1997.02.07 - Los Angeles Times - With His Blues Band, Slash Just Wants to Have Fun (Slash)

Slightly different and longer version of the same article was printed in the Los Angeles Times two days earlier, February 5, 1997:




Transcript:
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Slash Keeps Blues Ball Rolling Loud and Clear

■ Pop music: The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist turns up the volume on a just-for-kicks sideline that also lets him rock.

By BUDDY SEIGAL
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash earns his childhood nickname by how he cuts a swath through any conversation. The guy never stops talking.

In a recent phone interview, the amiable and forthright musician—who anchors Slash’s Blues Ball on Friday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana—came off like an enthusiastic whirlwind.

Despite the attention his current road project is attracting, "this is really just a good-time band,” he said. “I guess it’s a just a little more high-profile.”

The Blues Ball started as a lark when a Hungarian promoter asked Slash to headline a concert last year. To sing lead, he got GNR backup vocalist Teddy Andreadis, who called friends Bobby Schneck, a guitarist, bassist Johnny Gripack and drummer Alvino Bennett, and the band headed overseas. The guys had such a good time playing that they’ve kept at it, although the Blues Ball remains a just-for-fun project.

"It’s mostly all covers and not necessarily a lot of blues either. There’s a lot of old-style rock in there as well,” Slash said. Standards such as “Hoochie Coochie Man,” "Crossroads” and “Key to the Highway” are in the set. “This isn’t like the traditional blues cover band you see in clubs these days. There's definitely a hell of a lot more decibel levels going on. Nobody should be expecting a nice, quiet B.B. King-type of thing. We have an actual set list, but no two shows are ever the same. There’s a lot of improv going on.”

Slash, 31, was bom Saul Hudson in Staffordshire, England, and moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His parents were active in the music business as graphics and clothing designers, and Saul grew up with the music and company of such artists as Jimmy Page, Sly Stone, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie and Ron Wood. This accounts for Slash’s decidedly ’60s and 70s style of guitar playing.

“It’s very blues-based,” he said. "It's all rooted in there, but it’s more of an approach of, say, like a Johnny Winter. It’s not a standard blues approach. I heard a huge array of music when I was little kid. The first band I was turned on to was the Moody Blues. I was into all the rock bands of that time—the Beatles and the Stones and the Who and Led Zeppelin. Then there was Bootsy Collins and Chaka Khan, and my dad listened to a lot of Muddy Waters. I picked up a lot of stuff as the heavier bands started to come out, but I still like the old stuff.”

Slash started playing in bands in junior high school, becoming a mainstay in the L.A. hard-rock scene of the early 1980s. GNR was formed in 1985 when members of L.A. Guns and Hollywood Roses came together. The group’s 1987 debut album for Geffen Records, “Appetite for Destruction,” reached No. 1 on the strength of singles “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”

GNR went on to become perhaps the most popular band in America in the late '80s and early '90s, waxing hit after hit and frequently drawing controversy, mostly due to the plebeian antics of volatile lead singer Axl Rose.

The group hasn't released an album since 1993’s “The Spaghetti Incident,” and rumors of a breakup have been constant, although GNR has never publicly called it quits. Slash, meanwhile, released “It's Five O'Clock Somewhere” in 1995 with his own band, Snakepit, which he cites as his main musical outlet for now.

“In a nutshell, Axl and I aren't really seeing eye-to-eye as far as musical direction is concerned,” Slash said. “Where he's taking on a visionary direction, I’m still rooted in the original concept we made when we first got together. We’re sort of butting heads on that.

“When I came back from the last Snakepit tour, I did go back to rehearsals for a stint to see if we could rekindle any kind of flame, but it just didn't work out. If we ever decide at some point that we need each other, that we want to get back together, if we ever get back in a room together and it clicks, that would be great. In the meantime, I'm not gonna sit around and play rock star. I want to work.”

Slash has always been a favorite with both fans and critics. Even when GNR’s music declined and Rose's behavior alienated all but the most die-hard GNR followers, Slash's work was lauded.

“As much as Guns just kind of got pigeon-holed into this bad-boy, sloppy circus thing, I was actually trying to hone in on the guitar playing. I wasn’t trying to turn it into a Steve Vai, technical kind of thing. I was trying to play where my heart and soul were coming from. There was a conscious effort to play good.”

Slash did the unexpected last year when he co-wrote, coproduced and performed on two songs for the soundtrack to the movie “Curdled,” which was released in October to art houses. Teaming up with famed producer Nile Rodgers and Spanish vocalist Marta Sanchez, the acoustic, Latin-flavored “Obsession Confession” was a new sound from the infamous rock ’n’ roller.

“I never knew that I was gonna go there,” Slash said. “But I thought the movie was great, and the girl who plays the lead, Angela Jones, was great too. It has really I dark, sarcastic humor, and it's right up my alley. Jones inspired me to write the music. Then all of a sudden it comes out in the Top 20 on the adult contemporary chart, and now it's like at No. 4. I never dreamed in a million years, in any way, shape or form that I’d end up Top 10 in the adult contemporary charts! But I’m proud that I managed to cross over because I do like to play a lot of different stuff.”

More different stuff lies ahead. This week he's laying down tracks for a new album by rappers Clown Posse. He's also looking over offers to score films and overseeing the construction of a new studio at his Beverly Hills home, where he hopes to record an album with Snakepit this year.

“Things just pop up all the time,” Slash said. “As long as you're out there, you take advantage of whatever cool opportunities there are.”

Slash’s Blues Ball, Friday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. Sun Child and Eric Sardinas open. 8 p.m. $15-$17. (714) 957-0600.