THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 8, 1995 TAG: 9504070080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
SLASH HAS SEEN concert-ending riots incited by his band's lead singer, the infamous Axl Rose. He's looked on as Guns N' Roses went through various other fabulously over-the-top scenes - court cases, drug abuse and recovery from same, brouhahas over lyrics and cover songs - during its rock 'n' roll reign.
But one thing literally hit home: last year's L.A. earthquake.
``That was one of the most violent things I've been through,'' said Slash, born Saul Hudson and currently on tour with his side project, Slash's Snakepit, which plays the Boathouse in Norfolk on Sunday night.
The friendly, even mellow, guitarist told the story by phone from California - his status as a rocker betrayed only by liberal usage of four-letter words. He was working on ``It's Five O'Clock Somewhere,'' his first solo album, in a small home studio.
``One night I went in and recorded three songs and mixed them that night, which I never would normally do,'' he said. ``I usually write the stuff, listen to it the next day, maybe change a couple things around or something, but mix it the next day. And this one night I was just on a roll. I mixed everything and (adjective form of four-letter word) 3:30 in the morning I take the DAT tape and I go downstairs and I get in bed. And all of a sudden . . . the house was shakin'.''
The house took the brunt of the punishment. ``You can see through it,'' he said, laughing. ``When all was said and done and the dust had cleared, the whole house was totaled, everything that was (that adjective again) material of mine was pretty much wasted. But the studio was more or less still intact. My wife was fine, I was fine, the snakes were fine, the cats were fine. My cousin Greg, who was visiting from Chicago, who's never been to L.A. before, he was fine.
``And I realized that none of the (``stuff'') really mattered in the first place, so we just left.
``And we had a bottle of Jack that didn't break.''
It's been that kind of charmed life that's seen Slash from one adventure to another since the release of GNR's 13 million-selling ``Appetite for Destruction'' in 1987. Heroin addiction, onstage Rose tirades, controversy surrounding everything from lyrics to the simple fact of the band's existence have marked his iconic tenure. He speaks good-humoredly of a recent radio-promotion tour for ``Five O'Clock,'' seemingly unconcerned that the record has slipped down the charts rapidly - distinctly unlike the Guns' wildly popular releases.
``We had a good time just trippin' around, you know,'' he said, ``playing in these different situations and, you know, meeting these different people and just hanging out here and there, and you know, it's just sort of like seeing the world again sort of through the window of a (adjective form of four-letter word again) van.''
He likes playing the smaller venues, such as the 2,460-capacity Boathouse, that Snakepit's low-rent panache has made possible.
``There's no rock stars in this band,'' Slash said. ``We're all a bunch of back-line guys.''
His reality may be a little skewed - Slash, not a rock star? But it's not hard to take his point about the outfit's lack of pretentions. He said the basic tracks for ``Five O'Clock'' were done in a week, with lyrics being written (often by singer Eric Dover, formerly of Jellyfish) the day vocals were to be cut. A bit of a switch from the stone-cutting method perfected by Guns N' Roses under the direction of Mr. Rose.
``Guns is just one of those long, drawn-out processes, you know, and that's probably another reason why I'm doing things the way that I'm doing them, just to get back to where you're desperate,'' he said with a laugh. ``You know, Guns can sit around and make up ideas till the cows come home.''
Slash is voluble about GNR, which plans to begin work on its first album of original material since the 1991 release of the twin ``Use Your Illusion'' sets. An apparent slip about guitarist Gilby Clarke, now a Snakepit denizen, being ousted from the band gives a glimpse into the mad, mad, mad world of the Gunners.
``He didn't really get fired,'' amended Slash. ``It's just that something between Axl and him wasn't working.''
But for Axl's arty tastes, some of the Snakepit material might have been included on the planned GNR disc.
``When I started writing all this stuff, you know, and I played him some of it, he was like, that wasn't the direction musically he wanted to go in, because it's basic hard-rock stuff. And at the time, I think Pearl Jam was like what he was into, and'' - laughing - ``I said, `Oh, wait a second, OK. I won't have anything to do with that.' And so once I got this going, it just happened so quickly, he all of a sudden decided he did like the material, and um . . . I was like, `Dude, the record's finished.' ''
The road anthems and ex-user's warnings about the perils of drugs became ``It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.'' ``I think I'm just doing this as a release for me,'' Slash said. ``But I can't knock what Guns does, outside of, you know, going onstage three hours late. But you know, you know, I just adapt.'' ILLUSTRATION: Slash's Snakepit
When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: the Boathouse, Norfolk
Tickets: $11 advance; to order, call 671-8100. For more
information, call 622-6395
[Color Photo]
GENE KIRKLAND
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB