1987.11.24 - WTMV V-32 (Florida, USA) - Interview with Slash and Duff

Transcript:
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Interviewer: I’m here with Guns N’ Roses, or at least two of the members. I’d like to introduce to you Slash, the lead guitarist, and Duff... McKagan?

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: Did I get it right?

Duff: That’s right. Perfect.

Interviewer: Alright, the bass player.

Slash: That’s the problem having a last name.

Interviewer: (Laughs) Welcome to Florida, guys. How long have you been on tour with the Crue?

Slash: Um, I don’t know.

Duff: Three weeks? Probably three weeks.

Interviewer: So just getting off the ground. Let me ask you: it is very interesting that you hail from Seattle, Indiana, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and the heart of Hollywood.

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: That’s awful long distances. How did you form? How did you get together?

Slash: Ironically, there was no set pattern or nothing. We just all of a sudden met in Los Angeles somehow.

Interviewer: Where at? Bar and Grill?

Slash: Hollywood.

Interviewer: Yeah?

Slash: Yeah, different places. I met Axl and Izzy, I already knew Steve, and then Duff came out from Seattle and answered the ad in the paper for a bass player.

Interviewer: How long have you guys been together?

Duff: Two and a half years.

Slash: Almost three years.  

Interviewer: So this is not an overnight success. This is a lot of hard work.

Duff: Yeah.

Slash: Comparatively, though. I mean, some bands have been together a lot longer.

Interviewer: When did you get your first big break that led to a record deal?

Slash: (Laughing) We fell out (?).

Duff: Um, how that happened... Actually we weren’t even trying to get a record deal. It wasn’t even in our minds at all and we were just... and we got to the point we were headlining gigs at local clubs, and, like, out of the blue record companies were coming to our shows. First there was one and then it was, you know.

Slash: We got, like, seven major label offers. And the only reason we got such a good deal is because, since we weren’t looking for a record deal we weren’t conforming to any record company standards at all. We were like, “Well, if you’re gonna sign us” - you know, because we can just play clubs forever.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: You know, “If you’re gonna sign us, then we want this, we want that...”

Interviewer: I gathered from the bio that you’re very protective of your music and that it’s your way or no way at all.

Slash: Yeah. Our whole trip is that we were just, you know, we didn’t wanna do anything that we didn’t wanna do.

Interviewer: That’s very rare. Do you feel you’re breaking some ground doing that? I mean a lot of artists have to wait till they get a certain sellability before they can say, “Hey, you know, we’re gonna do it my way.”

Duff: At the time, actually, it was kind of unheard of, you know, especially for a bunch of guys as young as us.

Slash: Yeah, because what it is, is it’s like such a big industry now that bands are already trying to mold themselves into – you know, to be sellable before even the record companies are trying to tell them. They’re already viable products before the record company makes them do things that would make them more commercial, you know what I mean? So we were just completely different. Our whole approach was completely different. (?)

Interviewer: Do you consider yourselves to be a heavy metal band?

Duff: No.

Interviewer: There’s so many different labels. Does it kind of make you sick, all the different labels?

Slash: We don’t have a label. We don’t have – like I said, don’t even ask that.

Interviewer: There’s the glam rock, the thrash metal...

Slash: It’s real cliché to even say now, because every heavy metal band and every glam band says they’re just a rock ‘n’ roll band. So at this point, if I say, “No, we’re just a rock ‘n’ roll band,” I’ll sound like everybody else.

Interviewer: Straight ahead kick butt.

Slash: Make whatever – you know, whatever impression you get.

Interviewer: Because I’ve listened to the album. It is straight ahead right-down-your-throat rock ‘n’ roll.

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: I think the slowest thing, if you can call it that, is Sweet Child O’ Mine.

Slash: We can’t get it down anybody else’s throats any other way, so we do it like that (laughs).

Interviewer: Who does most of the writing in the group?

Slash: All of us. We write as a whole. That way the band is more, you know... Someone comes up with a basic melody, a riff or whatever and then, instead of writing a whole song and bringing it to the band, what we do is we just go, “I have this; what do you hear in that?” and then we all write it together. That way everybody enjoys doing it and all that.

Interviewer: I think if we had you all in one room and I was to ask the question that Slash wanted me to ask, what are your musical influences? Who could you say would be your basic – from a kid up to now.

Slash: You know, right off the bat... (laughs).

Duff: (Laughing) You asked the two questions we asked you not to ask.

Interviewer: (Laughs) But the kids out there would want to know. There’s a lot of kids that watch the Rock N’ Roll Show.

Slash: Well, the basic is AC/DC, Zeppelin, Aerosmith... You know, our generation, there’s those basic influences there. And then there’s a lot of other stuff that’s just – we pick up on anything that’s good.

Interviewer: I noticed in Welcome to the Jungle, there’s a few little places in there that’s a la Robert Plant, almost - really refreshing to hear, you know, because...

Slash: See, it just goes to show that people have their own opinions (laughs).

Interviewer: (Laughs).

Duff: There’s five of us, so there really can’t be one musical influence.

Slash: Yeah.

Duff: I mean, we all grew up at the same time and, basically, listened to the same kind of music. And that music was Zeppelin, Aerosmith, you know...

Slash: Cheap Trick.

Duff: Cheap Trick.

Slash: Early Cheap Trick and stuff.

Interviewer: How is your album, Appetite for Destruction, faring across the country?

Slash: Great. We don’t really-

Interviewer: Because I know here they eat it up. They love it. The album, we do giveaways and they’re going like crazy, the video is well requested...

Slash: We’ve been really lucky, because the album’s been selling. This is our first major tour and it’s only a month long tour, and we’ve sold a lot of records. And we’ve kept having sold out gigs. Every single one that we’ve done has been packed by the time we went on, which is, for me, unheard of for an opening band; it’s usually half a house before it.

Interviewer: What was it like for you guys, being a young band, for Crue to say “Come on with us”?

Slash: It was great.

Duff: Yeah.

Slash: They’ve been really cool, real supportive. They’ve been giving us a lot of leeway, giving us almost an hour on stage, which is another thing that is pretty much unheard of. You know, we can do pretty much whatever we want and we hang out with them a lot. It’s been really great.

Interviewer: Nice guys?

Slash: Yeah, cool guys.

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: Lots of fun?

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: Let me ask you one question about the album and the lyrics. What do you think about all that’s going on right now, all this brouhaha with lyrics, rock ‘n’ roll, Tipper Gore going... you know, satanic, drug, sex rock ‘n’ roll.

Duff: It really doesn’t affect us. I mean, we’ve had no PMRC problems. But the funny thing about all that is, you know, if PMRC makes a big deal about your record, it just sells more copies of your record.

Slash: The bigger the sticker, the more album sales.

Duff: And it’s not doing anything. It’s not stopping any sales of albums or stopping really any albums from coming out, you know, that I’ve heard of.

Interviewer: For any adults that might be looking over a kid’s shoulder that’s gonna be watching the interview today (laughs)... What would say your music represents? What would you like it to represent? Very honestly, as a position.

Slash: Just teenage... I mean, because that’s where we’re from, you know, basically from the old school as far as rock ‘n’ roll goes. It’s just like, what we represent is teenage... what? Sort of rebellion...

Duff: Yeah, it’s just real life, growing up, you know? All the songs are true stories.

Slash: Yeah, there’s, like, a punk rocker in every 15-year-old. You know what I mean?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: And that’s what we’re all about. That’s how we grew up, so we don’t pick any bones about saying that. And we don’t try to influence anybody about it, but we just do what we do, and if you pick up on it, you know, more power to you.

Interviewer: What’s gonna be the next single off the album? Any thoughts on it?

Slash: Yeah. I’m not gonna say at this point, because I think it should be different than what’s going to be, so...

Interviewer: Ah, I get a little controversy there?

Slash: Yeah, it’s no big deal.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: (Laughs).

Interviewer: Are we gonna have more videos? Can we expect more videos we could see you guys?

Slash: Yeah, I think so.

Duff: I think so.

Interviewer: All right. But I’ll tell you one thing: the kids of all ages in this area, they love the video. And, you know, it’s straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll which I’m glad to see. No frills, just straight down your throat.

Slash: Cool!

Interviewer: And the show tonight?

Duff: Yes.

Slash: Yeah, (?).

Interviewer: Yeah. A sold out show.

Slash: It’s sold out. Whenever anybody says it’s sold out, the first thing is, like, alright.

Interviewer: And I’ll tell you what, Lakeland can rock ‘n’ roll.

Slash: That’s what we thought.

Duff: That’s what (?).

Interviewer: Lakeland can rock ‘n’ roll. You won’t be disappointed.

Slash: (?) last night.

Duff: We got a (?).

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: More than I can say for a long (?).

Interviewer: Well, we wish you continued success. We thank you so much for taking the time, and break a leg tonight. Drop them dead, kick butt.

Slash: Don’t say that (laughs).

Interviewer: (Laughs) No, I’m serious. Thank you, Duff. And Slash.

Slash: Thanks.

Interviewer: Alright, take care. For V-32. Guns N’ Roses, good show tonight. Motley Crue. See you there.