“I’d love to do something”: The one singer Slash wants to work with
One of the biggest relationships that people latch onto in rock and roll is that of the singer/guitarist combo. Everyone is still mesmerised whenever Mick Jagger and Keith Richards lock keys onstage, and there’s a certain spontaneity between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry that could have never been equalled had they tried to make Aerosmith work without one of them. And while Slash does have that kind of relationship with Axl Rose, he was never shy about lending his talent to someone else if he thought he had the right song for them.
When looking at Slash’s resume, it’s practically a who’s who of some of the greatest musicians to have walked the Earth. Almost anyone who remotely likes rock can identify with his look as the curly-haired top-hat wearing troubadour, so it makes sense why everyone from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles to Ryan Gosling manages to find some time to work with him throughout their careers.
Because if there was any place that Slash felt completely comfortable, it was when he was off to the side of the stage. His playing may have been far too good to ignore, but whenever he got some of his solos rolling, he knew that he needed someone with enough charisma to offset him when he started working on his material, and for a while, Myles Kennedy served that job perfectly.
There was always a workman-like craftsmanship whenever Kennedy approached the stage in Alter Bridge, but whenever he played with Slash, you’d have to wonder whether they got a time machine and aged Rose down by a few years. Kennedy was more than capable of holding his own next to the classics, but when working on records like his self-titled debut, Slash was far more interested in working with anyone he could.
While he did cross a number of people off his wish list by working with Fergie and Ozzy Osbourne, Orgy of the Damned was where his real classic rocker came out. There were still fresh faces like Chris Stapleton, but having Steven Tyler play harmonica on a tune or Paul Rodgers channelling his inner bluesman was too good to fail. But that left The Who’s Roger Daltrey falling through the cracks a little bit.
“I talked to Roger Daltrey on a plane once from Las Vegas to LA, and I’d love to do something with him, but there wasn’t a suitable song.”
Slash
When talking about his favourite singers, Slash said that he wanted to work with The Who frontman as long as he had the right idea, saying, “I talked to Roger Daltrey on a plane once from Las Vegas to LA, and I’d love to do something with him, but there wasn’t a suitable song for him on the first album. I have to listen to the song and then decide who’d be good to sing it.”
Then again, Slash’s guitar playing is almost built for Daltrey’s voice. After all, he was one of the people who introduced the idea of the great hard rock wail when ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ came out, and since everyone since has tried to equal that iconic scream, it only makes sense for Slash to have the same kind of massive punch behind his guitars.
Then again, no one can expect two of the greatest artists in rock history to have lightning automatically strike when they start working together. It takes hard work and a lot of luck to land on great chemistry, and while there are pieces of Daltrey and Slash that sound like they are meant to be in the rock and roll heavens, it’s anyone’s guess what their collaboration will actually sound like.
