Interview with Slash

[Steven]

Hi all.
I have fould a interview slash and here it is.

SLASH SAYS CONTROVERSY INTEGRAL PART OF ROCK 'N' ROLL

"Axl is a magnet for problems," said Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash,
explaining the band's controversial lead singer, Axl Rose.

Slash has taken on the responsibility of explaining Axl, 29, and the
much revered, much reviled rock band to the media. Slash plays Keith
Richards to Axl's Mick Jagger. Slash writes the music, Axl the
lyrics. His guitar playing is so highly regarded that Michael
Jackson, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Lenny Kravitz and others have invited
him to play on their records.

Slash is all too familiar with the articles on Axl: He was arrested
for hitting a neighbor with a wine bottle; he lashed out at his band
mates onstage for being junkies; he caused a riot at a concert in St.
Louis by fighting with fans and security guards; he called his
hometown of Lafayette, Ind., a concentration camp when he was
performing in Indianapolis; he has blasted critics and others from the
concert stage, even people who work for his own record company; he has
written lyrics that have been labeled sexist, racist and homophobic.

Compared to Axl, Slash seems like the calm before the storm.

To be sure, Slash, 26, has had his problems: addiction to heroin and
saying the "F" word on live television, to name a couple. He'll tell
you it's part of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and attitude that Guns N'
Roses embodies. But during a 75-minute telephone conversation
Saturday from a Twin Cities hotel, Slash seemed level-headed,
even-tempered, soft-spoken and frank. The topics included Axl's
recently injured hand, how Slash got his nickname, how he feels about
swearing on TV and what he's been doing in Minneapolis before the
band's concerts tonight and Wednesday at Target Center. [NOTE: This
article contains some information that is no longer useful, but I am
including the *entire* article.]

The seemingly shy Slash, who hides behind a guitar and cascading black
curls, didn't dodge any questions. He did use words (maybe 10 or 12
times) that this newspaper seldom prints.

AXL'S INJURED HAND/ The lead singer slashed his hand when a part of a
microphone fell off during a performance last week in Dayton, Ohio.
"It happened at the beginning of the set and he made it through the
whole show," Slash said. "It was making everybody nervous. I didn't
want anything to happen to the hand; I just wanted him to get it
checked out to make sure it was OK. He was a trouper [sic]."

Slash doesn't know how many stitches the singer received, but said
he's "fine." GNR cancelled its next two concerts scheduled for
Detroit and came to the Twin Cities Thursday. Slash said he hung out
and went to strip joints until his girlfriend joined him over the
weekend.

WHY GNR CONCERTS START SO LATE/ The concerts are advertised as
starting at 9 p.m., with opening act Soundgarden. At some recent
performances, GNR did not hit the stage until after midnight and the
group has been known to play as late as 3:45 a.m.

"We're a club band basically and we're used to going on at, like,
midnight," said Slash. "We have a couple little entertainment factors
between sets (after the opening band) where we have video screens and
we videotape the crowd and we have closeups of girls and they get off
on that. We also have killer intermission music to listen to. All
things considered, I think it would be better if we do a really good
show as opposed to rushing into it when we're not mentally and
physically prepared."

WHY GNR IS SO POPULAR/ The group's 1987 debut, "Appetite fot
Destruction," which sold 14 million copies, is the largest-selling
debut album in history. The ensuing "GNR Lies" sold 6 million and
last year's "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" have sold
2 and 3 million, respectively. Almost all of the band's recent
concerts have been sold out.

"One of the reasons we're so popular--I never try and sit here and
analyze it--is because we unabashedly talk about subjects that people
in normal life are forced to keep quiet," Slash said, referring not to
specific subjects, but to the "rock n' roll attitude, sex, drugs. We
talk about relationships gone awry. Wee blast out against authority.
It's sort of that rebellious, teenage sort of way."

The whole concept of punk rock has been carefree and rebellious, as
Slash sees it. "The music business isn't something I agree with
seriously. That may be one of the reasons we seem so shocking."

WHY GNR IS MISUNDERSTOOD/ "From Day 1, we were controversial. It's
one of these things isn't necessarily going to go away. You can try
to battle it on an intelligent level that people cannot argue with.

"Axl's amazingly misunderstood. I've known him for a long time and
we've gone through a dozen different plateaus in the relationship. It
took me a long time to understand him. We're so different as far as
personalities go. He's highly complex; I'm very black-and-white. So
we have [a] lot of run-ins. But we're really close."

Slash doesn't always agree with what Axl writes, says or does, but he
will back him up, he said.

GNR AS SEXISTS/ People have accused Guns N' Roses of being sexist,
from the lyrics of some of their songs to their onstage horn section
of women clad in G-strings.

"Am I sexist? The answer is no," said Slash. "We're talking about
stuff everyone goes through. It's not that we're trying to make a
bold statement. Every song is about experience."

He said the all-female horn section was his idea. "It's like seeing a
girl driving a Ferrari," he said. "It's something you don't expect to
see, but it's cool when you do." He said the horn players wear
whatever they want, and they opted for lingerie.

THE LYRICS OF "ONE IN A MILLION"/ The lyrics to this 1988 song
denigrate "niggers," "faggots" and immigrants. ROse has explained
that the song was hie reaction to being hassled when he moved from
Indiana to Los Angeles in 1980.

Slash said the backlash about the song, which GNR has never performed
in concert, has died down. But it is something he knows he will have
to explain time and again, especially because his mother is black.

"It wasn't a racial comment," Slash said, "but I can understand how
people think that. When I first heard the lyric, I was, like, 'Axl, I
know what you're saying, but I don't think people are going to take it
right. I know my family isn't going to take it right.'"

No one would have noticed if GNR hadn't become such a successful band,
Slash said. "I never saw us as being a band that was highly
influential or making any knid of statements. So it's sort of strange
to be some sort of role models for younger kids." GNR's only message
is to "honestly express yourself without any barriers," Slash said.

SLASH'S BACKGROUND/ Born Saul Hudson, Slash has lived in Los Angeles
since his parents moved there from England in the early 1970s. His
mother is a costume designer who has worked with John Lennon, Diana
Ross and the Pointer Sisters. His father has designed album covers
for Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Drawing was young Hudson's first
interest; he illustrated an unpublished book by Mitchell, one of the
Hudson's neighbors.

After his parents divorced, his mom dated David Bowie, with whom Slash
remains close.

"He's like family," Slash said of Bowie. "He really helped when I was
going through the down part of the heavy drug period. Having been
through it himself, he was sort of a help. He's someone that I
genuinely respect and admire."

AXL'S BACKGROUND/ "I'm almost from the entertainment business," Slash
said. "I lived in Hollywood all my life--nothing shocks me--whereas
Axl's coming from the Midwest, coming from a constricted background.
To move from that into Los Angeles, where everything's going on at
once, he's coming from a completely different viewpoint.

"I came from a cool family. Axl came from a very repressed
upbringing. That [is] why he's so fiery. When he sees something that
he doesn't like, his knuckles are all over it."

SLASH'S NICKNAME/ When he was 14 or 15, Slash got his nickname from
actor Seymour Cassel (who played Sam Ketchum in "Dick Tracy"), the
father of one of his friends, who called him that because he was a
"skinny, wiry kid always in a rush." His parents call him Slash, too.

WORKING WITH MICHAEL JACKSON AND BOB DYLAN/ Slash's recording with
Jackson took only one night, "but over a period of a year, if that
makes any sense." The guitarist recorded tracks for "Black or White"
and a year later he was called back to record "Give Into ____" which
Jackson said he wouldn't record unless Slash was involved. [NOTE:
Sorry about the title of that song...it wasn't on my 'abused' original
copy of the interview, and I don't know it.]

"I was really flattered that he called," Slash said. "But I can't
tell you I sit around and...he's not my choice of style of music to
listen to."

People have put forth countless ideas about what Jackson is like as a
person, but "having gone through being judged and misrepresented, I
wasn't about to do that to him," Slash said. "He was easy to get
[a]long with. He was easy to work with. He's pretty humble. It was
a nice experience.

"Dylan? I hated it. He was impossible to work with. He was
impossible to talk to. He was absolutely no fun to be around. He had
no idea what was going on, as far as I could tell. I did a really
good solo for him and he took it off at the very last minute. He
said, 'It sounded too much like Guns N' Roses.' Well, why did you
call me?"

USING VULGAR LANGUAGE ON LIVE TV/ Slash admits to having been
drinking wine when he was at the American Music Awards in 1990. When
he arrived at the podium to accept an award, he said the forbidden "F"
word.

"I think it was the funniest thing that happened during the whole
show. It was a very stiff awards show. It was really a bore. I
tried to make it a good time. It slipped out. I was a little
nervous," he said. "They called me up and asked me to do the awards
again this year."

TV executives need not worry: Slash will tape his appearance because
GNR will be on tour.

GNR'S LEGACY/ If Guns N' Roses ended today, how would Slash like the
group to be remembered?

"As being for real, as being really true to our art, and being true to
what's great about rock 'n' roll, one of the good ones. I'd like to
be remembered--period."

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* Steven. *
* Derby,England Ste...@orion9.demon.co.uk *
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