1995.07.DD - MTV Brazil - Interview with Slash and Gilby

Transcript:
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[Host talks in Portuguese]

Gilby: People tend to overanalyze rock ‘n’ roll. It’s pretty simple. You write a song, you get the guys you like to play together, you plug in, you learn it, and you play it and record it.

[Clip from Beggars and Hangers On video]

Slash: The main thing about Snakepit is that we’ve all sort of put this together ourselves and been doing it ourselves. It’s pretty much everybody’s energy involved, so that’s what’s cool about it.

[Clip]

Gilby: It’s just cool just to, like, get back to the roots - you know, to what we got into music for in the first place, which is playing really loud, playing up close to everybody and just playing the kind of music that we always liked.

Slash: Everyone is worrying about Guns N’ Roses and Gilby, Eric and Jellyfish, you know, at the time, Alice in Chains and all that kind of stuff. But we were just in the studio having a good time.

[Clip from Good To Be Alive video]

Slash: At the same time, to do 13-14 songs in 13-14 days is fine, because you work all day, keep jamming and you get it to what you think as the whole of the band thinks is good. And we felt it.

[Clip from Good To Be Alive video]

[Host talks in Portuguese]

Gibly: I am very curious, because when we were just in Buenos Aires, I had played there earlier in the year and I kind of had a taste of what it was going to be like. But it’s like, we haven’t been here in a while, so I’m kind of curious.

Slash: Yeah. I just think it’ll probably just be wild.

[Clip from Good To Be Alive video]

Slash: It’s in the blood. It’s just the way the people are. Instead of fucking around with, like, images and – I don’t know. It seems to me that they just want to have, that particular evening, the time of their lives. They want to see the band and have a great time. So it’s a give and take thing, to the point where just if we look like having a good time, they’re having a good time. And then we just go over the top. You know, it’s not about TV, and magazines, and newspaper articles, and shit like that. It’s about the sheer passion of the moment.

[Host talks in Portuguese]

[Footage from the Snakepit show on July 25, 1995 – Interviews with concertgoers]

Slash: Recording an album is just a vehicle for us to go out on tour. So we wanted to get the album done as quickly as possible so we could go on tour.

Gilby (talks at the same time): Go on tour! (chuckles)

Slash: Yeah (chuckles).

[Footage from the Snakepit show on July 25, 1995 – Interviews with concertgoers]

Gilby: The Guns N’ Roses thing was kind of like mutual decision on both parts, really (laughs). But yeah, I mean, I play guitar, and I can sing and stuff, and I can write, so it’s like, it enables me to do a lot of different things. So it’s great that I’m able to make my own records and then go work with Slash and Snakepit or whatever may come up next.

Slash: We met Brian, and Brian is a great drummer. So I said, “Matt, deal with Guns N’ Roses.” Those guys are supposed to be working (laughs). They’re not working, but they’re supposed to be. But at least he is there in case they do decide to do anything.

[Live footage]

Slash: As far as Mike goes, he has an Alice in Chains record to finish. And he did recently ask to come back, and do the South American tour and the rest of the tour. But we’ve got so attached to James - you know, we’ve all been in this together.

Slash: The first Snakepit record is the first Snakepit record. We’re gonna do another one. I know that it’s gonna be a little bit more adventurous. You know, I don’t think we’re gonna spend too much time on it. But we’ve been playing live together and we’ve developed a kind of chemistry. So the next one I think will be better than the first one, and on and on and on. So your live record needs to have, like, a history of the different songs that you’ve recorded and you’ve played live, and so we need to get a bunch of more stuff together and then really put together the quintessential Snakepit record.

[Host talks in Portuguese]