1997.04.04 - San Antonio Express-News - No Idle Thoughts (Slash)

No idle thoughts
With Guns N' Roses sidelined, Slash turns to raucous Blues Ball
 
David Glessner
Special to the Express-News
 
Reached at a Hollywood rehearsal studio, on-again, off-again Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is having trouble hearing over the din of Def Leppard rehearsing down the hall for a South American tour.
 
“I've got you in one ear and Def Leppard in the other,'' Slash said. “They've never been (to South America) before. The fans there stake out your hotel room and you can't leave. You look out the window and it's just a mob.''
 
As excited as Slash is for his fellow rockers, he's equally jazzed about bringing Slash's Blues Ball to the White Rabbit on Tuesday. The band's repertoire consists of blues-rock covers of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the James Gang, Steppenwolf and other groups from the '60s/'70s.
 
For Slash, San Antonio brings back memories of “gorgeous women'' and a scare from the police after he cursed on stage during a pre- stardom Guns N' Roses gig with the Cult in Sunken Garden Theater.
 
“Me and (Cult singer) Ian (Astbury) were hiding on the bus after the show,'' he said, laughing. “We got pulled over a few blocks down the road and had to hide in the luggage bays, which are really hot 'cause they're right behind the engine.
 
“On top of that, we had pockets full of gum we ripped off from a convenience store 'cause we had no cash. But I'm a law-abiding citizen now.''
 
While Slash's civic standing is open to debate, there's no questioning his work ethic. Since Guns N' Roses went on hiatus, he has kept busy recording and touring with Slash's Snakepit, a group he's in the process of re-forming while building his own studio. Between projects, Slash has jammed with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Carole King, Chaka Khan and Motorhead. Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder are on his wish list of collaborators, but Slash counts Iggy as his favorite partner in crime.
 
“He doesn't care if the ceiling's caving in; he's going to do the gig,'' Slash said of Pop. “He's got that blood, sweat and tears, all-or-nothing attitude, which is where I come from, too. We've got a song recorded that we never released and I'm thinking of asking him if he wants to release it.''
 
Besides being his passion, playing guitar is also a defense mechanism, Slash said.
 
“I'm an extreme person,'' he said. “I can't sit at home and have a beer, 'cause it turns into 20 beers. Too much dead time means I'm partying too hard, so I circumvent that by playing.''
 
A touring rock band may not be the ideal excess deterrent, but Slash's Blues Ball at least keeps rock's Marlboro Man from “becoming some big, bloated rock star.'' Strangely, the band came together last year as a quick-fix for a concert promoter in Hungary who wanted Slash to headline a festival that included Iggy Pop, the Ramones and Prodigy.
 
“I didn't have a band together at the time, so I went down to this club called the Baked Potato, where I jam on Tuesdays,'' he said. “I put the band together, we flew to Hungary and played in front of 20,000 people. It went over well and was a lot of fun, so we decided to take it on the road.''
 
Taking Slash's Blues Ball on the road is worlds apart from the plushness of previous Guns N' Roses tours, he said. The limos, hotel suites and bodyguards have been replaced by a rental van, a trailer and an occasional cheap motel where the guys can shower when their collective essence turns toxic.
 
“After the show it's like, `Hello, ladies, we have not showered,''' he said, laughing.
 
Asked why he favors blues-rock for his latest project and not punk or metal, Slash surmised that all rock is rooted in blues.
 
“We were listening to a Fear record the other day and the chords in ‘I Don't Care About You' are the same as the ones in a Fleetwood Mac song,'' he said. “The only difference is the attitude. People hear the (Blues Ball) name and think it's about martinis, cigarettes and quiet guitars, but it's not. We're very loud.''
 
Sticking to his Guns
 
Save for a cover of the Rolling Stones' “Sympathy for the Devil'' that appeared on the “Interview With the Vampire'' soundtrack in 1994, Guns N' Roses hasn't been heard from since the 1993 all-covers album, “The Spaghetti Incident.''
 
But the band isn't dead, Slash said. And he's not yet an ex-member, either.
 
“I am not officially out of the band,'' he said. “The day before last, me and Izzy (Stradlin) worked on two new songs in Spain. We came back with Duff (McKagan) and then got Matt (Sorum) to come in.
 
“I'm tight with the band; it's just that there's this thing with me and (lead singer) Axl (Rose). If we can have a meeting of the minds and put out a good rock 'n' roll record, I'll be there. I'd be more disappointed putting out a (lackluster) Guns album than none at all.
 
Slash's Blues Ball - Where: White Rabbit, 2410 N. St. Mary's St. When: 8 p.m. Tuesday. Ruben V will open Tickets: $12 through Star Ticket outlets

What did Slash do in Spain in early April 1997? And why was Izzy there, too? And "we came back with Duff," does that mean Duff was there, too?

Soulmonster wrote:What did Slash do in Spain in early April 1997? And why was Izzy there, too? And "we came back with Duff," does that mean Duff was there, too?

Slash was in Spain in late March to shoot a video with Marta Sanchez.

The Index Journal, March 26, 1997 (one of the articles in my "semi-relevant" list ):

Slash forms unlikely team with Sanchez

By Howell Llewellyn
BPI ENTERTAINMENT REPORT

MADRID

Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has a new partner. Spanish blonde Marta Sanchez, who has been making a name for herself in Latin America since leaving pop outfit Ole Ole in the early ’90s to go solo. And two people to get credit for this most unlikely event are moviemaker Quentin Tarantino and veteran producer Nile Rodgers.

With the future of Guns N’ Roses uncertain, Slash has contributed guitar work to Sanchez’s new Mercury single, “Moja Mi Corazon” (Moisten My Heart), and it seems their future could be closely linked. The two were in town to make a video for the single, the first release from Sanchez’s third solo album, “Azabache.” As they floated into a late-afternoon Madrid press conference, still buzzing after an all-night party in a gypsy flamenco bar, it was clear the two had developed a special camaraderie.

How did two people from musically opposite worlds get together like this? Slash explains that he had written a song called “Obsession’ for the Tarantino-produced film “Curdled” and sent it to Rodgers, the founding member of Chic who has also produced David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Madonna, among others.

I guess Izzy just happened to be there, too, because he was travelling a lot and Spain was/is one of his favourite go-to places. I don't think Slash means Duff was there as well, but that he and Izzy reconnected with Duff after Spain.

Something tells me he lived there. I seem to recall he had an apartment there. I will dig through some Izzy sources (intended for this site as well). Maybe I can figure this one out.

Surge wrote:Something tells me he lived there. I seem to recall he had an apartment there. I will dig through some Izzy sources (intended for this site as well). Maybe I can figure this one out.

I think you are right. I seem to remember about an apartment or a house as well.

Yes, an apartment without a phone is really what I remember. This was blurry, so I dug:

Expressen, 1998 (translated):
"When the last solo-tour was finished in the spring of 1993 Izzy lived a vagabond life and travelled between Spain, Bahamas, USA, England, Denmark and Sweden. He was restless and wanted to experience new cultures. "

"(One day Rolling Stones played in Indiana and I was backstage with Keith Richards. I told Keith that I was homeless.)"

Geffen bio 1998:

After these jaunts, Stradlin narrates, "I went back to Indiana. At that point I was absolutely fed up with the whole music thing. I was just bored. I had to do something else. So I went over to Madrid and started looking for a place." He spent several months in Spain, at a rented house with no phone. "That was a little tough," he admits. "It got to where I had this uncontrollable urge to send a fax or something."

Thanks I am sure I will get to this as I move into the 1998 interviews/articles