2012.05.02 - Orlando Sentinel - Slash Doesn't Miss Drama In New Band

Slash doesn't miss drama in new band

By Jim Abbott, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

For the past month or so, Slash has been answering questions about Axl Rose.

Rose, the top-hatted guitar hero's former bandmate in Guns N' Roses, generated controversy around the band's recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by declining to be honored with the rest of the group in a long open letter to the hall. Meanwhile, the singer tours with a new Guns' lineup devoid of any original members.

Happily, there's no such drama in Slash's new band, which will showcase songs off an upcoming studio album on Monday, May 7, at Hard Rock Live. "Apocalyptic Love," due on May 22, showcases lead singer Myles Kennedy, known for his work with Orlando-based Creed spin-off Alter Bridge.

The studio album, a follow-up to Slash's self-titled 2010 solo release, also features bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz in an ensemble known as the Conspirators. The unit has been touring together for two years that have been blissfully lacking rock-star meltdowns.

"This has been really liberating for me," Slash said in a phone interview on a break from a tour rehearsal in Maryland. "The first solo album was the first time, really, that I was on my own to stretch my wings without the democratic, diplomatic situation you have to have in a band. That went right into working with these guys.

"It's nonconfrontational, nondramatic," he said. "I've never been in a situation like that where there's no reason to have an issue about anything. I haven't had this much fun in a band situation since Guns started."

Although Slash's soaring riffs in hits such as "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Welcome to the Jungle" have been etched into Guns N' Roses' DNA since the band's formation in 1985, his relationship with Rose deteriorated into dysfunctionality. In 2009, Rose called the guitarist "a cancer."

And the prospects for a reunion: "If you haven't figured that one out after 17 years or however long it's been," Slash said, "you'll still be asking that no matter what I tell you."

By comparison, Slash and Kennedy became easy collaborators on the new album.

"We're both workaholics," Slash said. "We'd be working six nights a week, then get back to the hotel in middle of the night. I'd have ideas and MP3 them to Myles. There he'd be, sitting at his computer working."

"It's different when you're dealing with people who aren't looking to cause problems, who aren't so self-centered and screwed up that everything has to be a battle," Slash said. "I'm not saying that about any of the bands I've been in, per se. Rock and roll tends to breed a lot of idiosyncratic stuff, but I've been around to the point now that I don't have time for that."

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