2024.07.11 - Pasadena Weekly - Slithering into LA: Slash is living his blues dream

Slithering into LA: Slash is living his blues dream

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski, Pasadena Weekly Executive Editor

Slash has played stadiums and major music festivals as the guitarist for Guns N’ Roses for the last 40 years. Now, he’s living his blues dream.

To support his blues-inspired solo record, “Orgy of the Damned,” he’s bringing The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. (solidarity, engagement, restore, peace, equality n’ tolerance) Festival to the Greek Theatre at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 13.

The festival sees a rotating carnival of musicians. In LA, the show will feature Slash, Warren Haynes Band, Samantha Fish and Eric Gales. But it’s more than just a concert.

“I wanted to use this festival to address inclusivity and togetherness and try to bridge that ever-widening gap,” he said. “There’s been a huge thing that’s been going on in the last six years or so. Anyway, we’re raising money for different charitable organizations that are supporting people who’ve been a little bit disenfranchised and suffering from racial inequality and mental illness.”

The charities include the Equal Justice Initiative, Know Your Rights Camp, The Greenlining Institute and War Child. Slash is donating $1 from every ticket sold to these causes.

Slash said he’s looking forward to the shows and performing with a different group of musicians. Fish is one of those performers.

“I have been following her for a while now,” he said. “I just met her for the first time. We had a photoshoot together recently. She’s really cool and down to earth. She’s just like her music.

“I’ve been listening to Warren since I started playing guitar. Eric Gales, I’ve known for a long time.”

“Orgy of the Damned” was a passion project for Slash. The English-American musician’s second studio solo record, “Orgy of the Damned” is a collaborative blues cover project with guests musicians and vocalists like Gary Clark Jr. (“Crossroads”), Billy Gibbons (“Hoochie Coochie Man”), Chris Stapleton (“Oh Well”), Dorothy (“Key to the Highway”), Iggy Pop (“Awful Dream”), Paul Rodgers (“Born Under a Bad Sign”), Demi Lovato (“Papa Was a Rolling Stone”), Brian Johnson (“Killing Floor”), Chris Robinson (“The Pusher”), Tash Neal (“Living for the City”) and Beth Hart (“Stormy Monday”).

He admitted he didn’t put much thought into who would sing his chosen songs. Instead, he followed his “gut reactions.”

“It worked out because the songs appealed to the people who I called. Each person had a connection to that particular song,” Slash said. “That’s the important part of it.”

Each vocalist and musician had their own history — or sometimes lack thereof — with Slash. For example, Slash has long wanted to collaborate with Dorothy.

“Dorothy’s awesome,” Slash said. “She has a new record coming out that I played on as well. It’s badass. I’m hoping that it does really well for her.

“When I decided to do ‘Key to the Highway,’ I thought I would try to get her. I’ve always wanted to do a tour with her, too, but our schedules never aligned.”

Slash previously hadn’t worked with Robinson or Stapleton, but they lived up to his expectations — and then some.

“They really brought something that went even beyond my expectations,” he said. “And that was across the board with all the different artists. Billy Gibbons killed it with ‘Hoochie Coochie Man.’ It was just a great experience.”

“Orgy of the Damned” is the blues record he always wanted to make; something he’s dreamed about since the 1990s.

“I’m not what you call a ‘straight-up blues purist,’” he said. “I sort of do what I do, right? I didn’t want people to think that I was trying to make a blues record and I was jumping on the bandwagon with all these other blues artists.

“I thought having all the different singers would make it more eclectic, make it more of a record that was steeped in the blues and influenced by the blues. All the singers brought their own personalities, their own singing style and interpretations of these songs, which they love as much as I do.”

The idea spawned from his time with Slash’s Blues Ball, a covers act that he called a “fun, drunken bar band that did a bunch of cool covers.”

“We started touring and it became a thing,” he said. “I couldn’t make it a priority. Fast forward all these years and I had a short break during the Guns tour last year and I thought, ‘Screw it, I’m going to do this record. We have three weeks.’”

He and his band retreated to a “little rehearsal room in North Hollywood,” jammed together and then started placing calls for the singers.

“We had a week to go in and actually cut the record,” he said. “When that was over, I went back on the road with Guns N’ Roses. I would fly here and there to get the other vocals on.”

He’s checked that off his bucket list and now he’s focusing on his tour.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Slash said. “I’ve been doing this over the last 20-plus years. I love that flying by the seat of your pants aspect of it. There are going to be some jams in there and there will be special guests here and there. It’s going to be a blast.”

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The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. (solidarity, engagement, restore, peace, equality n’ tolerance) Festival
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 13
WHERE: The Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles
COST: Tickets start at $32
INFO: serpentfestival.com, lagreektheatre.com

https://www.pasadenaweekly.com/arts_and_events/slithering-into-la-slash-is-living-his-blues-dream/article_8294249a-3e4b-11ef-9e07-679808dca7cc.html