1993.06.23 - RAW magazine - "We're still turned on by one another" (Slash, Matt)

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TRANSCRIPTION:
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‘WE’RE STILL TURNED ON BY ONE ANOTHER!’

]But don’t worry, GUNS N’ ROSES are only talking creatively here! As the band’s monumental world tour draws to a close, SLASH gets cosy with STEVE BRAUNIAS, we print the band’s undiscovered first EVER interview, and outline what’s next for GN’R! Get yer axl greased here...

YOU’LL FIND the world’s greatest Rock ’n’ Roll guitarist down at the bar. Slash is perched on a stool, face alive inside his massive hair, and he’s with two of his closest friends - a glass of vodka and a packet of Marlboro. He's also with anyone who cares to sidle over and chat.

It's a slow, humid afternoon in Auckland, New Zealand, another stop on G N'R's relentless assault on the world’s stadiums that began in summer 1991 and won’t seem to end. Last night, Slash partied it up at a harbourside restaurant and recalls dancing a can-can with bassist Duff McKagan and Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach.

"But the last time I was here, I can’t remember a fucking thing!” he shrugs. Nothing? He shrugs again, and answers, "drugs".

None of that in 1993. Slash has other things going on inside his head. Like, lots of new songs and ways to amuse his new wife. ‘‘It’s a memorable experience,” he winks.

Back in '89, though, life was a blur. "Someone gave me a xeroxed copy of a photo I autographed, and I signed it as '89. so it must have been then. I was so spaced out. We’d nearly finished being on tour, and dabbled with this and that, but we were more or less clean the whole time... then we found all these junkies in Sydney, and got the taste back!”

"Then we went back to the States tor a hiatus to write and record - except there were more drugs available. And we had the money to buy them.

Drugs are always available. It helps to explain why GN’R are holed up in a completely different hotel from Skid Row.

“Sebastian is one of my best friends,” says Slash, “but once we pair up, all hell breaks loose. So it’s a strategic thing to keep us apart. But I can’t smoke pot like he does. I just space out too hard. I like to be totally in control.

“You can be stoned and enjoy what you're doing, but it’s not conducive to responsibilities, and you get to the point where you’re inconsiderate about the people you’re working with and you alienate yourself. I try to be amiable.”

Slash is probably the most amiable rock star on the planet.

He’ll talk to anyone who isn’t an obvious asshole, and his manners are impeccable.

More impressively, he does his best in front of 45,000 fans the following night to save Guns N’ Roses from absolute disaster. As he stalks the stage in leather, Slash is everything you want in a Rock god.

There’s a great melodic solo on ‘November Rain’, a quick hurst of Hendrix' ‘Voodoo Chile’, the deadly opening bars of 'Bad Obsession’ and a surreal, cosmic duet with Gilby Clarke on ‘Wild Horses’.

Meanwhile, Axl jogs and sings lyrics that most of the crowd can’t hear, Drift looks sick as a dog, and Matt Sorum sends hundreds of fans home early with a drum solo as dull as a month of wet Sundays... “I’m very plugged into what Guns N’ Roses is all about,” says Slash. “I spend a lot of time thinking about the music, so I’m always on top of it.”  The guitarist becomes more animated on the subject of new songs.

Asked if he’s the band’s musical arranger, he says, “Y’ know, I was just thinking about that, ‘cos I’m in the middle of writing a lot of new material right now. But I wouldn’t call me a song arranger, because I have no attention span!

“I write what I call a cool signature riff, and maybe a good chorus and some good guitar parts, then I work with the other guys. I can feel it right now when I’m calling up Duff and saying, ‘Check this out,’ then rushing to put it on tape because of my, uh...”

Short attention span?

"Yeah, short attention span! So I talk with Duff a lot, and talk with Axl a lot, and we still have original ideas, and we’re still turned on by one another as far as creating is concerned. That’s a huge accomplishment after all this time, and anyone who wants to criticise can fuck off!”

That includes Nirvana. The Seattle trio are not a welcome topic of conversation around Guns N’ Roses. Hell, even Sebastian Bach tells me, “Nobody likes them!”

It seems that special venom is reserved for frontman Kurt Cobain. “That little punk,” roars GN’R drummer Matt Sorum. “We did nothing but treat those guys fucking good. We asked them to tour with us, we talked good stuff about them in the press. Axl even fucking wore their hat.

“But they basically slag us everywhere they go, including the MTV awards. We had a little row backstage haw haw! And Duff almost kicked the bass player’s (Chris Novoselic) ass! And I was ready to help him...”

“I mean, they have some good songs – though they’re not a great band – but it’s as if they don’t want the fame. I don’t understand, man...”

Slash says he doesn’t want the fame, either. It doesn’t bother him, though, as long as it doesn’t interfere with his marriage to Renee. At this point, I remember to give him a message from his former beau, ex-porn star turned actress, Traci Lords. She says, “Hi”.

Slash promptly spills his vodka.

“Traci Lords! God, my wife would love to hear that!” He chuckles. “Yeah, I’d like to say hi to her, but that’s probably not a good idea.”

But Slash reckons marriage is cool, especially since the couple moved into a new house. “It’s got a great studio, and a party room – and my snakes are there. All 35 of them... well, it might be a hundred by now,’ ‘cos one of them is pregnant. Plus, I have my lizards here, and my alligator.”

Everything a man could possibly want. But has Slash, the legendary nomad, actually been there himself? “Sure,” he insists indignantly. “I was there for a week once!”

GET THE PUNK OUT!

GN'R may have stopped touring, but the action starts now! Here’s the plan for continued world domination...

• ‘Making F@*!ing Videos Part I’ and‘...II’ are released on June 21. '...Part I’ details the filming of the ‘Don’t Cry’ promo, while ‘...II’ concentrates on the epic ‘November Rain’!

• Guns N’ Roses complete their touring schedule with two shows at the River Plate stadium in Beunos Aires on July 16 and 17.

• The band’s much mooted Punk Rock covers’ EP has now mutated into an album, which is due for release through Geffen in the Autumn. Among the tunes covered are The Damned’s ‘New Rose’ and the UK Subs’ ‘Down On The Farm’.

• Bassist Duff McKagan has been working on a solo album throughout the band’s world tour. Produced by Jim Mitchell, the as-yet-untitled LP is also due in the Autumn.

• Guns N’ Roses have recorded the majority of the shows on tour, and a live album is currently in the planning stages. No firm release date has been set as yet.

• A documentary film crew have followed GN’R throughout their tour. Director Annie Moorhan is currently sorting through the footage for a film of the tour, which will incorporate live and video footage, plus candid off-stage material.

• Slash has begun writing new material for the follow-up to the ‘Use Your Illusion’ albums (see interview!), and Axl has completed one new song titled ‘This I Love’. Axl, Slash and Duff will continue to work on new material together, although no firm decision has been taken as to whether new guitarist Gilby Clarke will contribute.

• W Axl Rose has also expressed an interest in working on a side project with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, possibly in a hard Industrial vein!

The early interview included in this cover story under the title "Guns N' Roses: The first interview" is the same as the one in BAM, November 1987:
https://www.a-4-d.com/t526-1987-11-dd-bam-magazine-glam-band-no-thank-you-ma-am
So I didn't transcribe it and just posted the images.