2000.12.18 - German TV - Interview with Slash

Transcript:
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Slash: Oh really?

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.

Slash: (Laughs)

Interviewer: So, grandmother....

[Talk in German between the interviewer and his grandomother]

Interviewer: My grandmother wants to know why you’re always playing so loud on stage.

Slash: Because that’s the only way I can hear it.

(Laughter)

[Grandmother talks in German]

Slash: (?) short hair?

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: Yeah, you know, I used to live at her home and I had to cut my hair, because...

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: She wants to know if you go to church. She says that there are a lot of churches in America.

Slash: I did when I was a little kid.

Interviewer: Do you believe in God?

Slash: Huh?

Interviewer: Do you believe in God?

Slash: I believe in – I have a lot of religious beliefs.

Interviewer: Yeah?

Slash: In a sense, yeah, I believe in God, but you know...

Interviewer: I don’t believe in...

Slash: (?)

Interviewer: God is dead, I’m alive (laughs).

Slash: Oh, that’s heavy. I’m not like that.

Interviewer: (Laughs) Well, that was a Slayer quote.

Slash: Mmm-mmm.

[Grandmother talks in German]

Slash: I love you too.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: Are you married?

Slash: I was once. I’m not married now. I might as well be married, but I’m just not technically married.

Interviewer: Do you hate her now?

Slash: What, my ex-wife?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: I haven’t talked to her since... I don’t know when that was (chuckles).

Interviewer: You don’t give a fuck (laughs).

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: Do you have children?

Slash: No.

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: She wants to touch your hair.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: I’m sorry, I couldn’t you know, like... She really wanted to (laughs).

Slash: This must be a very entertaining show. Hi kids.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: So we’re gonna have a look at a video. Um, I’m sorry that I brought my grandmother with me...

Slash: No, she’s charming.

[Talk in German]

Slash: What’s her name? You haven’t even introduced us.

Interviewer: Edith. Her name is Edith, this is Slash.

[Handshaking]

Interviewer: You can wish yourself a video. Do you have a video wish?

Slash: Hmm. You caught me off guard. You know what? I was thinking about fucking Garbage.

Interviewer: Garbage?

Slash: You know? But I can’t remember the name of the song now. Um, the very first video they came out with.

Interviewer: Ah...

Slash: So you’ve to look (?)

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Okay (laughs).

[Talk in German – Video is played – Talk in German]

Interviewer: She wants to know, you have such a lot of young fans. Do you like old women as well?

Slash: Um... Well, that’s a question... Well, when I was younger I used to like older women. Now that I’m older I like women about my same age, you know. But I have my own woman, so it’s alright.

Interviewer: How old are you now?

Slash: 35.

Interviewer: 35! That’s still young for a man.

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: Not for a woman?

Slash: Well, no, she’s younger than I.

Interviewer: Would you like a 35 year old woman?

Slash: Um, at this particular point in time? No, I’m fine where I am.

Interviewer: (Laughs) How old is she?

Slash: Um, she’s going on 28, I think.

Interviewer: 28, it’s a cool age.

[Talk in German]

Slash: God, I wish I could speak German.

(Laughter)

[Talk in German]

Slash: She doesn’t smoke? (laughs)

Interviewer: (Laughs) No, no, that’s okay with her. But she says – she’s a big fan of yours and she’s seen you on stage very often, and she thinks it’s bad that you don’t wear anything often – like no shirt, you know, topless – because you could get influ or cold.

Slash: Ah, influenza.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Influenza, yeah.

Slash: (Laughs) Oh man, you know...

Interviewer: You have to promise her not to do it anymore.

Slash: I can’t promise her that. As soon as we get up there, it’s so hot. It’s like, after the third of fourth song usually the clothes come off.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: And now we have something... My grandma never had the chance to stand in the first row in one of your concerts.

Slash: Yeah...

Interviewer: So she really asked me if you could play something for her here.

Slash: Okay. Just anything.

Interviewer: Just anything really loud, crazy and (?) So we’re gonna check out the guitar, and meanwhile we’re gonna have a look at a video.

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: Do you like Offspring?

Slash: Yeah, Offsrping is fine. Whatever (laughs).

[Grandmother talks in German touching Slash’s hair]

Interviewer: Is it real or is it... [talks in German] What’s the name for fake hair?

Slash: I don’t know.

Someone: Wig.

Interviewer: Wig. Is it a wig?

Slash: No.

Interviewer: No. I know, but she wanted to know.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: Now she likes it.

(Laughter)

[Video break]

(Slash improvises on guitar)

Interviewer: Well, that was cool.

(The interviewer asks his grandmother if she liked it)

Interviewer: The song she knows best and likes best, of course, as other old women, is November Rain.

Slash: Aah, I’m not gonna play that.

Interviewer: (Laughs) I know.

Slash: I’ll get sued (laughs).

Interviewer: Really?

Slash: Um, no.

Interviewer: You’re not allowed to play it?

Slash: No, actually I never thought about it. I was only kidding.

Interviewer: Okay (laughs).

Slash: I have forgot it though (laughs).

Interviewer: Do you think you can just play that, play on for my grandmother?

Slash: I don’t know what to play, man.

(Slash improvises on guitar)

Interviewer: Oh, stop it, I have to cry (chuckles).

(Slash continues improvising)

Interviewer: Do you wanna hear me playing guitar?

Slash: Sure (laughs). (Hands his guitar)

Interviewer: I’ve heard that you really wanna know how I play the guitar.

Slash: Do you want a peak?

Interviewer: Yeah. (Starts playing)

Slash: It’s Metallica.

Interviewer: (Laughing) I used to be in a band for, like, three years and all I was playing was (?)

Slash: Yeah (?) No, I know it’s Metallica.

Interviewer: You’ve been on tour with Metallica.

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: And did you like that? (Puts the guitar aside)

Slash: Hey, wait, wait. Be careful with that.

Interviewer: Yeah? (Puts the guitar on the floor)

Slash: No, no, wait! Don’t do it that way. No, no, no. Just up against the amp face forward.

Interviewer: Yeah?

Slash: Yeah, there you go.

Interviewer: So you really take care about it.

Slash: Yeah!

Interviewer: I thought you like jamming around.

Slash: I carry it around, but I have a lot of respect for guitars, you know?

Interviewer: You never break them onstage.

Slash: I broke somebody else’s.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: Metallica?

Slash: No, no. Metallica, those are good guys. No, for the most part I’ve smashed a few guitars in my time but not on purpose. You know, it is a very aggressive – it’s almost like a sport when you go out and you play in front of all these people. The energy levels are so high that you have a tendency to break strings, or break tuning pegs, or break the knobs off, but actually physically smashing a guitar to break it...

Interviewer: You really run around with it, with the guitar. It’s a really heavy one, yeah?

Slash: Yeah, it goes everywhere I go (laughs).

Interviewer: But, onstage, you really run and jump...

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: And play?

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: How do you do that?

Slash: I don’t know!

(Laughter)

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: I have some questions from a magazine here.

Slash: A magazine?

Interviewer: It’s a South German magazine.

Slash: How do you say it?

Interviewer: Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Slash: (Tries to pronounce it) Something like that.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: I tried to... (tries to pronounce it again).

Interviewer: Süddeutsche...

Slash: Süddeutsche...

Interviewer: Zeitung.

Slash: Zeitung.

Interviewer: And it’s something similar like The Times or something. And they have a series called “One hundred questions.” This is the German David Letterman.

Slash: (Laughs)

Interviewer: He’s just a cheesy copy! (laughs) And I thought it would be funny asking you the questions they asked him.

Slash: Okay...

Interviewer: (Laughs) So...

Slash: Ask away and we’ll see what happens.

Interviewer: So... Are you able to paint, to draw stuff with pens?

Slash: When I originally started doing album covers and all that stuff, I always drew all that stuff myself. My dad was – still is – a graphic artist, my mom is a clothes designer, my grandmother is a painter, so I draw. If I wasn’t a musician, I’d be a painter. I did all my own tattoos and everything.

Interviewer: I knew you did album covers for... what bands?

Slash: Well, Guns N’ Roses, Snakepit... I haven’t really done anything for anybody else. It was just out of necessity, you know.

Interviewer: Okay.

Slash: I didn’t paint them all. I just did the illustrations, you know? So I draw all the time.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: Do you think Christmas is only fun and nice only if you have children?

Slash: (Laughing) A good question. I don’t have any children. I think Christmas is wonderful, I just like the atmosphere. You know, all things considered, I think Christmas is a lot more fun if you have children or if you’re a kid.

Interviewer: Yeah, if you’re a kid I think. Do you like flowers?

Slash: Yeah, I love flowers.

Interviewer: What is your favourite colour?

Slash: My favourite colour is probably dark red.

Interviewer: Dark red.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: Blue is her favourite colour.

Slash: Midnight blue.

Interviewer: Midnight blue.

Slash: Yeah.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: My grandmother, she loves children as well.

Slash: Yeah?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: I don’t have any, I love other people’s children (laughs) - you know what I mean...

Interviewer: Oh, how do you mean that?

Slash: Not in a bad way.

Interviewer: I was just kidding (laughs).

Slash: I mean, other people’s kids, I like to see them, on you know, like... whatever basis. Like, you know, from time to time.

Interviewer: Before we talk about your favourite sexual techniques and your favourite drugs, you can wish yourself a video.

Slash: It has nothing to do with sex.

Interviewer: No, I know. I know that (laughs). Before we talk in the next take about groupies, sex, drugs, all the interesting stuff, you can wish yourself a video. Another video played just for you.

Slash: Another video played just for me... Um...

Interviewer: (?) my silly questions.

Slash: You’re right (laughs). Um... Smashing Pumpkins.

Interviewer: Smashing Pumpkins.

Slash: 1979.

Interviewer: Okay, we’re gonna have a look at this.

[Talk in German]

Slash: That was totally winging.

[Video break]

[Grandmother talks in German]

Slash: Oh, merry Christmas to you, too.

[Grandmother talks in German]

Slash: What does that mean?

Interviewer: Turkey. If you eat turkey for...

Slash: Oh. No... McDonalds (laughs).

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: I celebrate at Burger King.

(Laughter)

Slash: You know, I cook though. Last Christmas I did, I cooked turkey.

[Talk in German – The interviewer fills the glasses]

Slash: You gotta put vodka... you gotta put vodka (laughs).

Interviewer: Is it okay? More for you? (laughs)

[Talk in German]

Slash: Cheers!

Interviewer: You don’t want more (?)

Slash: No, no, I do.

Interviewer: Cheers.

Slash: Merry Christmas.

Interviewer: Merry Christmas to you, too (laughs).

Slash: Happy New Year. It’s 2001. How do you say that in German?

Interviewer: (Says it in German).

(The interviewer repeats it word by word and Slash tries to pronounce it).

Slash: Cool.

Interviewer: The election.

Slash: By the time this tour is over I will speak about seven languages (chuckles).

Interviewer: Yeah?

Slash: (Laughing) Not good but...

Interviewer: Where have you been before?

Slash: Oh I’ve been all over the place. We just came from Holland, Japan, we went to Taiwan...

Interviewer: Is there any country you really don’t like?

Slash: Um, not really.

Interviewer: Like “Ugh, I don’t wanna go there”?

Slash: No, there’s some places that are a little harder to deal with than others, but that’s just because of politics. But it doesn’t mean I like the place any less, you know?

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: How do you like (?) Cologne, here?

Slash: What? Oh, it’s wonderful. Yeah, yeah, it’s cool. I’ve been here before, yeah (chuckles).

[Grandmother talks in German]

Slash: You know, everybody’s always cool, the women are beautiful...

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: Have you seen the church?

Slash: I don’t know...

Interviewer: The big church? The dome?

Slash: No, no, I’ve seen it (laughs).

Interviewer: Have you...

Slash: You asked me that question earlier.

(Laughter)

Interviewer: I always ask this question, I think, here. It’s the only thing that survived the Second World War.

Slash: Yeah?

Interviewer: So it’s the only thing they have here (laughs).

Slash: All things considered, but it’ still, you know, just a beautiful place, and so...

[Talk in German]

Slash: No, no, it’s true though. It’s like, you travel through, you know, working all the time, and you cruise in and you’re like, “Wow!”

Interviewer: “The Dome”...

Slash: The Dome is cool.

Interviewer: What town do you like best? All over the world.

Slash: Um, I couldn’t really tell you. It’s sort of like asking what your favourite song on the record is.

Interviewer: Okay.

Slash: You get there and you become part of that place. And so no matter where it is that you are, that’s your... where you’re living at the moment and you don’t take... You know, in some places it’s like, “Wow, this is cool”. But it’s always like that, you just adopt every different place you go to, and so it always has a personal thing in your heart.

Interviewer: Yeah...

Slash: The fact that they accepted you, you know.

Interviewer: So you couldn’t have, like, a chart, on top New York, Tokyo... Cologne (laughs)... Munich?

Slash: No, because, I mean... The only places that are bad is where the crowds are “Ah, you suck.”

Interviewer: Where the crowd sucks.

Slash: (Laughs) You know, something like that. It’s like the songs on the record. It’s just like, you got so personal with every single song that you don’t necessarily differentiate one in a personal way from the other. It’s the same as going to a different town and playing in front of a different audience, you know? It’s just like that.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah, cool.

Slash: You know, and the farther you go and the more places you see, the more... I don’t know, the more you learn and the more you... I don’t know, it’s cool, so...

Interviewer: Okay.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: She says you bring a lot of joy to mankind.

Slash: Oh, that would be good.

Interviewer: (Laughs)

Slash: The only job act to touring on a regular basis like we do, is the fact that you go through so quickly, so, from a cultural point of view, sometimes you’re a little bit short-handed. You just sort of hang out in a local area...

Interviewer: Yeah, at the hotel and...

Slash: And the bar close by, and a couple of clubs... But you try taking what you can, you know, and you keep moving, so it’s just like this.

[Talk in German]

Slash: She said, “No, no” (laughs)

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: “Nein, nein.”

Interviewer: (Laughing) I said I’ll have to go to the cemetery to visit her.

Slash: Alright. I try to avoid cemeteries.

Interviewer: Yeah? You avoid them?

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: Do you have a grandma in her age?

Slash: Actually I do – well, I had one. She’s passed away. Both of my grandmothers passed away.

Interviewer: I’m sorry. Oh.

[Grandmother talks in German]

Interviewer: But she can adopt you.

Slash: (Laughing) No, you don’t want to adopt me. You know, my grandmother, on my mom’s side, was actually the first person that gave me a couple of fucking dollars to invest in a guitar.

Interviewer: You’re really addicted to guitars, huh?

Slash: Oh I love guitars. They’re like beautiful women. I swear to God, I put it down in the bed, and every morning I wake up, I go, “Yeah...” (laughs). I love it.

[Talk in German]

Slash: (Laughing) What happened?

Interviewer (Laughing) I said “fuck.”

Slash: Oh (laughs).

(Laughter)

[Break]

Interviewer: Have you ever seen a German television show that you like? Or that, like, you remember?

Slash: Yeah, but I can’t remember the name of it. It was a sitcom.

Interviewer: A German sitcom?

Slash: A German sitcom. I must have seen it a bunch of times. It’s still on the air.

Interviewer: Yeah, but with...

Slash: I don’t know.

Interviewer: But it was made in Germany?

Slash: It’s a comedy, yeah.

Interviewer: It was funny?

Slash: Yeah!

[Talk in German]

Slash: Am I wrong? There’s no German sitcoms? (laughs)

Interviewer: There are German sitcoms, yeah.

Slash: See?

Interviewer: But usually they’re really bad.

Slash: Oh I thought it looked funny.

Interviewer: (Laughs)

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: She says it was a big honour for her to sit next to you.

Slash: Tell her that’s very sweet and I love her earrings.

[Talk in German]

Slash: You have a beautiful grandmother.

Interviewer: Yeah, I have a very beautiful grandma. She’s really, you know...

Slash: (Coughs)

Interviewer: ...beautiful (coughs).

Slash: No, no, she’s (?)

Interviewer: She’s wonderful.

Slash: That’s just from the smoking.

Interviewer: Okay, okay (laughs). You know, she gave me money for my first weed.

Slash: Really?

Interviewer: Because I wasn’t able to play guitar (laughs), so I... But she doesn’t know.

Slash: Well... Actually, all things considered, my grandmother was very supportive. It was like, as long as you’re playing a fucking, you know, an instrument, and she was like, “Cool,” cuz she was a classical pianist, too.

Interviewer: Ah, okay.

Slash: So she was like, “At least you’re doing something useful” or something artistic, because I was a motorcycle racer before that. I just raised hell. And I started – she gave me my first guitar, cuz I was into guitar playing, and she gave it to me and I was like, “Aha.” The next thing you know, I was glued to the record player with my guitar for... And so she’s like, “Okay, at least he’s not gonna break his neck,” you know. Little did she know I was gonna go on to be just as crazy with the guitar (laughs).

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: So you didn’t buy any weed from the money that your grandma gave you?

Slash: Did I buy any weed? Pot?

Interviewer: Pot, yeah!

Slash: No, I got that for free (laughs).

Interviewer: You got that for free (laughs).

Slash: Sorry.

Interviewer: Is there any drug you would not recommend at all?

Slash: Oh man, that’s a long story. All things considered you gotta go through, I’ve been through all of them. And in hindsight, looking back on it, it’s like, the heroin days is an experience that I don’t regret, but I don’t recommend it to anyone.

Interviewer: But you don’t fix it, you just snort it.

Slash: Back in the day?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: Nah, I don’t wanna talk about it.

Interviewer: Okay, okay.

Slash: That was a little crazy. And I just stopped because it wasn’t conducive to getting anything done as far as a musician is concerned.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: So you’re trying to balance things out. You know, you do this, you do that, but at the same time I can’t recommend anything for anybody. When it comes down to you, you have to go through your own experiences – you know, figure it out for yourself.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: Will there ever be - do you see a chance that you ever be on stage with Axl and the other bunch of guys again?

Slash: Nah... I mean, in the foreseeable future, no. Cuz it’s been so long since that was even really a concept. And I see all the other guys in the band all the time. I haven’t seen Axl, but I’ve seen Izzy, and Duff, and Matt, and Steven...

Interviewer: Is he a psycho?

Slash: No!

Interviewer: He’s not. (?)

Slash: He’s different (laughs).

Interviewer: Okay (laughs).

Slash: I’m different, you know what (chuckles).

Interviewer: But what are they doing? The only one who’s still doing music is you, right?

Slash: Axl’s got a Guns N’ Roses record coming out and –

Interviewer: Without you. Can that work?

Slash: Yeah, he can do what the fuck he wants, I don’t care. And then Izzy puts out records all the time, you know, it’s just...

Interviewer: Axl?

Slash: No, Izzy.

Interviewer: Ah, Izzy. Izzy. (?)

Slash: And Duff’s got...

Interviewer: What was the Duff band? What it was called, Duff...?

Slash: It was called Duff McKagan Group, I don’t know. And so I played on it, I played on that record. So I talk to them all the time when, you know, one’s got a family and other ones are just hanging out, they’re all over the place. I’m the one guy that’s just like “road dog.” (laughs)

Interviewer: Have they earned enough money to, like, live their life?

Slash: Oh yeah. We never talk about money and stuff, you know? It’s just nice to see each, you know?

Interviewer: You meet them in the supermarket or something? Or the bar?

Slash: Well, last time I saw Izzy was at my birthday. He showed up, you know? But at the supermarket, no. We hate – I think all of us avoid the supermarket (laughs). It’s just cuz their lights are too bright. But they’re all this family, you know, for the most part.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: Thank you very much.

Slash: (Chuckling) Yeah, yeah.

[Talk in German – The grandmother gives Slash a present]

Interviewer: It’s a Christmas present. A Christmas present for you.

Slash: What is it? (tries to open it) Tell me where... Hold on.

Interviewer: Just open it up like...

Slash: I don’t know, I’m not good at that. I usually take my time, but... For some reason I feel like a shampoo... (opens it and it’s’ shampoo).

(Laughter)

Slash: Oh... You have to tell her – you have to understand, I ran out of shampoo yesterday.

Interviewer: Oh really?

Slash: That’s why I sort of had this feeling, it was like...

[Talk in Gerrman]

Slash: I don’t go shopping, so I was like, “I gotta get some shampoo.” (laughs)

[Talk in German]

Slash: You gotta tell her so she understands.

[Talk in German]

Interviewer: She said that the (?) something knew that, and so she had to bring it to you.

Slash: That’s great, cuz I don’t have any. Thank you (chuckles).

[Talk in German]

One of the weirder interviews, but I got a bunch of "all things considered".

I remember seeing it back then when it first came out. While his stay in |Germany, Slash also appeared on another VIVA ZWEI interview . The host was a blond young woman called Tanya, if I remember.