New Slash Interview (Rolling Stone)

[MaskingApathy]

In case this hasn't been posted yet, here's a new interview from Rolling Stone with Slash. Feel free to merge with another thread if needed, I didn't want it to get lost in the new album thread.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/slash-guns-n-roses-conspirators-last-word-interview-1296043/#recipient_hashed=dda09a6cc91b6dd1d5303bbb82f8c11264757f28350a03e6b79986acc8926c04

Relevant quotes:

What’s the secret to keeping the peace in Guns N’ Roses these days?
Just keeping it to ourselves. The biggest issue was that as the band got huge, as street-smart as I’d love to say the band was at the time, [music-business people] really inserted themselves in between our regular relationships and had a real negative effect on things. It ended up causing me to leave, and then being as stubborn as I am, I didn’t look back.

Overall, what’s been the best part about getting back with GN’R?
I think the biggest thing was getting past this horrible black cloud that was perpetuating, having to do with me and Axl. We had a lot of issues born out of third-party stuff. It was very insidious, and the longer we didn’t talk, the more it got blown out of proportion. But the more significant part was, when Axl and Duff and I first got into a room playing, it was just like this fucking thing that I can’t even really verbally describe. It was like, “Whoa, that’s what that is.” Then, just to go out and play together, it’s like, I wonder how the fuck we got into that mess that we were in in the Nineties.

Guns N’ Roses recently released “Absurd” and “Hard Skool” — your first songs with the band in more than 25 years. How do you know when a song is ready to come out?
“Hard Skool,” in essence, was a completed song when I was first introduced to it. And Duff and I went in and redid the bass and the guitars. It’s a simple song, so it didn’t take a hell of a lot of thought and analysis. I think it was a lot of fun just because it was part and parcel of a bunch of stuff that we were working on that was all sort of new — at least to Duff and I — so we had a good time. There’s a bunch of new stuff also coming, maybe a little bit more complex, but it’s just as much fun.

Does that mean there’s a new album coming?
I know we’ve got some songs and we’re releasing another one at some point soon, and there’ll be another one after that. As far as the record is concerned, that remains to be seen as far as a whole package, but I feel pretty confident that at some point down the road, there will be.

GN’R were once the “most dangerous band in the world.” What have you learned from being in a controversial band?
One of the things I’m proud of with Guns N’ Roses is that we did everything the way we wanted to do it and we never catered to the industry or anybody else’s political correctness. If it made us controversial, it really didn’t matter because we felt true to ourselves, and we felt good about it. That was an inherent part of the band from before we had a record deal: Everywhere we went, we sort of caused chaos and mayhem and didn’t do things in a conventional or socially acceptable way. I always thought that’s just part of being in a band. Nowadays I think everything’s been fucking done and tested, so there’s not a lot that we can do, but it was never intentional anyway.

[rocknroll41]

“I know we’ve got some songs and we’rereleasing another one at some point soon,and there’ll be another one after that. ”

Ngl, this part made me smile a little bit.

[WhazUp]

I am just here to say to Pele in advance, yes we already know the second you see Slash's comments regarding material coming out you are of the stance that it will be only material from the '99 era and Axl hasn't done much since.  We get it, that is out of the way, let's focus on other stuff this time in this topic

[Gordon Comstock]

11 minutes ago, MaskingApathy said:

Does that mean there’s a new album coming?
I know we’ve got some songs and we’re releasing another one at some point soon, and there’ll be another one after that.

 

SlAsH jUsT cOnFiRmEd ThE oNlY sOnGs lEfT aRe PeRhApS aNd AtLaS sHrUgGeD

[Jw224]

Interesting he says that hard skool is a simple song but the stuff that's coming is a bit more complex in his opinion. 

[DTJ80]

Good interview. And the comments about more tracks coming soon (and being a bit more complex) is awesome. Let the guessing of what Village songs could be deemed as ‘more complex’ commence….

Edited February 12, 2022 by DTJ80

[StrangerInThisTown]

"another song is coming soon, and then there will be another after that" okay that's funny. Slash just gave credibility to Pele's theories lmao. Jokes on us if we're only getting Perhaps and Atlas Shrugged in the foreseeable future, LOL.

Edited February 12, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[Pele]

48 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

“I know we’ve got some songs and we’rereleasing another one at some point soon,and there’ll be another one after that. ”

Ngl, this part made me smile a little bit.

Completely backs up what I've been saying all along.

5 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

"another song is coming soon, and then there will be another after that" okay that's funny. Slash just gave credibility to Pele's theories lmao. Jokes on us if we're only getting Perhaps and Atlas Shrugged in the foreseeable future, LOL.

Joke is on anyone who thought those other fairytale songs existed.

Hes basically telling you there is 2.

49 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

I am just here to say to Pele in advance, yes we already know the second you see Slash's comments regarding material coming out you are of the stance that it will be only material from the '99 era and Axl hasn't done much since.  We get it, that is out of the way, let's focus on other stuff this time in this topic

Haha, in other words, you're annoyed because Slash has confirmed exactly what I've been saying all along.

[Pele]

20 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

Good interview. And the comments about more tracks coming soon (and being a bit more complex) is awesome. Let the guessing of what Village songs could be deemed as ‘more complex’ commence….

Atlas Shrugged.

[rocknroll41]

If the theory is true that the plan was always to only release four songs, then why not just release all four at once? Why only two at a time?

Not saying the theory is incorrect. I’m just genuinely curious, is all.

[mystery]

49 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

SlAsH jUsT cOnFiRmEd ThE oNlY sOnGs lEfT aRe PeRhApS aNd AtLaS sHrUgGeD

If Slash just noodles for 20 minutes straight on each song you could probably get a full album out of this.

[Jw224]

 

1 minute ago, rocknroll41 said:

If the theory is true that the plan was always to only release four songs, then why not just release all four at once? Why only two at a time?

Not saying the theory is incorrect. I’m just genuinely curious, is all.

To spread it out as long as possible so they can tour, presumably. Although we know they'd be touring anyway so I don't know. 

[rocknroll41]

5 minutes ago, Jw224 said:

 

To spread it out as long as possible so they can tour, presumably. Although we know they'd be touring anyway so I don't know. 

Tbf they did release Absurd at the beginning of a tour where and then HardSkool at the end of that same tour leg. Wonder if they’ll be following a similar pattern again this year. I also wonder how the UYI box fits into all this.

[mystery]

We're in the streaming age where album sales are kind of incidental at this point. If they really plan on releasing more stuff this year then that's great news.

I imagine it'll be a lot like last year where you'll see them on YouTube and other services the day of release. It'd also make sense for them to add these songs to the setlist.

[StrangerInThisTown]

2 minutes ago, Pele said:

Completely backs up what I've been saying all along.

Joke is on anyone who thought those other fairytale songs existed.

Hes basically telling you there is 2.

Look, I'm not even gonna be funny here, that he so specifically says there will be 2 IS funny. If there were more he would have just said "there's more songs coming" or something like that, but he specified it.

However, we know The General exists, and it exists with vocals due to the cellphone leak. So that's 3 they could release already, 1 more than Slash says here. So what I believe, they did only work on 2 more songs, - so far -, they just didn't get to more yet.

[mystery]

What if Slash has actually been Pele all along? 

[Pele]

13 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

If the theory is true that the plan was always to only release four songs, then why not just release all four at once? Why only two at a time?

Not saying the theory is incorrect. I’m just genuinely curious, is all.

So they can sell another CD to idiots who handed over their hard earned money for 20 year old throwaways 'to support the band'.

To use as promotional material for the next leg of the tour because he won't give interviews or go on chat shows or do any other kind of promotion.

[DoMw94]

1 hour ago, MaskingApathy said:

we’ve got some songs and we’re releasing another one at some point soon, and there’ll be another one after that.

He mentions two being released "at some point soon" but also says "some songs". Some usually means more than two...

I take that to mean there's two in the can ready to go, and more they'll be retooling in a similar fashion to Absurd and Hard Skool at some point down the line.

I don't for a second think there's only two, full stop, and I think that quote alludes to that as well.

[Pele]

3 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

He mentions two being released "at some point soon" but also says "some songs". Some usually means more than two...

I take that to mean there's two in the can ready to go, and more they'll be retooling in a similar fashion to Absurd and Hard Skool at some point down the line.

I don't for a second think there's only two, full stop, and I think that quote alludes to that as well.

You're gonna be bitterly disappointed then.

[DoMw94]

Just now, Pele said:

You're gonna be bitterly disappointed then.

There's a lot more to be "bitterly disappointed" about than a band 'only' releasing two more songs in the next year or two, jeez 😂

They said Slash would never return, he did. Everything since then has been a bonus in my eyes.

Anyone who's a GN'R fan and has genuine, solid expectations is a fool. The mystery is part of the game at this point 🤷‍♂️

[StrangerInThisTown]

9 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

He mentions two being released "at some point soon" but also says "some songs". Some usually means more than two...

I take that to mean there's two in the can ready to go, and more they'll be retooling in a similar fashion to Absurd and Hard Skool at some point down the line.

I don't for a second think there's only two, full stop, and I think that quote alludes to that as well.

Why would he not just say "we've got some songs, and we're releasing one soon". Instead of that, he actually specified further that a 2nd one will be coming after the first one he mentioned. That's so weird and unusual to specify like that. I think they got 2 more songs ready to go and are work in progress on more. We know 3 exist atleast that could come out.

Edited February 12, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[DoMw94]

7 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Why would he not just say "we've got some songs, and we're releasing one soon". Instead of that, he actually specified further that a 2nd one will be coming after the first one he mentioned. That's so weird and unusual to specify like that. I think they got 2 more songs ready to go and are work in progress on more.

He did say that. He also said there was another coming soon after – he's given you more than what you're asking for! I don't see the issue.

If two are coming out in quick succession like Absurd and Hard Skool, with the rest coming further down the line, why not acknowledge that?

I think too much is being read into a throwaway comment to be honest

Edited February 12, 2022 by DoMw94

[Pele]

4 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Why would he not just say "we've got some songs, and we're releasing one soon". Instead of that, he actually specified further that a 2nd one will be coming after the first one he mentioned. That's so weird and unusual to specify like that. I think they got 2 more songs ready to go and are work in progress on more.

Oh they definitely have 2 ready to go.  Maybe a third.

They are probably hoping Rose will do more, but starting to realize he won't.

His answer absolutely suggests what I've been saying for years

 

It's funny the way his answers are going.  

From 'there will be a new album'............... to 'there will be an album of old Axl songs'.................. to 'there will be two songs coming out'.

I can't wait until they drop the names of these two songs he's talking about 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Pele

[Gordon Comstock]

"it was a lot of fun just because it was part and parcel of a bunch of stuff that we were working on"

"There’s a bunch of new stuff also coming"

Sounds like they've decided which 2 songs will be released next, and have a few others up their sleeve.

[Tom2112]

18 minutes ago, Pele said:

Completely backs up what I've been saying all along.

Joke is on anyone who thought those other fairytale songs existed.

Hes basically telling you there is 2.

Haha, in other words, you're annoyed because Slash has confirmed exactly what I've been saying all along.

How does it back up what you're saying? There's two more coming soon, he didn't say "there's a song called Atlas and one called perhaps that we're releasing soon. Even IF they are released next it means nothing though, because Slash has also said there is more material. He used the word Bunch in a previous interview, a bunch is at least 4, plus HS and Absurd that makes 6 songs which is at minimum 2 short to be a full album. If Slash does an interview and says "we're just going to release an EP" then I will say you're in the ballpark of being backed up.

 

7 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Look, I'm not even gonna be funny here, that he so specifically says there will be 2 IS funny. If there were more he would have just said "there's more songs coming" or something like that, but he specified it.

However, we know The General exists, and it exists with vocals due to the cellphone leak. So that's 3 they could release already, 1 more than Slash says here. So what I believe, they did only work on 2 more songs, - so far -, they just didn't get to more yet.

No... he said there's 2 songs they are releasing soon, and they are part of a larger collection of songs that they are working on. It's pretty clear in what he said. He didn't say there was definitely an album this year, but there is an album of material that they are working on for some point in the future. ALSO, Slash is famously coy with the press. He denied the reunion right up until the day it was announced, saying he had no idea where the rumours came from and his focus was SMKC, what makes you think he's going to give the full behind the scenes of a new GNR album now?