2022.02.11 - Loudwire - Slash Explains How Technology Has Changed the ‘Soul’ of Rock Music

Slash Explains How Technology Has Changed the ‘Soul’ of Rock Music

By Lauryn Schaffner

These days, technology makes a lot of tasks really easy to do, including making music. But for artists who've been playing instruments for decades and are used to make records the old-school way, it may not be looked at as positively. Slash explains how technology has changed the "soul" of rock 'n' roll.

The guitar hero discussed how he's seen technology change the landscape of music in an interview with Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez.

"It's harder [to play music yourself] because you actually all have to play from one end of the song to the other and keep it together and remember all the parts and this and that. But you're fucking musicians — it's what we're supposed to be doing," the guitarist said laughing.

"I think that the sort of leaning on technology — and it's cool, technology, I'm not knocking the equipment that's available to us to make life easy as recording artists. But it's just gotten to a point where it's become more of a priority than the soul of the music," he continued.

Slash acknowledged that some genres of music, such as pop, hip-hop and EDM are meant to sort of act as "a mosaic of sounds," so he understands that technology is necessary for some styles.

"But when it comes to music that is inspired by people playing together — rock 'n' roll, blues, live R&B and classical music — those are ensemble things that really thrive off of the energy and interaction of everybody playing together," he explained. "That's sort of been lost in this file-sharing kind of landscape that we've evolved into, where everybody is phoning it in. I think there's something in rock 'n' roll that's been missing because of that, that people don't even realize."

Fortunately for Slash, he was able to capture that interaction and energy on his latest record with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, titled 4, which is out today (Feb. 11). He and his bandmates worked with producer Dave Cobb at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tenn., and they recorded the album live.

"We've always done it, cut the track and then I would go back and do the guitars in the control room because I hated the headphones," he said. "But I always asked, 'Why can't we just put the equipment in the room?' This goes all the way back to Appetite for Destruction. Just put the equipment in the room and just play and just record that, and every producer is like, 'Nah, you'll get bleed off the drums, the guitars, the vocals.' And I've never been able to get anybody to do it."

https://loudwire.com/slash-how-technology-changed-soul-rock-music-interview/