Slash quit Guns n' Roses in 1996, fed up with the band's procrastination over album five (it surfaced in 2008!). After a couple of records with Slash's Snakepit he and fellow ex-Gunners bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum put together Velvet Revolver.

This month a few thousand lucky fans will see him in the intimate environs of Vicar St and the Mandela Hall in Belfast. "I've got a killer band, and I know that coming into Ireland everybody's going to dig it," says Slash.

His eponymous solo release features guest vocals from the afore-mentioned veterans as well as newer names. Ex-G n' R bandmates McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler also pop up.

Though the guitarist has nothing but praise for G n' R's comeback, he hasn’t spoken to Axl in more than a decade. "It's one of those things where I know he’s not planning to get in touch with me anytime soon, and I haven’t been making a huge effort to get in touch with him," says Slash.

Read the full interview with Slash in the special Drugs issue of Hot Press out today (Thursday).