The Slash autobiography thread

[Smoking Guns]

89 they were not on tour.  It was a 4 show tour, not a full fledged tour.

[Ali]

89 they were not on tour.? It was a 4 show tour, not a full fledged tour.

I didn't say they were on tour in '89.  I was using that as an example to illustrate that Slash was not straight when they played live, including full-fledged tours, and that's what prompted Axl to say that.

Ali

[Smoking Guns]

89 they were not on tour.? It was a 4 show tour, not a full fledged tour.

I didn't say they were on tour in '89.? I was using that as an example to illustrate that Slash was not straight when they played live, including full-fledged tours, and that's what prompted Axl to say that.

Ali

straight, no....  fucked up?  no.  Using?  some, but not like when there was no tour.  I see what you mean, but Slash was never the reason the band was off if you know what I mean.

[Alpachiris]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2187757,00.html

This book is going to be fucking awesome!!

[Ali]

89 they were not on tour.? It was a 4 show tour, not a full fledged tour.

I didn't say they were on tour in '89.? I was using that as an example to illustrate that Slash was not straight when they played live, including full-fledged tours, and that's what prompted Axl to say that.

Ali

straight, no....? fucked up?? no.? Using?? some, but not like when there was no tour.? I see what you mean, but Slash was never the reason the band was off if you know what I mean.

The band was off?  Shit, if they were off when they played live back then, they would not have gained the rep they did.  Rock bands are made on the stage and GN'R proved that as much as anyone. 

I think it's amazing that Slash, Steven, Izzy and Duff were able play as well as they did given the amount of substance abuse going around.

Ali

[faldor]

Wow, that was some good stuff.  It becomes more and more clear why this band broke up reading these accounts.  It's amazing they lasted as long as they did, we should be thankful for the genius they created in their much too short time together.  But I don't think they would've survived if they stayed together.

[McDuff]

That was an interesting read,I guess most of the band members were probably almost all fucked up.

[Alpachiris]

Everything is very interesting, I would like to know the opinion of axl about this and about coming!

[snakepipero]

great read
thanks
can't wait to read his biography, i'm a huge Guns/slash fan and i'm sure i'll love the book

[Butch Français]

 It'll come out though. It will.

Yay! If Slash says so now I do believe it will come out one day! 

Thanks for sharing the interview... can?t wait till I have that book. 

I wonder if the usual people will come out claiming "Slash Lies!" now.

of course...and then when the book is out, ooohh lord there's gonna be bitching!

[fuckin crazy]

89 they were not on tour.  It was a 4 show tour, not a full fledged tour.

I didn't say they were on tour in '89.  I was using that as an example to illustrate that Slash was not straight when they played live, including full-fledged tours, and that's what prompted Axl to say that.

Ali

straight, no....  fucked up?  no.  Using?  some, but not like when there was no tour.  I see what you mean, but Slash was never the reason the band was off if you know what I mean.

The band was off? Shit, if they were off when they played live back then, they would not have gained the rep they did. Rock bands are made on the stage and GN'R proved that as much as anyone.

I think it's amazing that Slash, Steven, Izzy and Duff were able play as well as they did given the amount of substance abuse going around.

Ali

Heroin has very little effect on ones motor skills and cognitive ablilty. In fact, one of the first things many addicts do after they use is clean their house. The initial euphoric effect is accompanied by a burst of energy. It is only after an hour or two that the "nods" set in.

[JimBobTTD]

Yawn. I gave silly example to show how silly this all is. The quote is used in a context, but not given in context. Ergo you can not say that he doesn't remember anything purely on the basis of that article, which quotes someone (perhaps not even Slash) and not even a full sentence. The quote could have been chosen as it fits what the writer wants to say. As you know about literary criticism, we need not delve into this.

Whatever, I can't remember mundane things from last month, much less 20 years ago, and it is not because of drug use.

Bingo. There is your 75%. Satisfied?

You two completely missed my point.? The issue isn't Slash's drug use or whether or not that contributed to his memory loss.? The issue is trying to set the record straight on what happened in a time period you can't remember.? It's a fundamentally flawed idea.? That's all.

Ali

Well, your point is that some article said that he can't remember three quarters of what happened. Then you give us this:

"That's the amazing part, that I can remember any of it. It very easily could only have been three pages long." Rocker SLASH had to think really hard to recall his years of excess in GUNS N' ROSES for his self-titled autobiography.


which does't really help you out, because it clearly states that he remembers and, thanks to this, the book is more than three pages.

[Robman?]

We already have a thread for this 

[Just_Me]

Ultimately everyone will pick and choose which parts they personally want to believe based on how it supports their pre-formed opinion of the band, and their favourite members in particular and find excuses to play down or ignore anything that contradicts it. It happens with anything and everything written or said about GNR regardless of who says it or why.

Look hard enough and you will find fans who will disagree that Slash ever took drugs, or that Axl was ever late to a gig. Hell you can even find people who deny they've really broken up so if anything its more impressive that we ever agree on anything than that even something that should be regarded as an official source of one members version of events will be debated endlessly and out-right denounced by some.

[JDA]

Wow!  When does this come out in the States?

[Ali]

Yawn. I gave silly example to show how silly this all is. The quote is used in a context, but not given in context. Ergo you can not say that he doesn't remember anything purely on the basis of that article, which quotes someone (perhaps not even Slash) and not even a full sentence. The quote could have been chosen as it fits what the writer wants to say. As you know about literary criticism, we need not delve into this.

Whatever, I can't remember mundane things from last month, much less 20 years ago, and it is not because of drug use.

Bingo. There is your 75%. Satisfied?

You two completely missed my point.? The issue isn't Slash's drug use or whether or not that contributed to his memory loss.? The issue is trying to set the record straight on what happened in a time period you can't remember.? It's a fundamentally flawed idea.? That's all.

Ali

Well, your point is that some article said that he can't remember three quarters of what happened. Then you give us this:

"That's the amazing part, that I can remember any of it. It very easily could only have been three pages long." Rocker SLASH had to think really hard to recall his years of excess in GUNS N' ROSES for his self-titled autobiography.


which does't really help you out, because it clearly states that he remembers and, thanks to this, the book is more than three pages.

That's not the way I see it.? I see it as "it could have been only three pages considering how little I remember from those days.? It's amazing that it wasn't only three pages.? I'm amazed I could remember enough to make it more than three pages."

Depends on how you read the statement.

Ali

[JimBobTTD]

You are contradicting yourself. If you understand the statement as "it could have been only three pages considering how little I remember from those days.  It's amazing that it wasn't only three pages.  I'm amazed I could remember enough to make it more than three pages", then you are saying that he does remember a whole lot of stuff - enough to fill a book.

[Ali]

You are contradicting yourself. If you understand the statement as "it could have been only three pages considering how little I remember from those days.? It's amazing that it wasn't only three pages.? I'm amazed I could remember enough to make it more than three pages", then you are saying that he does remember a whole lot of stuff - enough to fill a book.

No, I'm not because I'm not referring in that last sentence to stricly his GN'R time.  I should've been more clear about that, I admit.

He may remember enough to fill a book, but that does not mean that he remembers a large percentage of what happened during his GN'R tenure of over 10 years (or enough to set the record straight), or that his book is solely about his GN'R days.? The mistake you are making is that you think that the book is solely about his GN'R days, which there is no indication that it is.? It's about his life, not just his GN'R life.? It is an autobiography, at least that is how it is being billed, not as strictly a recount of his GN'R days.

Ali

[axelmc]

Slash and burn


Smack, crack, groupies and firearms - not to mention little blue men crawling across the floor: with Guns N' Roses, at the height of their fame, Slash saw it all. An exclusive extract from possibly the most insane rock'n'roll autobiography you'll ever read ...

Sunday October 14, 2007
Observer Music Monthly


It was 1989. Once the final leg of the Appetite For Destruction tour was over, I was back in LA pretty shiftless and uncomfortable; for the first time in two years I had no predetermined place to be, no job to do when I woke up. I had been away so long that nothing was satisfying and the everyday business of life seemed alien to me. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to go to the store for groceries after I'd played arenas in Japan the week before. I'd been on tour long enough to forget that I once bought my own liquor and cigarettes, and what I really couldn't shake was the thrill of playing every night.

Article continues

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Izzy [Stradlin, Guns N'Roses' rhythm guitarist] made a call and we went over to a friend of a friend who we'll call 'Bill'. We'd gotten a taste of smack again in Australia, so the craving was there by the time we got home. Besides, after two years of touring, subconsciously, we both felt that we deserved it. Anyway, Bill had a taste for drugs and always had plenty of every variety; he was also very generous. When you start to get famous at all, a few typical things start happening: in Hollywood, if you're out at a bar, everyone wants to buy you a drink, you can get into any club; whether you like it or not, you are suddenly a figure on the nightlife circuit. When that started happening to us, there was nothing less interesting that I could have imagined doing with my time. That Hollywood scene was the same old shit, and the more recognisable I was, the less I liked it. The amount of 'dudes' who wanted to 'party with me' had quadrupled, so I became entirely insular; looking back, it makes complete sense to me that I allowed myself to slip into a seductive heroin comfort zone. I didn't want to go to strip clubs or look for hot chicks or otherwise exercise my newly found status. All I wanted to do was hang out at Bill's and do drugs. It turned out to be the start of a long and nightmarish obsession with heroin that lasted from 1989 through 1991.
I went through an interesting succession of girlfriends at this time; just a handful that I'd see over at my place, each on different nights. At some point during these months my manager had the brilliant idea of having me present some award to someone or other at the MTV Video Music Awards. I can't even remember who we gave it to, but my co-presenter was Traci Lords, the porn star, so we met backstage and then started dating immediately. I was in a strange place; I was mildly famous, I was infamous, but I was still stuck in a raggedy, heathen mentality in terms of my quality of life. At that time, I could have had $15m in the bank, but I wouldn't have changed my lifestyle at all; I didn't have a car, I was happy to have my one-room apartment that looked like a generic hotel room, and needed nothing more - that was where my head was at. At the same time, I knew how to be a gentleman, which is entirely what Traci Lords expected on a date. So somehow we hit it off.

But Traci didn't want any part of being seen in public with me; if we ever went anywhere where anyone might be paying attention, she'd put me through this stupid ordeal where I'd have to come in after her and meet her inside, as if by accident. Obviously I was recognisable, so she always insisted that we scoot in some back alley entrance. From what I understood she wanted to keep a low profile because she didn't want to be exposed as a groupie slut or one of the porno chicks that guys like me dated. I was never one of those guys who was judgemental about that stuff and never understood those who were; in fact the only reason I knew her was that I'd seen her in this movie where she was bent over holding her ankles and she looked amazing. I truly appreciated that, so I figured everyone else appreciated that, too. I didn't get her whole charade at all.

Of course, once I started dating her, my friend West Arkeen brought over a copy New Wave Hookers so we could check it out. It was very entertaining but somewhat of a tease because Traci and I still hadn't slept together. Our 'relationship' was starting to become more of a bother than it was worth.

Traci had called me early one week to make plans and that same day West came by with a huge pile of crack. We stayed up for the next two days and by the time Traci showed up to go out with me, West and I were crawling around on the carpet looking for rocks. I knew she was coming but I couldn't help it: we were a mess; the only person that would have been OK with it would have been a crack whore. My place was a fucking pigsty on every level and it didn't help that West was there like some resident pigmy: he was only about 5ft 4in and had stringy blond hair that was really greasy after two days of smoking crack.

West always had this permanent grin on his face that became more and more disturbing the more wasted he was. This particular afternoon he was so wasted that he openly leered at Traci.

He was so high that he thought nothing of going over to my bookshelves, retrieving New Wave Hookers, pointing to the cover, saying 'That's you, isn't it? You're Traci Lords!' He kept grinning at her.

Traci took a long slow look around. 'I'll be right back,' she said in her pouty little voice. 'I forgot something in my car.'

'Yeah, cool,' I said. 'Then we'll take off.' I was high, and not particularly aware of time passing, but I soon realised that she'd been gone far too long to ever be coming back.

I did what anyone with new money should do after renting for a while: I bought a house like my business manager told me to. I still had no clue as to my future or how to handle finances; I had no material aspirations at all. I didn't spend much on anything at that point; money was still an abstract concept to me. I found a house just off Laurel Canyon, and it was forever known as the Walnut House. I was pretty out of control at the time. I remember showing up to meet the contractor to talk about redoing my bathroom and thinking that breaking out a few lines would be a good way to break the ice. He and I stood in the bathroom as he walked me through the work that needed to be done. 'Yeah, yeah, cool, man,' I said. I slapped down the toilet-seat cover and cut out four thick lines of coke. 'You want one?'

He looked pretty uneasy. 'No, no thanks. I'm on the job,' he said. 'OK, right, that's cool,' I said. 'I'll do yours, then.' 'It's not just that, it's also eight o'clock in the morning,' he said, smiling apologetically.

At that moment I was every single nightmare cliche of what that guy had ever heard about rock stars, rolled into one - even more so because he had been hired to turn my extra bathroom and its huge corner Jacuzzi into a massive snake terrarium that took up a quarter of the room. He was going to build glass walls from the floor to the skylight to enclose the tub, which was elevated, plus adding a set of Plexiglas stairs so that you could see my pets wherever they might be. I couldn't wait to fill it with trees and all the other shit that snakes like. In the Walnut House I kept about 90 snakes and reptiles.

[axelmc]

It didn't take a clairvoyant to see that if we would ever be a band again, Izzy and Duff [McKagan, the group's bassist], Steven [Adler, drummer] and I, would need to write some music and get Axl [Rose, Guns' singer] interested and back in the mix. We kept rehearsing, and once we'd gotten a few songs together, we went over to Izzy's place to do some writing and see where his head was. It didn't take me long to figure it out. I was in the bathroom over there taking a leak when I noticed the two-inch-thick layer of dust in his shower and bathtub. That thing hadn't been used for weeks - Izzy was that far gone. Axl showed up that day, and regardless we started working on a song that became 'Pretty Tied Up'. I remember that Izzy had taken a cymbal and a broomstick and some strings and had made a sitar out of it. Needless to say, Izzy was pretty fucking high.

We didn't have to confront him at all; he had a serious scare one night that set him straight. Whatever it was, Izzy got too shook up to even talk about it. He just called his dad, who came out from Indiana, and took him back home, and that's how and where Izzy got clean. He's been clean ever since.

The rest of us continued to work, and once we had some material and were communicating with Axl again, he let us know that he and Izzy wanted to write the next album in Indiana. I couldn't imagine why; both of them had left Indiana as soon as they could to come to LA and they never seemed too fond of the idea of going back. In any case, our situation was so unpredictable that I wasn't going to move to a wheat field with no guarantee that we'd even get anything done. In the end we agreed on Chicago.

Doug Goldstein, our manager, and I went to scope out where we would live and rehearse. We chose the Cabaret Metro, the famous rock club on the north side of the city; it's a concert space that houses a separate club called the Smart Bar in the basement, and also has a theatre upstairs. We rented out a two-unit, brown brick apartment building a few miles down the road on Clark Street, right by the elevated train to live in.

We all moved out there, with our techs, Adam Day and Tom Mayhew, our production manager, and our new security guard, Earl. Duff, Steven, and the crew guys moved in downstairs, and Axl, Izzy, Earl and I lived upstairs. That was fine by me because I had the place to myself for the most part - it took Axl more than a month to join us, and Izzy was there for less than an hour. In our plentiful free time Duff and I did our personal best to stay in shape. I had one of my BMX bikes out there and I used to ride it between the apartment and the rehearsal space, bunny-hopping over everything in sight, riding on the sidewalk. It was a good workout. Some days Duff and I even went to the gym, usually just after our morning vodkas. We'd go down to one of those big public YMCAs with Earl to pump iron. We'd be down there in our jeans, doing sets between cigarette breaks - it was invigorating.

Every night we hung out at the Smart Bar. We didn't really gel with the people there, but we had a dozen chicks. It was like a shooting gallery in that place, but eventually I settled on one. Her name was Megan; she was 19 and she lived with her mom and younger brother in a nearby suburb. She was really exotic-looking, a heavy-chested, bubbly, sweet girl.

I did try to stay the course once Axl got to town, but two incidents put an end to my time in the Windy City. The first was the night we came home after drinking to find a feast of Italian food on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. I got a bird's-eye view of the mess because, as I recall, I had insisted on spending the entire night lying on the roof of the car whenever we drove from bar to bar. Our favourite Italian place was right on the corner and apparently Axl had unloaded the band's entire dinner on a few people who had found out that we were living there and were heckling him from the street. Axl had then proceeded to trash the entire kitchen and break every glass item in the apartment. And, as we'd find out a few days later, sometime during his tantrum Izzy had arrived, having driven in from Indiana. He took one look at what was going on from down on the street and turned his car around and left immediately without even entering the building.

I suppose that the rest of us should have noticed that Axl was unhappy and acting out after that first incident, but by then we'd gotten to the point where we just let him do his thing and tuned it out.

Who knows, maybe if we listened to what he wanted to do and just complied a bit more he wouldn't have freaked out so hard. Still, who could fathom what he was unhappy about? He showed up with this very sort-of-bitter attitude that seemed to be coming from a very depressing place. But, to be honest, I was more worried about Steven than Axl by then: he was a huge problem; he was doing tons of blow and his performance had become irregular. I didn't catch on at first; he kept his coke hidden in the refrigerator.

We would be hanging out and sharing a bit of blow, but I couldn't figure out how Steve was always that much more wasted. He'd just get this twinkle in his eye and say, 'Hey man, butter tray,' and point at the fridge.

'Yeah, OK, Steve. Sure,' I'd say. I'd go to the refrigerator, fix myself a drink, and come back with nothing to report. I didn't think he actually wanted me to look in the butter tray. He was that fucked up that I didn't take it seriously.

'Did you see?' he'd ask, grinning wildly. He'd just keep pointing at the refrigerator and saying, 'Butter tray.'

'Yeah, man, I saw it,' I'd say. 'That's a great refrigerator you've got there. Really nice butter tray, man.'

'Butter tray.'

'So, Steven, what are you trying to say?'

Tom Mayhew discovered it eventually. Steven had a steep supply of coke piled up in that butter tray of his.