When heavy riffin' guitarist Slash pulled out of a tour opening for AC/DC in March, it looked like a return to the type of irresponsible rock star antics his former band Guns N' Roses became famous for in the late '80s. But Slash has dutifully rescheduled all 11 shows, and, as it turns out, he had a valid excuse for nixing the AC/DC dates.

"I came down with walking pneumonia," he said Thursday (May 31). "For the first time in my career, I reached a point where I was working so hard, and I started getting sick, but I didn't pay attention to it. Finally, I was feeling really crappy so I went to a doctor in Pittsburgh to see what was up, and he said, 'You're really sick.' They wouldn't let me leave the hospital for five days".

Before hitting the road, Slash will perform one song with Spinal Tap on Friday (June 1) during their show at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and the next evening he'll join legendary blues guitarist Les Paul onstage at L.A.'s House of Blues.

The rescheduled Slash's Snakepit tour starts in Clifton Park, New York, on June 15 and slithers down the East Coast before winding through the Midwest. Slash will co-headline with Billy Idol on the last three shows of the tour (June 26 in Chicago, June 27 in Detroit and June 29 in Pittsburgh).

"We're old friends," Slash said. "It's possible that I might join him onstage or he might come up and play with me, but we really haven't talked about it yet."

When he gets off the road, Slash plans to return to the studio to work on new material. He already has more than 20 songs, half of which were penned for Snakepit's 2000 album, Ain't Life Grand, but weren't finished in time Slash hopes to have a new record ready for release by the beginning of 2002.

"The new songs are kind of similar to the ones on Ain't Life Grand, but they're newer, so they're different," the guitarist said. "The next record will be an evolution, hopefully, but it will still totally be the kind of bluesy, ballsy rock I love."

Slash's rescheduled tour dates, according to his publicist:

6/15 - Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
6/16 - Syracuse, NY @ Lost Horizon
6/17 - Buffalo, NY @ Erie Basin Marina
6/19 - Hyannis, MA @ Pufferbellies
6/21 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
6/22 - New York, NY @ Wetlands Preserve
6/23 - Old Bridge, NJ @ Birch Hill Nite Club
6/25 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Down Under
6/26 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
6/27 - Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
6/29 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Iron City Light Amphitheatre

- Jon Wiederhorn