2001.04.25 - Associated Press - Five Questions With Slash

Thanks to @Surge for sending us this article!
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Five Questions With Slash

by Chelsea J. Carter

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Dropped in front of Disneyland, rock guitarist Slash was uncomfortable among the gawking tourists.

The former Guns N' Roses band member was late for a sound check at the House of Blues and had gotten out of a hotel car at the wrong spot.

Unshaven, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his mass of black, curly hair tucked under a baseball hat, and wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans, Slash found himself in a sea of Mickey Mouse T-shirts.

"That really freaked me out, walking through all that. I didn't know I was playing at Disneyland, well, next to Disneyland. What kind of audience do you think they get?" the 35-year-old musician said later.
Born Saul Hudson, Slash rose to fame in the 1980s as one part of the monster rock group Guns N' Roses. After he left the group in October 1996, Slash and his guitar kept busy working on albums with Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson and, most recently, Rod Stewart.

The album "Ain't Life Grand" was released by his band, Slash's Snakepit, last October on the Koch label. Slash is expected to take the band on tour in June, his publicist said.

1. What's the idea behind putting a new band together?

Slash: The way I see it, Guns N' Roses is an entity that's one of those at the right place at the right time with the right people and the right chemistry that just made a band. I don't even try to duplicate it. I don't have those expectations. We didn't have those expectations then. This band, Snakepit, is based on going out, playing hard and seeing where it takes you. Guns was basically started on the same premise that I started Snakepit. It just happens to be different individuals. The idea is the same. We just want to do what it is we do.

2. What about the music? Critics have said it's reminiscent of the early days of Guns N' Roses.

Slash: I don't read articles about the band or about me. I probably won't read this. ... But so far as I know, from doing the interviews, they say it sounds like old Guns. I'm only one-fifth of the band. Maybe that's why they say that. But the other guys don't sound anything like Guns. It's still a hard rock band. It's meant to sound live. Maybe that's part of the similarity.

3. The music is such a departure from today's hits, do you worry about how Snakepit will be received?

Slash: If you remember, when Guns was first around, there was New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson. I don't knock what anybody else does, and I don't get into one of those things where it's like there's a new scene going on, I better get in on it. I just do what it is I like to do. As long as I'm doing that, I'm happy.

4. What lessons have you taken from Guns N' Roses and applied to Snakepit?

Slash: When I was playing with Guns, I didn't pay attention to the costs, the million-dollar productions, the union fees, none of it. I was just out there to do the gig. That hasn't changed much. I really don't have high, high standards. I don't walk into a club and say, `This is a piece of crap.' Not only do I have to watch the costs, I have to watch everything a lot closer now. You know, the record, the management, all that. I have to watch everything a lot closer now. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the last group I was in.

5. Any hope for a Guns N' Roses reunion?

Slash: No. I should never say never. But it would take a few solid months of psychotherapy just to be even able to do an impromptu jam. I'm good friends with all the guys in the band, and I keep in touch with them regularly. But when I was forced to quit that band, it was like a divorce. I haven't talked to (lead singer) Axl (Rose) in six years.

I just wanted to see what caused the whole band to break up, see what the reason for all of it was, and now I know exactly what it is - because of the direction Axl really, really wanted to go. We could have never have made it. I'd be dead by now if I was still in the studio. I just like to go out and plug in. The simpler, the better. As long as the electricity is happening, I'm OK.