Appetite for construction

BY TOM CARDY

For most people it would be enough to have played in Guns N'Roses, one of the best heavy rock bands ever, and be feted by the likes of Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson.

But when you're former Guns N'Roses guitarist Slash, the adulation and respect occupies an almost surreal level. Three years ago there was a survey to find "the greatest rock legend of all time". Being a British survey may have been the reason it put Freddie Mercury at the top spot and Elvis Presley at No 2 - but included Slash at No 6, ahead of Mick Jagger at No 9 and David Bowie at No 10.

The survey also included the best riff or rock intros. Eric Clapton was No 1 with Layla, but Slash's unforgettable contribution to Guns N'Roses Sweet Child O' Mine and Paradise City got him the No 2 and No 3 spots - ahead of Deep Purple, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin.

If that wasn't enough, last year Time magazine ranked Slash at No 2 in its top 10 list of electric-guitar players.

This could play havoc with anyone's ego. So does Slash, real name Saul Hudson, get a bit of a swelled head over extreme rock 'n' roll reverence?

"I'm just who I am and doing what it is that I'm doing. I find that, with the exception of going up and getting in front of however many people on any given night, the rest of it is all very mundane. You've got to be kidding yourself if you think that the rock-star thing is all what they think it is, because it just isn't," he says.

"You're usually in hotels or flying and all that kind of stuff. You get a certain amount of adulation from people who are fans, which is all great. But I'm very grounded and very sort of down to earth. I don't really relish the whole fantastical rock-star image."

Slash, softly spoken in contrast to his sometimes ear-shattering guitar licks, is explaining this on the phone from Los Angeles, during a brief tour break. Slash is to headline the G-TARanaki International Music Week in New Plymouth next month, a coup for the organisers, who staged the first only two years ago.

He'll play with a band that includes singer Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, on August 14 at TSB Stadium, one of a six-act lineup that includes Jennifer Batten, former lead guitarist for Michael Jackson, and ex-Scorpions axeman Uli Jon Roth. Slash is excited about the lineup himself, and full of praise for another guest, Mountain guitarist Leslie West, who he played with in the late 80s, as well as Batten, who he knew through Jackson.

"I only really looked at it [the lineup] in earnest a couple of weeks ago and Uli's on there.

"If I remember correctly he was the one that turned me on to this gig in the first place. He and I are good friends and I love Uli - he is what made the Scorpions for me."

Slash released his first self-titled solo album in April to big sales - it entered the New Zealand charts at No 1 - and good reviews. The album's guest vocalists included everyone from Iggy Pop, Dave Grohl and Kid Rock to Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Fergie and Kennedy - and Slash says his New Plymouth gig will include some of the album. "We usually play five songs off the record regardless of how long the set is, and then we do some Guns N'Roses stuff and some Velvet [Revolver] stuff. It's a really good set and we've had a bit of time now to get used to playing it in all different venues. It's been going over huge."

Slash is also listed in a special midnight line-up of acts that includes Batten and Roth at the more intimate Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth. "What museum?" he asks. "I need to ask somebody about that. I don't know anything about it."

When told it will also include other acts, he's not much clearer. "OK, well, I have no idea what's going to happen."

But he can be forgiven. The amount of work Slash has done during and after his split from Guns N'Roses in 1996, following a bitter feud with frontman Axl Rose, gives the impression that he's a busy man. It's included forming Velvet Revolver, which includes former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, and numerous guest appearances and collaborations.

"I'm a now person. I'm not someone who spends too much time dwelling too far in the future. Right now I'm in LA for little more than a week and I've got stuff to do here, then the shows start in Asia, in Hong Kong. That's about as far as I can see. I like it that way. I don't like to be too uptight about too far down the line."

It's the same for the past, although he isn't surprised that people want to still talk Guns N'Roses.

"It is what it is. I have a past that seems to be intriguing enough for people to ask a lot of questions. I don't dwell. I don't have a lot of time to be sitting there searching out my memory banks for information about the past, especially because I did a book [Slash in 2007] that did that and I've moved on."

And moving on also means getting older. Tomorrow Slash is officially middle-aged - he turns 45. Does he have any plans to mark the occasion?

"I'm not really sure yet. I know it's a milestone birthday. There was 40 and there's 45, in between was just filler. I need to do something significant and memorable so I will remember that birthday because normally I don't remember my birthdays.

"But at the same time I'm pretty low key. My wife is out of town and she's usually the one that throws the big, major parties and those are the ones I quietly sneak away from the room while everyone else is having a blast."

USE YOUR ILLUSION

1965:
Born Saul Hudson in England. His mother, a fashion designer, designed clothes for David Bowie's The Man Who Fell to Earth. His father designed album art, including work for Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

Family moves to Hollywood and in his teens forms the band Road Crew with future Guns N'Roses drummer Steven Alder. Slash and Alder join Axl Rose's band, which is soon renamed Guns N'Roses.
Slash gets noticed for his singular guitar playing and striking image, including top hat, shaggy black hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

1987:
Guns N'Roses debut Appetite for Destruction. Includes Welcome to the Jungle. Reaches No 1 in the United States a year after its release and sells more than 20 million copies. Band also garners reputation for off-stage rock 'n' roll excess unseen since The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

1996:
Slash splits after bitter feud with Rose. Has played with Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Carole King, Cheap Trick, Macy Gray.

2007:
Features in best-selling video game Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock.

2009:
Time magazine names him No 2 best electric guitarist. 2010: Releases his debut self-titled solo album.

The Details:
Slash plays the TSB Stadium, New Plymouth, on August 14 as part of the G-TARanaki International Music Week, August 11-15.

- © Fairfax NZ News