2000.09.07 - Arizona Republic - Re-energized Slash Tearing It Up Once Again

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Re-energized Slash tearing it up once again

By Larry Rodgers
The Arizona Republic

When all is said and done, what guitar hero Slash wants to do is play.

He’s just endured a lengthy drive in a car “almost the size of a Volkswagen” with a bodyguard “the size of a house” and his girlfriend to get to his next gig with legendary rockers AC/DC.

“My girlfriend and I were tucked in the back, going, ‘Just go with it,’ ” the leader of Slash’s Snakepit says with a half-hoarse chuckle.

“I love this stuff. I don’t really know anything different. When I’m home is when I’m really bummed out.”

What Slash does not want to do is bicker — with band-mates, managers, wives or anyone else.

So five years ago he parted ways with Guns N’ Roses and the volatile Axl Rose, as well as his wife and other assorted associates.

“I cleaned the whole slate,” he says, with a hearty laugh. “I’m still walking around with a (expletive) dust pan, and a (expletive) whisk broom behind me.”

Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, seems to be on a simplicity kick these days. His new CD, called Ain’t Life Grand, is straight-ahead rock with plenty of Slash’s slippery guitar work and the blue-collar vocals of Rod Jackson.

“We’ve stripped everything down to a couple of (amplifier) cabinets, a couple of (sound) techs and the five guys in the band, and everybody’s just going with it,” says Slash, 35.

“It reminds me of why I started doing this in the first place.”

Although he fondly recalls early Guns N’ Roses as an “adventure,” Slash adds that he finally left when the band “turned into such a production.”

Slash had joined two ex-Gunners — guitarist Gilby Clarke and drummer Matt Sorum — in an early version of Snakepit as Guns N’ Roses was on its last leg.

“The first (Snakepit) was just a bunch of guys hanging around,” Slash says.

With a new Snakepit lineup and no ties to GNR, the leader says, “this is a career move.”

“If God struck me down today, I’m gonna make this happen.”

Despite that agenda, Slash refuses to go hard-core or hip-hop to grease the skids for commercial success.

“There are all these passing fads that come and go. But rock and roll is something that, when it comes out in its genuine form, everybody’s ready for it.”

He points to the virtually sold-out tour with AC/DC as Exhibit A.

Slash sounds like a guy who plans to keep his ax sharp as long as people will listen.

“I just see the kids getting into it, and I love doing it. It’s as simple as that.”