2000.08.DD - Launch - Interview with Slash

Slash told LAUNCH that he's quite happy in his current situation in Slash's Snakepit, and he hopes his former Guns N' Roses mate, Axl Rose, can get his act together and enjoy music again. Slash added of his estranged former bandmate, "Axl's brilliant. He's one of the overall best performer/singer/writer guys, in my book."

Slash has heard stories of Rose's perfectionist ways and of the delays with the new album. "I just wish he would get this Guns N' Roses record done so I can see what all this turmoil was all about" Slash told LAUNCH. "What was the point? Realistically, you have a situation where it was all centered around one person, you're like going, 'What is it you want to do so bad that you forced everybody out like that?' And so I just want him to do what it is that makes him happy, because he seems so f--kin' frustrated."

Guns N' Roses's next album is titled Chinese Democracy, and at this point there's no release date. Slash is ready to release his first album, Ain't Life Grand, on Koch Records on October 10.

Slash says Guns N' Roses ended way before its time. "You had pretty much a band that did everything their own way and got away with it, became really successful, had tons of fans, a real loyal following, and so on and so forth. All of the sudden it breaks up, but it was a systematic thing. First it's the drummer, then it's the rhythm guitar player, then it's me, then it's the bass player. It was so hard to keep that band together."

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Don't look at Ain't Life Grand, the second album from Slash's Snakepit, as some sort of fly-by-night project. The band's namesake, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, says that this group is here to stay.

It's what separates this version of the Snakepit from the one he put together the first time around in 1995. Back then, Slash tells LAUNCH, it was all about doing something other than Guns as he was considering leaving that band.

"I was sort of spearheading this brigade to go, 'I just got to get out of this whole pop mogul rock-star thing,' and that's what Snakepit was a result of," he explains. "So this new one was based on the same thing, but it's permanent. It's more of a career move, so to speak. The last one was spontaneous; this is more of like, 'OK, who have I been jamming with that would make this work?' and sort of pieced it together. It's still a rock 'n' roll band still playing sort of loud, off-the-cuff rock 'n' roll s--t, you know?"

Ain't Life Grand comes out on October 10. Meanwhile, Slash's Snakepit remains on the road, opening for AC/DC.

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Source:
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