Slash (b. 1965)

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"The Project NZ Interview" — 2019

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Biography

Saul Hudson, known professionally as Slash, is a British-American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success beginning in the late 1980s. He has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in history.

Timeline

The story of Slash, told in moments.

1965 Birth

Born Saul Hudson in Hampstead, London. His mother was a Black American costume designer, his father a white English artist. Both worked in the music industry. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11.

Did having parents in the music industry make fame seem normal? What was the culture shock of moving from London to LA at eleven? Were you always 'in a hurry'?

1983 Life

Dropped out of high school to play guitar full time. Practiced obsessively, up to 12 hours a day. Kept a boa constrictor. Got the nickname Slash from a friend's father because he was always in a hurry.

What happens to a teenager who practices guitar twelve hours a day? Was dropping out of high school a risk you calculated? Is the boa constrictor a personality statement or just a pet?

1985 Event

Joined Guns N' Roses after Tracii Guns left. The lineup crystallized: Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler. They played Hollywood clubs and built a reputation for chaos.

What was the energy like when that GN'R lineup clicked? Did the reputation for chaos help or hurt? Were Hollywood clubs the right proving ground?

1987 Event

Appetite for Destruction was released. It sold slowly at first, then exploded. 30 million copies worldwide. Slash's guitar riff on "Sweet Child O' Mine" became one of the most recognizable in rock history.

Did you know the 'Sweet Child O' Mine' riff was special when you wrote it? How does 30 million copies change a band that thrives on chaos? Was Appetite for Destruction the best thing and the worst thing to happen to you?

1996 Event

Left Guns N' Roses after years of tension with Axl Rose. Formed Slash's Snakepit, then Velvet Revolver with former GN'R members and Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots.

Was leaving Guns N' Roses about Axl or about survival? Did years of tension make the break easier or harder? What did you lose when you walked away?

2016 Event

Reunited with Axl Rose for the Not in This Lifetime tour. It grossed over $584 million, the third-highest-grossing concert tour of all time. Twenty years of silence, broken by a handshake.

What did that handshake with Axl after twenty years feel like? Was $584 million proof that the music mattered more than the feud? Is 'Not in This Lifetime' ironic or honest?

In Their Own Words (9)

I've always had to do things my way; I've gotten high my way, I've gotten clean my way, I've been in and out of relationships my way. I've taken myself to the edges of life my way. And I'm still here. Whether or not I deserve to be is another story.

p. 293, 2007

The truth is, all we ever cared to do was top the bullshit hair metal bands that enjoyed undue success for their subpar existence.

p. 237., 2007

It makes sense that the bands first show took place in Seattle because as much as L.A. was our address, we had as much in common with the average "L.A." band as Seattle's weather has with Southern California.

p. 108., 2007

Most of the girls who dated us back then were these innocent chicks whose lives were changed forever after one of us came into it for however long it lasted. We were like a vacuum back then that sucked people up and spit them out; a ton of people around us fell by the wayside that way. Some people died, not because of anything we did, but as a side effect of being too close to the flame. People would get attracted to our fucked-up weird life and just get it wrong and drown in our riptide.

p. 256., 2007

Everyone in the band wore their influences on their sleeves and there was not a bit of the typical L.A. vibe going on where the goal is to court a record deal. There was no concern for the proper poses or goofy choruses that might spell pop-chart success; which ultimately guaranteed endless hot chicks. That type of calculated rebellion wasn't an option for us; we were too rabid a pack of musically like-minded gutter rats. We were passionate, with a common goal and a very distinct sense of integrity. That was the difference between us and them.

p. 99., 2007