2007.10.05 - Miami Herald - No Looking Back For Hard Rock Vets (Slash)

No looking back for hard rock vets

BY ROBERTO SANTIAGO

Hailed as one of the world's great rock guitarists, Slash, lead ax man for Velvet Revolver, was both honored and perplexed when he was knighted ''Riff Lord'' earlier this year by Metal Hammer, a British headbanger magazine.

''I was surprised, I was honored, and then I didn't know how seriously to take it,'' said Slash, 42, whose 4-year-old hard rock band, Velvet Revolver, plays the Sound Advice Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on Sunday.

Fellow hard rockers Alice in Chains -- which had hits in the 1990s when Slash was with Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver's lead singer, Scott Weiland, fronted Stone Temple Pilots -- opens the show at 7 p.m.

''Although we would love to just play material from our 2004 and 2007 albums, having Alice in Chains doing their '90s cuts does require us to give fans at least one GNR cover,'' said Slash, who will be strumming and picking a double-neck electric acoustic as Weiland softly croons the melodic ballad Patience.

In contrast, the STP cover will be the spirited, soulful angst of Interstate Love Song, Slash said.

While modest about the ''Lord'' tribute, Slash is responsible for creating some of hard rock's best riffs over his 20 year professional career -- Sweet Child O' Mine,and Welcome to the Jungle for Guns 'N Roses; and Slither and Fall to Pieces for Velvet Revolver.

Slash said the songwriting process for Velvet Revolver's recent sophomore release, Libertad, often involved him and bass player Duff McKagan (also of GNR) composing riffs and bridges to fit Weiland's lyrics.

''Sometimes Duff would do the riff and I would do the bridge and vice-versa,'' said Slash, who says he doesn't agree with criticism that the album, which debuted in July, embraces a softer modern rock sound.

''We weren't as angry as we were the first time,'' said Slash. "With Contraband we felt as a band made up of former members of GNR and STP that we had something to prove. So we came out loud, hard and angry. But with Libertad it was just about the music and that we are more comfortable with each other as a band.''

Nonetheless, Slash is at his best when lost in power chords and feedback-sustaining notes. Slash says his signature wild, cathartic, fast vibrato technique is inspired by British rockers of the '60s and '70s.

Curiously, this July also marked the 20th anniversary of the release of GNR's Appetite for Destruction, which has sold 26 million copies since 1987.

Reflecting on his once-close friendship with GNR front man Axl Rose, Slash expressed a sense of loss that the good times never last forever.

''There is nothing bad between me and Axl -- it is just a dead relationship,'' said Slash, who said the two met in 2005 to iron out old business matters.

"When I quit GNR, I never looked back. It's all Velvet Revolver now.''