KNAC Interviews SLASH 7/20/00
INTRODUCTION SLASH was a little late coming on
as he was doing something with TV Guide and then talking to the KNAC
people outside the studio. He's known some a long time. After his introduction,
he talked about his snakes and how he always has a lot of skins at his
house. Then he got into Ain't Life Grand, and he explained that
the title is kind of a survival theory. The dj asked about the band, and
why did Teddy play harp! (Harp is the blues name for harmonica).
He also mentioned that It's Five O'Clock Somewhere sold a million
copies worldwide and how he got from one album to this one.
Right now, SLASH says, they have enough material for a second album!
He said there should be four singles off Ain't Life Grand. The
first is "Been There Lately", and you can clearly hear Teddy playing
piano in the background. The lone ballad is "Back to the Moment".
The track "Ain't Life Grand" was a song based on a song that was to
appear in the Les Paul Tribute album, Burn Out which was never
released. SLASH bought back the rights to his song, and it became "Ain't
Life Grand". He says it is a really bluesy song. It was played, and
SLASH is right!
SLASH said that show bootlegs are fine, but this is not communicated
to security so you have to be careful. They talked about Blues Ball
and played "Landslide". The dj asked how SLASH felt about criticism,
and he said it was hard for him just like for anyone. But he said he
just does what he does, what he thinks is good and at the end of the
day he's happy. SLASH really likes meeting with his fans. He likes to
meet people that have just seen his show. He was asked about computer
communications: LAPTOP. He was asked about fan
suggestions, and basically he is open to suggestions but he has to do
what he thinks is right. SLASH and his brother did the album packaging
for the first album with his Dad doing the album packaging. His brother
also worked on the current album with SLASH.
Asked about the tour, he said they were doing the US, then Japan and
Australia, then Europe, then the US and Canada again. He says they will
play "wherever they'll hear us" in venues as large as they can fill.
He's really happy to go out with AC/DC who listened to Snakepit's
album among others and selected SLASH's band. SLASH said being an
opening band is always tough because you might play to 35 people. That's
why there are no "name" opening bands as a rule of thumb. Co-headliners
but not opening.
Another song was played which we think was titled "Just Like Anything".
This one has Raya Beam doing some rapping. Next was GNR, and SLASH
was asked if he would buy Chinese Democracy when it came out.
NEW GNR. As you heard, the answer was yes
although he doesn't expect Axl to buy his.
They went into a discussion of the different artists SLASH has played
with. He talked about Eazy-E and why his name is not on the album
even though he played there. SLASH now says the track must have been
cut which is too bad as it was really cool. Eazy-E died before the
album came out, and his family put the album together. They talked about
SLASH being sued by someone over "Don't Cry", and he said that nearly
everyday someone is suing over something. He says the most interesting
session he did with another artist was with Iggy Pop when they co-wrote
"My Baby Wants to Rock and Roll". The dj said that SLASH has been called
a guitar legend and what did he think. He seemed both humbled and
embarrassed.
Next up was "Civil War", and they talked about how this came to be
written: CIVIL WAR. Then they moved into
BMX bike riding. SLASH said he had a bike during the Aerosmith tour,
and he was jumping it off the stage and so on. One day it just
disappeared from the trunk, and you could tell someone hid SLASH's
toy before someone got hurt. He still owns a mountain bike which hangs
in his garage. SLASH was a professional bike rider who won many
trophies. He said once he got into the guitar, the bike was put aside.
MOVIES They talked about movies SLASH has been
in especially Dead Pool where he got to shoot off a real harpoon.
He loved it! He says he has only played himself in movies and not really
acted. What he likes best with working in movies is to make soundtracks.
And they talked a minute about SLASH's appearance on VH1 as a dj on their
internet station. MTV CRIBS They discussed an MTV
show on next month called Cribs where MTV comes and films at someone's
house. They took some phone calls. And the final number played was
"Speed Parade".
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