2022.03.01 - Wall of Sound - Interview with Slash

Slash: A Casual Conference Q&A with Wall of Sound
Posted on March 1, 2022 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

Last Friday was certainly one for the pool room…

The call came in for Wall of Sound to take part in a very special opportunity to join the Australian Media Press Conference and Q&A with the one and only Slash! The focus – to dissect his latest album 4 – which was conceived mid-pandemic alongside Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators (our review here).

On the album, our reviewer stated:

“Straight up, 4 is a record that could be played live without missing a beat or getting dull. Slash has been mucking around with sounds and tones which makes this release a great continuation of his Guns ‘n Roses, Velvet Revolver, Snakepit and SMKC work while still adding something new to his legacy.”

Because we’re different and like to stand out from the pack, Wall of Sound‘s representatives Ricky Aarons, Duane James and Paul ‘Browny’ Brown dressed to impress and steered away from the social norm in favour of a more personal approch of questioning for the Top Hat dotting shredmaster.

First up was Duane, who dialled into the conference mid-tattoo session (Duane is a professional tattooist and was hard at work during the event) directing his question towards the impressive career of Slash‘s son London Hudson, who has been making waves over the past few years playing drums in his own globally recognised bands.

We’ve been following your son London [and] his musical career since Classless Act through to Suspect208 and now S8NT ELEKTRIC; it was cool to hear he’d been jamming with you in the making of 4. What’s it like watching him following in what is now the family business, even going as far as playing the iconic Whiskey-A-Go-Go (years after you did so) and is there any advice that you’ve passed on to him about life as a professional museum musician?

“I mean, you know, I really don’t dictate anything you know when it comes to what he should or shouldn’t do as far as music business is concerned. If he ever asked for any advice, I’m always there. It’s really interesting because you know, he picked up the drums… and, you know, like within a blink of an eye one minute he was just dicking around on a drum kit and then all of a sudden he was really good. And so, you have that moment where it’s very surreal to see him doing gigs and playing where he is.

He did some shows opening a couple of festivals in the States with Guns’ and I went down early to go check it out and it’s just very sort of mind blowing to see your little one up there doing that.

But as far as navigating this industry, it’s changed so much since since I did it, it’s almost like it’s a different business; and there’s not really a lot that I can do [to help]. I’m learning as much from him as he would from me about how to navigate this new terrain. I encouraged him, but he’s very independent and he does it all pretty much on his own.”



If you’ve been following our coverage on London, you’d know how much of a skilled drummer he’s becoming and the evidence is clear in every project he attaches himself to. Jump back through our archives to get up to speed.

Following on from this, Browny took to asking the man in question about his passion for all things horror. It’s no secret Slash is horror-mad (much like the rest of us) so he had to see where he was at with the influx of movies and tv shows that have graced our screens (both big and small) of late…

Like you, I’m a horror-movie fanatic and have loved the resurgence of originals, requels and remakes in recent years. What was the last recent horror film that really got your blood pumping and would we ever see Slash make a cameo in a slasher flick in future?

“Umm I don’t see myself doing any cameos unless for some reason there was some crazy twist in the script that called for one which I can’t imagine [laughs]. And as far as recent horror movies, I mean, I just saw the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre that Fede Álvarez did and it was actually, you know, all things considered it’s not the brightest movie in the world but it was actually pretty good. Very very brutal, I have to say but memorable you know. Wasn’t necessarily scary (not like the original was) but it was very entertaining, so I have to give it a, probably if I use two hands, one thumbs up one thumbs down.

But I’ve been watching a lot of series because obviously there’s tons of series coming out now on Netflix and whatnot. I thought Black Mask was pretty good and that other vampire movie with Adrian Brody, Chapelwaite, which I thought was pretty good.”



All have been added to viewing lists and we can’t wait for the pants shitting to commence through his recommendations.

In closing, It was obviously exciting for the Wall of Sound crew to jump online with Slash, and it’s worth sharing that experience. With the press conference commencing with music videos of songs from the new album, it was surreal to see the icon join the meeting and his camera to turn on. Slash was incredibly warm, inviting and personable for someone who’d get hounded by the press most days of his life. The guitar legend had a lot warmth and time for everyone on the call and you could tell he genuinely enjoyed himself.

As did we.

Co-contributed by Ricky Aarons, Paul ‘Browny’ Brown and Duane James



https://wallofsoundau.com/2022/03/01/slash-a-casual-conference-qna-with-wall-of-sound/