2019.10.30 - The Marshall Podcast - Interview with Slash

Thanks to Georgina Arriaga sharing the link.

The interview was released recently, but was recorded some time in the summer during the SMKC tour.

Excerpts from Alternative Nation:
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Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash was recently interviewed on the Marshall podcast, and he discussed a time in his life when he was too broke to buy the guitars and bikes he wanted. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“Trying to differentiate between that and what is really most important, a tone that is yours. Fortunately for me, maybe out of lack thereof, simplicity is how it went for me. I couldn’t afford all this other stuff, I didn’t think it was really necessary. So it was a matter of finding a guitar that felt good.

I think at the time I was using a BC Rich Mockingbird I had gotten, which is actually a really great sounding guitar. I just kept trying different amps until I finally did have the opportunity to get a Marshall, and I had a tone, something that you feel personally satisfied with, and that was it. I never really needed a lot of stuff after that.”

He later said, “I was racing BMX, I was pro at the time, I had been into it for a couple of years. I raced heavily, and my hope was to graduate BMX and get into Motorcross, and start out in the 16 and over class. That was something that I was totally focused on, and I couldn’t afford it, it was expensive. Then I discovered guitar, and within 24 hours I went from BMX to a full blown guitar nut.”

https://www.alternativenation.net/slash-reveals-guns-n-roses-member-went-broke/

More excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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Slash says that the run of shows Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators have done in support of the group's most recent studio album, "Living The Dream", has been "probably the best overall tour" that he and his bandmates have done. "We've finally reached a place where — [we've] hit a stride where people are familiar with the material, not waiting for us to do Guns N' Roses songs, and so on and so forth," the guitarist told "The Marshall Podcast" (hear audio below).

"['Living The Dream'] is the third [studio album] that [The Conspirators have] done and we've just been progressively getting more well known musically," he continued. "So it's a nice feeling to accomplish that kind of progress."

According to Slash, the road is "the only place" he and The Conspirators "really do get a chance to work" on new music. "If we're doing theaters and arenas and all that kind of stuff, we have our soundchecks, so I work on that stuff during that time," he said. "Because that's when I do all the writing — during the road trip. So when the tour is over, at some point, we all get together and we revisit all that material that we worked on while we were on the road. Which is actually what all the records we've done so far are a culmination of."

Complicating the creative process is the fact that Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators don't live in the same town as Slash. "Myles is in Washington state, and I'm in L.A. and the rest of the guys are in [Las] Vegas," Slash explained. "So I fly everybody to L.A. and we'll stay there and we'll do pre-production and go in and do a record. But now that Guns N' Roses has become a thing, I have to do that. So as soon as this [Conspirators] tour is over, I'll work on Guns. But I will have accumulated enough material out here that when the time comes to work on Conspirators stuff, I already have the material."

Speaking in more detail about how songs come together with The Conspirators, Slash said: "We write the whole time. I write the music ideas, and then I'll bring it into a soundcheck situation. For me, the most important thing is the drums. So I'll start working on an idea with Brent [Fitz, drums], as well as Todd [Kerns, bass], and even Frank [Sidoris, guitar] — we'll all stand there together and do it. And then just see if it catches, if it's a cool idea with all the other instruments involved. That's the thing about guitar players — you write bitchin' guitar stuff all day long, but is it a song? So we start working it up. And then Myles will be there and he'll catch it and maybe start recording something into his phone. And we'll just sort of get the nucleus of an idea, and in some cases work on it for a few days until we have an arrangement. And then there's some stuff that we didn't ever get to play in soundcheck that I recorded on my phone in my room and I'll bring that up later."

https://blabbermouth.net/news/slash-says-living-the-dream-is-probably-the-best-overall-tour-he-and-the-conspirators-have-done