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APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
Welcome to Appetite for Discussion -- a Guns N' Roses fan forum!

Please feel free to look around the forum as a guest, I hope you will find something of interest. If you want to join the discussions or contribute in other ways then you need to become a member. We especially welcome anyone who wants to share documents for our archive or would be interested in translating or transcribing articles and interviews.

Registering is free and easy.

Cheers!
SoulMonster

2024.05.18 - Le Figaro - Slash: "I don't think of myself as a rock veteran"

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2024.05.18 - Le Figaro - Slash: "I don't think of myself as a rock veteran" Empty 2024.05.18 - Le Figaro - Slash: "I don't think of myself as a rock veteran"

Post by Blackstar Sun May 26, 2024 8:25 am



Transcript (French):

Translation:
___________

Slash: "I don't think of myself as a rock veteran, but rather as a kid".

The American-British guitarist releases "Orgy of the Damned", his first album of blues covers. A great success.

By Olivier Nuc

Saul Hudson, a.k.a. Slash, who came to prominence with Guns N' Roses in the late 1980s, remembered his parents, who introduced him to music at a very early age, when he was conceiving his new album. He also contacted an impressive array of singers. From Iggy Pop and Beth Hart to Billy Gibbons, Brian Johnson and Chris Stapleton, they all answered the call to pay tribute to the blues roots of the guitar hero, who welcomed us to Gibson's Paris offices.

LE FIGARO. - You're releasing Orgy of the Damned, your first blues album. This will come as no surprise to those familiar with your guitar playing...

SLASH. - Yes, it's the music I've always played, even though I've never been in a band that could be called a blues band. But that's where my guitar playing comes from. So this step was inevitable.

Had you wanted to do this for a long time?

Back in the '90s, I used to play with a band that covered standards of the genre. We became friends pretty quickly, so we started touring. But it wasn't meant to get serious; just guys playing their favorite songs. And then I had other priorities, like the Snakepit and Velvet Revolver projects. And also the Conspirators. Then Guns N' Roses reformed. During the band's last tour I took advantage of a three-week break to record this album. I started calling well-known singers. Some of them had time to be in the studio with us. The others I saw on my days off.

Alongside the classics - Hoochie Coochie Man, Crossroads, Key to the Highway - you cover songs by Stevie Wonder and Steppenwolf. Why is that?

Because this isn't a traditional blues record. There's also some good old rock'n'roll and songs I grew up with.

How did you discover the blues?

When we lived in England, my father and his brothers were rock'n'roll nutters, going through albums and analyzing them in depth. I was only 5, but I remember the Kinks, the Who, the Moody Blues and the Stones. When I was 7, we moved to the United States, and I was exposed to the music my mother and her family listened to. My maternal grandmother introduced me to B. B. King, explaining that all English blues and rock came from there. That opened the door to American blues, rhythm'n'blues and funk. I played with my cousins, one was a bass player and the other a guitar player.

Who were your "guitar heroes"?

The most obvious ones were Johnny Winter, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Mike Bloomfield and Mick Taylor. Then I went back to the pioneers, Albert King and Chuck Berry. There was something visceral about them that always appealed to me. I always wanted to see Albert King in concert, but I was too young. I remember discovering Bowie's Let's Dance album when it came out in 1983. Stevie Ray Vaughan played on it in exactly the same style as Albert King. I'd just taken up electric guitar and it had a big impact on me.

How did you go about selecting the songs for the album?

Some of them were too cliché, like Superstition or The Thrill is Gone, and I didn't want to cover them. I wanted to cover a song by B. B. King, who remains my favorite bluesman, but I couldn't find a suitable one. Born Under a Bad Sign has been covered many times, but I had to play that riff! Oh Well has never been covered too much. And Killing Floor is a song I've always wanted to play. This one is sung by AC/DC's Brian Johnson, who sings in the typical lower register of Howlin' Wolf, one of his biggest influences.

In 2022, you bought a 1960 Gibson Les Paul that had been sitting in a closet near Paris for fifty years...

Yes, it's great. I used it on Crossroads. Given its incredible history and its association with France, I named it Brigitte. But I don't take it on the road: I don't tour with vintage guitars anymore, they're too fragile.

You've been famous for thirty-five years. Do you consider yourself a rock veteran?

No, I still feel like a kid. When I called Billy Gibbons to ask him to be on the album, I was nervous. I don't see myself as a rock star of that caliber, and I don't think I ever will.
Blackstar
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