Here is some of the interview...
October 6, 2008
Slash Interviewby Rick Landers.
Rick: [Laughs] Okay. I understand that you've also got a new book coming out by Marc Canter. Can you tell us a little bit about the book?
Slash: Yeah, that's Marc's book. Mark is a really close friend of mine from way back in the 5th grade and when I first started playing guitar, he used to just bring his camera. He used to shoot a lot of rock concerts. He used to sneak cameras in and shoot from Judas Priest to Aerosmith and whoever else you can think of. So, he's pretty handy with a camera.
When I first started in my first band and what not, he used to always come and take pictures and physically record the shows. When Guns first started, I guess he saw something in Guns that we, maybe, didn't necessarily see at the time. But, he really thought it was gonna go somewhere.
He started shooting all the shows, recording all the shows and never missed one. Really, for the whole time that we were a club band up, until the point where we got signed. So, this book is really, really candid stuff from all these different dates, backstage and some other casual stuff.
But, it's the kind of pictorial history that most bands don't have because they either weren't fortunate enough to have somebody that saw more in them than the band itself saw or, you know, just having somebody around with a 35mm on a regular basis. But, it's really a cool, cool book. It's probably the coolest rock and roll table book I've seen in a long time.
Rick: You and Anthony Bozzia came out with the autobiography, Slash by Slash about a year or so ago.
Slash: Marc's books is almost the pictorial...like the picture counterpart.
Rick: That last book was kind of fueled by the sex, drugs and rock and roll theme. But near the end, I got the impression that you were beginning to side a little bit more with soccer moms, and you were looking at yourself more as a real father and family man. Is that the case?
Slash: Yeah, I mean, all things considered, it goes through all the basic craziness and then, somehow, towards the end of it, I ended up married and now with two kids. So, having this sort of rock and roll craziness and domestic life sort of mixed, sort of getting rid of all the real hardcore stuff that I used to live on. You know, it all sort of works together. It is what it is. I guess you get the idea from reading it.
Rick: Yeah. Now, London and Cash are your sons. Are they following in your footsteps as far as music, or do they have other artistic endeavors?
Slash: Well, they're four and six. One of them, the six-year old seems to like sports more than anything, avoiding girls and that kind of thing. And then the younger one is probably the one that seems the most artistic, because he does a lot of drawing and he plays his piano, and is attempting to learn how to play the guitar. So, he seems to be going in that direction.
Rick: I've heard that you're working on a new solo album. Is that true?
Slash: Yeah.
Rick: And that you plan on having more than one lead singer?
Slash: The plan at this point is where I'm just using different singers for every song. So it'll probably be...if there are 12 songs, there will be 12 singers, put it that way.
Rick: I'll ask you a coded question: Will there be a rock 'n' roller who is really good at golf on that album?
Slash: Actually, to tell you the truth, I couldn't tell you. [Laughing]
Rick: Okay. I was thinking Alice Cooper.
Slash: Yeah, I know you were. He's the only rock 'n' roller that I know who's really good at golf. I just played on his record. Most of these people are people that I've worked with in the past.
Rick: Did you? What's it called?
Slash: His new record's called Along Came a Spider and I did a song on there called "Vengeance is Mine." We just did a video for it, so I don't know exactly when it's supposed to come out.
Rick: Okay, thank you. Over the years, have you found that you prefer to be working in an ongoing group, or is it more fun for you now to work with various artists on various projects?
Slash: My core is definitely group-oriented. I've always been in a band ever since I first picked up the guitar. Within the first six months of learning how to play guitar, I was in a band, and I'll always be a band guy. But, I also love the experience of going and doing sessions with people I've never worked with or people that I really admire that I grew up listening to or whatever, and learning how to adapt and sort of think on my feet. I do that a lot.
Working on a solo record, which is really my first solo record where I'm not using a fixed band, has just been a new experience for me because I don't have to answer to anybody.
And, you know, it's a little liberating in a way. But, at the same time, while I'm doing that, I'm still in Velvet Revolver and we're still looking for a singer, and we're still writing every day as a group. I like to be able to do it all, you know?
Rick: Yeah. Have you found any performer that you've worked with that wasn't part of your regular band that has particularly impressed you when you first met them, that you really weren't expecting them to be that good or that unique in their style or playing ability?
Slash: I know what you're saying. I don't know if I come into a situation in that kind of a judgmental...you sort of, you go in and I have been pleasantly surprised with 90% of the people that I've worked with. But, you know, like I did a tour with Ronnie Wood, and this was a few years back. I was really amazed at what an amazing musician Ronnie Wood is, because he doesn't always give the impression of being that good [Both Laugh].
Michael Jackson amazed me, even though I've always thought he was great, to work with him in person was a phenomenal experience. And it goes the other way. There can be guys like Bob Dylan, who was extremely difficult to work with. But, working with Iggy Pop was a great experience and I had no idea that working with Iggy could be so inspired and cover so much ground musically, you know, in just a couple of days.
And so, they're all different. Everybody's got their own really cool characteristics that identifies them as being unique.
Rick: One of our columnists, Billy Morrison, you know Billy?
Slash: Yeah.
Rick: He's got a group, I think he's still got it, called Camp Freddie. Have you played with Camp Freddie?
Slash: A dozen or so or more times.
Rick: How is that type of experience when you're going on stage. Are you playing almost impromptu or what?
Slash: It's very impromptu. The first time I ever played with Camp Freddie, I was like, "Oh, this is dynamite!" Because they have all these guest people come up and the first time I played with Camp Freddie, I got up there and was doing "Whole Lotta Love" with...oh, man, I always forget this guy's name...born in the same town as me in England. He's a real huge pop guy in England. But, he's never broke over here. Maybe it'll come to me. He was on stage and then also I was playing with Macie Gray. That was like two people I'd never played with before. So, the experience with playing with Camp Freddie is you can get up there and end up working with somebody on one or two songs that you might never have expected to work with.
Rick: I saw Billy play with at the Gibson NAMM party with sort of the same kind of group. I don't think it was called Camp Freddie, but it was a Gibson group, and it was just pretty amazing how a number of different artists who weren't a band, could basically get on stage and just crank out some great rock 'n' roll.
Slash: Yeah, I think that's one of the great things, one of the things that's very important as a musician, to be able to pull together to work with people you've never worked with at the spur of the moment and be able to go up there and make music together. I think that's one of the things that makes music such a wonderful experience. When you, as a player, can get together with people. It really shows how music brings people together.
Rick: Yeah. I think that's true. I've got one last question and it's a question that I asked Les Paul last time I met with him. I want to see how your answer compares to his and, then I'll tell you what his answer was when we're finished. I asked, "How do you think you'll celebrate your 100th birthday?"
Slash: [Both Laughing] My 100th birthday. Oh, Christ.
Rick: You know, he's getting close.
Slash: That's a lot to ask. [Both Laughing] Let's leave it at that. If I have my druthers, though, it will probably be doing a jam somewhere like I did on my last birthday and that's probably the most fun I could have on a birthday is if I just have a gig. So, I'll probably be doing a gig with some other people that I've known all that time, you know? It'll still be festive and it'll probably be in Las Vegas or something.
Rick: Okay, well his answer was, "Well, I think I'd celebrate it very much like my mother who was glad to be here on earth." He said he was very grateful and you've got to be very grateful and to celebrate would be to say, 'Hey, you know, I'm gonna keep going until the time comes and when I'm not supposed to be here, and none of us know that answer.' It's a little convoluted. But then he says, "We only know that we all have the same ticket." [Both Laugh]
Slash: Yeah, that's probably true.
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