2001.10.DD - Q - "Hellraising, Hellraising and Hellraising" (Slash)

"Hellraising, hellraising and hellraising."

Partially on the wagon, it's ex-Guns N' Roses guitar-slinger and millner's model Slash - still the only whiskey-drinking teetotaller in town.

By Mark Blake

Hello. Where are you?

At my house in L.A.

Haven't you just sold your place to Billy Bob Thornton?

Yeah, him and Angelina Jolie. I like the idea of passing the house on to even more artistic people.

It's our round, what are you having?

I've been sober for the last six months, but how about a shot of good whiskey? Actually, I've been sneaking a few of 'em in lately.

Can you remember what you were doing 15 years ago?

Hellraising, hellraising and hellraising.

What was the worse thing about being 15?

Discovering that playing guitar 24/7 is not conductive to keeping a girlfriend.

Did anything good happen when you were 15?

I'd just started playing guitar.

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

I wish I'd been better prepared for dealing with those mistakes that come up and blindside you.

What's your worst fashion faux pas of the last 15 years?

I've only ever worn jeans, T-shirts and a top hat - so everything!

What's the best record of the last 15 years?

Alice In Chains' Dirt.

If you weren't a musician what would you be?

An illustrator maybe.

What music are you listening to now?

Moby, Stone Temple Pilots and Nirvana.

What's been the highlight of the last 15 years?

All of it.

Where do you see yourself in 15 years' time?

I just concentrate on the immediate future.

When are you going to get back together with Guns N' Roses?

I still see Izzy [Stradlin] and Duff [McKagan]. I haven't spoken to Axl for six years, but I spoke to Steven [Adler] the other week. He's the Humpty Dumpty of the band. No insult to Steven, but they could never put him back together again.

What's the strangest story you've heard about yourself?

All of 'em. If you actually saw it happen, it happened.

When was the last time you listened to Appetite For Destruction?

I hear it all the time on the radio. I'm proud it's stood the test of time.

Ever smashed a guitar?

I put my first Les Paul copy through a studio wall once.

Have you talked about blow-jobs on any kids' TV show recently?

Honest, I didn't know that show [SM:TV] was a kids' show.

What's your personal motto?

Don't get fucked.

What do you think of Radiohead?

They're OK, but I'm not a big fan.

Sum up the last 15 years in one word.

Can I have seven? What a long, strange trip it's been.

What's next?

I've got the Michael Jackson tribute show in September and I've been asked to do a Yardbirds reunion album. After that, another record.

***

45. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction - Geffen 1987

A record so amazing that it could captivate Sylvia Plath fan Richey Edwards while still containing lines such as, "Turn around bitch, I gotta use for you." The early Manic Street Preachers contended there were only two contemporary albums worth a gif: this and Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions... Such was this record's careening melodic potency, bloody-minded trad-rock glory and sheer fury that its unpleasant urges just blurred into exhilarating nihilism.

WWST "If drinking and driving is your idea of a good time, these are your soul mates." Q11 ***

WHN The albums Use Your Illusion I and II and singer Axl Rose artfully batting away his homophobic reputation: "Homophobic? I think I've got a problem if my dad fucked me in the ass when I was two."

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Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20021119003557/http://www.gnrunlimited.com/articles/q-10-01.html