1995.02.01 - The Howard Stern Show - Interview with Slash

Transcript:
----------------

Howard Stern: We’re having a little party, a couple of girls down here. Slash is stopping by this morning.

Robin Quivers: Slash!

Stern: Yeah, from Guns N’ Roses.

Quivers: Well, how did that happen? Did you tell him you had a party?

Stern: Yeah, he heard there was a party, so he said he’d get over here. Slash, coming in.

Quivers: Is he staying for the whole day or is he leaving the festivities early?

Stern: I’m not bringing him to (?) if that’s what you mean.

Quivers: That’s what all the guys were saying. They said, you know, you can’t bring those rockstars with you, when you go to a strip club.

Stern: Yeah, because they get all the girls.

Quivers: (Laughs)

[Cut to conversation with Slash in the hallway outside the studio]

Gary: Are you aware of what’s going on in the studio right now?

Slash: In the studio? I haven’t seen it yet, but I just want to see the chicks coming (laughs). I have to be totally honest, I can’t lie. (?) asked me if I wanted a massage and I was about to give up my guitar and my clothing for one.

Gary: Then what are you doing here today?

Slash: I’m gonna, me and Eric – where’s Eric? We’re gonna talk to Howard.

Gary: Are you gonna play some stuff?

Slash: No, we brought ther guitars so you can see how finely crafted they were (laughs).

[Cut back to Stern in the studio]

Stern: We’ve got to bust up the massage party, because Slash got married.

Quivers: He won’t come in with the girls?

Stern: Yeah, he’s a little uptight.

Quivers: You’re kidding!

Stern: I don’t blame him.

Quivers: Why are you...?

Stern: What?

Quivers: ... not surprised. What does it mean, that he can’t be in here with girls because he’s married?

Stern: What if he goes wild, and his wife, you know...

Quivers: Well, that’s a problem. He doesn’t know how to control himself. That’s another question.

Stern: He’s a rockstar. He’s unable to control himself.

Quivers: No control, huh?

Stern: We’re having a really good time, too. I mean, Ronnie’s getting his back shaved, and...

Quivers: Wait a minute! So you’re actually telling me Slash said he can’t come in with the girls in?

Stern: Yeah, well, he preferred not to. But, you know, I wanna talk to Slash anyway, so it’s kind of hard when girls are rubbing you down.

Quivers: Oh. Oh, you’d be distracted?

Stern: I think I would. I don’t know if it would be a real good conversation.

Quivers: You could sit in a chair...

Stern: Right.

Quivers: ... while Slash is in there, have the girls working and the other guys can continue their massages. Slash can sit in another chair.

Stern: Maybe I can stuff one of the girls under the console while I interview Slash.

Quivers: Yeah!

[People in the studio cheering]

Stern: That would be good. Hey, girls, you don’t mind getting stuffed under the console, do you?

Girls: Hell no!

People in the studio: Stuff! Stuff!

Stern: Alright, Scott, let me have that chair. I’ll just shove one of the girls under the console.

Quivers: Yeah, you don’t have to, like, let all the girls go. They just won’t bother Slash. They’re here for you.

Stern: But Slash wants to play and stuff.

Quivers: He can play, can’t he?

Stern: I don’t know.

(Laughter)

Stern: He’s got some kind of new album or something out.

Quivers: I know, I know.

[Talking and laughing in the studio]

Stern: Well, let Gary go check out with Slash if that’s okay.

Quivers: Oh, how can he object?

Stern: I don’t know.

Quivers: He’s our guest.

Stern: He’s a rockstar. Do you think that I can interview Slash with the guys getting their massages?

Quivers: The girls won’t bother him!

Gary: We need a lot of room...

Stern: Well, let me just start talking to him.

Quivers: Yeah, you’re gonna interview him first.

Stern: Then I can throw the Penthouse Pet underneath the console and let her work on me. Which girls haven’t worked on me yet?

Girls: Me! Us!

Male: They really want to, Howard.

Stern: Do they? They don’t mind getting under the console?

Girl: Not at all. We’ll do anything you want.

Stern: Okay, thanks.

Male: I’m scared of what they might do of you.

Stern (laughs): Yeah, alright. Do you mind if I chop your heads off?

[Talking and laughing]

Stern: Where’s Slash?

Quivers: He’s trying to get a chair in here.

Stern: Here comes Slash. Slash is a rockstar. Hey, girl.

Girl: (?) before he comes in?

Stern: Yeah, girls, you have to shove yourself under the console.

Girl: Okay.

Stern: Hey, get under there and just rub my feet or something.

Quivers: No, no, you don’t want all the girls under there, do you?

[Slash enters the studio]

Stern: Hey, Slash, alright! Hey, there’s a rockstar! Hey, look at that! Hey, Slash, I’d shake your hand but I’m covered in massage oil.

Slash: I gotta shake.

Stern: Hey man, how’re you doing? Good to see you. Take a seat. Hey Slash, what happened, you went and got married?

Quivers: Oh yeah, a long time ago.

Slash: Right after, like, about the time that I talked to you (laughs).

Stern: Really? What did you do that for? I’ve got girls here.

Slash: I know, but been there, seen it, done it (laughs).

Stern: He’s done it all.

Quivers: You know it.

Slash: I actually fell for somebody that was the most unique girl that could put up with my ass.

Stern: Is she a stripper?

Slash: No, I’ve been with her for five years. It's only two years I’ve been married. I did a lot of experimenting in the first three.

Stern: Do you mind if I get a rubdown while you...

Slash: She’s not a stripper, though.

Stern: Oh, she’s not?

Slash: She hates strippers, cuz she knows (laughs).

Quivers: That you like them so much!

Slash: Yeah, she hates them with a passion.

Stern: Really? I love strippers.

Slash: Well, you know, that’s the problem there. I think it’s a mutual thing. She hates the fact that I love them too. I made this pierce on my bellybutton.

Stern: Did you really? Let me see.

Quivers: Tell Slash to put some headphones.

Stern: Hey, look at Slash pierced his bellybutton. Mostly chicks do that, but –

Slash: I called her up and I said, “Hi honey. I just pierced my navel between takes at the video shoot” and it was dead silence. I went, “Sweetheart, I’m not gonna f...” (laughs).

Quivers: Oh dear!

(Laughter)

Stern: And you pierced your nose, but that’s been for a while. Right?

Slash: I just - yeah, that was dumb when I stuck an earring in my nose (laughs).

Stern: Oh, you just put it right through?

Slash: I stuck it in.

Stern: You just stuck the earring right through?

Slash: Yeah.

Quivers: Now, there’s a man, Howe.

(Laughter)

Slash: I wasn’t gonna wear shades in here cuz I thought I would look like I was trying to be too cool.

Stern: Go get your shades, if you want to.

Slash: Now I’m gonna.

Stern: You want shades? Hey, go get Slash some shades. Can someone get under the console and rub my feet? I can’t talk to Slash if I’m not getting rubbed down.

Slash: Do you know what time it is?

Stern: I don’t worry about looking too cool.

Slash: What time zone are you at? (laughs)

Stern: Um, it’s about – here it’s quarter to nine. Look at this!

Slash: Hey, for anybody who don’t get to see, this is amazing.

Stern: Isn’t this amazing? Well, this will be on TV.

Slash: Is this actually on TV?

Stern: Yeah, we’ll put it on tonight.

Quivers: Yeah. It’s gonna be on TV tonight.

Stern: Yeah, this is a great show (laughs). This is a good interview. You’ve got Slash, who’s a number one rockstar, you’ve got girls rubbing you down. I’ve even got a mother-daughter combination.

Slash: Why wouldn’t you just send them over at the hotel just a little bit earlier, so when I woke up it would have been a little bit more...

(Laughter)

Stern: Look at this guy, Eric [Dover]. Hey Eric, are you single?

Eric Dover: Um, no.

Slash: (Laughs)

Stern: No?

Dover: Unfortunately, no.

Stern: Ah, too bad.

Slash: You know what? He’s weak (laughs).

Stern: Hey you guys... (laughs).

(Laughter)

Quivers: Here’s why he needed to know that, right?

Slash: Because he’s not married yet.

Stern: Hey, do you see that girl over there in the black bra?

Slash: Yes, I do.

Stern: That’s her mother over there.

(Laughter)

Stern: Let me see.

Slash: Hi mom.

Stern: Hey, you guys are rockstars and everything. Let me see you pull that off.

Quivers: Have you ever had a mother-daughter?

Slash: I had.

Stern: You had?

Slash: Yeah.

Stern: Slash, you’ve had a mother and a daughter?

Slash: No, no. Not to be funny about it. In the old days there was a couple of people that followed us around. We’ve had some pretty weird people who followed us around (laughs).

Stern: Is that right?

Slash: Yeah.

(Laughter)

Stern: By the way...

Slash: We had a mother-daughter team showing up at the hotel waiting outside. That’s – I don’t care how perverted you are, it’s sort of like, “Whoa.”

Quivers: It gives you pause.

Male: God bless free enterprise.  

Slash: You sort of want to, like, respect the mother and respect – you know, and then... It was like, “Take my daughter, go ahead.”

Stern: You know what, Slash, it takes me so long to get someone like you in here. I’m getting too distracted by the women. I’m gonna say goodbye to the girls and talk to Slash.

People in the studio: Ooh...

Quivers: Alright. You’re silly because you can’t have the girls there and talk to Slash. That’s a weakness on your part.

Slash: You know what? If he wasn’t distracted, that would be a problem.

Quivers: It would?

Slash: No, I mean, obviously, it would be an insult.

Male: You haven’t really introduced Slash to the Penthouse Pet of the century.

Stern: Yeah, where’s the Penthouse Pet of the century?

Male: Laurie, come on over.

Laurie: I’m working!

Male: Oh, she’s working?

Laurie: I’m doing my job down here!

Quivers: You’re actually rubbing somebody!

Laurie: Everybody in the room...

Stern: Right!

Girl: Slash, I promise I won’t touch you (laughs).

Stern: Hey Slash, you gotta take your clothes off and get a rubdown from her. I’m telling ya, there’s nothing wrong with it.

Girl: I’m a professional sexual healer.

Stern: I’m married too and nothing happens. No, get away from Slash. He’s very weak.

(Laughter)

Quivers: You wanna dismiss the girls? Just for a little while?

Stern: Yeah, just for a little while, okay? I’m gonna have you back in, girls.

Slash: You do this every morning.

Stern: Yeah, I like to get a rubdown every morning.

Slash: (?) It’s nice.

(Laughter)

Stern: Yeah, it’s good. Alright, girls, we’ll see you in a few minutes. Don’t go away.

[The girls are leaving]

Stern: Slash, what’s going on with Guns N’ Roses now? Are you guys making an album? Are you doing anything like that?

Slash: Okay, we...

Stern: Or is Axl being real difficult to you?

Slash: No, it’s – before we get on to a bad subject – let me get this off.

Stern: Yeah, get your shirt off. I think Slash wants a rubdown. He’s taking off more clothes.

Slash (laughs): Renee is coming in tomorrow night, so –

Stern: Is that your wife?

Slash: Yeah.

Stern: How old is she?

Slash: She’s 30.

Stern: Oh, no kidding?

Slash: Yeah. She’s older than I am.

Stern: I’d think you have, like, a 19 year old chippy.

Slash: You know what? Let me tell you. 30 they’re pretty – she’s awesome.

Stern: What are you gonna do when she gets 40? Then all of a sudden...

Slash: She’ll probably be that much better.

Stern: Did she sign a prenup? I mean, you’re a multi-millionaire.

Slash: No, we don’t talk about that stuff.

Stern: Really?

Slash: I know you’re dying for it, but –

Stern: I’m gonna make a prediction. Yes, she signed a prenup because Guns N’ Roses has management that sits there; like, you come off the good guy: “Hey, I don’t want you to sign this honey. These guys are making me.”

Slash: Actually she and I made a deal together, and so that’s very private.

Stern: So the deal is you’ll take care of her even if you get bored with her.

Slash (laughs): That’s so harsh.

Stern: I’m not trying to be harsh, but you know the realities.

Slash: No, but she wanted to come down here with me just to meet you.

Stern: Yeah? So where is she?

Slash: She didn’t fly early enough.

Stern: Well, that would be good.

Slash: But she’s very cool, you’d be like, “Wow!” - obviously, to live with me.

Stern: Right.

Slash: She’s, like, one in a million. I was, like, the least likely candidate for marriage. Trust me, I’m (?)

Stern: Yeah, cuz you were always at strip clubs and stuff.

Quivers: He was always partying!

Stern: Slash, you even scored with Savannah, right? The one who killed herself, right? Right, Slash?

Slash: (Laughs)

Quivers: I think he called us while he was doing that (laughs).

Stern: Hey, Slash, you scored with her, right?

Slash: Well, I mean – what do you mean by “scored”?

Stern: I mean, you know, you did it to her. Right, Slash?

Quivers: You two were friends.

Slash: We went out together. We had really intellectual conversations together.

Quivers: (Laughs)

Slash: She was deep (laughs).

Stern: I can’t believe you just emptied a room full of girls, and we’re talking about scoring with Savannah. She was pretty hot, man. I don’t know what happened there.

Slash: You know what? It’s just because someone wasn’t looking out for her. She needed somebody to take care of her. Trust me, I knew her well enough.

Stern: Tell me what happens. When you become famous at such a young age and you can have any woman you want, does it, like, get boring after a while? That’s why you got married, like you said, “Hey, I just want a relationship of something”?

Quivers: “Let me try something different, like monogamy.”

Stern: Right. Is that what happened?

Slash: Well, yeah. Basically just done and seen it so much, to a point where –

Stern: Really? Can you imagine seeing it so much to get bored? Who could believe that?

Quivers: (?)

Slash: No, no, no.

Stern: Who said they could believe that?

Slash: It took a while to trade that for one girl, though - a woman (?)

Stern: Is that right?

Quivers: It was a hard habit to break is what you’re saying.

Slash: Yeah. It took a lot of years to get through that.

Stern: Yeah, but your wife has probably got a perfect body.

Slash: She’s beautiful.

Stern: She’s beautiful, right?

Slash: Yeah.

Quivers: Well, say, for a while then it was really great, you really loved all the variety...

Slash: It’s just easy for a guy. Just from my own personal experience and most of the guys that I know, when you’re in a band, all of a sudden the chicks come out of the woodwork. There’s no responsibility whatsoever, they’re just there. And some of them can be really great friends, but there’s no obligation. So you just give a call, you hang out, you score... (laughs)

Stern: Right.

Slash: But after a while, some of those people I’m still really good friends with, they have other boyfriends, some of them got married... I still talk to them.

Dover: And girlfriends.

Stern: Really?

Slash: And girlfriends, yeah (laughs).

Stern: Did you have, like, a bunch of lesbians in bed with you and you’d take them away for a couple of weeks?

Slash: (?) some great stories.

Stern: Really?

Slash: Yeah (laughs).

Stern: Oh, you bastard. You scum. Let me smell your hands.

(Laughter)

Slash: You would be so into it. I just watched them. (?)

Stern: Did you really? I don’t think you can get the smell off with one washing.

Slash: No, it’s taking years, right.

Stern: Really? Do you believe how famous you are, dude? Can you believe that? How good is that?

Slash: Come on...

Stern: Oh, you’re uptight about that? Don’t get, like, any better on me.

Slash: No, no. But just to get through the Guns thing and just get it out of the way –

Stern: Alright, Guns N’ Roses: where are you at?

Slash: Guns is fine. We did a two and a half years stadium tour –

Stern: You’re burnt on that.

Slash: And then it was like, okay, that’s enough of that. I went and built a studio. I started jamming, Matt came over, we started jamming together, Gilby came over, then Mike Inez. All of a sudden, I thought –

Stern: Yeah, do an album.

Slash: “We’ve got a band.”

Stern: Right, you weren’t gonna sit around and wait for Axl to get off his ass and start singing.

Slash: Well no, everybody has their own agendas, and so –

Stern: When was the last time you saw Axl?

Slash: Halloween.

Stern: Oh really?

Slash: No, actually it was Halloween or in the studio when we were doing Sympathy. That was the last time we’d seen each other. We’ve talked, I mean –

Stern: Because you guys are a great band. I mean –

Quivers: What is he doing?!

Stern: We don’t know what he’s doing.

Quivers: Is he retired? (laughs)

Stern: I don’t know, man.

Slash: No. We’re, like – Guns has always been like this. You know, either we’re right there or nobody knows what the hell is going on.

Stern: Right. No one knows what’s going on.

Quivers: So you don’t know if you’re broken up or not.

Slash: No, we’re not.

Stern: I think you need to do another album.

Slash: No, we’re going to, but it has to be a good one. And so you can’t just, like, force the issue and –

Stern: It’s got to happen.

Slash: It’s just got to happen. (?)

Quivers: But if you guys aren’t even in the same place...

Stern: But what do you do? You, like, have to get together...

Slash: We have to write an album and tour.

Stern: Did you get together with Axl and physically sit down with him and write the songs? I mean, cuz you guys write together, right?

Slash: As a band, there’s no other way to do it. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll band, there’s got to be a chemistry and –

Stern: So you got to get him to sit down for a couple of months.

Slash: No, he’s willing to sit down.

Stern: Is he? You don’t smack him in his head.

Slash: Yeah. Not Izzy. No, Izzy doesn’t do anything (laughs).

(Laughter)

Stern: Yeah, right. No, you know what I’m saying. I mean, like, you know -

Slash: Phil fell for it. I was joking there (laughs).

Stern: Let me say something. You’ve got a franchise with that band. Do you understand what I’m saying?

Slash: Yeah, that’s not – don’t even start with that. That’s not the point.

Stern: I got to talk business to you, my friend.

Quivers: You know what? They made too much money. They made too much money, Howard.

Stern: I have to talk business. Too much money, too fast.

Slash: Listen, even if we didn’t have any money, we’ve never pushed anything until it was quality stuff.

Quivers: Yeah, but you did work.

Stern: That’s right.

Slash: Yeah, but we still work. We always –

Stern: You guys could be the McDonalds of rock ‘n’ roll. You understand what I’m saying?

Slash: We’ve only been off for a year, you guys. We were off for two and a half years before.

Quivers: Yeah, but when was the last album?

Stern: Right.

Slash: The last album was The Spaghetti Incident. You know, the one with the Manson song.

Quivers: Right, right.

Stern: Right, right, right.

Slash: Yeah (laughs).

Stern: The Manson song. What the hell did you guys do that one for?

Slash: I didn’t play on it..

Stern: That wasn’t your fault, right? That was Axl.

Slash: I didn’t even want to do it.

Eric Dover: He preferred David Koresh’s material.

Stern: Yeah, but you’re gonna do that on your new album, right?

(Laughter)

Quivers: Move on, right?

Stern: The music of David Koresh.

Slash: The funny thing about it is 20 other bands have done Manson songs – not to mention that Trent Reznor lives in Tate’s house.

Stern: Right.

Slash: And all of a sudden - we throw something out and it’s, like, taboo all of a sudden and everybody –

Stern: Yeah, but it’s cool. It’s you guys. You know what I’m saying?

Slash: Yeah, it goes with the territory. It’s been like that – we’re the band that came out and the first press release was a quote from a magazine that said “They’ll be great if they live long enough.” From day one, you know?

Quivers: Yeah!

Stern: Yeah. Is anybody on heroin now or are you all off?

Slash: No. I’ve been clean. Steven’s still on it, but we can’t - you know, he’s not.

Quivers: He’s not in the band.

Slash: I’ve been off for seven years.

Stern: You don’t know if he’s on it or off, quite frankly. Right? You wouldn’t know, be honest.

Slash: I know people that know it.

Stern: Yeah, but you don’t know.

Slash: He’s trying to get off of it, but he still hasn’t gotten off.

Stern: Are you really off it?

Slash: Yeah, it’s seven years.

Stern: Wow...

Quivers: How did you get on it?

Slash: How I did get on it? Trust me, just hang out where we hung out.

Quivers: Oh boy. I’m not going there.

Slash: I need some more coffee.

Stern: Do you miss heroin?

Slash: No, not at all.

Stern: How can you not miss it, though?

Slash: No, some of the stuff I went through as a result of it and some of the –

Stern: Did you actually shoot or you snorted it?

Slash (laughs): I’m not going to jail for you, dude.

Stern: Why not? It’s over with. You’re off it now. You wouldn’t go to jail.

Slash: You know, I did it the way it was needed to be done.

Stern: Right.

(Laughter)

Stern: So you did it the right way. Hey, listen, you got caught up in it. That’s all rockstar stuff.  

Quivers: Oh, shut up (laughs).

Stern: And it’s cool. Let’s take Eric Clapton, he was always bragging how he was on heroin. It’s cool to be a rockstar in heroin. Let’s face it, that’s part of your thing.

Slash: It’s one of those things that you get so into it and it, like, surrounds you for a while, and everything is great. And then, as soon as it really gets you in, then all of a sudden the guy that you need to get it from disappears (laughs).

Stern: But if you can’t, if Slash – Slash, you’re worth about 100 million.

Slash: It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Your connection always disappears.

Stern: That’s impossible. If you can’t afford to get heroin, then who can -?

Quivers: It’s not about affording it. The guy wasn’t there!

Stern: Yeah, but he can get another guy.

Quivers: (?) they’re in pain!

Slash: You know, someone got busted...

Stern: It’s ridiculous. If you can’t have a massive supply of heroin, then how could any street junkie have a massive supply on heroin?

Quivers: You still always run out.

Slash: Yeah, but that’s the stuff you make on the street, and for people who are doing the real stuff it takes tons of (?) to get one.

Quivers: It’s not even any good, yeah.

Stern: Is it better than an orgasm?

Quivers: I’m listening to him?

Stern: What is better, an orgasm or heroin?

Slash: It took the place of sex for a while. I can tell you that much.

Stern: Really? That’s way too good a life.

Quivers: I always heard it was good.

Stern: Way too good a life. You must have been a great man in your previous life; like, you might have been Gandhi or something in order for God to reward you, because look how God has rewarded him in this life.

Quivers: This is a reward?

Stern: He gets to walk around all day and be cool, get tons of girls and he gets so sick of girls that he just marries one girl, and then he gets to do heroin to get off it.

Quivers: Let me ask you a question.

Slash: No, I didn’t do heroin while... If she knew me when I was on dope - she didn’t want to meet me in the first place. She had nothing to do with me. I forced myself on her, cuz I saw her and just went, “Wow.”

Stern: And Axl is clean, too?

Slash: Yeah, Axl never was – that’s one of the huge misconceptions about Guns. He never was strung out. Ever.

Stern: Yeah. But is he crazy or something? Cuz looking at how (?)

Quivers: He’s in therapy, right?

Stern: Yeah, like, is he mental?

Slash: No, Axl’s fine. To know him is a lot of (?)

Stern: Like, he wouldn’t kick my ass or something, would he?

Slash: Ah, it depends on what you said to him.

Stern: Really? Cuz I have a feeling he would kick my ass.

Quivers: He could (laughs).

Slash: He might. He might (?)

Stern: Slash, you’re more reasonable.

Slash: He’s flighty (laughs).

Stern: Really?

Slash: Yeah (laughs).

Stern: Like you could say stuff to him...

Slash: But he’s a sweetheart. (?)

Stern: But he can misinterpret something and kick your ass.  

Quivers: But even you guys had fights, right?

Slash: We’ve had some serious fights, and sometimes over just simple misunderstandings. We had a fight on stage one time, where he cut his hand or something and went backstage, and I served to cover for it; I said to the crowd, you know, “Stop throwing this” or whatever and he misunderstood me, saying that – he thought that I said that he went back to do a wardrobe change, he came out and just cursed my ass off the mike. All of a sudden I was like, “What the...”

Stern: “What did I do.”

Slash: And that was, like, for the rest of the night. I was like, “What the hell are you talking –“ (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, right.

(Laughter)

Slash: So we went back and watched the tape, and he went, “Oops, sorry” (laughs).

(Laughter)

Stern: Yeah, he can be a difficult guy to work with. See, that’s a nightmare. You get into a band like Guns N’ Roses which has the perfect chemistry, perfect musicianship, it makes perfect songs – what is in those albums is all good. And then you got to deal with a difficult guy.

Slash: One of the reasons that things worked is because of the tension.

Stern: Is it really?

Slash: You have to remember this. There’s all kind of chemicals in the chemistry that make that happen.

Quivers: I’ll tell you, they do great concerts because of that tension.

Stern: I like when Axl makes everybody wait all night for the concert, and then he gets there and he starts yelling at everyone.

Quivers: And even gives a lecture between his songs (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, I like that. Yeah, he lectures the audience. That’s good, man.

Slash: Well, you know, it’s the only time he gets to vent.

Stern: Vent, that’s cool. What is it?

Gary: There’s, like, always a lot of rumors that go on about the band and stuff. And one of the rumors was that when they did Sympathy For The Devil for the soundtrack to that movie?

Quivers: Natural Born Killers.

Slash: No, no.

Stern: Interview With A Vampire?

Male: Interview with A Vampire.

Quivers: Okay. One of them.

Gary: So we got to read some magazine that said that, you know, Slash was hoping that this would be a great opportunity to get the whole band back together again.

Stern: Right.

Gary: And then Axl just showed up with all his friends and just, like, sort of did what he had to do and left, and, you know, sort of bummed everybody out.

Slash: Well, no, it wasn’t exactly like that. We were supposed – I figured we would all show up, and Duff and Matt and I showed up. So we were sort of like to brick layers, we got the music down, then Axl showed up a couple of days later with his entourage.

Stern: Prima donna! Go ahead, just kidding.

Slash: No, don’t put me in that spot. I’m real close with him. We’re partners.

Stern: Yeah, I know, I know. I can’t mess it up for you. Hey, I don’t blame you, that’s a franchise. Go ahead.

Slash: If you wanna bag on him, you’re on your own. That’s your own thing.

Stern: Alright. I’m just kidding.

Quivers: We don’t even know him.

Stern: We don’t know him. What do we know?

Slash: If he was here, it would be a whole different story.  

Stern: Oh yeah, he’d beat my ass.

(Laughter)

Quivers: We could have all get into it.

Slash: Maybe he would. This time it would have been (?)

Stern: That was cool. Didn’t he beat Kurt Cobain’s ass or something?

Slash: No, that was Duff beating up...

Quivers: I think he took on Courtney.

Stern: Oh, did he?

Slash: They got into a fight, yeah. I don’t know where – see, I never get involved with any of that stuff. I just sort of –

Stern: Axl beat up Courtney?

Slash: No...

Quivers (laughs): Almost. I think Kurt had to do something.

Stern: She probably needed it.

Slash: They just got into an argument.

Stern: Really?

Slash: She probably should get beat up.

Stern: Here you go! (laughs)

(Laughter)

Slash: I can say that.

Stern: Yeah, I guess so.

Slash: But, you know, just a couple of times; not all of the whole, I guess (laughs).

(Laughter)

Stern: Hey, let me see your tattoos, man. I’m thinking to get one.

Slash: You don’t have one yet?

Stern: No.

Quivers: All he does is talk.

Stern: All I do is talk about it.

Slash: I’ve got a spare earring in my bag. I’ll pierce your nipples for you.

Stern: No, I’ve got a whole bunch of earrings. Do you have a nipple pierce?

Slash: No, I didn’t do that, cuz Axl did his. I did my bellybutton.

Stern: I can’t deal with getting my nipple pierced. Ralph just did it and it looks – he said it was so bad...

Quivers: It always looks sore to me, like there’s something wrong.

Stern: ... and he said the pain was so bad that he almost passed out.

Slash: You know what, there was a point there, where Axl was pretty volatile on that time when he got his done (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, right. That’s pretty...

Slash: This [points to his bellybutton] hurts – at this point it doesn’t hurt that bad, but it takes a long time to heal.

Quivers: When did you have it done? How many days ago.

Slash: Three weeks ago.

Quivers: Oh. And it doesn’t hurt that bad now?

Slash: In between takes during the last video shoot (laughs). There was that guy -

Stern: Really? Did they give you an anesthetic or did they just stick it right through?

Slash: Well, he had some sort of a clamp and he just screened it on, and just –

Stern: ... pierced it.

Slash: Yeah. We were just in the trailer and he was an extra that happened to work at a place called The Gauntlet in L.A. This guy... okay: he has pierce, like, twice in his eyebrows, twice in his nose, his lips, his tongue, his chin – three in the chin...

Stern: That’s a good look.

Slash: Alright? Both –

Stern: Why didn’t you videotape it?

Slash: It gets better. Both nipples and his bellybutton.

Stern: And his penis?

Slash: He’s got 14 in his rod, man.

Stern: Oh, get out of here!

Slash: This guy’s very serious.

Stern: 14 pierces in his rod? Doesn’t that hurt, man?

Eric Dover: Have sex with girls and (?)

Slash: Yeah. And he’s got a shaved head with tattoos on his skull, and he’s just – he’s out there.

Stern: Really?

Slash: And so I said, “Dude, can you pierce me,” you know, and so he went and got some tools, came back, clamped –

Stern: You wouldn’t pierce your penis though, would you?

Slash: Nah, not any reason for that.

Quivers: You just let anybody pierce you, though.

Slash: No, he’s a professional (laughs).

Stern: 14 pierces?! That’s not a penis, that’s a flute!

(Laughter)

Quivers: What does he do with that?!

Slash: I asked him, does it make it heavier - like, you know, through time does it make it, like, longer?

Stern: Can he have sex with it?

Slash: He says so.

Stern: Really?

Slash: And some girls are into it. Listen, I was on a tour bus, the crew in the back hanging out, and this chick came along and I went, “Angela?” And it was this girl I hadn’t seen in ages, and she looked really different, you know, like a whole different – she used to be really sweet and innocent looking; now she looks sort of hard, but really still sexy. And while she was talking, I went, “Wait, what’s that in your tongue?” and she stuck it out, and it was pierce tongue, a little bolt, right?

Stern: Yeah, right.

Slash: And I was like, “Ugh, what’s that good for” and she went like, “hrrrrr.”

Stern: You know what that’s good for. That’s an oral sex thing. That’s what all the girls are doing, they’re piercing their tongues for oral sex.

Eric Dover: It’s all ball bearings these days.

Stern: Yeah. That’s what it is. The guys has 14 piercings in his genital, in his penis. When he urinates, is it not like a sprinkler?

(Laughter)

Slash: I have no idea. I was like, what about the main (?)

Quivers: How do you get that that posed on the back – you have a thing on the back when you do that to your...

Slash: You know what? Listen...

Stern: I’m glad Slash is here, man. He knows a lot of stuff.

Quivers: He has lived a life.

Stern: He knows about heroin, piercing and playing music.

Slash (laughs): Oh god, (?) like a real moron.

Stern: Everything that’s important to people (laughs). You’re into the important stuff. Now, listen, Slash, here’s what I wanna do. You’re here with Eric –

Quivers: Has he ever heard one of those phone calls he’s made to us?

Stern: Yeah, you ever heard it when you were high and you made us a phone call?

Slash: You know what happened, didn’t I tell you the story? I know I told you the second time, right? Alright. I didn’t even know really anything about you. I didn’t know who you were. I just thought you were just some other deejay. I was in Hawaii escaping my wife-to-be – she found out that I was messing around. I split town.

Stern: Right. She was mad.

Slash: Yeah. So I went and visited a friend I hadn’t seen since junior high. So me and him and his wife just tore up Hawaii, and I went, “I gotta be back at the hotel by 2:00 to talk to some guy.” That’s when I called you. I was wasted. I mean, cuz I could have pulled that off with anybody else, but you were, like, all over me, and I went, “Whoa.” And then, what’s-her-face called, Sam’s?

Quivers: Malika.

Stern: Malika, yeah.

Slash: And she’s like, “Slash, you are drunk.” And I was like, (speaks in “drunk” voice) “You’re fucking drunk.”

(Laughter)

Slash: He [Stern] caught that.

Stern: I love it, yeah.

Quivers: That was one of the funniest phone calls.

Slash: He’s a professional (laughs).

Stern: Right. You know, I (?) my job. I’ve got, like, the government after me.

Slash: The second time I called at you, I was actually, “Well, this guy is okay” and so I called you sober.

Stern: Yeah. That was good. I mean, yeah, now you make a total sense.

Slash: Well, you know, you kept me at 2:00 in the morning. What would you think? I didn’t know.

Stern: So you don’t even drink anymore?

Slash: No, I still drink.

Stern: Oh, yeah.

Slash: What is it, 8:30?

Stern: Yeah, right.

Slash: It’s five o’ clock somewhere (laughs).

Stern: I thought you were gonna show up drunk or something.

Slash: No, I wouldn’t have, having dealt with you before.

Stern: Well, hold on, because let me take a commercial break.

Slash: Yeah, take a commercial break.

Stern: And maybe I’ll put some clothes on (laughs).

Slash: No, no. You can’t put clothes on at this point (laughs).

Stern: It’s cold in here.

Quivers: It’s hot in here.

Stern: Is it?

Slash: Yeah!

Stern: Well, you’re not naked like I am. So let’s take a break. We’ll bond a little during the commercials. I’ll try and press you with who I know.

Slash: We’ll just try and tune the guitars. That’s our biggest obstacle, which is our (?) part of the whole day.

Stern: Alright, you guys tune up, and then we’ll come back and we’ll talk some more about heroin, and jewelry and school stuff, you know?

(Laughter)

Stern: Right, Robin?

Quivers: That’s the way they call about, Howard.

Slash: I don’t advocate heroin at all. That was ages ago.

Stern: No, no. I don’t advocate any of these drugs, but I’m just saying that it’s good to –

Slash: A lot of people it’s, you know, very hip, but it’s one of those drugs that’s been hanging around and it’s not even so much a designer drug. It’s just something to have a certain kind of coolness about. You don’t care about anything when you’re loaded, trust me.

Stern: Really?

Slash: It’s a whole different trip. All you care about is getting your next fix, then dealing what you’ve got to deal with until you get your next fix (laughs).

Stern: Right. Yeah, so –

Slash: You’ve got (?) mentality.

Stern: And, like, you should be able to deal with that, because you’re a rockstar. But even you couldn’t deal with it.

Slash: We played with the Stones, and I didn’t even meet the Stones when we played with them. If you ever see a picture of Guns and the Stones, I’m the only guy missing, because I was too busy in the limo (laughs).

Stern: Shooting up. You see, he missed the Stones. And you love the Stones.

Slash: Yeah, I’ve gotten to know them since. But at the time I was –

Stern: The Stones were saying when you were on tour with them that they wanted to warn you about drug use and stuff.

Slash: Yeah, and I was already way passed out.

Stern: Right, right. It was too late of a warning.

Slash: I was digging syringes out of the ceiling (laughs).

Stern: So how did you get yourself out of it? Like, all of a sudden someone gave you a –

Slash: I just stopped.

Stern: Oh really?

Slash: You know, I went through enough bad times. Almost, actually, at one point there was the possibility of going to prison.

Stern: Really?

Slash: Yeah. And that was, like, harsh, and then I was really racked up, you know? I was in Phoenix, which is a bad place to go to jail. And then we got out of it and I went to L.A., and there was this whole welcoming committee there: my mom, the hypocritical Steven Adler –

Quivers: Uh-oh. Oh dear!

Stern: Why are you guys fighting with Steven?

Quivers: Cuz he sued them.

Stern: Oh, he sued you?

Slash: Because - we’re not anymore. He – I don’t even want to get into that.

Stern: Alright.  

Slash: Alright. And all these people, Alan Niven, Duff - you know, I walk in this room –

Quivers: Duff was there!

Slash: Oh, there was a whole bunch of them.

Stern: Alright. That’s pretty good when Duff –

Quivers: Even Duff’s telling you! (laughs)

Stern: - when the whole band of Guns N’ Roses has to confront you. That’s pretty good.

(Laughter)

Quivers: You must have been in pretty bad shape.

Slash: They put me in rehab way against my will, so I went for three days and I saw some people that were really screwed up.

Stern: Worse than you.

Slash: They brainwash you in rehab. I’m sorry, I’m not an advocate of going to rehab. They put you in these groups and the next thing you know, one guys goes in for one thing and they find out that he’s got – or they introduce all these other illnesses that he didn’t know he had.

Stern: Right. They mess you up even more.

Slash: And he lives there as an example (laughs).

(Laughter)  

Slash: So after three days I split and I went to party –

Stern: Hey, Slash, what’s your story? You’re, like, half black or something?

Slash: Half black, yeah.

Stern: That’s pretty cool. Is your mother white?

Slash: No, my mom is black and my dad is white. My dad is British, my mom is American.

Stern: Oh, no kidding.

Slash: It’s a trippy family (?).

Stern: Are they still together?

Slash: Them? (laughs) No, they haven’t been together for ages, but they were so hippy-ish at the time and still to this day are not divorced.

Stern: Oh, I see. So they can be with other people and stuff?

Quivers: Yeah, they’re even in different locations.

Stern: Oh, you mean they can swing.

Slash: They’ve been separated for – it’s been, like, 15 years now, I think.

Stern: Have they ever hit you up for money and stuff?

Slash: No! No, my parents are very, very cool.

Stern: Are they?

Slash: Yeah. I’m really fortunate.

Stern: I figured you had to come from, like, a bad upbringing.

Quivers: It was a hippy-ish upbringing.

Slash: No, I came from – well, I mean, my surroundings were weird, but that’s why I’m not crazy now – as far as I know (laughs).

Stern: No, you seem pretty normal.

Slash: I’m not stressed out. Cuz I have seen some really – (laughs)

Stern: Hey, didn’t your mom date David Bowie or something, I read?

Slash: David is family. He’s very cool.

Stern: Really?

Slash: Yeah.

Stern: I always thought he was into guys. I guess he’s not.

Slash: Oh no, no. You know, it was, like, a very experimental time there going on.

Stern: Your mom must be real hot. I mean, she got Bowie.

Slash: Yeah, she’s very pretty.

Stern: What’s Bowie’s deal? He’s into black women?

Slash: I guess so. I haven’t seen him with anybody -

Stern: Cuz then he married a black woman. And she’s expecting.

Slash: Well, there was Angie, though.

Stern: Yeah, Angie.

Quivers: Angie’s, like, the whitest white woman.

Stern: I guess Angie turned him off to white women.

(Laughter)

Stern: I mean, I don’t know what happened.

Slash: Yeah, but they were still married when my mom was going out with him. I don’t know...

Stern: No kidding! But it must have been cool when Bowie was coming over your house.

Slash: Well, at the time, you know, I was so young and it didn’t really make any difference to me.

Stern: And did Bowie realize you were musically you were musically gifted?

Slash: No, after they separated, I didn’t see him for a long time, until – God, I must have been about 20-21 years old when I saw him again. We’ve been friends since.

Stern: So would you, like, wake up – like, you were a little kid, you would wake up in the morning and uncle David Bowie would be in bed with your mom?

Slash: David and mom would be praying to the little lamp that they had (laughs).

Stern: No kidding!

Quivers: David Bowie prayed to a lamp?!

Stern: Yeah, what a life you had!

Slash (laughing): They had one of those little Buddha things, you know, and they (?)

Quivers: Oh, they did all that stuff?!

Slash: Are you kidding? My mom... (laughs)

Stern: Your mom was a real hippie.

Slash: Oh yeah.

Stern: Sure your mom, she had this really hot mom.

Slash: Still, to this day, when I talk to her she tells me that she prays for me, and everything is cool, and I’m like, “Okay, mom” (laughs).

Stern: Really? Thanks!

Slash: No, she’s great to hang out with. She comes out to gigs and she gets all, like - you know, like young girls get –

Stern: They get all worked out.

Slash: Like two or three girls that get together and they’re all giggling and fun, and that’s why guys get all turned on. And it’s like, she’s still like that.

Stern: No kidding.

Slash: Yeah, real tease (laughs).

Stern: Wow. No kidding.

Quivers: And you can see that in your mother.

Stern: Well, if you mom is getting David Bowie, she must be hot. It’s weird having a hot mom. Did you ever, like, see her naked when you were growing up and go, “Wow, she’s really hot”?

Quivers: No, Howard!

Stern: I mean, cuz I saw my mom naked once, and it made me wanna puke.

Slash: I’ve seen her – no, but it was during the free love thing. My parents – I had to be naked. I had a birthday party, which I’ll never forget. I was so embarrassed. I had a birthday party and I couldn’t have been more than, like, six years old; and all the adults there had a naked pool party, and they threw all the kids in the pool, took their clothes off, threw me... And I was like –

Quivers: Oh my god!

Stern: No kidding. Oh man!

Slash: I used to go to San Francisco, to the Sutro Baths...  

Stern: So you’ve been having fun your whole life.

Slash: (laughs and thumbs up)

Stern: Dude!

Quivers: He was born in an orgy!

Stern: How did you have time to practice guitar and stuff and learn that? Usually guys who can’t get laid play guitar.

Slash: No – well, you know, I was real outcast in school when I started playing guitar. It was very easy to concentrate, trust me.

Stern: Oh really? Did you funk out?

Slash: I was terrible in school. I went to every school in L.A., but it wasn’t until I didn’t give a shit anymore, and then – kick your button (laughs).

Stern: Come on, man. Mellow out with that, will you?

Slash (laughing): I’m sorry.

Stern: I’ll have to smack you around and I don’t wanna do that.

(Laughter)

Slash: But once I didn’t care about what anybody was thinking, I just started playing guitar. And all of a sudden it was cool. It was the weirdest thing. And, like, I wasn’t aware of this all of a sudden change over, you know?

Stern: Yeah, right. Oh man. My upbringing was so sheltered. I never got grow around naked.

Slash: I want to see you naked.

Quivers: Nobody ever threw you in a –

Stern: Yeah, I would have loved it if my mother left my father and dated David Bowie. Anything would’ve been cool.

(Laughter)

Slash: Oh, man.

Stern: My mother came out with a big giant pair of panties, never shaved between her legs, nothing. She was walking around with all that.

Quivers: She was a fine woman.

Stern: Yeah. No kidding, your mother is a fox, huh?

Slash: Yeah, she’s very pretty.

Stern: Oooh!

Slash: Yeah, she’s real (?)

Stern: Well, you’re a good looking guy. I mean, Slash is a good looking guy, right?

Quivers: Now he’s taking the hair off his face and I can see him.

Stern: Yeah, I always thought that you kept the hair in your face because you weren’t good looking or something. But you’re a good looking guy.

Slash: No, I just didn’t take a shower and I didn’t feel like combing it (laughs).

Stern: Right. Got any pictures of your mom? If there’s no offense.

Slash: No -

Quivers: Yeah, bring her on next time.

Stern: Yeah, bring her.

Slash: No, she would be anybody who would kick your ass. She would.

Stern: She would, really?

Slash: Yeah. She’s really sweet until you piss her off. She’s a Libra, you know.

Stern: No kidding.

Slash: Yeah. She’s thrown some things at me that I just was lucky enough to duck, and there was holes in the wall.

Stern: What a life you’ve had, man. What a life. Did you ever think Guns N’ Roses would be as big as it was? Did that take you by surprise?

Slash: You know, the whole thing with Guns N’ Roses is almost exactly the same as what Snakepit has been doing. You just take one foot in front of the other –

Stern: And see what happens.

Slash: - and you just keep going forward. That’s all you can do. And then here we are.

Stern: Hey, what’s the story with Elton John? You’ve been hanging around with him still?

Slash: I never have. I’ve met him once but -

Stern: Axl’s got a hot on for him, right?

Slash: Yeah, Axl likes him.

Stern: Axl digs him.

Slash: Yeah.

Stern: I dig Elton John.

Quivers: That’s cool.

Slash: No, you know, I grew up listening to him.

Stern: To me the funniest video is when you’re onstage with Elton John and he’s trying to look like he’s part of Guns N’ Roses. That’s pretty funny.

Slash: (?) either side of the piano.

Stern: Yeah, that’s pretty funny.

Slash: That’s funny, because I’m doing a guitar solo and I’m, like, 20 feet in front of the stage. I can’t hear the band and I’m, like, half a note under key, and I’m playing the solo like I’m cool (laughs). And I talk to a friend of mine, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, and he goes, “I’ve heard you play better.” And then I finally got to see it and I was like, “God, I’m half-step (?)”

Stern: Really? I wouldn’t even know that.

Slash: You – yeah, it’s offensive, that’s what it is.

Stern: I like it. Anyway, let me take a break. I just like that Elton John’s wearing, like, his very best hairpiece so he can look like a rockstar with Guns N’ Roses. Usually he’s had, like, an adult costume or something, but, like, he’s onstage with Guns N’ Roses he got on his rock ‘n’ roll clothes. Elton John: “Do I look rock ‘n’ roll?”

Slash: He’s a good guy, though.

Stern: Is he? Yeah, I’ve met him.

Slash: I don’t know him well enough. I never judge anybody until I know more of them.

Stern: He’s got good music.

Slash: I’ve seen some real a-holes.

Stern: Who’s a real big a-hole in rock ‘n’ roll? Give me a name.

Slash: You know what, I’m not gonna –

Quivers: Come on!

Stern: Come on, let’s get into that, my friend. Let’s get into that. I’ll come over there and smack you. Look at those tattoos. Let me see the other tattoo.

Slash: This one?

Stern: Let me see the other one. Yeah. That’s a whole thing going on in your arm.

Slash: Yeah, I drew these out on napkins, just like the pinball machine. I draw things out.

Stern: And then you put it on your arm?

Slash: My house is filled with napkins that I doodle on.

Stern: Really? Doodle me up a tattoo, man. I don’t know what’s cool anymore.

Slash: I could doodle you up (laughs).

Stern: Alright, doodle it up. Not too major like that, though, man. I can’t take that –

Slash: Do your commercial. Do your commercial!

Quivers: Something small.

Stern: Something small.

Slash: At least I got off the subject (laughs).

Stern: Alright, let’s take break. And then you’re gonna tell me who is an a-hole in rock ‘n’ roll. Give me one name.

(Laughter)

Stern: Alright, we’ll be back right after this.

[Break]

Stern: Now, there’s a couple of songs on this new album that are about guys killing themselves, right? Like Kurt Cobain (?). Right?

Slash: Just inspired by it.

Stern: Oh really?

Slash: Yeah. Kurt and Savannah –

Stern: You dug him or not?

Slash: Well, I just thought the whole thing was sad. I don’t know him, so I don’t judge him at all. I thought the whole thing was sort of – it’s just a cop-out, as far as I’m concerned, you know?

Stern: Right.

Slash: But it really is just a sort of muscle reaction to pull the trigger, so he might have thought differently like half way through the second, but –

Stern: Have you ever thought about pulling the trigger on yourself?

Slash: No.

Stern: Never?

Slash: No.

Stern: No way, not with the live you’re leading.

Slash: (laughs)

Quivers: When did he have time? (laughs)

Stern: Yeah, right. You’re having so much sex and running around naked that –

Quivers: He’s too busy.

Slash: I do a lot of working.

Stern: Yeah, I know. But it’s a cool kind of work, one that you like doing.

Quivers: Yeah, he’s hanging around in a studio with guys he likes.

Slash: When we were in the studio, Eric and I wrote the lyrics and the melodies for every song on the record. Like, we go in, write the lyrics and melodies and record the vocal that night. So it was whatever was going on at the time, and I got a phone call from Gilby one day, and he goes, “I don’t know if you know anything about this, but Savannah just shot herself. And I said, “Oh, Christ;” you know, that’s all I needed to hear, because, regardless, you don’t want anybody to that. We weren’t married or anything, but it’s –

Stern: But you had a little bit of a thing going.

Slash: Yeah. And so we ended up – he [Eric] and I hang out with “Lower,” which is a song on the record, that night.

Stern: These guys are like hippies or something, you what I mean? Like free love? That’s kind of cool.

Slash: (Laughs) You know what? I feel really sorry for the generation of kids that are about 11 and 12 and 13 coming up right now, only because there’s so much stuff that I just managed to catch on to, that it’s gone.

Quivers: You can’t do it anymore.

Slash: It’s gone. And that’s sort of a drag, because there’s a lot of experience to be had in all that.

Stern: What do you think you’re worth?

Slash: Oh, I don’t know.

Stern: You have no idea how much you’re worth?

Slash: I don’t like to – come on...

Stern: Are you worth about 100 million dollars? Could you buy anything you want?

Slash: After the earthquake, no (laughs).

Stern: Do you have a cool house? Do you live in a castle?

Slash: It’s a shell of its former self at the moment. Right now it’s being flooded. Not only was the earthquake bad enough, but it’s –

Stern: Where do you live? On 100 acres?

Slash: No! Are you kidding?

Stern: Where do you live? In, like, a –

Slash: I live in a two-bedroom house.

Stern: You’re kidding!

Slash: What the hell do I need anything else for?

Stern: I mean, but you’ve got tons of dough. Why don’t you just spend some more?

Slash: Because that’s boring.

Stern: Really?! It’s boring?

Quivers: And, besides, in L.A. you have to keep rebuilding.

Slash: Yeah, just a little too (?) house in L.A. That’s expensive enough.

Stern: But you don’t even have to live in L.A. Why do you live in L.A.? You don’t even have to. You could live anywhere in the world.

Slash: Because I’m from there, I’m familiar with things there. And business is there and, like, Geffen is down the street – you know, that’s convenient. I’m familiar with it and I know people there.

Stern: Okay, take it easy, man. I don’t want you to get upset, alright? (laughs) I’m just trying to find out what you’re doing with you money. What do you do? Are you all invested and everything? Are you actually keeping -

Slash: Yeah, I put my money away. If I don’t need it, I don’t just –

Stern: Where, in the market? Or you’ve got bonds and stuff?

Slash: I’ve got, you know, stuff in the bank.

Stern: T-bills and all that kind?

Slash: Hello (laughs).

(Laughters)

Stern: He knows what he’s doing.

Quivers: You’re having now rockstars to talk about T-bills and investments! (laughs)

Stern: Yeah, you know, but come on. Let’s find out. I mean, I’d like to know what’s going on. It must be great.

Quivers: (laughs) Next thing you know...

Stern: Eric, if this record hits, you’re gonna be looking at T-bills.  

Dover: Yeah, I could be investing as well.

Stern: That’s right.

Dover: Right now my credit cards are maxed out.

Stern: Eric, what’s your story?

Slash: He bought me a drink yesterday, though (laughs). That was cool.

Stern: So you hooked up with Slash, you guys got the record deal now, and now it’s time to produce. I mean –

Quivers: How did that happen? How did you hook up with Slash? I mean, that’s, like, a big deal.

Dover: I was playing with Gilby Clarke’s drummer, Marc Danzeisen, and he told me about it, and I was like, “No, there’s no way. He wouldn’t want me to sing for him,” and –

Stern: You felt kind of funny asking him.

Dover: Yeah, a little intimidated. I sent in a tape –

Stern: And he dug it.

Dover: - and he was very prompt calling me back.

Stern: So you write the music and Eric writes the lyrics.

Slash: That’s the way this particular, you know (?)

Stern: I bet Axl is jealous of Eric. I bet Axl hopes it doesn’t work.

Slash: I have no idea. I don’t think Axl has even heard the record.

Stern: Don’t you think Axl hopes secretly that it fails, so that you’ll come running back with him?

Slash: I’m gonna go back anyway. I mean, Guns is my home band. I don’t think he’s worried about it.

Stern: Right. Alright. I bet you’re worth more money than Axl. I bet he’s pissed away a lot of his money. True? True or false?

Slash: I don’t think so, no. He’s pretty smart with it.

Stern: Really? Seriously?

Slash: Yeah. Trust me.

Stern: Yeah! I’m finding out everything I need to know.

Slash: The only thing he’s got going that’s a pain in the ass for him right now is the whole Stephanie Seymour lawsuit.

Stern: Yeah, man, what’s going on with that?

Slash: I’m just waiting to see when it goes to trial.

Stern: He claims Stephanie Seymour beat him up, right?

Slash: You know what? I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s really pulling out all the stops on him. I mean, she’s taking him for what is – and then, his ex-wife comes out of the woodwork and pulls it, too. It’s like, five years later and all of a sudden she (?)

Stern: So he’s tied up in litigation.

Slash: Yeah. So I’m just – we’re gonna be touring. The record comes out on February 14th and we start in April, from April through, say, beginning of August or July – you know, July or August, whatever it turns out to be. We’re just gonna play clubs and tour as much as we can, and just sort of back-to-back gigs and just go out. It will be really easy doing a no pressure kind of thing.

Stern: I want to thank Slash and Eric for stopping by today.

Slash: You know what? Thanks for having us.

Dover: Thanks.

Stern: Did you have a good time, you guys?

Slash: Yes, it was a lot of fun.

Stern: Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

[After show conversation outside the studio:

Gary: How did it go?

Slash: Oh, it was fun! We had countdown to Stern. It was like day 5, day 4, day 3, day 2... And we finally get here and he was awesome. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he was gonna, like, try to rub me the wrong way on purpose or what he was gonna do. And he was really cool.]

Text on screen: After the interview, Gary shows Slash Howard’s legendary “Back Of The Door.”

[Chatting outside the studio]