Slash Speaks! Rolling Stone Interview 08/14/2018

[WhazUp]

12 minutes ago, bigpoop said:

The way I read it is exactly the opposite. Pretty much an acknowledgement (accidental or not) that it is  Axl and Company.

How so, if I may ask?  Just since I had the opposite interpretation from you haha

[TheGeneral]

Great questions. Answers, meh.

So he also thinks GVF sound like Led Zeppelin?

I found his answer on Frank interesting. Does it really seem like he thinks Frank is a shit drummer? Or is it just me? Lol

[Draguns]

28 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

I found this part interesting, I believe this is the first time we got official confirmation that it isn't really "Axl and Company" legally speaking, that at least Slash gets the legal respect of not being a hired hand, as it should be.  

 

I've been saying this for years both here and in the  other  forum. Great interview! I enjoyed reading it. I think we'll see a new album. 

[ZoSoRose]

Man, Fuck GNR 

No new music and scared, candid Slash

Some great questions. Kudos to the interviewer. If Slash isnt a liar here, it does appear he is a part of GNR and not just a hired hand. Thats good I guess, but it means nothing in terms of new music if All cant be bothered

Edited August 14, 2018 by ZoSoRose

[GoBucky]

2 hours ago, sofine11 said:

Oof, man his cold response bodes so shitty for new music.  Honestly, I'm sure he'd love to record on whatever Axl has, but Axl's weirdness about putting out new music is probably a sore spot for all involved.

 

I thought that when I read it, too but this interview was done in June. He seemed more open to the possibility of at least the discussion of new music a week or so ago during the Trunk interview. 

[ZoSoRose]

24 minutes ago, bigpoop said:

The way I read it is exactly the opposite. Pretty much an acknowledgement (accidental or not) that it is  Axl and Company.

I read it that way too, but if he doesnt have an employment contract, it seems he is more of a partner than employee

[IncitingChaos]

I think Slash was getting at the fact that if he says anything in regards to his business relationship with Axl it turns into the ugly side of showbiz where as right now they are doing good at going out on stage and performing the songs and having a good relationship that way. 

Its why he won’t talk about a new record with Axl or seemed put off by the question on Axl showing him music. That’s the side that can make the relationship sour so at the moment they are still avoiding that. 

Also the book..Axl already called it out in 2016 that Slash lied in his book and so any questions on that book can turn sour. So he really avoided saying he was right on that topic. 

 

[IncitingChaos]

Really Axl can snap on any little thing said by Slash so it’s always risky fielding those questions. 

I just wonder if when Axl showed Slash new songs he wants him to be on if Slash was frustrated that he wanted him to play on someone else’s song and pretend it’s his. He really did not want to touch that topic 

[TheGeneral]

To me it just seems as they didn't talk about every aspect of their year long fued and are ignoring it. That in the back of their heads they're still pissed about something but don't talk about it because it's too risky.

We all know that's not healthy because one day the bomb will explode.

[Tom2112]

Had a good laugh reading this, especially the "I'm lighting that fuse" bit  

We should take on his attitude, 'if it happens, then great'.

4 hours ago, janrichmond said:

yeah i picked up on that too. 

Didn't think it was cold, he said he was shocked, but then he went on just said his experience of VR was not fun or something he enjoyed. He didn't throw Scott under the bus or anything, definitely not as much as he used to in interviews.

[Blackstar]

Slash didn't need an employment contract to get back to GnR, only to be an active partner again by being in the band.

41 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

To me it just seems as they didn't talk about every aspect of their year long fued and are ignoring it. That in the back of their heads they're still pissed about something but don't talk about it because it's too risky.

We don't know about that. Them not talking about it in public doesn't mean they haven't talked in private. Actually in the couple of interviews Slash did last year he implied that they did but he didn't want to get into the "personal stuff":

Quote

Now that we're back together, without getting too much into it, we're able to talk about it and identify people who got in the way. It's great to be past all that without having to listen to anybody's input—not managers, not business people. We just do what we're good at, and it's nice that it's been well received.

http://www.a-4-d.com/t2838-2017-08-xx-interview-with-slash-in-music-aficionado

And Axl in China Exchange said he told Slash how he felt about his book.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Blackstar

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

1 hour ago, TheGeneral said:

To me it just seems as they didn't talk about every aspect of their year long fued and are ignoring it. That in the back of their heads they're still pissed about something but don't talk about it because it's too risky.

We all know that's not healthy because one day the bomb will explode.

I see your point of view, but I view it differently.  I think Slash and Axl (especially Axl) are private and have grown especially private about tense aspects of GN'R which includes the Axl/Slash rift for nearly 17 years or whatever it was.  I don't know if it was one single thing that made them stop talking or a variety of things, but I think they generally moved past it and I think neither one of them feels the world is allowed in on this.  It was personal between those two and it doesn't need to be an open topic for the world to analyze

 

Edit: Plus the very last thing Axl and Slash need is the media and fans having the whole story and having an attitude of "what?  That's it?" if it seems like a silly reason they stopped talking or even worse, the media and fans, now having the story on the rift, generally siding with Slash or Axl.  That would not help the situation at all

Edited August 15, 2018 by Caught_in_a_Coma

[Cruel Intentions]

He pretty much answered every question about GNR with a non-answer. The impression I got from this interview is pretty much exactly the vibe that we've all gotten for years now - these guys just want to tour, and that's it. I don't blame them, but at least Slash didn't give us false hope about new music the way Richard has in the past. You can tell he's pretty much just walking on eggshells and doesn't want to say anything that could cause publicity and potentially cause a rift between him and Axl and blow this whole thing up. 

The most interesting Guns response was about Coachella, though. I find it hard to believe he and Axl would've gotten back together for only one or two shows.

[Tom2112]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

I found this part interesting, I believe this is the first time we got official confirmation that it isn't really "Axl and Company" legally speaking, that at least Slash gets the legal respect of not being a hired hand, as it should be.  

 

Well Slash was always a partner in GNR, he left the band as a performer but he retained his rights as far as I know? He obviously had no say on the things hat happened after in regard to CD etc. 

 

39 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

To me it just seems as they didn't talk about every aspect of their year long fued and are ignoring it. That in the back of their heads they're still pissed about something but don't talk about it because it's too risky.

We all know that's not healthy because one day the bomb will explode.

From the little Axl has said and from the little Slash has said it seems like they ironed out their shit. I don't think this tour would have happened, and I don't think it would still be an on-going thing if they still had those big issues that caused the rift in the first place. Who knows though, but going from they've said I think the bridge has been mended, obviously the scars remain to some extent though.

[Cruel Intentions]

43 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

To me it just seems as they didn't talk about every aspect of their year long fued and are ignoring it. That in the back of their heads they're still pissed about something but don't talk about it because it's too risky.

We all know that's not healthy because one day the bomb will explode.

Which makes you wonder how awkward that initial phone call was between them.

[Tom2112]

1 minute ago, Cruel Intentions said:

He pretty much answered every question about GNR with a non-answer. The impression I got from this interview is pretty much exactly the vibe that we've all gotten for years now - these guys just want to tour, and that's it. I don't blame them, but at least Slash didn't give us false hope about new music the way Richard has in the past. You can tell he's pretty much just walking on eggshells and doesn't want to say anything that could cause publicity and potentially cause a rift between him and Axl and blow this whole thing up. 

The most interesting Guns response was about Coachella, though. I find it hard to believe he and Axl would've gotten back together for only one or two shows.

I think he said everything in those answers. There's nothing to say, and for people want to hear they don't think it's necessarily information that people need to know. 

I mean, the questions people want to know are, the money each member was on, and a load of business questions (do we need to know about that?). The only one that is important is if they'll make new music, and from the sounds of it, they might but it's not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. 

[Blackstar]

Apparently there is only a contract with Live Nation about the tour, and possibly a new (or amended) contract with the label will be needed in the case of new music.

[Old_school_gnr_fan]

Really good and informative interview there, but I do wish Slash had been asked about his input on the Appetite box set, as in whether he had any say in what demos and live recordings made it on to the Locked N' Loaded and Super Deluxe Edition. 

I don't know if I'm the only one, but as I'm reading about how Slash is retelling the story about working shit out with Axl, I'm thinking to myself, I still cannot believe Slash is back in Guns N' Roses.....I'd just given up hope that it would ever happen, based on things that had been said in the past.

[Old_school_gnr_fan]

25 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

 

 

From the little Axl has said and from the little Slash has said it seems like they ironed out their shit. I don't think this tour would have happened, and I don't think it would still be an on-going thing if they still had those big issues that caused the rift in the first place. Who knows though, but going from they've said I think the bridge has been mended, obviously the scars remain to some extent though.

"Time Heals All Wounds" 

[Ratam]

5 hours ago, Tourettes2400 said:

I was just about to post this. You know Eddie Trunk wishes he could have gotten half the answer that this guy did.

I read an best Slash interview on Forbes.

[Blackstar]

4 minutes ago, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

Really good and informative interview there, but I do wish Slash had been asked about his input on the Appetite box set, as in whether he had any say in what demos and live recordings made it on to the Locked N' Loaded and Super Deluxe Edition. 

He talked about it a bit in the interview he did with Eddie Trunk the other day. He didn't say anything in detail, but it seems he had at least some input:

 

Quote

Trunk: We’re here of course at the Rainbow on the Sunset Strip where there’s so much history with Slash and Guns N’ Roses where he grew up. And of course the record that started the whole Guns N’ Roses thing, Appetite For Destruction. A mega deluxe box set reissue in many formats has come out. The record back on the charts, an old song that didn’t make the record becomes a radio hit again, I mean, take us to that, what do you think of all that?

Slash: Um, well, I mean the box set, you know, I guess it’s finally got the chance to release a lot of stuff that we had in the vault, that we’ve never released before. So that was really just fine to do; fine to put together, and cathartic, as well. And then, to do Shadow Of Your Love. That particular recording was what we... that was when we went in to try out Mike Clink before Appetite, when we were going through trying to figure out who was gonna be the right guy to produce us. That was the song that we did, that’s the version of it that we did. And so, it’s just cool, I mean, you know, it’s like one of those things that we never thought it would see the light of the day, just put it out there as one of these songs on this record, with all these, you know, different versions, and live versions, and this and that and the other. And actually we got up and start playing it. I haven’t played that song since 1985.

 

[Ratam]

5 hours ago, soon said:

Lots of info despite his concise and at times (understandably) cagey responses! Many things that are interesting to me, but Ill pick the Izzy comment. 

Q - What can you say about the Izzy situation on this tour?
A - Uh, I’m not gonna go anywhere near that. I thought what he had to say about it, from what I saw – I didn’t read the whole thing – but the basic come away, I thought, was well handled.

Is slash saying that Izzy's tweets about "the loot" are accurate and Izzy "well handled" the situation? Or is Slash saying that he doesn't like Izzy's tweets and therefore thinks that the decision to not involve Izzy was a "well handled" decision? 

He is cryptic like Axl...😑

[Blackstar]

10 minutes ago, Ratam said:

I read an best Slash interview on Forbes.

Thanks for pointing it out! Slash has been doing quite a few interviews lately, hasn't he?

So another new interview:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2018/08/14/slash-opens-up-on-guns-n-roses-his-new-album-and-the-fame-monster/#7b742480664f

[...]

Steve Baltin: You’ve been busy since I saw you last.

Slash: When did I see you last? It was the World On Fire thing, right? I went on the road, I wrote some songs during that, started pre-production at the end, hooked up with Axl, ended up doing these Coachella dates, which turned into a two-year tour, which still isn’t over. We had a break during that in January, so I hooked up with the Conspirators guys, wrote some new songs, started pre-production in earnest, had the record mixed and mastered by May, then when straight to rehearsals with Guns, went and did this last stadium thing, now I’m doing this before I get to go out with Conspirators again. So it’s pretty cool, I’m excited.

Baltin: I talked about this with Joe Perry and some of the guys in the E Street Band as well. You’re in that artistic sweet spot of having the best of both world, the big rock machine and your passion project. Do you feel that?

Slash: Even though it’s been two years, the Guns ‘N’ Roses thing was not planned, so it wasn’t some sort of aspiration. It just sort of came out of nowhere and ended up being really, really fun. I never would have expected it to happen in the first place and then be such a joyous thing. So now, at this point, I’m firmly ensconced in that and able to go and play with...sort of like concubine kind of thing (laughs).

Baltin: You say it was more joyous than you would have expected. It does feel like, for most people, as you get older that other stuff falls away and doesn’t matter.

Slash: I’m so stubborn that I’m loathe to admit it, even at this point in time, I’m going, “Well, that’s not what it is. I don’t know what it is, but that’s not it.” To me, it seems to be something more cosmic than that. Granted, there are changes that I will recognize in myself since then, and I will take the blame for a lot of that negativity. With Axl, it’s harder for me to say. I don’t know what it is for him, but we’ve been having a really good time. And we never sat and talked about this particular aspect of it. We’ve just been doing it.

Baltin: I also spoke with Myles [Kennedy, Conspirators singer] a few months ago about his album. And I’m sure one of the cool things when you went to make this album is you both bring new things to the table.

Slash: For us musicians, you’re always reaching for something. But when I got into the studio with these guys, I missed them and I had a little bit of guilt for having put them in a situation where I took off for a tour that had seemingly no end in sight and left it all hanging cause we had started working on new tunes and they were cool and we were about to go into another cycle. I wrote a bunch of new songs, so there was a song on the record called “Mind Your Manners,” which I wrote, the first thing we played when we got back in the room cause that’s always so awkward. “What do we play first? Do we just jam or what do we do?” We jammed that and that became a song, so that was cool. But some of the material was old, from 2015, and that made me feel like I was going backwards in a way. Normally what happens is there’s a certain shelf life and then you move on. So that made me go, “The songs are really good, so I want to do them.” But, in a sense, I felt it was going the other direction.

[...]

Baltin: So did they give you s**t for taking off in the middle of the record?

Slash: No, initially, we were on the road somewhere in the U.S. and I’d spent some time with Axl and I told the guys straight up, “I’ve been talking to Axl and we’re talking about doing some shows and I don’t know what that’s gonna lead to. I’ll keep you posted.” Everybody’s feedback was very supportive because it was such an unprecedented event that those guys being fans of the whole Guns thing wanted to see it to happen. “But then what did that mean for the future?” They don’t know what I’m thinking (laughs). But I had been waiting for a moment where I could step out of Guns, for a second, and just focus on doing this record. Pretty much after we’d been doing this for a year I was like, “Okay, I need to find a moment.” So it came and it was good.

Baltin: It’s interesting how you refer to it as the Guns experience. I’ve known you so many years seeing you on that Jumbotron at Dodger Stadium was weird. Did it feel surreal to go back into it and realize people cared that much?

Slash: There was a lot of surreal stuff about the Guns thing. For me, the biggest thing was me and Axl sitting together and talking. And we were right back to us as normal friends. That was, in and of itself, a surreal moment and it was really cathartic and I felt really relieved. All that negative black s**t that had been collecting over years and years, being perpetuated. So that was one thing. But the support from the fans, they could have gone whichever way, and it would have been fine with us because it was just  good for us to get together. But, to have the enthusiasm, just the overall reaction from fans globally over the course of the whole f**king tour, is something that, as a kid coming up, you can only ever wish for. It was really something you feel very humbled by and grateful for. I don’t want to get into all that kind of s**t.

[...]

Baltin: I mentioned Joe Perry, who you are friends with. Are there people you look to for the way they’ve balanced multiple projects?

Slash: It’s a pretty different situation because of the gap of 22 years between shows, but 20 years between conversations. So that makes it sort of unique. But I went one of those Desert Trip shows and I saw Keith [Richards] at the Stones one. And I was so happy to see him because I hadn’t seen him since all of this stuff had started. He was obviously not very supportive of my leaving Guns at the time because to him you keep that together. And I had just gotten to a point where, even with that advice, I couldn’t listen to him. Fast forward 20 years and he’s playing this gig and we’d already done Coachella. I saw him and I said, “Yeah, it’s back together, it’s really good.” And I gave him a big hug.

[...]

[Ratam]

1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

Thanks for pointing it out! Slash has been doing quite a few interviews lately, hasn't he?

So another new interview:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2018/08/14/slash-opens-up-on-guns-n-roses-his-new-album-and-the-fame-monster/#7b742480664f

[...]

Steve Baltin: You’ve been busy since I saw you last.

Slash: When did I see you last? It was the World On Fire thing, right? I went on the road, I wrote some songs during that, started pre-production at the end, hooked up with Axl, ended up doing these Coachella dates, which turned into a two-year tour, which still isn’t over. We had a break during that in January, so I hooked up with the Conspirators guys, wrote some new songs, started pre-production in earnest, had the record mixed and mastered by May, then when straight to rehearsals with Guns, went and did this last stadium thing, now I’m doing this before I get to go out with Conspirators again. So it’s pretty cool, I’m excited.

Baltin: I talked about this with Joe Perry and some of the guys in the E Street Band as well. You’re in that artistic sweet spot of having the best of both world, the big rock machine and your passion project. Do you feel that?

Slash: Even though it’s been two years, the Guns ‘N’ Roses thing was not planned, so it wasn’t some sort of aspiration. It just sort of came out of nowhere and ended up being really, really fun. I never would have expected it to happen in the first place and then be such a joyous thing. So now, at this point, I’m firmly ensconced in that and able to go and play with...sort of like concubine kind of thing (laughs).

Baltin: You say it was more joyous than you would have expected. It does feel like, for most people, as you get older that other stuff falls away and doesn’t matter.

Slash: I’m so stubborn that I’m loathe to admit it, even at this point in time, I’m going, “Well, that’s not what it is. I don’t know what it is, but that’s not it.” To me, it seems to be something more cosmic than that. Granted, there are changes that I will recognize in myself since then, and I will take the blame for a lot of that negativity. With Axl, it’s harder for me to say. I don’t know what it is for him, but we’ve been having a really good time. And we never sat and talked about this particular aspect of it. We’ve just been doing it.

Baltin: I also spoke with Myles [Kennedy, Conspirators singer] a few months ago about his album. And I’m sure one of the cool things when you went to make this album is you both bring new things to the table.

Slash: For us musicians, you’re always reaching for something. But when I got into the studio with these guys, I missed them and I had a little bit of guilt for having put them in a situation where I took off for a tour that had seemingly no end in sight and left it all hanging cause we had started working on new tunes and they were cool and we were about to go into another cycle. I wrote a bunch of new songs, so there was a song on the record called “Mind Your Manners,” which I wrote, the first thing we played when we got back in the room cause that’s always so awkward. “What do we play first? Do we just jam or what do we do?” We jammed that and that became a song, so that was cool. But some of the material was old, from 2015, and that made me feel like I was going backwards in a way. Normally what happens is there’s a certain shelf life and then you move on. So that made me go, “The songs are really good, so I want to do them.” But, in a sense, I felt it was going the other direction.

[...]

Baltin: So did they give you s**t for taking off in the middle of the record?

Slash: No, initially, we were on the road somewhere in the U.S. and I’d spent some time with Axl and I told the guys straight up, “I’ve been talking to Axl and we’re talking about doing some shows and I don’t know what that’s gonna lead to. I’ll keep you posted.” Everybody’s feedback was very supportive because it was such an unprecedented event that those guys being fans of the whole Guns thing wanted to see it to happen. “But then what did that mean for the future?” They don’t know what I’m thinking (laughs). But I had been waiting for a moment where I could step out of Guns, for a second, and just focus on doing this record. Pretty much after we’d been doing this for a year I was like, “Okay, I need to find a moment.” So it came and it was good.

Baltin: It’s interesting how you refer to it as the Guns experience. I’ve known you so many years seeing you on that Jumbotron at Dodger Stadium was weird. Did it feel surreal to go back into it and realize people cared that much?

Slash: There was a lot of surreal stuff about the Guns thing. For me, the biggest thing was me and Axl sitting together and talking. And we were right back to us as normal friends. That was, in and of itself, a surreal moment and it was really cathartic and I felt really relieved. All that negative black s**t that had been collecting over years and years, being perpetuated. So that was one thing. But the support from the fans, they could have gone whichever way, and it would have been fine with us because it was just  good for us to get together. But, to have the enthusiasm, just the overall reaction from fans globally over the course of the whole f**king tour, is something that, as a kid coming up, you can only ever wish for. It was really something you feel very humbled by and grateful for. I don’t want to get into all that kind of s**t.

[...]

Baltin: I mentioned Joe Perry, who you are friends with. Are there people you look to for the way they’ve balanced multiple projects?

Slash: It’s a pretty different situation because of the gap of 22 years between shows, but 20 years between conversations. So that makes it sort of unique. But I went one of those Desert Trip shows and I saw Keith [Richards] at the Stones one. And I was so happy to see him because I hadn’t seen him since all of this stuff had started. He was obviously not very supportive of my leaving Guns at the time because to him you keep that together. And I had just gotten to a point where, even with that advice, I couldn’t listen to him. Fast forward 20 years and he’s playing this gig and we’d already done Coachella. I saw him and I said, “Yeah, it’s back together, it’s really good.” And I gave him a big hug.

[...]

Yes, @Blackstar this interview Slash talk about Axl in  most affectionate form than Rolling Stone ,two great interviews ,but , i like more it, thank you.

[Tadsy]

I can’t even portray how refreshing it is to have done fresh interviews. Obviously he danced.around certain questions but the fact I’m waking up to a fresh rolling stone interview with slash is refreshing to say the least. 

I just wish the pair of them would do one TOGETHER... but that’s not going to happen. 

I thought the questions were ballsy! Kudos to the interviewer!