Slash: The Rolling Stone Interview

The interview with Slash took course over several different sessions, some held early in 1990 and the most recent ones conducted last month at Le Chardonnay and at his home, which is nestled in Laurel Canyon. Throughout every meeting, the guitarist was jovial, unassuming and -- above all -- focused. Although he didn't mind opening up about his personal life or his feelings about the other band members, he was clearly obsessed with finishing the new album. Still, he was reluctant to lay on a load of hype. "All you have to do is listen to it," he says of the album. "If you like it, you like it, and if you don't, we did it and that's it."

SLASH: First of all, I refuse to talk about drugs, Axl or any other bands. Period. [He smiles.]

Well, okay, then let's talk about the new album. Why is it called Use Your Illusion?

It's the title of a painting by some controversial artist. I don't know who. I've never heard of him. I don't keep up with art circles. But that's the name of this painting that Axl bought, and he said, "Let's make this the cover of the album." Like the last album cover, we just said, "Fine," no discussion.

How much material have you recorded so far?

Thirty-five songs. Thirty-five of the most self-indulgent Guns n' Roses songs . . . It's a lot of material to work with -- like four albums' worth. For most bands, it would take four to six years to come up with this much stuff.

There have been a lot of rumors about whether it will be a single album, a double album, even a boxed set. What's actually happening at this point?

Well, this is like cleaning out the closet. There's a ton of material we want to get out, and the problem is, how does one release all of it? You don't make some kid go out and buy a record for seventy dollars if it's your second record. We're trying to think of a way to distribute the material where each of the four discs of material can be separated, so you can buy the whole thing or you can buy just one. But since it's not released yet, nothing is etched in stone. It might change, and I don't want to mislead anybody. I know the thing that it's not going to be is one big boxed set, where you have to buy the entire thing or nothing. I can tell you that much.

There's been speculation that one album might be released in March or April, then a double album later this year, followed by another single album in 1992. There have also been reports of an EP featuring cover versions of various punk songs.

An EP is probably the direction we're going to go as far as some of the covers are concerned. There are six covers: "Live and Let Die," by Wings, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," by Dylan -- that new version [on the soundtrack for Days of Thunder] that went nowhere -- "Don't Care About You," by Fear, "Attitude," by the Misfits, "New Rose," by the Damned, and "Down on the Farm," by U.K. Subs. They're songs that we like -- it's as basic as that. Each of us has an individual favorite, and at the same time we share some. "New Rose" is something Duff wanted to do, I think. "Don't Care About You" is something I wanted. The Misfits song was Axl's idea, and "Heaven's Door" and "Live and Let Die" were songs Axl and I both thought about doing.

In terms of the original material you've recorded, is there any specific theme or unifying message?

I'd have to say no. I will say it leans more to the darker side. There's not a ton of really happy material on it, you know? Most of it is pretty fucking pissed off. It's very pissed off, and it's very heavy, and then there's also a subtlety to it as far as us really trying to play.

How do the songs reflect the changes that the band has gone through over the past few years?

The way our lives turned around, the repercussions of our success and the general shit that we do from day to day gets brought up a lot. There are a lot of semihumorous drug tunes and a few songs about love going in whichever direction. Regardless of whether it sounds like the blues or not, basically that's what it is. It's a strange thing. I never thought we were a naive band; I always thought we were pretty hip to what's going on. But when we used to just hang out on the street, it was more fun than when we had lots of money and became part of society and were forced to deal with responsibilities. I think money is like the central nerve of it all, too. It's like I think Jimi Hendrix said -- "The more money you make, the more blues you can sing."

Appetite for Destruction was pretty much a hard-rock album, while the 'G n' R Lies' EP included several acoustic songs. Will there be any radical musical departures on the new album?

There'll be a lot of different instruments. I've got guitars doing all different kinds of sounds and things. There are horns on "Live and Let Die." We didn't get into sampling, but right now, as we speak, Axl is in the studio with a rack of synthesizers, so we don't have to bring in an orchestra for a couple of songs. There might even be a bunch of kids singing on "November Rain," because it's that kind of song. It's very angelic. We'll do whatever it takes to make the songs as powerful as possible.

A children's choir, horns, synthesizers -- it sounds like the group is heading in a new direction.

It's not a change in direction; I don't think we ever had a real direction. But we have gotten a little bit more experimental, I guess. I hate that word -- we've just been doing shit, whatever we felt like doing. This album goes from one extreme to the other, from some very, very intensely raunchy, over-the-top stuff to being very mellow -- and everything in between.

Any thoughts for a single at this stage?

I don't think there are any singles on this record.

Why not?

I don't mean to rock the boat or anything, but I think there's a swearword of some sort on every song. Every potential single it's, like, whoops, oh, well, not that one. But there's some great songs, and I don't care if they say "fucking" in it or if they say "shit" or if they're talking about girls in the way we're not supposed to.