The worst era of Slash’s career: “Going in reverse all the time”
Not every rock and roll story is meant to be sunshine and roses. Just look at any music biopic released in the past ten years, and you’re bound to see people who either have strained relationships, insecurities about their own self-worth, and more than a few drugs and alcohol fuelling them as they take to the touring circuit. Slash never claimed to be an angel in that department, but he thought that the absolute low point of his career came when he started working with Velvet Revolver.
Then again, it was going to be hard to top the kind of circus that Guns N’ Roses had turned into towards the end of their career. There had been some great moments that they had independently, but hearing them go from the street-wise gang of misfits to one of the most bloated rock acts in the world over the course of just one album was insane to think about.
By the time everyone regrouped after going around the world twice, it would come as a surprise to no one why Slash wanted out. Even though it might have been fun to finally be free of Axl Rose, there was no real game plan for what the guitarist was going to do next. So what do you do when you don’t have a band? You join other ones.
When he wasn’t working with acts like Slash’s Snakepit, the guitarist would find himself subbing in on other records by big names, either working with Carole King or making a quantum leap by putting his guitar over Bob Dylan songs. Once Slash received a call to make a supergroup with his old buddies and Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, it sounded like a marriage made in heaven.
Guns N’ Roses had already looked like one of the most flashy rock and roll acts in the world, so having someone from the grunge scene gave them a level of credibility that none of them had before. But behind the scenes, Slash was slowly tearing himself apart.
Discussing his time in Rock Icons, the guitarist said that the wheels were coming off for him, saying, “When Velvet Revolver happened, there was a lot of alcohol and struggles with drugs. I took myself down to my worst bottom and re-experienced all the shit I used to do in the 1980s. At that point, I saw into the future and didn’t want to find myself going in reverse all the time. So when I got clean, I said, ‘Okay, now what am I going to do?.’”
While there were still some incredible solos to be found on both Velvet Revolver projects, Libertad did seem like the group was at an impasse, with Weiland’s drug problems getting out of hand and the group not being on the same page anymore. Once Slash managed to ditch the junk and make his own solo record, though, he sounded completely re-energised with a new bunch of musicians behind him.
Then again, maybe there’s still hope for a band like Velvet Revolver. There’s no way to capture the same magic with Weiland having since passed on, but if they managed to get just the right singer, it could be a nice flipside to the gargantuan sound of Guns N’ Roses.
