Slash & Burn

It was a marriage made in the fiery tar pits of hell. Three former members of America’s most dysfunctional band teaming up with a singer who has twin alcohol and heroin dependencies, and is only one more misdemeanor away from a lengthy spell in prison.

How long would it be before Slash, Duff, Matt Sorum and Weiland fell-out, OD’ed or just got fed up with having to work again for a living? “Not very” was the consensus, but Velvet Revolver have proved the doom mongers wrong by getting to number one in the States with their Contraband album and gigging with a vigour that most Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots fans thought was lost forever.
“You know what this year has taught me?” proffers Slash down the trans-Atlantic blower from LA. “That being in a band with people who are all pulling in the same direction is really easy. My trip has always been to have fun, which Guns N’ Roses was up to a particular point, and even then I tried to make the best of it.
“A big eye-opener for me,” the 38-year-old continues, “was in ‘94 when I threw together a band called Snakespit, released a bunch of glorified demos and went on the road for six months playing anywhere that would have us. There were no tantrums on the tour bus or having to coax the lead singer out of the dressing-room, just a bunch of guys living the rock ‘n’ roll life and having a good time. It only ended because Geffen wanted me to come back and do a Guns N’ Roses record, which I reluctantly did and, of course the whole thing was miserable again. Being one of those people who doesn’t quit anything, I hung in there until I felt suicidal.”
Guns N’ Roses got so bad that Slash seriously thought about taking his own life?
“Oh yeah. If I’d owned a gun at the time I would’ve popped my head off. It was only when things hit total rock bottom that I walked and spent the next few years playing with anybody who’d have me on stage with them.”
Duff told hotpress earlier in the year that the low point of his Guns N’ Roses career was when he ended up in casualty with an exploded pancreas. I can’t recall any of Slash’s essential organs turning to mush, but I imagine he had a few “This is not good for my health” moments of his own.
“There was a particular one in 1999 when the second Snakepit were doing a show in Pittsburgh. I’d been partying through the pain barrier for a while, but this day I was really fucking sick and went to the tour manager who said, ‘You’ve two options. Soundcheck and then go to the hospital, or go to the hospital and come back and do soundcheck.’ We decided on the latter, which was just as well because I’d done something from drinking so much that had affected my heart in a major way. The doctor told me I had between three and 30 days to live, so that was like, ‘Oh…’ It was the only gig I ever cancelled.”
Having been so badly affected by Axl’s errant behaviour that he nearly topped himself, I’m amazed that Slash was willing to risk more of the same from Scott Weiland.
“It’s all about risk,” he reflects. “Anything that’s too safe doesn’t have the edge or the fucking attitude. To get that ‘us against the world!’ punk rock vibe going you need a bit of stress and volatility.”
Slash and Weiland obviously get on better now than they did in the ‘90s when Guns N’ Roses were engaged in a very public feud with Nirvana and their flannel-shirted mates.
“Contrary to what you read in the press, we were never anti-Kurt or anti-grunge,” the guitarist insists. “There are only two times I can remember going out with Axl –?one was to see your guys, U2, and the other to watch Nirvana who we thought were really great. We liked grunge, but grunge didn’t like us because we’d gone from clubs to stadiums and had a singer that desperately wanted to be a pop star. The only time there was really an issue was when Axl had a run in with Kurt and Courtney which wasn’t necessarily pleasant!”
With all the talk of emergency rooms and Axl Rose’s megalomania, it’s easy to forget just how magnificent Guns N’ Roses were when they exploded out of LA in 1985.
“That was a great fucking time!” Slash enthuses. “The drugs, the girls, the characters…to be 19-years of age back then and in a band was awesome. We were doing our best to follow in the footsteps of Van Halen, the original Aerosmith and Motley Crue who, for better or for worse, were the most extreme rock ‘n’ roll band out there when we started.”
Guns N’ Roses’ last Irish gig may have been Slane in 1992, but Slash was here as recently as December 2001 when he traded licks with one of his all-time heroes, Ronnie Wood, in Vicar St. The only thing that spoiled an otherwise perfect night was some gobshite journalist boring him to death about The Faces at the Lillie’s after-show.
“Was that you?” he laughs. “I think I could out-bore anybody when it comes to talking about The Faces! I remember we were upstairs somewhere and Julia Roberts turned up with her new guy.
“The first time I met Ronnie was in Junior High School. The Stones knew my best friend Seymour’s dad, and when they came to LA on tour they’d be over at his house. What’s kept him young all these years is, even though he joined in 1974, he’s still the new boy having to prove himself.”
One person who won’t be receiving a Christmas card from Mr. & Mrs. Slash this year is professional emu wrestler John Lydon.
“Lydon’s one of those people I run into on occasion and he just doesn’t seem all that pleasant,” he says a tad sniffily. “Somebody told me he prefers it if you’re an arrogant asshole to him, but I don’t change for anybody. Steve Jones, on the other hand, is a really cool guy. There’s this covers band called Camp Friday which is comprised of Matt Sorum, Dave Navarro, Martyn Lenoble from Jane’s Addiction, Donovan Leitch and anybody who happens to be in town. Last time it was me, Jonesy who did ‘Bodies’ and Steven Tyler who did ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and an Aerosmith song called ‘No More No More.’ I guess that’d be my non-Velvet Revolver highlight of 2004.”

Velvet Revolver give their Contraband album a live airing at the Dublin Point on January 12