Guns ‘n’ Roses guitar god Slash has certainly led a wild life, and if he wanted to pen a cheesy memoir full of themes of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, dozens of publishing houses would certainly be offering it. to do . Just an acoustic album GN’R lies — who turns 35 this year — and that “one in a million” controversy could fill a long season, all by itself.
But this is not the kind of autobiography Slash wants to write.
“I haven’t really thought about it in those terms. I mean, I really, to be honest, I haven’t really thought about it at all. [scandalous stuff] Recently,” Slash muses, when asked GN’R lies. “But now that you mention it, of all things [Guns N’ Roses] In this day and age we will cancel. we will no Worked well in that environment, for sure – I mean, on many different levels. But what I mean is that many things after that will not be what you take for granted at that time. … I’m just glad we didn’t have the internet back then! It would have been a whole other world. But anyway, I don’t dwell on all these things. It just is what it is.”
Instead, Slash chose to tell the story of his life in a unique way – through the backdrop of his favorite guitars – on a giant coffee table. Collection: Slash, the first official book release for Gibson Publishing. With 364 pages and 400 or so of Ross Halfin’s stunning photos—acoustic and electric—the gorgeous hardcover book covers everything from Slash’s first instrument (a stringed, Spanish-style acoustic guitar that his “grandfather had in his closet put in” ) to his “recording guitar” or “comfort zone guitar”, using a copy of Les Paul ’59 Appetite for destruction and handcrafted by the late luthier Chris Drigg.
Through his photographs, interviews, and first-person essays, Collection: Slash Tells the fascinating story of a man who was seemingly born to play the guitar. But ironically, even though he grew up in both England and LA surrounded by music legends – his late mother, Ola Hudson, was a fashion designer and stylist who had a rock star clientele. included David Bowie, Janis Joplin, and Ringo Starr, and his artist father, Anthony Hudson, created album art for Neil Young and Joni Mitchell—Slash told Yahoo Entertainment that he Initially “didn’t really have any aspirations to be a musician” and “kind of fell into it.”
“It’s funny, because I grew up in that world,” the rock legend, whose real name is Saul Hudson, told Yahoo Entertainment in an earlier interview. “I grew up in the same bohemian, artsy environment—tons and tons. Music. I was never interested in music, but I loved listening to records. … I didn’t think about an instrument until That I didn’t suddenly pick up the guitar when I was only 15. That was right before. My fifteenth birthday. And then, it changed everything, so I think I was prepared for it, but I don’t know.
Slash now clarifies that before he turned 15, he had already turned into something of a gearhead. “I was a big fan of the whole process and I loved going into the recording studio and watching Jonny do his thing. It was an amazing experience. But I didn’t know I was going to be a musician. And then all of a sudden, I just happened to pick up the guitar. … We’ll spend a lot of time together [famous Hollywood club] The Troubadour and the recording studios around town, so I was really Taken with the gear setup – before the show starts, all the things to see everything – and then with the actual show itself.
A decade or so later, the Troubadour would become the setting for one of the most pivotal nights in Slash’s career—February 28, 1986—when Geffen Records A&R scout Tom Zotat witnessed local buzz band Guns N’ Roses perform there and Decided to sign it. And 30 years after that, when GNR reunited, their surprise “Not In This Lifetime” tour warm-up gig – the first time Slash, frontman Axl Rose, and bassist Duff McKagan all came together in 1993 have been on stage together since – was in Troubadour. However, looking back on his first six years living in the small Midlands town of Stoke-on-Trent, Slash realizes that he had already received a musical education that would lay the groundwork for the rest of his life. do
“I was living in England, and when I left, I missed it,” he says. “The great thing about living there… was that my dad and my uncle were big fans of rock ‘n’ roll – like, hard, get the record and listen – hard – love at full volume. Wall. And so, I got into the blues, I got into the stones, I got into the moody blues, I got into Pink Floyd and the Yardbirds and all the stuff that was going on at the time, like Jimi Hendrix. [who first found success in Britain]. I really got away with great British rock ‘n’ roll from my early days.
And when Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, and his father moved to Los Angeles to join Ola, who was back in the States for work, he created a real memory of hanging out in the background. , “Like a piece of furniture, the sight of his mother’s troubadour’s frequent friends.
“There were a lot of people around—we were living in Laurel Canyon, and it was 1971 or whatever, so they were working with Joni Mitchell and a lot of David Geffen artists, or like David Crosby, who’s passed away now. All of that People were all in Kanye, and it was a very social environment. I have great memories of being around … everyone was hanging out, smoking lots of weed and really, really creative and everyone was, for want of a better word, great. to do.
“Everybody was really relaxed and everybody was really nice — and everybody was really intelligent, which is a little bit different from the kind of image of rock ‘n’ roll that we think of,” Slash continues with a wry laugh. “All these people were very educated and very knowledgeable about what They had a clear vision of what they wanted and what they wanted to do, and were extremely creative. So, it was really great for me to be around her – even though I didn’t know what I was getting into at the time, looking back.
However, it was Slash’s future GNR bandmate, drummer Steven Adler, and a wise, Eric Clapton-loving mentor. no A famous friend of his parents—who eventually convinced Slash to take up the guitar seriously. “I’m gone [Adler’s] One afternoon he bought an electric guitar and an amp and an equally cheap stereo from one of those cheap department stores. Live Kiss II On, and just cranked everything up and just banged on,” Slash recalled. “I mean, at that time we were doing a lot of air guitar, too, so we were discovering our music at that age. And I thought, ‘We’re going to put a band together!’ This dreamy dreamy thing: ‘We’re going to start a band!’
Slash initially thought he would play bass, but a trip to a nearby music school changed his destiny forever. “I went in there without a tool, and I didn’t know what to do, and I went in and talked to the teacher, Robert Walling, who I’ve talked to many times over the years. So, he took me in the room. And we were talking, and he was playing guitar the whole time, and he was playing Clapton licks. And I said, ‘Okay, that’s what I want.’ And he goes, ‘That’s not bass, that’s lead guitar.’ And it started. That’s where it went.”
And the rest was history – and now it’s all compiled into history Collection: Slash, which Available to order in various editions, including a custom collector’s edition limited to just 500 copies. Watch Slash’s full Yahoo Entertainment interview above to learn about his one “guitar that got away”; what kind GN’R lies And another Guns N’ Roses album celebrates Melvin’s birthday this year. The spaghetti incident?, were soft and spontaneous projects; and slash others A large collection of snakes, including Pandora, the famous boa constrictor that stars GN’R liesDur’s “Patience” music video.
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