2011.12.26 - Esquire - Slash: What I've Learned

Slash: What I've Learned

Guitarist, 46, Los Angeles

By Cal Fussman

I never want to draw attention to myself, but that's all I do.

There are people who have an image of me as being rude and inconsiderate. But I'm completely the opposite, because I was raised not to be. I might have been tripping over myself drunk, but I was always courteous.

Guitars are like women. You'll never get them totally right.

Risk isn't a word in my vocabulary. It's my very existence.

I'm intimidated by singing. I can carry a tune and I can cover a melody, but I just hate expressing myself verbally — especially in the form of a song — to the point that I don't even like to hum to myself.

Axl and I came from completely different backgrounds. Because of that we made an interesting pair trying to figure each other out.

Between the Beatles and the Stones, my dad liked the Stones, so there was definitely an innate gene that I got from him.

When I was a kid, I got jobs so I could get cigarettes, beer, and something at the A&P. That's how I see money. It's never been a motivating factor.

Being told no was the big thing ever since I can remember. And that was always getting in the way of creativity.

I used to think Les Paul was a guitar. I didn't know he was a real guy. When I got to know him, I found out that if you're really obsessed, he was the guy you'd want to be like. He was always trying to find an answer for what he was looking for in his mind. If things didn't exist, he built them himself. He single-handedly created what I consider "popular music."

It's a constant quest to find that harmony, to connect with it, where everything that you want to come out of it comes out. Those moments are rare, but they're like drugs: Once you get going on it, you're constantly jonesing for it.

When I see footage of Guns N' Roses, I see that fucking hunger and attitude. You could not fuck with those five guys. It was just raw. It was this lean, hungry thing on its way up. It was as sincere as any rock 'n' roll that I've ever heard, and I'm proud of that.

It's not something you can find. There's a moment you arrive at — there's no words for it. A bunch of people come together at this place where a note hits your heart and your brain tells your finger where to go. It's an otherworldly thing, like when a painter gets the right combination of colors together.

If I could hang out with Jimi Hendrix, it wouldn't be over dinner.

Musicians never actually talk about music.

Heroin is a great fucking drug, but it's evil.

I had my chemically induced overdoses and alcohol poisoning and all that. I would just keep pushing it and pushing it. I had absolutely no fear of not waking up. But ultimately the clarity seeps through. If I'm going to be here, then I'm going to have to be able to do what it is I'm here to do.

My grandmother was really the last person to call me Saul. The people who call me Saul are fans who want to have that personal connection. I'm not sure what the psychology behind that is. But I'm assuming they want to get beyond Slash.

It's not like I'm Brad Pitt, but I get recognized pretty regularly. The other night I went to see a friend of mine play. When I arrived, there was just too much attention. The hardest thing about being a rock star is not being a rock star.

The split between Axl and I was a quiet one. But because there was so much attention on the breakup — and are we going to get back together? — it got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn't the focus for me. Neither one of us wants to be down each other's throats for no reason. At this point, I'm trying to put it to rest. So I try to avoid the subject.

When it comes down to it, I like being with one person that I'm comfortable with and who it means something with. But I have no complaints about some of the experiences I've had.

I don't know if that giraffe was trying to kiss me. But it was an experience. Have you ever seen a giraffe's tongue? It's about two feet long.

It's par for the course for me to find the one girl that is the most exciting, outspoken, and flamboyant — the most crazy. You just have to meet my wife.

Guitar is the best form of self-expression I know. Everything else, and I'm just sort of tripping around, trying to figure my way through life.

No interest. I don't tell my kids about those days. One is seven. The other is nine. One is really into his skateboard. I look at him and see myself, and I'm like, "Just do it, man!"

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