2000.12.05 - LiveDaily - Interview with Slash

liveDaily Interview: Slash

by Don Zulaica
liveDaily Contributor

When it comes to '80s guitar icons, few match the Les Paul-wielding, top hat-donning Slash. From the raw Guns N' Roses debut, "Appetite for Destruction," to the self-indulgent "Use Your Illusion" sets, Slash's possessed, blues-metal mayhem was as--if not more--prominent than Axl Rose's screeching vocals.

With his GN'R days a faint blip in the rearview mirror, the guitarist is dishing it out on the new Slash's Snakepit album, "Ain't Life Grand" (Koch Records). And along with vocalist Rod Jackson, bassist Johnny Blackout, drummer Matt Laug and guitarist Keri Kelli, the group is currently kicking off a headlining European tour.

LiveDaily correspondent Don Zulaica caught up with Slash to talk about the album, the "Appetite" that wasn't, and the artist's utter disinterest in audio editing software.

LiveDaily: This is your second album with Snakepit.

Yeah, but it doesn't really count as a second record because the first record was a project, it was just a fun thing to do. I never really had any set intention on taking it to where it's at now, since [when I did the first Snakepit album,] I was still in Guns N' Roses. But I had such a good time with it ... eventually I did come back and consequently quit my band--quit my home band, so to speak.

So when this Snakepit came around, it's an entirely different band--with the exception of me--but at the same time, I just kept the name the same.

The album feels very organic--a real live, collective deal.

Snakepit Studios, where the album was recorded, is called that because it's next to a big snake room in my house. When we hooked up, it was basically recording out of my house, the five of us hanging out in our own environment. There's nothing really commercially professional about it--we were just doing what we like to do.

But on the other side of that, you [got] Jack Douglas in there to produce.

That's a funny story in itself. Jack was the guy way back in 1985--or whenever "Appetite for Destruction" was done-- when we were looking for a producer ... you have to remember, Guns N' Roses was basically the scourge of the neighborhood. Nobody wanted to work with us. And I thought working with Jack would be a great idea. But the record company, Geffen, thought that collectively that many chemically imbalanced f---ing people trying to make a record didn't seem like a good idea. So basically what I'm saying, Jack had a drug problem back then, and so did I. And so did a couple of the other guys. So it never happened.

So earlier this year I'm booking gigs with Snakepit without knowing who is going to actually produce this thing. And I ran into Jack--he showed up to one of our outdoor gigs in Miami. It was one of those really volatile rock gigs, where everything was crazy. Once the show was over and the dust had cleared, he goes, "I want to do this." And that was like, you'd have to be out of your mind [not to work with Jack]. It's like f---ing going in reverse on the freeway.

I read something about [your use of] ProTools [audio editing software] on one song, and said you couldn't even look at the computer.

Oh, yeah. I had this thing on a song called "Speed Parade" where I wanted a car sound on it. So where do you go and find a car sound? For me, it's go to the video store, pick out a Clint Eastwood movie and just loop or dub it in there somehow.

And they said, "No, they have these books of nothing but sound effects." ... So it took a while to find it, and the way they applied it was using ProTools. Once I saw that I would just sit behind the computer, I couldn't stand to look at it. It was just so f---ing tedious. That was my first--and pretty much last--introduction to ProTools. [laughs]

Do you have a favorite track?

I'm partial to the whole record.

They're all your babies.

Yeah. When you go in there and put something on record, and it's finished and your satisfied, every song becomes a part of you. So there's no real favorites like that.

But when we go and play live, there would be certain songs on a particular night that I'm looking forward to playing. Like I love playing "Just Like Anything" because it just slams, you know? I like playing "Back to the Moment" because it's a breather song. I like playing "Speed Parade" because that's the only song where everybody moshes. Every song has its own character. Now that the record is done, it's just great to go out there and actually pull it off in front of people.

I always recognized that in your attitude--you just love to play. Through all the things with Guns, whatever was written, there was this Keith Richards vibe, it's all coming from a really pure place. It sounds cliché, but it's really about the music for you, isn't it?

The reason I got into it in the first place, what turned me on as a kid, the whole reason I go through the ups and downs of being in a rock and roll band, or being a musician in general, is that I love the f---in' s---. I live and breathe it, 24/7. I mean, if I get up in the morning, if I take a shower, looking in the refrigerator or whatever, it's all a setup to go play somewhere.

So from a spiritual point of view, I'm a little more black and white--I understand the realities of things, I don't expect anything, I don't look up to the heavens--but I do have a real genuine passion for music. Once you get a chance to do it, just having the vehicle to be able to do it all the time is a godsend.

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