The artist Slash was most nervous about working with: “I felt sort of embarrassed”
Slash is most famous for being the lead guitarist in Guns N’ Roses. His work in that band is still considered some of the most exciting guitar work in recent years. During a period when the rock scene in Los Angeles was becoming relatively stale, Slash was able to inject a newfound venom into the scene, with songs that were equally exciting, aggressive, melodic, and exciting.
One of their most famous albums was Appetite For Destruction, which was their hard-hitting debut that people still enjoy revelling in today. Slash has always admitted that he thinks one of the unsung heroes of that album is Izzy Stradlin, the band’s rhythm guitarist, who put some real bounce into the album.
When the band eventually broke up, many people thought it could usher in a difficult period for Slash and the rest of the band as they tried to find a career outside of the band that had made them famous. However, Slash didn’t see the break-up as a hindrance. Instead, he grew excited about the fact that he could write some different styles of music and explore various genres.
He started by bringing on board Stradlin so that the much-loved feel of Appetite For Destruction was available on his debut solo album. “The only other person who played guitar on the record was Izzy,” he said, “Who came in and put some guitars on ‘Ghost.’ It’s really cool because me and Izzy have a very recognisable dual guitar sound and I hadn’t heard it in a while. It was just great fun. I love Izzy.”
When he was putting together music for his solo album, Slash was respected as one of the greatest guitarists in the world. As such, a number of musicians were excited by the prospect of working with him. However, while Slash knew he could work with different artists, he was still nervous about approaching them.
Some artists Slash knew would be keen to work with him as he had worked with them previously. For instance, when he sent the song ‘We’re All Gunna Die’ to Iggy Pop, the two had a strong working relationship, and Pop was quick to get back in touch with Slash with a demo of what the song would sound like.
“Iggy was the first guy to come in the studio and put a vocal down,” he recalled, “When I sent him the song he called me up a couple of days later and over the phone, on my answering machine he left him singing the words while the demo I sent him was playing off the stereo in the background. It was so rock ‘n’ roll, it was really, really cool.”
That being said, there were other artists Slash was a lot more nervous about approaching because he didn’t have as much of a relationship with them. One of these artists was Ian Astbury from The Cult. Guns N’ Roses had toured with the band previously, but they hadn’t spoken for years, and Slash wasn’t sure what kind of response there would be.
“It was actually pretty smooth sailing, and easy to get it all together. I was amazed. Ian and I have a long history,” said Slash, “Guns N’ Roses’ first tour of Canada and the US was with The Cult. Those guys had been around, and we were this crazy upstart band that they took out with them. I always thought Ian was great and when I finished the music to ‘Ghost,’ he came to mind instantly, probably because of the chord changes. But I hadn’t talked to him in a while, and I felt sort of embarrassed to send it to him.”
