Queen’s Brian May has shared his thoughts on Guns n’ Roses members Axl Rose and Slash, revealing that Rose was “known for being difficult.”
In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, May was asked how he ended up collaborating with Slash when the Guns n’ Roses guitarist made a guest appearance on May’s ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ performance on The Tonight Show.
“I don’t know when I first met Slash, but I’m happy to say that we have a continuing friendship. I guess I was around him mostly when I did that support tour for Guns N’ Roses all over the world,” he began.
“It was great for me because I was playing with people who I respect and they also respect me.”
Brian May continued: “Axl Rose was known for being difficult and whatever, you know, he was always great to me. He always had time to speak to me. I used to go into Axl’s dressing room before they went on.
“Because Axl would normally have something he wanted to say to me or ask me, which was part of his preparation for going onstage.”
May continued on to reveal to Slash wasn’t afraid of bending the rules doing their appearance on The Tonight Show.
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“Slash was just always very relaxed, very cool. That’s always been the way I’ve seen Slash. He’s a real gentleman and a fantastic musician, obviously.
“It was great when he played with us when we were on The Tonight Show. There’s a funny story there because Slash normally had the cigarette in his mouth.”
“In the rehearsal, these people came over, very seriously, and said, ‘I’m afraid you can’t do that, Mr. Slash. It’s not allowed by the regulations.'”
“He went, ‘Huh, OK.’ He put it out. When the time comes and the cameras roll and we’re live, really truly live on Jay Leno’s show, it’s not recorded, he comes on with a cigarette in his mouth. I just looked at him and went, ‘Yeah, that’s Slash.'”
“You can’t really take that away from him. Not that I want him to smoke. I hate smoking because it killed my dad. But Slash is an independent spirit. And boy, did he play good.”
For more on this topic, check out the Classic Rock Observer.
