2012.04.14 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Interview with Matt

Matt: I’m here because I want to honor the fans, and want to honor the music, and want to honor the legacy, right? You know, I’ve been feeling fairly emotional in the last couple of days, I have to be honest. Because… I don’t know where the feelings come from, but it’s just a lot of stuff that we lived through, you know, good and bad. And then you feel everybody that’s coming for you, too, which is really heavy. It’s almost like when Guns N’ Roses sold out Madison Square Garden and I remember Duff McKagan, the bass player, and myself used to share a limousine, and we were driving up the back ramp, and I said, “Duff, this is the same ramp as in The Song Remains The Same” when Zeppelin started the tour and John Paul Jones picks up his phone and he goes, “Tour dates, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.” And Duff’s like, “Oh my god, that’s right. We’re at Madison Square Garden.” You know, that was one moment, right? And then there was many, many, many more moments like that.



Matt: Ronnie [Wood] has become a friend, which is a trip. I remember one time being with Ronnie Wood in Ireland, we went on a Guinness beer drinking expedition, and for a skinny little guy, man, he can put him down, I tell you. (Laughs) It was like, “Wait a minute, man. I just gained 10 pounds. What happened to you? You’re still, like, you know, 120 pounds wet.” [In fake English accent] “You know, I just don’t eat, mate, I just have the Guinness. Don’t eat, just drink the Guinness.” Yeah, he could go... and he was… And I remember, like, emulating guys like that. I remember thinking, “God, that guy is fucking so rock ‘n’ roll (?). But he is. He’s the embodiment and the pure essence of rock ‘n’ roll. And everything he does from the morning he wakes up, you know, he’s like, “I’m Ronnie Wood,” you know (laughs). Slash is that guy – like, Slash wakes up in his leather pants. I’ve been on tour with him, I’ve seen him do it, you know, and he’s that guy. He eats, breathes and sleeps rock ‘n’ roll.

Another video from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:



Howard Kramer: Hi, I’m Howard Kramer, curatorial director at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and this is Slash of Guns N’ Roses’ Gibson Les Paul. Guns N’ Roses exploded out of the scene that people call hair metal bands in Los Angeles in the 1980s. But Guns N’ Roses was remarkably special in the fact that they had incredible songs. They were great performers and had great material. They really took the entire rock scene by storm, and for a good reason: they delivered the goods. Now, Slash is a remarkable and gifted guitar player, and this is one of the main guitars he used in the 1980s. It was seen on the performance at the Ritz night club in New York, which is one of their earliest East Coast performances. Slash as a lead guitar player became one of the few archetypes who really survived, because, when you think about it, since the mid-80s how many real guitar heroes have arisen? Slash and Guns N’ Roses are being inducted in 2012 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.