Slash currently plays guitar in a band called Velvet Revolver, who, unfortunately, are a leather-pants-rocking 
Hollywood supergroup fronted by former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scoot Weiland. While the band's
 RCA debut, Contraband, isn't quite the sum of its parts--where Slash sounded like Sunset Boulevard at 
3 a.m., his bandmates now sound like a strip bar, in a strip mall, in the middle of the day--we at AP make
 no apologies for this column. Really, when was the last time anyone from the original Guns N' Roses lineup 
called you at home?


The Interview was as follows:
A.P.- How old are you now?
Slash- I'm 38.
A.P.- Was there ever a time when you thought, "You know, it's time for the Dodge Intrepid."
Slash- Maybe when i disbanded the second version of [Slash's] Snakepit. The guys in my band all wanted 
to be mock Guns N' Roses rock-star types where they acted like a bunch of kids in a convertible with their 
limbs and arms hanging out the windows, and, to me, that got be a little bit boring. So I split that up and went 
through this thing where I reassessed my situation.
A.P.- But it wasn't like you could stop being Slash.
Slash- Yeah, it wasn't.
A.P.- What did you look forward to about being in a big rock band again?
Slash- I wasn't looking at the downside of things. When everybody was getting on Scott's case about being a 
junkie when he first started [Velvet Revolver], that was a tangible thing I thought you could fix. It's not like 
dealing with a complete psycho.
A.P.- This is something that has driven me crazy for year, and talking to you is probably the closest I'll come to an answer.
Slash- Umm... okay?
A.P.- Where did Axl get those high-tops with his name on the tongue?
Slash- It's not big deal, actually. Converse at some point in time started giving us free stuff, and they gave all the guys 
in the band a pair of shoes with their name on it. [Laughs.] But nobody except for Axl would wear them.
-Trevor Kelley