2024.07.02 - People Magazine - Interview with Slash

Slash Says He Does 'Not Recall Any' of His First Gigs with Early Band: 'Such a Drunken Kind of Thing' (Exclusive)

Despite "not remembering" his shows with Slash's Blues Ball, the iconic guitarist recognizes how pivotal the experiences were in shaping his love of blues music

By Chris Barilla

After the chart-topping release of his latest album, Orgy of the Damned, Slash is looking back at one of his earliest forays into blues music — but he admits that not a lot of memories from that time immediately come to mind.

In conversation with PEOPLE, the legendary Guns N' Roses guitarist opens up about "not remembering" the first time he went on the road with Slash's Blues Ball, the band he formed in 1996 in Los Angeles alongside Teddy "Big Bag Zig Zag" Andreadis, Johnny Griparic, Alvino Bennet, Bobby Schneck and Dave McLaurin.

According to Slash, copious alcohol consumption was the culprit behind the forgotten memories. "It was such a drunken kind of thing, and it was just for the fun of it," he shares. "I do not recall any of those gigs."

Diving into how Slash's Blues Ball came to be, he remembers, "When I first met them, a couple of the guys, they were playing in a band called The Screaming Cocktail Hour, which was a great blues band that used to play at the local Rogie's and Baked Potato and Cozy's and all these small little blues dives around L.A. And I would go and hang out with them and get there 10 or 11 o'clock at night and jam until two o'clock in the morning."

Eventually, after chopping it up with the aforementioned group of local blues musicians, Slash "started a band with two of the guys, and we called it Slash's Blues Ball"

"I got a couple of other guys," he adds, "And so we started doing the same circuit, but then that turned into an actual tour, and we did it for on and off for a couple of years, even managed to make it to Europe."

During the two years that Slash's Blues Ball was active from 1996 to 1998, the band did not release any recorded music, but performed covers of blues records live at various venues domestically and abroad.

For the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, all that matters is remembering "it was fun" touring and tapping into his love for the blues at the time.

"And fortunately, Teddy kept the set list, which gave us where I picked some of the songs from," he shares, referring to the tracklist of his current Billboard chart-topping Orgy of the Damned, a collection of classic blues covers reinterpreted by Slash and an all-star team including Iggy Pop, Chris Stapleton, Demi Lovato and more.

In support of Orgy of the Damned, and Slash's love for the blues as a whole, the artist is also embarking on the S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival tour, which begins July 5 in Montana and ends Aug. 16 in Arkansas. During those tour dates, the award-winning musician says he's "looking forward to really being able to open up and play my a-- off for two hours every day for a couple months" while steadily tapping into his love for blues music alongside a team of hand-picked blues artists.

Referring to the experience working on the new album and tour, Slash adds, "I can't remember that much about the Blues Ball, but [S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival] is not the same as just a drunken club band that was just touring around for beer."

https://people.com/slash-doesnt-recall-first-gigs-with-early-band-blues-ball-exclusive-8672920

Second part of the interview (published July 4):

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Slash Says Performing Is His Biggest Motivator: ‘Love Every Aspect of What That's All About’ (Exclusive)

The guitar virtuoso is embarking on his S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival tour on the heels of releasing the chart-topping 'Orgy of the Damned' album

By Chris Barilla

For Slash, nothing provides more satisfaction than still giving fans exactly what they've come to expect from his legendary live performances for decades.

The guitarist tells PEOPLE in conversation at the Gibson Garage in Nashville that "the biggest driver for me" is "to go out and perform."

"As much as I love to write and come up with new ideas and go into the studio and record something and the satisfaction of doing something that you're pleased with and all that, it's all been a means as an end," he shares of how performance remains paramount to him.

He continues to note, "I love playing. I love every aspect of what that's all about," adding, "the part that really drives me is that I love to be able to go out and play in front of an audience."

Despite noting how a lot of performing, to him, is "flying by the seat of your pants," the "Sweet Child O' Mine" creator takes solace in remembering, "You have a structure of a song you get to play and sort of mess around in the middle of, it's like a sandbox."

"And so that is what excites me, and it keeps me doing it," he adds.

And the artist — who has covered more musical ground in a few decades than most can hope to achieve in a lifetime — is taking that love of playing on the road once again, but this time at the wheel of his own project: S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival.

According to the Grammy winner, S.E.R.P.E.N.T. is an acronym for "Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality N' Tolerance" — which identifies the tour's charitable efforts involving The Equal Justice Initiative, Know Your Rights Camp, The Greenlining Institute and War Child.

"S.E.R.P.E.N.T is a vehicle to help support and uplift people and communities suffering from the injustices of racism and equal rights violations, as well as to support children adversely affected by war and poverty across the world," Slash shared in a press release on his website.

Coming hot on the heels of the Rock Hall of Famer's Orgy of the Damned album, which enlists guest features from the likes of Chris Stapleton, Iggy Pop and Demi Lovato to cover iconic songs from blues history, the star notes how dabbling in blues music has "been sort of kicking around in the back of my mind forever,- since the nineties."

"But at one point during the Guns tour last year, it was really loud in my head that I wanted to do this blues record," he explains of the thought manifesting into Orgy of the Damned, which has since spent five weeks at the top of the Billboard blues chart.

"The fact that it's been so well received at this point is like a trip to me for sure," Slash reflects on the album's success, while looking forward to continuing to dabble in his love for the blues and live performance at S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, which kicks off July 5 in Montana and ends Aug. 16 in Arkansas, a project he says he has "put all [his] effort into every detail that [he] possibly can."

"It's a new environment for me. I'm looking forward to it just being a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to really being able to open up and play my ass off for two hours every day for a couple months, and then also jamming with some of the people that we're going to be touring with. And then just the whole new experience," he shares.

https://people.com/slash-says-his-biggest-motivator-today-is-to-go-out-and-perform-exclusive-8673821

Third part (published July 5):

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Slash Teases Further ‘Country Influence’ in His Music: ‘A Nashville Thing That's Gone Home with Me’ (Exclusive)

The artist also tells PEOPLE about how he secured Chris Stapleton's vocals on his latest album 'Orgy of the Damned'

By Chris Barilla

Although Slash is a longtime fan of "outlaw country" music, his affinity for the genre grew exponentially thanks to some chance experiences in Nashville — and with one of its brightest stars.

The "Sweet Child O' Mine" guitarist told PEOPLE at the Gibson Garage in Nashville that when he came to Music City "to record the 4 record for the Conspirators," he fell in love with the songwriting history that the city's landmarks exude.

"We got an Airbnb here — it was during Covid — so we were here for a couple of weeks and we were recording at the RCA Studio, Studio A," he says, "which is a very historic, famous recording studio here in Nashville."

Slash immediately recalls the energy of the space, noting, "Being in that building, there was just this vibe, and it was all these great country artists all over the walls, but real iconic country people."

While at the studio, the guitarist stumbled upon a book containing "all stories about all these different guys from Willie Nelson to Kris Kristofferson and to Dolly Parton and Dolly Parton's mentor," as well as Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, but one artist's story particularly stood out to him: "Lloyd Green, a pedal steel guy."

"So when I came home from recording that record, I picked up a pedal steel and I started [playing]," he said of the immediate influence learning of Green's pedigree in country music had on him.

As for how he considers the experience in retrospect, Slash adds, "It's very much a Nashville thing that's gone home with me and I've been very passionate about for the last couple of years."

That passion had a clear influence on Slash's decision to tap country hitmaker Chris Stapleton for a powerful collaboration covering the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac classic "Oh Well" as a part of his latest album, Orgy of the Damned. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer reveals that he "cold-called Chris" in hopes that the "White Horse" singer would take part in the project.

"We'd already recorded the song, and I had him earmarked as the guy, but I had my doubts that he would actually do it," Slash recalls. "Just his voice, his way that his sort of drawl is and that tone of his, that would be the greatest pairing. Finally I did get his number and I called him, and he said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, that'd be cool.' And I was I beside myself that he was into it. He managed to get it done."

"Somebody like Chris Stapleton, when it's done from pure of heart and it's done with passion and integrity, it's as great as anything else," he says of Stapleton's efforts on the track.

https://people.com/slash-teases-further-country-influence-in-his-music-exclusive-8673464