With a career spanning a quarter of a century, the man born Saul Hudson has become one of rock’s most iconic figureheads, a man synonymous with the instrument he’s so capably pioneered (and shred). A recent Time Magazine survey even placed him second only to Jimi Hendrix amongst the greatest guitarists of all time.
So what do you do with the opportunity to interview one of the world’s greatest living guitarists?
Well, when the artist in question is the top-hat toting, shades-wearing, curly haired Slash, there’s an obvious talking point…
Though he’s lent his services to a wide range of culture-defining artists from Michael Jackson to Quentin Tarantino. There’s always one name that discussions over Slash tend to gravitate towards. Given the recent controversy surrounding the induction of Guns N Roses into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, and Axl Rose’s open-letter snub of the ceremony, it would seem like logical interview fodder. But the topic people most want to hear about in association with the guitar legend, is also probably the one he wants to discuss the least.
Besides, “people seem to forget” as Slash himself points out, “I’ve been away from that since 1996” and he’s been plenty busy since.
Last year saw him finally getting around to releasing his first, proper solo album (disregarding his former Slash’s Snakepit project). An eponymous record brimming with star-studded collaborations with rock’s A-list. Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Chris Cornell, Dave Grohl, Lemmy, Ian Astbury and even Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale, were just a few of the stars who had the opportunity to work with the guitar god.
It was one guest vocalist in particular that found himself working with Slash on a more permanent basis. Myles Kennedy, of Creed-offshoot Alter Bridge, found himself jumping quite a few rungs on the rock ladder when he quickly became Slash’s go-to vocalist. Kennedy now feature, along with a new backing band, on Slash’s second solo record, Apocalyptic Love.
Released this week, its thirteen cuts have been cited as containing some of Slash’s most visceral playing in an age. An achievement made possible by something called the ‘Slash Box.’
The what now?
“Ok well, I’ve been recording records for roughly twenty-five years now, and I always want to record as live as possible,” Slash explains in his every-man drawl. “I hate the sound of my guitar in headphones,” he continues, “I play with the band live in the studio with the basic track, but because of the headphones I always go back and re-record my guitar in the control room; with the monitors blasting on ten.”
This time however, his producer Eric Valentine, came up with a solution that allowed Slash to perform live, along with the band. “[He] came up with this idea of building a room inside the studio where the other guys are playing” details Slash, “in that room there’s big monitors, and the band mix – including my guitar – is coming out of these monitors and that’s what I’m listening to. So I’m playing live to that mix, the guys playing in the room outside of me. Then we just keep all that.”
“It’s really great” beams the guitarist “because it means the guitar is spontaneous. Even some of the little mistakes that you make in a take are kept in there. It’s a kind of energy that people listening to it won’t really know or think about what it is; but it’s what makes it more exciting.”
Indeed the likes of lead single “You’re A Lie” and the appropriately titled “Hard And Fast” feature the fancy fretwork we’ve come to expect from the virtuoso, but sounding their freshest they have in years.
Something Slash attributes to the chemistry emitting from his newly-formed backing band, The Conspirators: Kennedy on vocals, along with Brent Fitz on drums and bassist Todd Kerns. A possé Slash put together for the road, but “what began as a few isolated dates turned into a year-and-a-half world tour.” Slash quickly realised it was a group deserving of a full record, what would become Apocalyptic Love, and Australia will be able to see what they’re capable of during their national tour in August.
In fact our country has had a fair influence on the new album. Firstly Sydney’s Soundwave marked a surprise guest appearance from the guitarist during Kennedy’s Alter Bridge set last year; while portions of Apocalyptic Love were also mixed down under. “In this last two plus years, it’s really the closest I’ve been to the audience in Australia,” reasons Slash, “prior to that, no-one [here] really gave a shit” he scoffs with a jocular chuckle that comes to punctuate much of his conversation.
It’s this casual warmth that charges his down-to-earth persona. He might be the world’s greatest living guitarist, but he sure doesn’t act like it. Most surprisingly, it’s with similarly warm laughter that talk turns to this year being the 25th anniversary of the release of Appetite For Destruction, Guns N Roses’ legendary debut.
Hopefully working with his new band on his second solo album has taken his mind off all that? “It’s really not a big deal. Working with Myles is just something I’ve been doing, but the issue is the public at large and the media especially, continue to be fascinated with that whole thing.”
Though he won’t mention ‘you-know-who’ by name, Slash is surprisingly forthright with the details about one of music’s best-known, if not defining, fallouts. It may be sixteen years since Rose and Slash have had any sort of contact, but it obviously remains a sticking point with everything to do with either of them to this day.
“A lot of, mostly negative stuff, is perpetuated in the media” he ruminates, “and it just keeps it on the surface all the time. Even though nobody from that group is really concerned about it.” His response again punctuated by a light chuckle, “so I’ve been working with Myles without too much of a thought about that, until we had the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction.”
An historical event not only in the Guns N Roses chronology, but for fans and music industry alike, their induction into the Hall of Fame led to many speculating the enormous outside chance of the ritual being the catalyst of a hugely-anticipated reunion. ‘Fat chance’ was Rose’s essential response.
In an open letter to the media, Rose wrote a (uncharacteristically) coherent treatise that detailed his his refusal to attend the ceremony, as well as to “respectfully decline’ to be inducted as a member of Guns N Roses in any way; stating “time to move on.”
Interestingly, Slash pretty much agrees with Rose’s stinging sentiment “so we did it and it’s over and we’ve moved on.”
In a decision made “at the very, very last second,” Slash’s go-to vocalist stepped in to fulfil Rose’s not-so-diminutive shoes. “I knew it wasn’t going to be the ideal thing, which was to be to get those original five guys and just do it” recalls Slash. “That didn’t happen. So at the very last minute, we decided to perform anyway and asked Myles if he’d be kind enough to sing.”
Wasn’t that more pressure on Kennedy than either Slash or his estranged bandmates? “I know! I said, “no, I hate to ask him to do that” but I did and his first reaction was ‘I really appreciate you asking but I’d really rather not.’ Because he gets put in that position of being between these two camps. There’s the pro-Axl camp and then there’s the pro-Slash camp.
“Then there’s a lot of people in-between” says Slash, “but there are these factions on either side and he gets stuck in the middle of that and has to take the flak from the anti-Slash guys. It’s just an awkward position.”
In the end Kennedy rose professionally to the occasion, something the axeman recalls with relief and satisfaction, “it went over nicely.”
Of course, Guns N Roses isn’t the only dismantled group left in the trail of Slash’s wake. The other white elephant in the room is Velvet Revolver. In retrospect, it looked like the six-string maestro – along with his ex-Guns bandmates – had traded one troubled megalomaniac vocalist for another in the form of ex-Stone Temple Pilot, Scott Weiland.
Again, it’s not something Slash feels particularly dogged by, again laughing off the recent suggestion from Weiland himself that the feuding that imploded the band following their cancelled Australia tour in 2008, had been resolved.
“That one is nowhere near as controversial. Anything having to do with Scott is laughable to me.” In this particular instance, unlike the legacy of his original band, Slash treats his relationship with Weiland as much less of a sacred cow. After having been played a tape of Weiland’s claims that Velvet Revolver were getting back together, he thought, “’are you kidding me?! This is fucking ridiculous.’ So I had to investigate it , I talked to Duff [McKagan, Guns/Velvet bassist] and he said “No, I don’t know anything about it.”
“It’s just some sort of stunt that Scott’s pulling,” says Slash before taking on a tone of declaration, “but no, there’s absolutely nothing happening with Scott and Velvet Revolver and I don’t think anybody in the band is going to exercise that. But Velvet as an entity is still together and we’re still looking for a singer but I think at some point next year we’ll see where we’re at with that.”
It seems the ghosts of Slash’s bands continue to follow him no matter what he does, it’s all part and parcel of his iconic status, but the key is that he isn’t haunted by them. If the vitality of his latest solo record is any indication, it proves that Slash is unperturbed as long as he’s getting down to the business of rocking out; and rock, Apocalyptic Love surely does.
Nowhere more-so than in the live setting, Slash’s true home – on stage and shredding with every ounce of his fibre. A place that “lately, [has] just been really responsive and the people are great – I’m just having a blast.”
Don’t forget to go into the draw to win a framed, signed Slash poster before entries close tomorrow!
Slash along with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators will be touring nationally in August.
