No-one was complaining when rock gods Slash and Tom Morello teamed up for ‘Interstate 80’ in October. Now, Morello has revealed that it was the Guitar Hero duels between the pair that inspired them to join forces.

Speaking in a recent video shared through his official YouTube channel, Morello also revealed that the video game helped him gain some unlikely fans, in the form of five-year-old kids.

“This is the first time that Slash and I have dueled on record. In the game Guitar Hero there have been plenty of Morelian Slashian duels,” Morello said.

“And I remember that game when it came out, it changed my life and Slash’s life because all of a sudden our fan base went down to like five years old and we became these cartoon avatars for a generation.

“So I wanted to bring – in the video, I wanted to bring that duel to life, that duel which you may have seen in your living room or your basement many times was made flesh on ‘Interstate 80.’”

The music video for Interstate 80 from Morello’s Comandante EP includes a mashup of both men’s cartoon character’s from Guitar Hero, hinting at the inspiration.

“I just thought it was the coolest and most original thing I’ve heard as an idea,” Slash says of the idea of incorporating the cartoon avatars into the clip.

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“And now that I’ve seen the video, it came out looking really really cool so you gotta check it out,” he added.

Slash also spoke of his experience working with Morello on the song, “’Interstate 80′ is a great song – I just dug the attitude and I loved the energy.”

“Tom Morello and I have jammed together on many occasions and he’s just a blast to play with; he’s got a great style and a great technique and a great sound.

“And I think our contrasting styles work really well together. And in this case, on the ‘Interstate 80,’ I just did a bunch of solos throughout the song and then he did his solos and they cut them together and they just fit together great.”

As for whether ‘Interstate 80’ will feature on the game Guitar Hero in the future – we’re certainly gunning for it.

Watch the full interview below:

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