Hanging With.. Slash - Velvet Revolver

A thousand issues - can you believe that?
"Oh that's fucking awesome, man. And, on top of the thousand issues, there's been enough to write about to fill them all"

When did you first hear about Kerrang!?
"The first time I saw a copy was at someone's house. I worked at an international news stand once and they stocked Kerrang!, so I'd stand behind the counter reading it. It was my last job because I was always on the phone book Guns N' Roses gigs. They ended up firing me"

And you thought the British had no idea...
"Oh no, Kerrang! was totally cool, because when you're a kid and you're into what we were into, anything with a good, raw rock feel was cool. It was like the Bible. That's why it's so great that it's still around. It's the original."

Has anyone ever thrown a surprise party for you?
"Once, on my 21st birthday. Our manager back then calls me up and goes, 'Listen, I got some serious stuff I got to talk about, I gotta come over to your house'."

You're out the band!
"I wasn't thinking that, but I remember thinking it sounded serious. He comes over and says, 'Hey, lets go somewhere, have a drink'. I'm thinking, 'Oh fuck, did Axl die or something?'."

Or something?
"Yeah, right. Finally he says, 'Let's go, there's something I gotta show you'. He took me over to a friend's house and I actually saw Duff going to his car. I'm usually way too smart for stuff like this, but I still hadn't figured it.
Anyway, I walk in and there's this huge surprise party. A major fucking great night."

So, you're still on the Jack?
"I don't usually start at noon, but I came in your office and it was sitting there. I have toned it down a little. It's one thing to do it casually, it's another thing to fucking live on it, like water and air. Drink put me in hospital in 2000. It was my heart so I'm very conscious of it now. I watch myself now."

Would you take a drug that let you live until you were a thousand years old?
"I'd give that drug a lot of thought. I'd have to take my wife on this age journey too or else I'd have a serious problem. Would you stay a certain age, or would you look a thousand years old?"

You'd age three years for every hundred.
"Then it might be worth investigating, especially if you're in a band. The Stones look like they've lived that long anyway."

Slash was hanging at the Kerrang! Office, London.