2020.10.07 - WGN News - Interview with Slash

Found this additional clip, but it looks like it's just an excerpt from the video above.

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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Slash has recorded a version of the "Love Story" theme song, in honor of film producer Robert Evans, who died last year and was a good friend.

The Guns N' Roses guitarist discussed his "Love Story" rendition during an October 6 interview with WGN News while he was in Elk Grove Village, Illinois to promote the new GN'R pinball game he helped design with Jersey Jack Pinball.

Speaking about how he has been spending his downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic, Slash said: "I've just been recording and writing, and doing other assorted odds and ends. But for the most part just writing and recording. It's been a good creative period, I can say that much.

"I'm pretty much a workaholic and a busybody, so [the pandemic] put me in a situation where I've had to be patient and sit and just create without deadlines and stuff," he continued. "I'm usually working on some sort of a time schedule. I usually work pretty quickly, and I'm usually doing a lot all at once. And so this crisis has sort of forced me in a situation to be able to smell the roses and spend a lot of time on whatever I'm working on. And it's been healthy, in that regard.

"I've been producing horror movies, so I've been busy with that. But mostly just writing new stuff and recording demos," Slash added. "And I've done some session work with different people. I just did a version of 'Love Story' in honor of Robert Evans, who's a friend of mine who passed away last year. And so we're probably gonna release that online. So I've just been working with different people doing different stuff, on top of the original music for Guns N' Roses and for The Conspirators, which is my band. So I've kept pretty busy."

Evans headed up production at Paramount Pictures in the late 1960s and early 70s. While there, he was responsible for overseeing hits such as "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), "Love Story" (1970), "The Godfather" (1972) and "Chinatown" (1974).

https://blabbermouth.net/news/slash-records-version-of-love-story-theme-song-in-honor-of-film-producer-robert-evans

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Slash has paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen, calling him "an amazing musician, guitar player, innovator and a hell of a guy."

The Guns N' Roses guitarist offered his comments on Tuesday (October 6) — the day of the legendary Van Halen guitarist's death — while he was in Elk Grove Village, Illinois to promote the new GN'R pinball game he helped design with Jersey Jack Pinball, a leading game designer that recently moved its factory to suburban Chicago.

"I'm just a little shocked," Slash told WGN News (see video below). "It's hard for me to verbally say anything, other than I'm just devastated. Eddie was really cool. And I've been talking to him — we've been texting. And I knew he was sick, but I didn't wanna ask him how sick he was. But he was in a hospital in L.A. for a while. And I knew [expletive] was up, but I didn't expect that today at all. So I'm floored."

Asked what he thinks Eddie's legacy will be, Slash said: "Eddie changed guitar playing. I picked up the guitar, I guess it was 1979, 1980. The first Van Halen record came out, and Steven Adler, who was Guns N' Roses' original drummer, when we were kids, we used to just hang out and ditch school and go to the pizza place and whatnot. And we used to listen to that first Van Halen record, and it was just insane. It was, like, 'What the [expletive]?'

"He changed guitar playing," Slash continued. "He was such an amazing musician, amazing guitar player, amazing innovator and just a hell of a guy. And we really lost a major contributor to rock and roll today."

https://blabbermouth.net/news/slash-says-he-had-been-texting-with-eddie-van-halen-prior-to-legendary-guitarists-death

Slash's version of Theme From Love Story was released on November 5, 2020.