2011.05.19 - The Stoke Sentinel - Guitarist Slash Memories By His Uncle Ian Hudson

'Thrilled to see my nephew Saul return to Stoke-on-Trent as guitar legend Slash'

Sentinel columnist Martin Tideswell met up with a man who has more reason than most to be looking forward to the return of a music prodigy to his native city

WHEN Tony Hudson told his family he was emigrating to America, his younger brother Ian was understandably upset – not least because it meant saying goodbye to his nephew Saul.

Ian took a lock of the lad's hair, placed it in a photo album and shaped it into a number six – the age Saul was when he left the Potteries to start a new life overseas.

The year was 1971 and the States may as well have been another planet as far as your average Stokie was concerned.

Little did Ian know that the next time he would hear about the scruffy boy with a penchant for sticklebricks and drawing dinosaurs was through a book review in The Sentinel.

The book in question – Low Life In The Fast Lane – told the story of the biggest rock band in the world and there, on the cover, was the lad who had once turned little girls' heads in Blurton.

The band was Guns N' Roses, Saul had become its legendary lead guitarist Slash, and it dawned on Ian that his nephew was a megastar.

Ian, who works as a warehouse operative for DHL in Stoke, said: "I honestly couldn't believe it. We were all absolutely thrilled to bits.

"You see, I remember Saul – as he was then – as this boisterous little guy who lived with my mum and dad, Cybil and Charles, in Consett Road, Blurton, and went to the local primary school.

"Saul was very close to his dad, adored his auntie Mabel and loved drawing. He was a very gentle boy really, and there was certainly nothing to indicate that he would become a hard rock musician or join a band."

Ian said: "When we found out Guns were touring the UK in 1991 we managed to get in touch with the band's PR company and asked Slash if he minded the Hudson family going along to the gig at Wembley and he said: 'Great!'.

"The first time I saw him with Guns, strutting around with his guitar and flying across the stage with Axl it was just awesome.

"It was hard to believe it was the same little boy I knew from all those years ago."

I took it as a good omen as I drove through Tunstall on my way to interview Ian and spotted a bloke wearing a faded Guns N' Roses t-shirt.

You know the one – the classic, circular gold band logo with the two pistols and red roses.

It took me back...

Back to 1988, in fact – my final year at Holden Lane High – when an earthquake had transformed the music scene.

A certain American band had brought hard rock music to the masses with their multi-platinum album Appetite For Destruction.

Even the girls in my class, used to bopping around to the Theme From S-Express, were hooked.

"Slash's from Stoke, you know," I recall one of them saying – which, of course, made the lead guitarist even cooler. If that was possible.

Guns 'n Roses went on to become the biggest band in the world before drugs, touring and egos led to the implosion of the original line-up.

More than three decades later and the boy from Stoke – AKA Slash – is scheduled to play his first gig in the city where he spent the early years of his life.

Tickets sold out in under two hours – much to the delight of his uncle Ian who will be at a packed Victoria Hall in Hanley on July 24 along with his family and some lucky pals.

You wouldn't know Ian had a famous relative. Not unless you get invited round to the home of his partner Jean Booth in Sandyford, that is.

In the cosy living room you'll find framed pictures and magazine covers signed by Slash himself, along with back stage passes from past tours which are the equivalent of rocking horse poo to your average rock fan.

Ian, now 64 and living in Tunstall, has got used to having a famous nephew.

So used to it, in fact, that he can now look back and laugh at the time when he met a man in a pub in Fenton who claimed to be Slash's uncle.

"I didn't argue with him," said Ian. "But it did make me smile to think that there was some bloke going around pretending to be me. I guess it just shows you how big Guns were."

The living room at Jean's house is where Slash's father Tony spent two weeks sleeping on a camp bed in July last year when he stayed over in order to spend a little time with the brother he hadn't seen for nearly 40 years.

Since that first Wembley concert experience, Ian has met up with his famous nephew several times – during UK gigs with his post-Guns 'n Roses outfits Slash's Snakepit, supergroup Velvet Revolver and on his solo tour.

But when he heard that Blurton's finest would actually be playing live here in the Potteries, Ian was understandably over the moon.

He said: "Slash had just got off stage from a gig in South America and he texted me. It said: 'See you in Stoke on July 24'.

"I thought: 'Stoke? Where on earth would he play in Stoke?'.

"When I found out it was the Victoria Hall I was thrilled because I've seen a few decent concerts there myself – people like Eric Clapton and ELO back in the 60s.

"It's a great venue and it will be brilliant to see Slash back here in Stoke and not have to travel so far. I could even use my bus pass."

Looking back, Ian fully understands why his older brother wanted to move away from the Potteries.

Tony, who will be 70 in August, was a gifted artist who went on to create album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

Meanwhile, Slash's mother Ola was an African-American costume designer whose clients included David Bowie.

Needless to say there wasn't much in the way of work for them in the Potteries.

Tony moved his family to the Laurel Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles which, during the 1960s, became famous as a home to many of the Big Apple's rock musicians, such as Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison.

Ian said: "I think Tony just felt that he could offer his family a better life.

"Obviously, back then none of us had any idea what would happen to Slash.

"When they first moved to the States we would get letters and Tony would send pictures of album sleeves he had been working on.

"Then, over time, the correspondence dried and up and we just lost touch.

"The success of Slash's career has brought us back together really and I couldn't be more proud."

Ian rang The Sentinel after reading my column about Slash's homecoming gig and the campaign to have a statue erected in his honour here in the Potteries.

He said: "I don't think Slash really understands just how many fans he has here back here in Stoke-on-Trent.

"But I'm sure the crowd will let him know. It will be a very special night for all of us."

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