn’t! There never has been a list - things just pop up and I take advantage of the opportunities. I’ve never sat back and said, ‘You know, I’d like to work with such and such a person…’ except for the last record, when I had to call all those people up and get them to sing on it. That was hard to do as it was out of my comfort zone to call people up and go, ‘Listen, I’ve got this song that you would sound great on. Would you like me to send you a demo?’ Prior to that, all those sessions with all those different people were just opportunities that presented themselves that I just jumped at, you know?”
If you were able to go and play one gig again from your career – either to fix the wrongs or relive a perfect night – which gig do you choose?
“You know what, I wouldn’t, period. There’s no sense in going back and I very much live in the moment and the immediate future. I definitely don’t like going backwards too far or even going too far forwards.”
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