2004.03.DD - MTV Select Germany - Interview with Slash and Duff

Transcript:
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Interviewer: Here they are! Duff!

Duff: How are you?

Interviewer: I’m fine. A little bit nervous, excited, first time to meet you guys.

Duff: Don’t be nervous.

Interviewer: Come on, I mean you've been, like, in the business so much longer than I was. [Translates in German] And now you're back! Well, not back, you've never really been gone, actually. So, first of all, I have to ask, this is not the entire group. There are, like, three missing. Where are they?

Slash: They're back in L.A. waiting for us to get back, so we can shoot our new video.

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: Ah, okay.

Duff: We've been doing a press tour. We were in Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Cologne, and now Berlin is our last city.

Interviewer: But it must have been kind of the same picture all the time.  Like, “Oh, there, they're back.” Even the guy who brought the water was like, “Wait a minute, wasn't that… yeah it's been them.”

Slash: (Laughs).

Interviewer: So even he was excited seeing you guys. But let me quickly translate that.

[Slash and Duff light a cigarette]

Slash: Sorry.

Interviewer: Yeah, just be comfortable. That's what we expect. But, you know, Duff (?) it's quite unusual. [Talks in German]

Slash: (?)

Interviewer: But seriously you're actually a classic rock band. Something like that would never happen with the new ones, the ones like - not judging the music, but like Limp Bizkit and Linkin’ Park. They’re so much calmer next to you. Would you agree or is it…

Slash: Well, they're definitely different. I mean, I've seen some Limp Bizkit shows and they don't necessarily seem calm, it seemed like a lot of energy. But what we do is very sort of raw rock ‘n’ roll, kind of - you know it's very earthy, kind of in your face different kind of thing, which is very pure.

Duff: It's definitely more… it's a primal thing and we have this this chemistry that's been there since basically day one when we started playing together, almost, you know 20 years ago. And the difference is that I think, probably, people feed off of this chemistry. It's not a thrown together band. I mean, we took a while to put this whole thing together, finding the right guy.

Slash: Yeah.

Duff: We had the core, Slash, Matt and I-

Interviewer: Wait, first of all I’ll translate that segment before I'm just gonna forget all of it. That was, actually, my first question. I mean, there are, like, three possibilities why you actually been back together, especially the three of you; either it's business, either it's friendship or even it's family-

Duff: Money's never coming into this this equation.

Interviewer: Okay, you said it's family (?)

Slash: No, the thing that brought us back together really was the death of a friend - a great drummer who played for Ozzy Osbourne, and Lita Ford, and all these other bands, one of the true rock ‘n’ roll drummers of our generation, passed away in 2002 of throat cancer. So I was at his funeral and there's all these musicians there, and I ran into Matt Sorum. So he goes, “Well, there's gonna be a fundraiser for Randy's family in about a week, and everybody's going to get together and play, and it's going to be at the Key Club; it's going to be an open big huge event.” And so he says, “Well, do you wanna play?” I said, “Yeah, that's what we're gonna do: we'll put together a small set, let's call Duff.” That's what brought us together.

Interviewer: Oh, that was when was the first gig (?)

Duff: I was in Seattle going to school and getting my finance degree. I had a band, Loaded - I was still playing music, of course. But when they called to come down and play it was like, “Okay, sure, I'll come down and play.” And the moment we got in the same room the day before the gig for rehearsal-

Slash: It was just overwhelming.

Duff: It was very overwhelming, my knees buckled … We'd had great bands - you know, separately - and the passion was still there, but that chemistry we'd sort of forgotten about. It had been seven or eight years since we really played together.

Slash: Yeah. Plus having left-

Interviewer: Again, please let me translate. […] Yeah. We just would like to have a little throwback. I know you're having a new band and, like, the past is one thing, but just for your former fans who are still your fans, I think they really appreciate just having a glimpse on an old school video of yours.

Duff: You know, I'll dispel any rumor or whatever. I mean, we're very proud of the legacy that we left with Guns N’ Roses, so-

Slash: Yeah. We don't downplay it.

Interviewer:  Because most of the time is like, “Can we talk about it?”

Slash: Well, it's been a long time, at this point.

Duff: Yeah, it’s been a long, long time.

Slash:  We might have been bitter when we first left, because under the circumstances it wasn't a pleasant time. But we'll always be proud of the actual band that we started from the gutter and brought it to be a huge stadium band.

Interviewer: Okay, so let's have a look with some pride [talks in German]. It’s-

Duff: From the gutter, straight from the gutter.

Interviewer: From the gutter?

Duff: (Laughs) Yeah.

Interviewer: In which sense?

Duff: In the sense that we’re street urchins.

Slash: Homeless, moneyless…

[Interviewer talks in German – video – talks in German]

Interviewer: You know, it’s been a long time, but I’ve been asking people, “Do you remember Guns N’ Roses? What was your memory with it?” And we met a German singer and please have a look what he said. [Talks in German]

[Short clip with the German singer]

Interviewer: Okay.

Slash: What did he say?

Interviewer: Well, he said something like that he had the posters of Axl Rose, that he was really a huge fan of it. But there was, like, one particular thing that I was kind of surprised, because he said his favorite song was Bed of Roses and I had a look at it. Maybe we should look at it together because… [talks in German]  

[Clip from Bon Jovi’s Bed of Roses]

Interviewer: Okay [talks in German]

[Slash and Duff laugh]

Duff: There you go, that's live TV for you.

Interviewer: (?) I mean, I just kind of described the influence that I heard from you, like, from what they’re saying about your music. But, in your own words, what is that actually fans of all these bands are going to expect from that album, Contraband?

Duff: Well, it's definitely its own thing. I mean, the combination of the five guys, there's no better five guys on this planet that could have made up this band. And it wasn't planned or put together - Slash explained how we got together. We found Dave Kushner, he was playing in my band, Loaded; he was the perfect guitar player for this band. There's not many guitar players that can play with Slash. Just because of the way he plays, of the passion he plays with, he's just kind of overwhelming. Dave stepped in, and really just took his own place and owned it. And Stone Temple Pilots broke up, Scott and I were friends, our wives were really good friends.

Interviewer: Does this mean that all your projects are actually kind of done now that you…

Slash: We dropped everything when we started this.

Interviewer: Okay.

Slash: And what to expect from this is just really something different; not exactly what you'd expect, but definitely high energy, definitely loud, definitely in your face. It's definitely very expressive, it's very musical, but it's just at high velocity. There's all different types of songs; it really runs a whole gamut for us. But you really just need to listen to the record and you definitely need to see the band live.

Interviewer: Can we expect any ballads? Because when Metallica came out they just left them totally out. What about you guys?

Slash: We have slow songs (laughs).

Interviewer: Oh, you have slow songs. Okay. So let me translate the entire package. […]

Duff: It’s purely unbridled fuck-you you rock ‘n’ roll again. You know, it's dangerous, anything could happen any night…

Interviewer: (?)

[Talk in German with a female caller]

Interviewer: It’s going to come out on the 18th of May, your album, Contraband.

Duff: The single.

Slash: The single, yeah.

Interviewer: Okay.

Duff: Actually the single goes on radio next Monday, April 5th, and the single comes out in May, and then the record comes out June 7.

Interviewer: Okay. [Talks in German and shows a gadget to Slash and Duff]

Duff: She won it?

Interviewer: No, she didn’t win it. She’s just gonna win it if she recognizes a song that Slash will play. [Talks to the caller in German]

Duff: So if you don't win it, I'm going to take it home.

Caller: Oh.

Interviewer: Now we're going to, perhaps, give viewers another chance. But we can talk about it. I can, I got connections, we can talk about it.

Duff: (Laughs) You do?

Interviewer: Yeah, sure. So, Slash, will you…

Slash: Yeah, so I should… [picks up the guitar]

Interviewer: Please, give us an idea.

[Slash plays]

Interviewer: I would love to hear more. [Talks in German]

Caller: [Talks in German]

Duff: Take a guess:

Interviewer: Okay, you have to decide, because the problem was - not to diss you in any way, but she didn't hear that much on the phone. So what should we do?

Slash: It’s on the phone?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: I'll play it quieter (chuckles).

Interviewer: Another thing is, we just have, like, 20 seconds, actually.

Slash: Um, okay, it's an AC/DC song.

Interviewer: [Talks in German] Actually she didn't make it. [Talks in German]. You know, actually we just decided we're just going to give her - first of all I'm going to break it and then we're going to leave it to her. Yeah, we should do that.

Slash: Yeah, just give it to her anyway. I couldn’t possibly identify that on the phone. That’s impossible.

Interviewer: I thought maybe she's watching television, you know, and dolby surround and all that. [Talks in German]

Duff: I wouldn't have taken your Game Boy, Tanya. I wouldn’t have taken it.

[Interviewer and caller talk in German]

Interviewer: Well, she would trade it in for your bass. But I got a GameTube at home; I would trade that in, too.

Duff: (Laughs) Um, no, it’s alright.

[Interviewer and caller talk in German]
Interviewer: Do you have this the same type of show as we have, like where you have popular people who like boxing, like presenters, singers and stuff?

Duff: No.

Interviewer: But if you would have this kind of show, who would you like to fight against?

Duff: You know the only thing that really comes to mind is anybody who would have fucked with my family. I would have no problem with killing somebody and going to jail for the rest of my life, if somebody fucked with my kids or my wife.

Interviewer: I can't agree with that. Well, I totally dig that. But I wouldn't have said that on TV – okay, no, your truth… [talks in German]

Slash: In other words, he said, you know, fuckin’ keep yourselves at bay; you don’t wanna fuck with him.

Interviewer: Yeah, that's what I…

Duff: But, you know, I don't have any animosity against somebody like I want to go fight them.

[Interviewer talks in German]

Slash: What about professionally though?

Interviewer: Professionally?

Slash: Yeah, who would you want to fight professionally?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Duff: Professionally? Well, I kick box. I kick box five days a week. That's, like, one of the best kick boxes in the world. But I don't kick box professionally - but I train with guys.

Interviewer: But none of the popular people has been, like, professionals, just like (?). That’s why you can't pick anything.

Duff: No, no, I fight with real fighters, like I’m a sparring partner for guys getting ready for fights and stuff. So I'll fight, like I'll watch a tape of a guy they're fighting and I'll fight the fight that their opponent would be fighting.

[Interviewer talks in German with the caller]

Interviewer: You see, that’s what I mean. You just came here and she just, like, told us what she… she'd been at all the concerts and right now just talking to you is, like, the holiest day right after the birth of her children.

Duff: Wow!

Slash: Oh really?

Interviewer: You know, so just to give you an impression what you actually cause when you're coming around here. [Talks in German with the caller] Is it possible just to write some autographs for her tonight?

Slash: Yeah, give us some stuff and we'll write it.

Duff: We’ll write it on her Game Boy.

[Interviewer talks with the caller in German]

Interviewer: What I wanted to do is, like, just have the questions from the people on the streets. We've been asking people and that's the question they wanted to ask you.

[Clip with question in German]

Interviewer:  Yeah, of course that question had to come. Is it that you’re still in touch with Axl somehow?

Slash: No!

Duff: No. It's all about Velvet Revolver-

Slash: Yeah.

Duff: And it has been. I mean, since the day we left GN’R, for all intents and purposes that was the end, you know?

Slash: Yeah. We spent our entire, actually, teenage to adult lives putting together a band and making a band that went from nowhere to becoming a superstar band, and he sort of single-handedly ended it, so we were pretty pissed off (laughs). So we haven't talked to him since, you know – no reason to.

Interviewer: Yeah [translates into German].

Duff: Although, you know, that's the most pissed off I've ever heard Slash say it. We've never aired our dirty laundry, you know, in the press or anything about it.

Interviewer: Okay, so I don't want to push you, because I respect that you're here as Velvet Revolver, alright?

Duff: Yeah.

Interviewer: And we have a caller who like to talk about Velvet Revolver.

Duff: Okay.

[Interviewer and caller talk in German]

Interviewer: Yeah, of course, I mean, you're gonna release an album. What about the tour? Are you gonna also come over to Germany, especially Hamburg?

Slash: Yeah!

Duff: We could be here as soon as June.

Interviewer: Already?

Duff: We're gonna start touring, hopefully, May 7th in the States and do festivals, and if we do festivals here we'll also do clubs in the city.

Slash: Right. And also when we're going to do an extensive tour of Europe - and Germany included – also when we get the whole tour serve as it keeps going, so yeah, you can definitely expect us in Hamburg.

Duff: We must reclaim Germany as our own.

Interviewer: Don't worry, I think this is going to work (?). Alright. [Talks to the caller] She would love you to play in, like, a little - you actually play, like, in small venues.

Duff: We're going to, yeah. You know, we've learned a couple things throughout all these years, and one of them is how to keep a band together and another one is, even if we get to the status of playing arenas and stuff, we're gonna play small clubs in those same cities because there's nothing like being this close to your audience and getting that feed - you know, you play festivals and sometimes you're 50 yards away from the front row-

Slash: Just to keep it more fun, you got to break it up, you got to do it all.  

Interviewer: Okay. [Talks to the caller]. Ah, that's about it, seriously. You know, you just came after years back here to Germany and then in June, when are you gonna be back with the album, I hope that we will have so much more time and then we will be able to listen to your album and see the video.

Slash: Yeah.

Interviewer: (?). Thank you so much.

Duff: Okay. Thanks, man.

Interviewer: It was an honor for me.

Slash: It was nice talking to you.

Interviewer: Thank you so much. [Talks in German]. It’s up to you just to pick the last video.

Slash: Oh, we got the Strokes’ Reptilia.

Interviewer: There you go! Thank you so much.

Duff: All right.