WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 952 - Slash

Episode Date: September 19, 2018

Slash is known for guitar wizardry, the top hat, and a prolific career across several major rock acts. But he's less known as Saul Hudson, a British, biracial son of a costume designer who was into drawing and BMX, not music. He tells Marc about being involved with a tangled web of Los Angeles bands that led to the formation of Guns N’ Roses, the band no one wanted to see succeed except the people who were directly involved in it. Slash also discusses collaborating with Michael Jackson, Carole King, Miles Kennedy, and reuniting with GNR. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace and Starbucks Doubleshot. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. Lock the gates! all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck tuckians what the fucking east does what's happening mark maron here this is my podcast wtf oh man is it going to be a lispy day? What's wrong with my mouth day? Happens sometimes. How's it going? I'm sorry.

Did I make it about me for a second more than I usually do? Nice to be here. Nice to talk to you. Lots happened since I've last spoken to you. What day is today? Thursday? It's Thursday. So I went to the Emmys on Monday.

I haven't talked to you since Monday. And that afternoon, I went to the Emmy Awards for the first time in my life. For the first time in my life, I went to the Emmys and I was on a nominated show for Best Comedy, GLOW, and we lost. But hey, even though we lost, aren't we all just losers? Is that the right? That's not it, isn't it? Even though we didn't win, aren't we all winners anyways? I like it my way.

Hey, even though we lost, aren't we all losers? I think that's equally as inspiring. Hey, sure, we lost, but we're all losers. I think that, you know, ultimately, most of the time that turns out to be true. I would say proportionately to, hey, we didn't win, but we're all winners. That is really non-objective stuff. So, you know, maybe this is too negative. I'll tell you about the Emmys.

I'll talk to you about Slash, who is my guest today on the podcast. The Slash from Guns N' Roses and from Slash's Snake Pit and from Velvet Revolver and from Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators. But he's Slash, man. It's fucking Slash. And it's interesting because as much as I love Guns N' Roses and some of Slash's solo work, I don't know that I identified him as thoroughly as I did the other night. After I talked to him,

I went to the whiskey to see Slash and Miles Kennedy and the conspirators. Now, do I want to tell you about this? Let's ease into this. It was revelatory. I'll tell you how revelatory seeing Slash and Miles Kennedy and the conspirators at the whiskey, which seats like 12 people. I'll tell you how revelatory it was. I stayed for the entire fucking show. I didn't even stay for the whole Emmys.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, those of you who have watched my special too real available on Netflix now, and you know my bit about the Stones concert, I don't stay for shit because the idea of waiting for my car or getting to my car or waiting to get out of a situation in my car will almost preclude me. Is that the word from staying till the end of anything, especially when you know it's going to end, especially if it's another song or especially if you you've already lost everything you stood to lose because, hey, we're all losers.

I told you, I guess, about a week ago that La Fonda had a growth on her mouth, and me and Sarah the painter kind of put our minds together. I had the box all ready. I put a towel in the box. I had it open for seizing that moment of getting that little fist of feline fury into the box to take her to the vet. And, you know, Sarah said, I don't think you should take her. I'm like, well, it's a little, like, nodule there. It's a little thing on her lip.

But she had gotten zits there before. And then I looked up cat zits and mouth cat zits and then mouth cancer. And I decided, well, she decided that maybe you should just wait it out. Cause she's had stuff there before cats get zits on their face. So I waited it out and it looks like it's getting better. So as it stands now, monkey and La Fonda 14 plus years old, holding strong,

lean, energetic buster, the kitten couple of years old, almost out of his fucking mind it's like this house that i'm living in now there's two floors it's old it's wooden there's not a lot of rugs and it feels like a fucking rodeo in the morning because he's figured out this route for himself from the end of the hall upstairs and he runs all the way down the hall down the stairs where he jumps about three or four stairs and plunks down onto the floor runs into the living room does some

business in there flips around comes running back up the stairs this can go on at two in the morning three in the morning four in the morning active little fuck not a lot of love for him in those moments but doing well and learning to take affection he's resistant and he's peculiar and he's awkward when you pet him he's one of the only cats i know that really likes to be pet like a dog scratched on the back on the stomach and you gotta kind of really get him to not squirm out of it in other words emotionally he's exactly like me so i wanted to read this now that we're in cat zone. I wanted to read this because there's not so much hopeful, happy stories in the world. And this one, you know, I'm not going to spoil it.

All right? Because we're all losers. And I'm not going to spoil it, but I want to read it to you now that we're in the cat zone subject line kipling lives my boyfriend adam is a massive fan of this podcast i never heard of before i met him and i'm now a convert recently his siamese kipling went missing on a canoe trip i have to interject here who the fuck takes their cat on a canoe trip? I won't even let my cat outside. All right, I know there are special animals.

Mine are special in their own way. Apparently Kipling can be on a canoe. So back to the story. After the canoe capsized, we tipped. Adam grabbed the cat, and then the canoe hit Adam, and Kipling went under, and we didn't see him again. Terrible feeling. We searched for hours. This cat was always going hiking, camping, and swimming with us.

We went back the next day trying to find his body or signs of him and didn't find anything. That's the worst, not knowing. We even got an amateur diver to help us search underwater for his remains what where do you where'd you find that guy still no kip we took to social media and shared his story with everyone there were hundreds of shares and likes and comments and we even had co-workers we work for an animal hospital that took out search dogs to track him we had no idea if he made it out of the river at this point.

Adam was devastated. This cat was a spot of emotional stability for him. Sorry, Adam. I know the feeling, buddy. After 20 days, we got a call. Someone found him in a hay field 10 miles away from where we lost him. He was 10 miles closer to home, actually. Somehow, this cat survived a rapid river and trekked 10 miles to find some humans to take him home. God damn it, that's a good story. Anyway, we like to be super clever and yell Kipling lives and thought this story may be enjoyed by our favorite cat-enthused comedian. Thanks for the laughs, Jeffy and Adam. You're welcome. What a fucking great story. Cats, canoes started out.

I was judging you guys. I was judging you. Why are you bringing the cat out? What are you doing with the cat out in those situations? But he's that kind of cat and fuck, you got him back. You know, it just doesn't happen that often congratulations i'm happy for you i'm happy for i'm happy for cat lovers everywhere right now hey what you know you hear the story about the cat that disappears for 10 years and comes back i always i don't know i always doubt those ones but

but this one sounds sounds legit and uh congratulations you're you're a winner that day okay so the emmys let's go through it i went through it why shouldn't i drag you through it uh so me sir the painter go to the emmys we get there i had to go we got a car at like 1 30 to get there at 2 30 so i could go walk the photo line and she posed in a couple pictures with me, which we don't usually do, but it kind of paid off because we got one of the cutest couples picture in People Magazine. That's exciting.

Got dressed up. She was dressed up. And then we got through the press line because we got there before almost anybody. And we were in an entirely empty Emmys theater watching them do final touches on the set and getting cameras straightened out and the ushers getting their focus on for what was going to be a giant show business,

clusterfuck, you know, an hour away. And then people started coming in and they started trickling in. And I was sitting next to all the children. I was sitting in front of all the children from Stranger Things and two rows behind all the cats from Silicon Valley. All of us losers. I don't know. I don't really know. I think we all won something. But so it all started filling in and it was exciting to see. I like, as you know, I enjoy running into celebrities. I like seeing people I've had on the show so I can say hi.

I did see David Harbour. I went out of my way to go engage with David Harbour, who also lost. So after he lost, I made a point to go up to him and give him a hug and say congratulations. He laughed and then he just lit me up, man. Like David Harbour is like a human energy generating system. He's like a battery, man. You just, you lock in, you stay open. Very exciting because I was starting to, I was starting to fade a little bit. We only brought a bag of almonds, which we had to spread out. I walked around a bit on a break, ran into John Oliver. We had a laugh about how hopeless everything is and how it's very hard providing hope because

there isn't any, but it's kind of our job to be as straightforward as possible with our helplessness and somehow make it painfully funny. And he won a goddamn Emmy for it. Congratulations, John. There are a few people in this business who I adore and I think are great. He's one of them. I was happy for him. So yeah, so I saw John Oliver. I talked to him a bit. And then, you know, I said hi to people here and there. It was exciting. You know, the kids from Stranger Things reminded me what it was like to be a kid for a second. Not quite a kid at the Emmys, but, you know, that age. Michael and Colin did a great job. I think there was something odd about the pacing. Everything seemed to happen too fast, yet it was still long.

I don't know how that happened, but the show itself was like they would quickly announce and show pictures of the nominees. Then just someone would walk out, announce the winner. They would run up. They had like a second and they'd run off. And even when they went up to get it, they didn't sort of readdress what the show was. I don't know how it looked at home, but it seemed like I noticed they were doing something to quicken the pace of the show, but somehow it sucks some of the humanity of it.

But nonetheless, I thought the people that did the jobs did the jobs well. I got a couple of laughs and I stayed right up until after we lost. I somehow Sarah and I left to get to go to the restroom. The one time we left in the nine hour thing to go to the restroom was the segment where mulaney won and the guy proposed the one segment where something actually happened with a amazing dose of humanity we missed but we saw later on the internet because that you can do that oh the big news is okay and i don't know if you're, this is the weird thing. Out of everything that happened that night, I got to the Netflix party.

And right when I walk in, I see Cat Williams carrying his Emmy with his little crew there. I walk up to him. I'm like, how you doing? He goes, Mark Maron, you're one of the guys I want to work with. I'm like, wow, no shit, Mr. Williams. I call him Mr. Williams. He's like, yup. You just, I mean, I, you know, he's like, keep doing what you're doing. I'm like, will you come on the show sometime? He's like, anytime you're ready. And I'm like, okay. And then I walked away from that and I'm like, I don't know

how to get in touch with Cat Williams. And he's, I think he's tricky to get in touch with. I know he is. So I saw him again and I said, how are we going to do this? He's like, well, let's just exchange numbers. I'm right. All right. So I pulled my phone out and then he sent a woman over to give me his number. So oddly, maybe not so much. That was a high point for me, getting Kat Williams phone number and knowing that that could happen that I just have to text him. I guess I have to do it when I'm ready. I think that was the condition. And only I can decide that.

So Slash. Wow, man. I didn't know. I'm a pretty big Guns N' Roses fan. And I like all their work. And I've always liked Slash. I liked his whole presentation but i've never seen guns and roses live and i've listened to the records and i you know i could hear i'd like to

in most of the records you know outside of the bigger riffs i'd like to hear the leads up front a little more like i could not quite identify exactly from my history of listening to any of his stuff like exactly exactly the nature of his style, you know, isolated as a fucking guitar player. I know he's great. I knew that from all the riffs and, you know, what I could hear, but, and, you know, and I like him a lot.

And, you know, he came, we had a great talk. And it's sort of a little guitar nerdy, so prepare yourself. And I'm not even a full-on guitar nerd. I only know a few things, but I really so prepare yourself. And I'm not even a full-on guitar nerd. I only know a few things. But I really like the guy. And I love his music. So that's given.

But I'd never seen him live. So they asked me if I want to go to the Whiskey, as I mentioned earlier. So I go to the Whiskey to see Slash and Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators. Miles Kennedy, great singer. He's done a few records. His new record, which is good, he did with Miles Kennedy singing in his band. And I was real close to see Slash do his thing, man. And he came out with his top hat and his sunglasses and his Gibsons.

But it was great to see him play and just to hear him so isolated like that. I mean, Slash's job in this band is just he's the lead guitar player. And he's like, you know, he's laying down the the tunes and you can hear he wrote some and you can hear by him playing solo in a band that you know he's been with for a long time just how much of guns and roses is him his pace his tone his uh his riffs but they they didn't do i think they only did one gun song and as i found out when i to Slash, it was originally his song from way back. They did Rocket Queen, which is one of my favorite fucking Guns N' Roses song.

And he fucking did like a seven to 10 minute solo in the middle of this thing. And it was astounding. The way he plays lead, he holds, he sort of like, he slouches down a little bit and he almost literally sets the Les Paul on his knee to play it so the neck is almost next to his face and he just is all in to those strings man and to those into his fingers and I've never seen like there was so so much taste to it so much

style you know yeah the blues were definitely there and and all the other slash tricks and riffs and and and runs and uh i was uh just fucking blown away stayed through the whole show anyways this is me talking to slash solidly one of the greatest rock guitar players ever oh yeah and his new album, Living the Dream featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators comes out tomorrow, September 21st. You can get it wherever you get music

and it's a great fucking rock record. Okay, me and Swat. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice?

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Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category,

and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. creative. Do you have any of those? The Gold Tops? Actually, I just used, I don't know what year that one was. It's a reissue. It's a Gibson reissue, the 56. Okay, well I used a real, I mean it's just funny that you bring that up cause I on the new record a 56 on the new record that's what that is yeah like I knew it

well not every song but a few right the opening song right right right and you can tell cause it's brighter and yeah man I just I needed that sound and I had that guitar I've never recorded with it I've had it for years had it since like 1992 holy shit so I dragged it out and it ended up on like five or six songs.

I just said to her, man, I was just listening to it and there I'm like, the guitar sounds different. It sounds more like raw and weird. Like one of these. Yeah, yeah. So that's what you did. So you recognized that. I fucking recognized it right away because I was like, what did he do?

That's cool. I feel much more comfortable now. I'm talking to a guitar nerd. I wish I was more of one, but I do know like I'm kind of pure. Yeah, but still to be able to pick out that guitar. Well, this is like, when I got turned on to that guitar, like, I was a Fender guy. You know, I'm like, I'm no wizard on there. I like to play straight through.

I'm not a pedal guy. Like, that's an old 57 Deluxe right there. Yeah, which is basically what I used. Well, not on the whole record, but there's a song I use the exact same model. Really? There's a song called, hold on, bear with me, The Great Pretender, which is like the third to last song on the record. And you just went straight in?

That with a 58, no, with a 59 Les Paul. The 59 like a sunburst? I'm not an effects guy either. I don't do pedals. I mean, occasionally you'll have a phase for something. Right. But, yeah, 59. Was it sunburst? Yeah. Yeah, like Michael Bloomfield something. Right. But, yeah, 59. Was it Sunburst?

Yeah. Yeah, like Michael Bloomfield used to play. Yeah, yeah. Fuck, man. Like a real one? A real one. Yeah, I've had it for years, and I've only used it in one session. So on this record, for the most part, I used a 58, a 59, the 56, Gold Top.

And then I also have this one guitar that I've had for years, which is, we just call it the Derrick guitar, which is a handmade 59 replica that a guy named Chris Derrick made back in 1985. And I got a hold of it in 1986, and I used it on the first Guns record, and it's just one of my, it's been my go-to recording guitar

ever since it's just the replicas from dude made like exactly kind of yeah but back then they didn't do reissues right so he used to make these really incredible 59 replicas and they're they're actually really valuable now so who like what you got nicotine gum yes i do yeah i just i've been on i was on lozenges for a decade and the nicotine lozenges. You know, I haven't, like I quit smoking nine years ago. Yeah. Almost 10 years ago. And when I did it, I had pneumonia.

I was just talking to Rick Nielsen about it on my way here because he just had pneumonia. And pneumonia is what helped me quit smoking. That and I saw Cher the night before and that's when I caught the pneumonia. So Cher helped me quit smoking. Yeah. Anyway, so I couldn't smoke. I mean, I tried. I couldn't breathe.

I just couldn't. So I had two weeks on my back. It's what you do try. You do try. Yeah. So I quit, and then I used the patch to sort of get the edge off. Right. Then I started doing the snus thing.

The snus, yeah. And I was doing that for years. I would go to sleep with it. I still, I mean i mean i did sleep with snus and then i my my my significant other yeah talked me out of doing it and so i started doing the gum and i sleep with the gum sure i mean that like i was off the lozenges just between me and you and whoever's listening to this i've been smoking fucking cigars right so i've been i've been off cigarettes for the same as you about 10 years and then I was on

the fucking lozenges for almost like 8 years and I would sleep with them then I would do snooze and then I'd

fucking do dip pouches right and then I got off everything for a while and then I just started smoking cigars and I was like

two of them I'm a fucking junkie like that it's just like it's gonna be one thing you know all things considered

it's my last real vice right so I'm sort of like i mean i i know that if i really put my mind to it i could just quit like i would with anything it doesn't feel what i don't feel like like what's the reason oh she said oh you know she's like oh you know it can't be good for you that's right right yeah that's gotta be bad for your blood pressure or something something i'm like well you know until someone reads me a scathing report about...

But isn't that fucked up about snus though too? Like with the snus, didn't you think like this is safe somehow? Like it's better than chewing tobacco? Yeah, and you weren't spitting into a cup and doing all that kind of stuff. But then your teeth start to get loose. What was it?

I found someone that like, it was some other brand that was like triple strong. And it was like, I'd get up with coffee and put one in and I'd have to sit down for a while. It was funny. Well, yeah.

So, but that's just the nature of it, man. It is. It is. I mean, you know, I mean, I was talking to a friend of mine,

a musician. Yeah. Who's another blues guy and he had some, you know know he's had some drugs yeah alcohols and so he just got his his shit together and uh you know so we're sitting at jerry's deli and we're talking about you know like you know how hard alcohol is and how hard smack is and all this stuff but then the one thing that we we both such with cigarettes man that's that's that's the tough one yeah because they keep coming around. They're kind of available.

Well, but you get these triggers all the time. Like, they only last for maybe, I don't know, two seconds or something. But they're really, really potent. Right. And you can just get it watching somebody smoke on TV. I saw somebody smoking at a bus stop. I was like, whoa. It happens at least once a day, every day.

Well, I think that it's rare, too, you see people smoking. Yeah. I was just in Chicago. Fucking everyone still smokes. They didn't get the memo, man. They're just fat dudes smoking cigarettes outside, everywhere. The problem is, is I was a compulsive smoker. I chain smoked.

And I couldn't handle, this is not why I quit smoking, but I couldn't handle not being able to smoke wherever I wanted. Yeah. It just really, I was in Calabasas one time. It was one of the first times I'd ever I want it. Yeah. It just really is. I was in Calabasas one time. It was one of the first times I'd ever actually been there. Yeah. And I went to, you know, there's some sort of outdoor molly kind of thing with theaters, like a pavilion or something.

Right. And I got out of the car and I lit a cigarette and I was walking wherever we were walking to through the parking lot. And they said, you can't smoke in here yeah i said what do you mean smoking here i'm fucking out here this is out here yeah and it was like there's a rule you can't smoke it's a law street right and uh i was and so enough of that kind of stuff and i started i was smoking at gigs and i was in on tour in in the uk yeah and they told me said yeah the smoking ban's coming i said you guys are

gonna have some serious problems there's an ireland you're gonna have yeah they're gonna you know they're gonna riot it's not it's not gonna work yeah and so you know didn't finish the tour and while i was well uh it came back like maybe six months later and they had passed this thing yeah and there was people sitting outside all smoking their cigarettes with their cocktails. Yeah. And sitting on benches and some hotels

had put monitors outside so you could watch TV and smoke and they just went down quietly. Wow. Everyone did. And it was like, wow. And you know, no repercussions whatsoever,

no violence, no, you know, stoning or anything. Well, I think it's because there's a fundamental shame to people who are addicted to things that they know in their heart are bad for you. You think that's what it is? What are they going to really fight for?

It's like, can't we have the right to kill ourselves inside? And can we take down everybody that doesn't smoke with us? Exactly. Right. Because after a certain point, when you wake up and it's like, you hear your lungs. But like you said, you had pneumonia and you tried to smoke. After a certain point, you know you're fucked. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. I mean, all things considered, they were trying to find me for every cigarette I smoked on the stage. Oh, the venues? Yeah. So it was like 100 quid for every cigarette. So we had to make up a bunch of stories and we got out of it

But I mean I couldn't believe it got into that that was part of the bill, right? Yeah Well, let's fuck like who those blues guys when you listen to blues guys because I have some questions We can talk about your life a little bit, but I have guitar questions Just for much just because like I'm not as deep a nerd But like when because you have a lot of guitars you play mostly Les Paul's right? Yeah, but do you at the, to get the tone you wanted, did you fuck with the electronics or did you just do amp and guitar shit? I've always been, well, okay, it's a deep question.

All right. Because when I first started, yeah, it was just, I think I had a little Fender Princeton. It was a little Fender combo thing. And the first guitar, the electric guitar that I had was a Memphis Les Paul copy. This was, I guess it was 1980. Yeah. Right? Did you just start playing?

I just started playing, yeah. So I started playing when I was right around my birthday, so 14 going on 15. And then so I had an acoustic guitar that I learned on with one string on it so I learned all these one string riffs and then I had this cool guitar teacher in town

that guy named Robert Wolin who was great who taught me how to put the other strings on and some other cool shit how did you find the guitar teacher? he just there was a music school

on Fairfax and Santa Monica well okay so let's let's go back and get come around to this but you weren't born here?

no I was born in Stoke-on-Trent. I was born in Hampstead, London. So you were a British guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And your mom? One half. My mom's American. Right.

And she was in show business? Well, she's a clothes designer, and so she did all entertainers. Was she around? Is she around still? No, she passed away. Oh, I'm sorry. Right around the time that I quit smoking. Oh, really?

Because she died of lung cancer. Oh, fuck. Because she was one of those smokers that always said, I'm going to quit one day, I'm going to quit one day. Oh, and you had to watch that? Yeah, it was bad. But you know what? While she was in the hospital, not to go back to this, but I would literally sit with her,

go outside, smoke a cigarette, come back, sit with her. And then the Cher thing happened, and that's when I said, you know what? You were just at a Cher concert. She's not personally responsible. Yeah, but I had to leave for every song and go outside and smoke. No, go outside and smoke. Oh. And I think I'd worn myself down from smoking so much, and Cher just took me over the top.

Oh, yeah. Every time she revisited one of those periods, she had a closet on stage. Yeah. And she'd go in the closet, and she closet on stage yeah and she'd go in the closet and she'd come out she'd be the indian and she'd come out and she'd be oh and she'd be the gypsy stransom thief every every single thing that she's been over her you know no kidding and it was i you know when she started with the sunny and share thing yeah it just killed me i couldn't take it so i would smoke every two seconds i killed you in a good way or bad bad way? Bad way. I just didn't have any fond memories of that show or any of the other stuff. But your mom, she did- She did her clothes.

And she costumed entertainers? Yeah. So she did. I mean, my mom did a lot of people. So like, okay, Cher was one of them. Helen Reddy was another one. Dinah Ross. Oh, that's why you're at the show.

David Bowie. Yeah. No, no, that's why you're at the show. David Bowie. Yeah. No, no, that's not why I was at the Cher show. Why were you at the Cher show? Oh, because my ex and her buddies wanted to go and drag me along in Vegas. Oh, okay. All places. Anyway, so she did all these people.

David Bowie, John Lennon. Really? I could go. This is a long list. Sylvester. Remember Sylvester? Yeah. Stevie Wonder.

But also Flip Wilson. Oh, yeah. Like a lot of... He wore like almost a tux on stage. Yeah, something like that. Flip Wilson. So she was like the person, it sounds like. Yeah, she was a pretty hot chick.

What was her name? Ola Hudson. And so do you know which period of Bowie or Lennon? Oh, the... I just saw that exhibit. Did you see it? No, she's in it. Oh, yeah? hudson and and so which do you know which period of bowie or lennon or was it oh the cool for well with with i just saw that exhibit yeah no she's in it oh yeah her clothes um but i mean they have her thing of her clothes oh yeah she did the cool period when he was the thin white duke the suit yeah yeah yeah the white suits that was her thing oh wow yeah so you lived in london how long i moved to i moved permanently to la in 1971. in 1971, I guess.

1970. Because I think we're like the same age. I'm 65. I'm 63. Okay. So, okay. So, now, your real name's Saul, but are you a Jew? No.

No? You got no Jew in you? No, but I'm in the book of Jewish famous people. It's so funny. Well, I thought I'd heard you're half Jew. I'm full Jew. I thought maybe he's half Jew but you just got Jew name no I got a Jew name

but I mean if you were to ask my dad about it he was talking about King Saul yeah oh okay and so it's a different

thing isn't that Old Testament or is that yeah I'm not really good with that it's Jew it's pretty Jew

and your dad plus all my friends are Jew so I'm honorary what what'd your dad do he's a well he's a graphic designer and photographer artist but is he still around Plus all my friends are Jewish, so I'm honorary. What did your dad do? He's a graphic designer and photographer artist. Is he still around?

He's still around, yeah. But during this time, he was doing all the album covers for Asylum Records. Oh, okay. So we lived in Little Canyon. Yeah. When I first moved to LA, that's where we lived. So we were in the midst of that whole- In 71? Yeah. Oh, that's where we lived so we were in the midst of that whole in 71 yeah that's very exciting so you just see like you know david crosby yeah well you know like and

and and joni mitchell is our like my mom did her clothes my dad did all the covers zappa's down the street yeah i used to love the swans he had this this big lake who did zappa zappa his house is on the corner laurel and woodward wilson lookout mountain Zappa. His house was on the corner of Laurel and Woodward Wilson. Lookout Mountain. Oh, okay. And so there was the big, huge, tall shrubbery that surrounded the whole thing. But if you peeked inside, there was a lake in there and he had swans. No kidding.

Because swans, they have swans in England all over the place. So that was like my thing. Oh, that was cool. It made you feel at home? Yeah. Now, were these people coming and going when you were a kid? Yeah. Or were they in that scene, your folks?

They were. We were all in that scene, yeah. You know, we were always at the Troubadour, and there was, you know, like we were talking about Linda Ronstadt. Oh, yeah. So we had all the Eagles guys. Yeah, sure. I didn't know who the Eagles would be at the time, but they all turned out to be the Eagles. It's funny.

I didn't realize until recently that the Troubadour was sort of a low-key trip. I mean, it was like kind of singer-songwriter laid back. Yeah. It wasn't hard rock, though. No, no, no, no, no. No. Singer-songwriter. I mean, the biggest thing that happened at the Troubadour when I was a little kid was

Elton John played it. Right, right. And everybody talked about it. I didn't go, but everybody talked about it. And that was like, you know, sort of a seminal L.A. moment. Yeah, talked to Walsh the other day, Joe. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, man.

Joe's great. He's another guy. Just like, what a chameleon sort of like guitar story. He's like, he's always sort of at these weird junctures, giving people guitars, hanging out. Joe's great. Joe, and he's one of my all-time favorite guitar players. He's probably not listening to this,

so I'll say all kinds of nice things about him. I don't know if he'll listen to it. He's one of those guys where his kid got him over here. His kid's like, you got to go do this cool thing. So I had Joe over here. He's pretty fucking sober, too. Yeah, yeah. No, I know Joe very well through a lot of that.

Yeah. You do the thing? Well, yeah. I mean, I finally succumbed to that. There was a point there. And so the word is surrendered to it. And I did. I followed it to a letter.

I've been sort of out of it for a long time, too. I do. I follow it myself. Sure. Well, that's the way. If you program your brain. Yeah. And you got good.

I got 19 the other day. Really? Yeah. August 9th. Happy birthday. Thank you, pal. How long are you? I have 12 years.

That's good, right? Yeah. Holy shit. Thank you, pal. How long are you? I have 12 years. That's good, right? Yeah. Holy shit. No one would have ever predicted that. No. No, you were headed for the box. Yeah, but there was a point there where, you know, the glory days are gone. You cannot relive them.

Can't do it anymore. And you can try. You keep shooting for that. It's just never gonna happen but dude when you see dudes your age like still at it if they're still alive well so i was at a wedding recently yeah and some guy who was my age if not i'm probably older yeah asked me if i wanted to do a bump i was walking down a flight of stairs and he came up alongside me he said hey you want to do a bump i said what because i hadn't it just and he said you know

a bump and i was like no no i'm good but it was weird and then and then i had another uh but do you remember hearing that like 1984 yeah oh well it was normal yeah yeah it was the most exciting question yeah yeah it was expected you it was the question you're waiting for otherwise you're gonna have to ask people yeah right you hold them You hold them. We used to call you, are you William? Are you William? Is that what you called me? Yeah. Anyway.

We used to say, you got a bindle? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good times. Okay, so about the guitars. No, it's, yeah, well, so you got here. You're living in Laurel Canyon. You're a kid. But I think what's interesting to me is that, you know, you were immersed in a creative

community. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you come from it. I think what's interesting to me is that you were immersed in a creative community. You come from it. There was probably never any sort of like you shouldn't do this or that. No. That you were always encouraged to kind of. Well, there was also a whole philosophy that my dad had about raising kids, which was to treat them as adults, right? You have siblings? I do, but he didn't come around until seven years after I was born.

Oh, okay. So he was a little younger than me. I do, but he didn't come around until seven years after I was born, so he's a little younger than me. So I was raised with a ton of sort of freedom, you know, sort of like, I think it was a Spock thing at the time. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Treat him like adults, basically? Yeah, yeah.

So I just was sort of running around in this crazy, I mean, looking back on it, it was really, really cool. People were really, really cool. Right. It was a different time. Yeah. Really intelligent, very creative creative and outside of the system and just doing their thing. So it was very inspired and whatnot.

So it was good, but I never had any aspirations to actually become a musician. No, what were you thinking? So, I mean, like the only real sort of natural talent that I had was drawing.

Uh-huh. And the old man did that so that pencils were around. Yeah, so I drawing and and uh i actually did a kid's book with joni mitchell that never got released when you were a kid yeah so i did the drawings and she did the poems do you still have a copy of it uh my dad does oh i don't i don't oh i think everybody wants to see that you know you know keith richards wrote a kid's book with his daughter oh no way he did it's out yeah it's about i can't remember it's called, but I talked to him about it at the end of the interview. I was just like, I didn't know.

I was like, how's it being a grandpa? Did he write the- Yeah, yeah. He did. Yeah. He did some of the, I can't remember exactly. He's one of my, as all the musicians, at least that I know, he's my favorite. I think he's the funniest.

Great. I think he's got the best fucking dry wit out of anybody and he's so fucking smart you know I don't know how long you've known him

or what your relationship is with him but I was just a fan he was my guy when I was a kid who didn't want to be Keith he's why I smoked he's why I drank

Jack Daniels right my first guitar was a Telecaster when I first met him i was 13 years old really how the fuck did that happen seymour cassell oh back in the day when they all used to go to seymour's house okay this is another story altogether yeah seymour has a son named matt he's got a couple kids but matt was my best friend in high school oh and so um if you know anything

about seymour we uh seymour he's one of Cassavetes' guys. Yeah, yeah. He's one of that little team. So they were pretty hard edge, you know. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so we used to hang out there. And that's where, he's the one that named me Slash. That's where the name Slash came from. Really?

Yeah. So we used to hang out there. Well, all right. Because, and I didn't find this out until the 90s. Because he just called me Slash. Yeah. And it just became a nickname. Yeah.

But I asked him why in the 90s. He goes, because you were always hustling and you were always going on a move. You never stopped to talk. You never stopped to hang out. So it was always a whiz going by. So he just said, go Slash. Yeah, right. And that's it.

That's it. It's stuck. You know. So Seymour used to live behind the Riot House on Sunset. So Seymour used to live behind the Riot House on Sunset. And there was a house that was tucked away into this long driveway covered in trees and shit. And then there's an A-frame in between. And so they had some notorious weekend stuff.

And when Stones would come into town, that's where they would go. No shit. So I got to be friends at a young age with Ronnie. And that's how I met Keith. Yeah. Ronnie. Wood. Really? So they were already, yeah, okay.

So friends of Seymour. So we would go to stone shows. So Keith was always a hero and he was always very bigger than life. I didn't really get to be what you call friends with him until after, you know, in the 90s. All right, so you're here and you're drawing. Oh, yeah, yeah. So then, you know, we went through, I mean, this is a very much hand-to-mouth, living paycheck-to-paycheck conversation.

With your old man? Yeah, both of them. Really? Yeah, because there was work and then there wasn't work, and then when work would come back, 9 to 5. That's right, that's right. Anyway, so I was just doing whatever and trying to sort of fit in at school, which I had an issue with all the way up until,

really until I started playing guitar. And that was all. What do you mean? Like you were just, who were you hanging out with? Like the bad kids or just nobody? I was just, I never fit into that whole thing. A mainstream public school. There was no corner that I fit into. Or maybe just in your skin in general.

I mean, I was okay. All things considered, I was all right. I didn't have a lot of issues. I was half black and half white and half British, and that was sort of weird for a lot of people. Did you have an accent at the beginning? Yeah, back then I was a guy. And I think I worked, I made an effort to get rid of it.

Sure. But for everything else, I was the same, T-shirts and jeans, long hair and all that. But then I just stumbled on the guitar without even knowing that much about it Yeah I'd not I used to get turned on to going to see bands set up the troop and right Starwood and you could get in because you were so-and-so's kid Back then I was with my parents because that's where they were right, but you probably knew like they all knew the people that were involved

That's sort of new. Yeah. Yeah. There's a slash. Yes. I'm yeah, I wasn't were involved that sort of knew yeah yeah there's a slash i guess i'm not i wasn't slashed then but right but you were solved yeah yeah yeah so then and then uh uh steve adler i met when i was racing bikes i was racing bmx at this time like i was like so that was your crew that was what and so i was gonna i was gonna be a motocross i was i was aspiring motocross guy and i i met steven and steven had an electric guitar at his house and uh he used to just crank it up and and bang on it was he a hollywood kid no he's from fucking cleveland yeah and then he but then on top of that he was from cleveland but he moved he lived in recita so was he older than you or was he about the same age it's like a couple months older than me um and his mom kicked him out and so he had to stay at his grandparents in west hollywood and that's when we met um and so i got turned on because he

he played guitar oh you know that sort of kid fantasy thing i was at that stage where you start doing air guitar at a cheap trick sure yeah so i thought well i guess i'll play bass but i didn't know anything about playing bass so i went to that music school yeah other than without strings well i didn't have an instrument then right so then while I was sitting there talking to Robert

the teacher yeah he's playing guitar and he was playing Clapton stuff and he's like that's what I want to do and he goes

that's not bass that's lead guitar right that's what I want to do so that's when I went and found that one string guitar so you never played bass

in the closet never did I do now sometimes sure but anyway so that and then it was the hugest turn on i mean even even like a that that's just playing a couple notes that actually sounded like something

yeah yeah yeah the heavens parted and all that like what clapped and stuff that was there was uh uh disraeli gears oh yeah that record all right All right, so you have this cathartic moment, and then you're like, I'm going to be a guitar player. Right. And then to go back to your thing, I got an electric guitar, and the first thing I did was take that little Princeton, and I had the Les Paul copy,

and I got one of those MXR Distortion Pluses. Oh, those are great. Yeah, the shit brown one. Yeah, it was like a puke green, yellow kind of thing. And that was that moment where I was like, oh. The MXR Distortion Plus, it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And now, you know, I started learning about what everybody's using. But that specific sound, that's true, because you kind of held that for a while.

Well, that was the thing. I mean, I think all I've been doing ever since then is just trying to do what it is that turned me on in the first place. I mean, you never perfect it, so you're just constantly trying to. It's like drugs, but like, sure, so you're that young, and that first time you turn that MXR Distortion Plus on, it's a very specific type of distortion, that one, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a little compressed? It's a very specific type of distortion now yeah yeah yeah and it's a little compressed it's a little come it's a little compressed I mean when you're when you're 14 15 years old and you do it and then you sort of you know slowly but surely graduate from there but the one thing about music and

about guitar sounds it's different from drugs is that there are always plateaus that you can reach and it could yeah there's and it goes on forever with drugs you hit at one place usually in the first couple weeks you started doing it yeah and it's all downhill exactly and there's no real skill set it's not you're like well that's that's something else altogether but just because you said like drugs sure the feeling that endorphin the rush but yeah you don't have to you're not gonna uh kind of uh evolve your your the way you use drugs to a degree where it's like i'm really getting creative with this you do but it's not taking you anywhere you know what i mean you're

not it's not like learning flamenco guitar yeah right no no it's not at all you know i think you cook it up and that's about as far as you're gonna get i've really nailed this i've taken this wherever it needs to go so so how long wait did now i guess the question at this point for me is that like in terms of natural ability versus like practicing your ass off i mean like i mean you can have a feel and stuff but how much do you do like in order for you to get from the beginning there i what what what were you learning what were you how were you practicing to get to well i mean i was learning i mean well the that guy robert yeah he said he was gonna you know he's gonna teach me guitar lessons right so you start out like you're probably i don't know if

you ever took piano lessons but the same kind of thing scales and this and that and uh you can read music no because i didn't do this for very long. But I gave it the college try. And I learned a lot from watching him play. And he goes, well, if you can learn this lesson next week, I'll teach you any song you want me to teach you. Yeah. So I was like, OK, cool. So I was listening to Zeppelin and Sabbath and Aerosmith and Cheap Trick.

Yeah. Yeah, I had the Stones and Beatles and The Who. And there's tons of records that all break guitar songs. That first Aerosmith record is underrated. It is underrated. Cheap Trick yeah yeah I had the Stones and Beatles and The Who and like all those tons of records that all great guitar songs that first Aerosmith record is underrated it is underrated

but you know all things considered you know what's wrong with that record is it didn't it didn't sound it was actually it didn't sound

in 1973 it didn't sound as good as other records did in 1973 that was the problem songs were great playing was great nice loose

yeah no it was all awesome but they just sonically I think that's what that's why they didn't cross over like anyway so i can't remember what the first riff i had him teach me was but i watched him do it he put the record on and he had the guitar and he just sat there and listened to it and figured out the notes yeah so i can do that and so i eventually left there with all due respect to to robert yeah i learned a lot of cool things i have some picking techniques scales pentatonics no no just up and down picking um pentatonic stuff well just because learning those licks off of a record yeah that's where i stopped pentatonic and i'm good yeah well i mean you

can play blues here and then move it down too and then it's major. Yeah. Well, you start. Yeah. Yeah. Well, see. I mean, you put some thought into it. There's theory behind that. Yeah. Anyway, so I quit with the lessons and I just started learning. So, I was learning, you know, Keith and Mick stuff.

Yeah. And Mick Taylor. Open chords. Open chords stuff. Some of it. I didn't go all the way down to. Yeah. Like, with Keith, he's got a lot of open chord technique

which didn't totally interest me. Right. I know more of it now than I did then. Yeah, yeah. But a lot of Mick Taylor single note lead stuff. That was a big thing. So, Can You Hear Me Knockin', like, was there just, like, that solo?

You know, I mean, all things considered, I never had to listen to anything else. That's Mick Taylor? Yeah. And it's regular tuning? Yeah. Oh. So you sat down. And it's regular tuning? Yeah. Oh. So you sat down.

You were one of those guys who sort of learned the leads. Yeah. So I was learning everything. Yeah. And you had an ear for it and you figured it out. Yeah. Hours. Yeah.

Hours and hours. The guitar and I were inseparable. Oh, right. Yeah. I used to walk around with one of those little, what was it? Walkman? No. The Rockman? The fucking tape deck oh yeah

yeah it was like panasonic oh yeah the one with the handle yeah and that and some cassettes that i used to steal from tower records right and i was just in my guitar and i was i was you know what was like when you started playing what was like the the one the the guitarist that you were sort of learning who who was the real you know portal like was like what what guitarist that you were sort of learning? Who was the real portal? What guitarist blew you the fuck away? There was a few. Mick Taylor and Ames was one. Jimmy Page was another.

Old Eric Clapton was one. Hendrix was one. That was all sort of going on. Oh, and Aerosmith. I mean, there was a Aerosmith record called Rocks. Yeah, sure. And I credit them for that was the record that i identified with attitude wise yeah and so that was an important one for me i mean that that

sort of set me in the direction that i ended up oh really yeah that's sort of really loose drunken aggressive misfit fucking rocky roll thing yeah yeah It's a different production too, huh? Yeah, it's, you can tell it was right before everything took over. Yeah. When they were still having fun with all the,

you know, even Jack Douglas who produced it, somebody I know pretty well, they were all just having a good time, you know,

and just decided to make the heaviest rock and roll record and they did, you know, it's really bassy and muddy and... And you're friends

with those guys now? Yeah, yeah. Perry's like, he's, both of those, I think the other guy, he doesn't get enough credit. Oh, Brad? Yeah. No, Brad's major. I mean, there was Brad, I think Brad. Whitford?

Whitford. And, yeah, Brad and Joe collectively are one of the best dual guitar teams. But Brad's playing was so different than Joe's's and this in the it was like very much lick oriented whereas joe's is lick oriented too but he had a lot of dynamic you know like like a sort of a punch here or a dive bomb there right that's a whole different kind of trip and he plays he plays in a in his own zone like you know like he's actually he plays he's so unorthodox just the way that he plays. And he uses the same fingers

everybody else does, but just the way that he fingers stuff is very different. And like, what did you feel about in terms of like knowing that relationship

between, because like, you know, a relationship that Keith has with Ronnie is, obviously it's like was meant to be. You know,

Ronnie and Keith. You know, Keith and Mickick you understand why that didn't quite last right but like with izzy did you have that with him yeah well i think i mean i don't know what other guys do still to this day i don't know what other dual guitar for me it was always like you know i play my thing you play your thing and we never sat down really and worked stuff out. It was just jamming, and we sort of knew what the chord changes were.

We wrote something, I play it this way, and he played it that way. And it just worked. Right. And that was about as much effort as ever went into it. And so even with guitar players that I work with, like in my band, or in the Guns N' Roses, I'm playing with Richard now, it's really, I hate to sort of sit there and studiously work out guitar harmonies or sure like these sort of like perfect you're not

the eagles no so so i think you know listening back to guys that came around doing the dual guitar thing way before we did it was it seems for the most part the bands that i like anyway or it sounds very natural right doesn't sound thought out well it's funny because like when you've you realize that everybody's following keith which seems like insanity but like but but but they are always following charlie right but their their relationship is is sort of like yeah i think it goes back and forth because sometimes i've read that charlie's sort of like watching keith yeah yeah because he might because sometimes I've read that Charlie's sort of like watching Keith. Yeah, yeah.

Because he might keep trying to get, go from being behind the beat. Right. You know, because that can turn the whole thing around. Right.

So there was a vocabulary, there was a language there. But that's what makes a unique chemistry. Sure. Because that doesn't necessarily other people get freaked out. I can't,

I can't, I can't adhere to that fucking lack of of commitment to structure yeah yeah i need to i need a lot i mean but some people just get up and jam and they can speak to each other without even you know just playing and sort of inherently or instinctively sorry sure go into the thing that he expects the other guy to do right and if and if it doesn't happen that way, he can react accordingly. And it's just that kind of natural synergy

is what makes a band like the Stones different than another band. And also, I guess the players, it's better if they really have a voice on the thing. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah. No, it's important.

I mean, well, especially for a rock and roll band where guitar is one of the main instruments of the whole thing. Right. I mean, it's the other lead instrument. You know, you've got your bass and drums. Yeah. So it needs to, these guys need to be able to speak.

Right, right. It needs to be a personal voice. It can't just be a guy who's just a kind of a... Well, here's the chords. I'm reading along. Right, right. I went to, I saw Phil Monharmonic last night with John Williams. And you see those guys playing.

I mean, okay, we're talking about an orchestra. Okay, I understand why everybody needs to cue. All right. But in a rock and roll band, you've got a sort of very personal artist with a certain voice that needs to sort of... You have to. I mean, there's only four chords. Express themselves. Three only four chords express themselves three or four chords right i mean like that's the weird thing about when you when that changed my

mind about thinking about playing is that like for a long time it was three chords really for the most part and and you know everybody you know it's not how fast or what you play it's if you are speaking with the thing yeah no i mean listen the the the most important thing you know guitar players god it's it's guitar is a very competitive like everybody especially nowadays everybody's trying to be you know they've got their techniques down their speed they're this that reminds me of x games yeah where it's just like how much you can wow people but really what's important is to be able to express yourself right able to sing or speak you know with your own voice and to be

recognized as yourself right whatever that is yeah you know even if it's three notes yeah you know that's really what matters is be yourself and have that translate and have it and people might pick up on it or they might not but at least you're being honest right and that's what you learn from the blues guys like you know from f, Bebe, any of them. All the kings. The Three Kings are my favorite blues guys. Yeah. So when did you and Adler start playing in a band?

We had a couple different bands. But they weren't really full-fledged bands. There was always a member missing. And usually it was the singer. So you played with him for a while. So how did Guns, I'm sure you've told this story a million times, but not to me. fledged bands there was always a member missing yeah and usually it was the singer that you know so you played with him for a while so how did guns i'm sure you've told the story a million times but not to me i was in i was in la i was a doorman at the comedy store in 1986 but like you guys were it then right so when did you join those cats i started working uh well okay

like i had a group with steven and then i had a group with Steven and Duff for a short amount of time. Couldn't find a singer. Duff's cleaned up too, huh? Yeah, he got cleaned before I did. He's got a few years before I did. And then I met Izzy, and Izzy had a thing with Axl, and I saw Axl with Izzy later. It's hard for me to remember exactly.

What kind of player is Izzy? I can't seem to know. Well, when I first met him he was he was uh fuck what's that i mean he seemed more keithy it was like he's johnny thunders oh yeah johnny's a little bit more electric yeah yeah yeah but uh it definitely had a uh a very like he was i always say knee slides it was a that, doing power chords and knee slides. Right. And it was really, it was really,

really cool. And so those guys had a band, obviously. And I ended up, we all met, Axl had a band called Hollywood Rose

and I joined up with him. Yeah. And Izzy was in it and Izzy quit. And so Stephen, Again? First time. Okay.

And so Stephen and Axl and a guy named Steve Darrow, great bass player, very big Alice Cooper influence guy. Yeah. And so we had a band called Hollywood guy named Steve Darrow, great bass player, very big Alice Cooper influence. Yeah. And so we had a band called Holiday Rose, and that split up. Yeah. And so all these different things happened.

And this is all in, what, 82, 83? No, this is like 84. Okay. Yeah, 83, 84. Yeah. And then Axl had Hollywood Rose, and this guy Tracy had this band called L.A. Guns. And they merged and became Guns N' Roses.

And then Duff, after working with Steve and I, he was living across the street from Izzy. So he ended up joining Guns N' Roses. And then Axl and I talked at one point. And he goes, I guess he had a falling out with Tracy. So I said, well, I want to come back and do it. So I started working in it. And then the drummer, there was this gig that we were going to do. We were going to do a tour up to the Pacific Northwest.

Because Duff was from up there, and he knew all the venues. Right. And so when the original drummer guy heard about this, he said, I'm not going. I'm not going up there with you guys. Why? Because. You're out of control? Yeah, totally out of control it's just yeah totally out of

control yeah uh it was it didn't it probably didn't feel stable enough for him yeah so i called steven and steven came in and that was uh you're like great we're all out of control and then we we went up to do these gigs up north and uh the the car broke down in bakersfield so we hitchhiked up there and that was really what cemented this band. Well, we left the equipment in the U-Haul, and we had two guys that were sort of like roadies, friends of ours. And they were going to get the car fixed and meet us up there. They never did. So we borrowed this band that Duff knows, equipment called the Fastbacks, and we did one show. We tried to not pay us.

In San Francisco? No, this was in Seattle. Yeah. And then we got a ride back and we were together after that from that point on. So the car ride was the bonding experience? I guess, yeah. Yeah. I think the whole experience was pretty bonding. So when did you start, what were you doing drug-wise from then? Where did it start? Realistically, in all honesty, it was mostly booze. I was never, wasn't a coke guy then i had a bad

experience with coke on my birthday trying to play after doing like a gram or something in my head and from that point on i was always sort of indifferent about right coke so mostly mostly drinking then i didn't get into the other stuff because the other stuff drug of choice is the obvious dope yeah and that didn't happen until like 1985, 19, yeah. Right around when you guys were working on Appetite? Yeah, right before we got a record deal. Yeah. Or not right before.

But it seems like L.A. at that time, because you, like, it's interesting, you were able to witness the sort of intimacy of that Laurel Canyon thing. And like, you know, like L.A. was a small town musically in a lot of ways when you were growing up. And even in the 80ss it seemed like if you watch that decline in western civilization it's great but like all you all you guys knew each other right i mean there was just this battle of the bands every fucking night in this city yeah and we were definitely the only five guys in in town that could have made up that band. Yeah. Because we all hated pretty much what the 80s scene in LA was about.

Because it was too fluffy? It was too fluffy. It was contrived. You know, it was totally... Everybody was getting the look together. They didn't have any real chops or real background. Right. They didn't have any real music history. So you guys were all the bitter, angry dudes?

We were like... I guess we were a little angry honoring the the rock of the the monsters yeah the the like uh i think a lot of it you know there was just a general attitude so hair metal was what you were up against yeah yeah yeah and so we went in going in just doing our thing against it was us against everybody else right it's so funny because i know john daniel do you know john daniel i'm trying to think he was the bass player in candy oh okay and now he's in music management but he's gilby like him and gilby were buddies like oh candy yeah i remember it's funnily enough gil we played madame wong's one time yeah and candy was playing and that's how i first became aware of gilby yeah so So it was funny because when Gilby came into the whole thing,

that's where I remembered him from. Right, from Candy. He'd be perfect because there was a lot of guitar players that had this sort of dyed black hair, sort of Johnny Thunders, whatever kind of thing. Ryan Roxy. Yeah. What was his band?

What was Ryan Roxy in? Do you remember? I can't remember. I played with him. He was in Snake Pit for a little bit. Yeah um but i can't remember exactly where he came from yeah yeah but it was a similar kind of a thing it's a certain guitar player kind of look so when you guys come out with appetite you know you're up against all that shit it's a different trip right and didn't it like kind of like when he first released didn't it take like a couple years

before it popped wasn't there a weird story around it? Guns was probably a good example of a band that nobody really wanted to see happen except for the people that were directly involved with it. You guys? Us, and we had a manager at the time, an A&R guy. Why didn't they want to see it happen? Because we were unsavory, I guess. In terms of attitude and behavior?

We weren't playing the game the way that everybody else was doing it. And we played by our own set of rules. And we just did things our way. And so, you know, granted it was a good band. You know, it was a little risky and scary for most everybody in the industry. They thought they'd got beyond that shit. Well, whatever they were thinking. They'd show up at a rehearsal thinking because someone said, well, you should sign this band.

They were like, great. And they'd walk into rehearsal before we were done with the song just seeing how we worked. They were gone. They had a lot of that kind of stuff going on. Everyone doing their own thing, drinking their own shit, doing their own drugs. And loud and whatever. It's hard because I'm so close to it to get a perspective of what other people thought they were seeing. Right, right.

So when we finally did find a producer to do the record, which is Mike Klink, we went in, we made the record. Who was it? Mike Klink. Yeah. He was a really great engineer that worked with Ron Nevison for years. Yeah. So we did the record, and then, you know,

we got on to an opening slot with the cult going across Canada and stuff. And it wasn't, you know, it didn't, it was, the record didn't explode in any way, shape, or form. And so then the label wanted to drop it, you know, so it took some effort on a few people's part to keep us right so okay well it came out in 87 it came out in 87 and i remember like because we hit we started hitting uh 1988 right because like i read a piece

like i remember i had hit the wall on drugs and i'd moved back to boston and i was living in an attic in somerville trying to get sober the first time and there was like an article in spin like you know basically about like this album came out a while ago and no one fucking noticed it properly like it's like this is where this should be this is the rock record of this decade kind of trip but it'd been out for almost a year right i mean it'd been out longer than a year yeah when think, when it finally... And they'd... You know, I think we put out Welcome to the Jungle, and it built up this sort of cult kind of following.

Yeah, because you, like, were saviors of rock. I don't know. Yeah. We definitely wasn't Bon Jovi. Yeah, right. So we had this core group of followers that we weren't totally aware of because you're on the road

you don't really know what's going on and you're just we're just having a good time being on the road and doing our thing and but then Sweet Child of Mine

came out and it was a big MTV thing and I hate to say it but that really exploded yeah I always hated MTV but that was that with him

in his white leather suit in the concert no it was Paradise City that came out afterwards oh okay but so Sweet Child of Mine I always hated MTV, but that video. Was that with him in his white leather suit? No, it was Paradise City. That came out afterwards. Oh, okay. But, so Sweet Child of Mine, and we had that single, and that really blew up. Paradise City and Rocket Queen are actually my two cuts, but those are the ones. I don't even know why. Like, you know, I like Sweet Child.

I like the whole record. I mean, I like the tribute for you. The riff in Rocket Queen was actually a riff that we were doing when duff and steven and i had a band oh real crew at one point that's where rocket queen first started oh really yeah so it was like i didn't realize until i'm looking at it right now i mean the life of it was only like what was it five years of guns yeah what when i when you were in the original no no it started well it started 80 let's say 85 to 96 so 10 11 years you really did it we hung in there after 96 then there was a point there where everything sort of went south and so i went off and started doing my own thing and we didn't get reacquainted for 20 years how much was it like you know in terms of looking back on it as like

just a sober cat like how much did did drugs shred the band ultimately i mean well i mean it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't the catalyst yeah um we managed and and the thing was is like for me professionally yeah when we were touring yeah for the most part, I didn't use. I drank, which was always acceptable. Right. But when we were off the road for any extended period of time, I'd go down the black hole and I'd have to pull myself out of it and all that. But I think it was more, I mean, obviously, any kind of chemical influence is going to have some bearing on your logic

and how you handle certain situations and all that kind of shit. So, you know, I can't say no, it wasn't that. But you were losing members, right? Yeah, there was other, like to death? No, no. Like you got to go clean up and come back kind of shit? Well, that was later. There was a situation with steven yeah

that happened but it was a pretty irretrievable kind of way you know and we were we were trying to get him together but he just you know is he still around yeah yes he's still around so he you know so there was the there was the the lying and all that and it just wasn't going anywhere yeah and and steven wasn't the kind of person that, under the influence, he could just show up and play. Right. Yeah. So, it was different people had different, you know, ways of handling it. Couldn't handle the high.

Right. Something like that. Yeah. So, but I'd say it was more of business management and shit like that that really was the catalyst for splitting up. At least my leaving. Oh, really? The underlying theme was definitely that. About money.

It wasn't necessarily about money. Well, yeah, it was about money for those guys. For us, it wasn't about money, but it was also playing guys against each other. I don't want to get into all that. Sure, sure. Yeah, well, I'm not such a GNR nerd where I'm going to gonna be like what about the

you know so i didn't expect you know you you know i i have a broad it's a it's a it's a complex and and and ultimately very personal thing sure so we just like after a while just like you know it's not it's not worth even trying to explain yeah but then also like i mean it's got to be hard to imagine coming from where you all came from and doing the work and then becoming this mega million dollar touring band and recording band. I mean, that's got to change shit for everybody. That was hard, too. I mean, the adjustment. Oh, man.

I'm not that guy. Yeah, me neither. So it was really sort of culture shock. I can't imagine imagine and that was hard so that that really helped where you just want to sort of bury it all yeah oh yeah like you know i want to get back to just me in my room i want to ride my bike again sitting in your house you don't want to go anywhere you don't want to hang out in all the places you used to hang out at yeah and you're just so you just ended up isolated doing smack and just, you know.

And it was hard. It was hard. But, you know, I learned a lot from it and I've been, went through it so many times that now if I, if I,

if I get it down, yeah, just down time. Yeah. So now I'm just a complete workaholic. Oh, that's good. Yeah.

I mean, it's like, you know, congratulations. It's hard to come back from smack. I mean, you know, really, due to like, you know, a lot of cats. I'm really actually,

I look back on a lot of shit that I went through and I'm just really, really fortunate. Someone out there was looking out for me because I, you know, I redlined so many times and I'd come back and I'd be like. In the hospital? Oh, in the hospital. Sometimes on the floor with paramedics somewhere.

I mean, all kinds of shit. And it didn't freak me out. So I would just keep going. Right, it was just sort of like, this is part of it. It's like smoking with pneumonia. Exactly. It's sort of like,

it's not like a focused death wish kind of thing, but you just are not intimidated by any of the pitfalls of the shit that you're doing. You just keep doing it. If something happens to you, fine. But you didn't want to die. No, I had no, you know, but you would just do whatever, and whatever happens, happens. Occ're doing you just keep doing it if something happens to you you didn't want to die no i had no you know but you would just do whatever and whatever happens occasionally you just died sometimes you never came back from being dead and with any sort of wisdom or no just

and it just it never irked me it's like well now that how long because they they pump you full of uh no tricks on or whatever it is it's like well how long before I can get high yeah oh you're you're in man seriously committed the other records like the ones you did like I listened to all the other soul records

I listened to Velvet Revolver like that you know and Scott that was that's a sad so dude I was listening to Velvet Revolver night before last

because we're rehearsing right now and we're going to do a Velvet song and I hadn't heard it in a while. Guns Is? No, no.

Oh, your band, yeah. And so put the song on and then just let it play and listen to the rest of the record from there. And I was like, wow. Yeah, and there was some cool stuff on there

and Scott was brilliant but God, there was somebody that there was just no coming out of it. We thought, when we got into it, we thought, well, shit, we've been there. We can rally behind him and get him through it.

But there was just, it wasn't happening. But he was great, man. Such an amazing talent. Good singer. But that was who he was. Yeah. So, you know, sort of, you can't really mourn that in the way that you would normal people because you sort of death. That's how he was going to go that way.

Because you were living, yeah, you live on the edge and and he committed yeah it's sad he was so good at it that it surprised me that he could function shocked me no it shocked me when something happened yeah oh was it a mistake an accident or well i mean it's it's always it's usually an accident it's it's called bad chemistry you know yeah and now you're lucky you're out before this fence and all shit yeah yeah oh fuck but uh but no i'm just saying that you seem to be you know with every record you you're you're still evolving you're still doing shit you want to do i mean this record sounds like well this this solid hard rock record we did this at my my i have a little studio here in LA.

And it's just raw. And we had this guy Elvis who is great producing it. And I said, I just want to keep it stripped down. We keep trying to do a fucking stripped down record. And then something manages to sort of sneak its way in there. Like what? How does that get away from you on a production level? You can get overproduced with drums. You can get overproduced with vocals. But who's in charge of that? you know sneak its way in like what how does that get away from you on a production level you can

get overproduced with drums you can you can get overproduced with vocals but who's in charge of that how come it's just something that you you know you go in and we always do it live yeah right and then and then you know you start piecing it together from there and it's just something that can sort of happen without you so i see realizing so you lay down you do a couple you do a master track and then just start cutting into it yeah i down, you do a couple, you do a master track and then just start cutting into it. Yeah. I mean,

so you do a master track and then you put the guitars on and everything's cool and you're doing vocals but somewhere along the way there can be some EQ stuff that you put on the drums that really affects

the overall sound. Right, right, right. And you don't really see it coming because you don't hear it on the drums and so much to yourself when you're soloing the drums.

And it's also just from not wanting to to have to deal with every little thing every step of the way you just want to play your guitar and focus on that right you know what's going on right yeah anyway so so i mean i remember when we were doing velvet revolver you know we went in there basically did the record the same way that i've always done records. And we're doing this little tiny studio down in Hollywood, right? The place where Hendrix worked. I forgot what it was called. But so everything's going fine. And one day I realized I'd left something at the studio.

So I'd gone home. I came back and I found the engineer just pro-tooling everything together, just moving everything so it's all perfect yeah and i was fucking shocked and i just didn't have the experience to know that that was going to be something that might happen because it's pro tools uh-huh i just so he was tightening up the beauty yeah i mean yeah just moving everything so it falls right on you know yeah on the beat and everything's perfect and cleaning up any of the sort of nuances and just making it all.

And that freaked me out. But that's the way the record ended up sounding because there was nothing I could really do about it at that point. I was like, oh, go back and, you know.

And I'm one-fifth of the band, too. So it's like... Right. But so on this one, it was just like we did it on a fucking 16 track. And although we did it for the first record in a while, we did do it digitally because I just didn't have the resources to do an analog record. Yeah.

But we didn't sit there and fuck with everything. Right, right. And that's one thing I always very attentive to is to make sure that we don't start getting into tweaking stuff and making it sound too sweet. And the other thing was just having a conversation with Elvis saying, we just got to keep this thing raw. Oh, man, right out of the gate. I love it for that. First chord. It's like, oh, this is it.

Well, good. And you got a hit single already, right? Apparently, it's doing pretty well driving right yeah i don't follow the they they tell me if there's a if there's a you know yeah a point that they should tell me you know yeah something's cool is going on so yeah i guess it's the the fastest charting single i've had as a solo guy yeah rock is back well i don't know if we're good rock is in a in a very funny way right now because this industry is just not,

it's not a rock business anymore. It's hard to figure out what business it's in. You know what, it's, I was thinking about it. It's the Ed Sheeran business. Yeah, right? Yeah. So, I mean, it's all types of top 40 that they've been putting all types of music

into the top 40 filter. So even country music for a minute there sounded like, you couldn't tell it was they said it's country band really yeah you know and that's right hip-hop is huge and that's all sort of going into this sort of very mainstream it'll do what it's going to do until people are tired of it and but rock will always be there so sure and there's always going to be guys that really fucking appreciate what rock and roll is all about yeah doing it i think that's true yeah i mean there's always going to be guys that really fucking appreciate what rock and roll is all about and doing it yeah i think that's true yeah i mean there's a lot of guitars selling everyone's buying guitars people love guitars yeah they do so wait but what about that like the blues unit the blues

combo that you put together like the blues record that you did or it's not even a record did you just tour with the blues with the blues ball yeah that was the bass player for that band was the guy i was talking to the other day that i mentioned earlier. Oh, yeah. That was just a, you know, like when after the sort of Guns N' Roses thing, I just started throwing bands together and jamming and playing in other people's records and just playing all the time. I was pretty out there just doing all kinds of shit. And I had this one sort of offshoot band with some friends of mine called Slash's Blues Ball, which was really...

I remember hearing it somewhere, though. It was a really cool band. We just did a lot of covers there was a couple was there a record? no no we just went around

playing any place that would have us did you ever think about just doing a blues record? you know it's been it's come up you know

at some point I'm sure that'll be the thing that'll be the statement I want to make but right now it's just not did you listen to that

Rolling Stones one? that was great that was I mean that was a really great now it's just not. Did you listen to that Rolling Stones one? That was great. That was, I mean, that was a really great record. It's actually in my car. It's crazy, but it's so good. And to really, you know, I mean, the way that they played it,

I think maybe with Stones records, sometimes you forget. Yeah. And so when you hear them playing all these old standards, you're like, wow. You know, you really stop and listen to how great they are.

Well, yeah, because, like, you know, like, that's the one liability of the blues is also the beauty of it, which is that any idiot can play them. So, like, you know, the difference between a bar band doing a Jimmy Reed cover and the Stones doing it is that, you know, the Stones are, they're the fucking Stones. That's where they come from. That's where they come from. They're like, when you hear them play, you're like, now with all this wisdom experience,

they're a real fucking blues band. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's so, it just blew my mind, dude. And Don was, told me, he just, You know Don?

Yeah, I talked to him. I love Don. Yeah, sweet. But I talked to him about that record because he said they were just, they would just dick around during rehearsals and play blues numbers. And he was recording them. And there was no pressure to do a blues record.

Right. But he said, you guys should listen to these that you were just dicking around with. And they knocked that thing out in like three days. And that's the beauty of it. In this day and age where everything is, you know, the way things are put together for them to, as the Stones, who can obviously fly in a record and fly it in from anywhere to put it to you. They did it like the old school way. Yeah.

And it sounds amazing. And it's just, it's great to hear something. It's really refreshing. In this day and age, especially, I mean, that would be a good record at any time. But in this day and age, especially, to hear something sound that good that was done in a way that a band that's what a rock and roll band is.

It's guys interacting with each other and like I said that chemistry combination of personalities musicians that come together and make a unique sound unto

them. Yeah. And people sort of forget that. So you're going to tour with Miles? Yeah I'm going to tour with Miles

September into October then go back out with Guns in November into December. Is Guns doing any? Are you guys working on a new song? We'll see what happens. Let's just leave it at that. Are you in the studio?

No. No. We just got off the road, and then I went straight in to do this. And it went good on the road? It was great. Dude, it was a miraculous couple years. I was going to say a year and a half. But it's been, as of this November tour, it'll be more than two years the people love it right it's been great

man it's been i mean you know and i was i you know i was so like you know there was so much whatever yeah you know the idea that that would ever happen was such a far-fetched thing in my mind right and so when it when we played the i guess it was the first show at the Troubadour, and from that point forward, it was just like, wow. Yeah. The people were there for it, right? Yeah, no, the people were, I mean, I have to say that, you know, with all due respect to the 90s, it was great.

But the people coming to the gun shows around the world for this thing has just been unbelievable. And also, you're awake for it. Yeah. It actually, you know, one of the things, I haven't really figured it out yet, but one of the things that I noticed about it is that I'd known Axl and Duff for 30-some-odd years now,

and we played these songs. A lot of these songs I played a million times. Some of them them some of the new stuff i haven't played until just this tour but uh it's weird because it's all seemed yeah so so there is there is you know those moments on stage i'll look over and and and but it doesn't remind me of anything from the past right which is weird so i don't have like you know those moments of like reminiscing where I'm like in the middle of Welcome to Jungle and all of a sudden I flash back to another time.

No, it's right now. It all seems very present right now. Oh, that's good. So that's a trip. Yeah. Because. I wanted to ask you about session stuff. Like, because you did, you worked kind of, not extensively, but a few.

I was doing a lot of stuff. Right. But like a few times with Michael Jackson. Mm-hmmson right like like several songs and some live stuff yeah what was it like to work with him in retrospect now that he's gone yeah um michael is great i mean um i you know i got that phone call from uh guns's tour manager or no manager at the time and and uh said well michael jackson's on the phone yeah do you so i was like wow you know and i remember i manager at the time and said, well, Michael Jackson's on the phone. Yeah. So I was like, wow.

You know, and I remember I was at the, I was at the Riot House and I was with some chick and I had the drunk, and I was like, okay, so like, The Riot House is on top of the Roxy?

Where is it? No, the Hyatt, it's not the Hyatt anymore. Oh, the old Hyatt, right, yeah,

yeah, next to the Comedy Store. yeah, next to Seymour Cassell's house. Oh, yeah, right, which is behind it,

yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, okay, let me get my shit together and he goes well just meet him

down at the record plant at such and such a time so later that night I went down there and he and it was it's funny and I don't mean to name drop

but he was he was there and the studio was very dark and it was him and it was Brooke Shields right so that for me

you know I was like Blue Lagoon it's just I'm out of my element. Which album? This was Dangerous. I guess it was like 92, 91.

I'm not sure. But anyway, so we met. He was very nice, very cordial. She wasn't. No, she was just being herself. So they took off to dinner and just left me with the track and just do what you want and it was cool

it was this song called Give In To Me and I you know put some guitars on it and stuff and he really dug it and then he asked me to come down

a couple times after that and then we did a bunch of live performances like we did an MTV thing and then I played with him like in Italy one time and in Germany and then we did a video

he just flew you out to play yeah and it was fun for the whole show or just the songs i would just go for the yeah i mean i would go for the show but i mean i'd go up and play three songs right whatever but uh it was great working with him because he is one of the you know those great artists that when he would walk on stage and do his thing and he was a real hard worker right sound check yeah all that kind of stuff. And it was just... And dancing.

Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. He'd get up there and start doing the choreography stuff. And one guy, and there's 30 other people doing the same move. You could tell Michael was this naturally gifted thing that just flowed right through. So that was pretty amazing to be around. And all things considered, he just wanted me to be me, and he seemed to really dig that.

And Van Halen played on Beat It, right? One of them? It was Beat It. Yeah. Before, yeah. Are you friends with Eddie? Yeah. How's he doing?

He's good. He's good. I actually don't talk to Eddie all the time. When I say friends, we've hung out a couple times and whatnot. But I did talk to him recently on the phone, and he seemed really good. That's good. And what was this thing you did with Carole King? That was a long time ago.

Actually, okay, Teddy Zigzag, who was the keyboard player, he actually was on the road with guns in the 90s. But he was the singer-keyboard player for Slash's Blues Ball. Right. He was this guy I jammed with all the time. And he worked with Carole. And so they asked me if I would come in and I think I recorded a song with her. How it happened.

Yeah. And she was great because she goes back to that period. Yeah. Lieber and Stoller. Well, just the whole Laurel Canyon thing. So it was all back to that. Oh, even before. I was going back to her husband, Goffin.

They were like brill building. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But she was back in the, she knew the folks? Yeah. Well, I think she knew my mom. Uh-huh.

So it was cool. It was a very, you know, an honor to go in and work with Carol on something. And then they had me come and play at the Jazz Fest in New Orleans and stuff like that. That's a wild venue for you. People must surprise people when they see Slash come out. I know. I know. It was fun, though.

It was a gas. And tell me about this, the film production company. The film It was fun, though. It was a gas. And tell me about the film production company. The film production company. All right. Well, I produced a horror movie back in 2013, I guess it was. And it was one of those experiences where it was just fraught with problems. Yeah. It was insane.

Yeah. But we managed to pull it off and we finished the movie yeah you know that that would be something that either turns you on or turns you off right you're gonna and i turned me on and so i'm still doing it and so i've got all these different things going on in different stages but i've got a couple deals that just closed oh really yeah so i don't make movies yeah so i'm not going to talk about it because i'm not going to jinx it but it's going it's a slow process right but it's like nice to work a different muscle this sort of is well it's also something that like when i was a kid in england you know i was turned on to music without you know at that

time it was like the fucking who and the yard birds and the kinks and stuff my dad was into all that shit the other thing was horror movies yeah i was just naturally just oh you that was your thing? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that stuck with me all throughout. And then in the millennium, you know, the horror genre had been dumbed down to its fucking stupidest denominator. Yeah.

And I just thought, you know, I would love to be able to get involved with trying to make something that was a little bit more story driven, character driven. Like what are some of your favorites? Well, right off the top of my head was The Omen. The original Omen. It was a fucking great movie. It was a drama with a little fucked-up twist to it. But it was just intellectual enough. The twist was the Antichrist.

Yeah, but it started out he was just a kid. It turns out. It always starts out that way. But it was a great feature. But I mean, Night of the Living Dead, when I was a kid, I saw that in a drive-in. Yeah. With my mom. That and The Exorcist, double bill.

Right. And it was just like, God, this is the best. Yeah, yeah. And it was, there was a lot of great movies that came out through the 70s and then into the 80s. But I think when we got into the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises yeah everything started to go in that just murder thrillers yeah yeah yeah just that's not you know like dumb kids going like what going there sleep away camp yeah yeah whatever so you're gonna you're gonna bring back story driven yeah i

know i've got you like those rob zombie weirdo movies i i well rob rob makes movies that really disturb me because he makes he makes movies about psycho rednecks. Yeah, yeah. But his movies are great, but it's a different thing than what it is. It's kind of a riff on B-movies, and he uses a lot of those real dudes. Yeah. Are you crazy with him? Yeah, and he's good at what he does, and he does, it's all his thing.

So you got to love that. And he succeeded at it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Writing his own flicks in his own style and doing it, you know. Did you play on that last Alice record? The last Alice, no. No. No.

Wait, wait, yeah, I did. You had a lot of people on there. No, I did play on it. I played on it. Yeah. I did, but you know, when I played on it, there was only a couple of us on there. Oh, yeah. And then it morphed into schools out with, uh, with,

with the pink, with another brick of the wall thrown into it. And then by the time I heard it back, there was like eight or nine of us guitar, but I don't even know which one's mine. Right. Right. One of the cool things about Alice and knowing him for a long time is like,

if you want to find a rock star model to be like, he's the guy. Yeah. He's so cool. Um, and he's aware that it's a character in a show. Well, yeah, but he's the guy. Yeah. He's so cool. And he's aware that it's a character in a show. Well, yeah,

but he, yeah, yeah, exactly. He's pretty unaffected. But, you know, he had to get his act cleaned up too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is where

the golf thing came in, which to me was always been very anti-rock and roll. Oh, it's what? It's golf, it's conservatism and Christianity.

It took a lot. I accepted it with Alice because I knew where it came from. I always saw golf as something you should be into because that's when those guys get up early in the morning and work out fucking stealing shit from you on your contracts. Your attorney and your managers and all of them, that's when they get together and work out your life. Do you play?

No. Do you do anything physical? Do you do like working out? I'm not really sort of like a sports guy. Yeah, I go to the gym and stuff. Oh, you do? Yeah, I have to. Get some cardio going?

Yeah, to keep up with this pace of this. All right. Well, I love it, man. The new record sounds great. Good luck with the tour. Great talking to you. It's been great talking to you. It's fine, man.

And I have to say, since we're, I don't want to put you on the spot, but you're fucking awesome at glow. Oh, thanks, buddy. Dude, I know that want to put you on the spot, but you're fucking awesome at glow. Oh, thanks, buddy. Dude, I know that guy. We all know that guy. So I love it. I had no idea. And I have to thank Megan because she goes, you know, watch this with me.

It's really good. And I was like, gorgeous ladies of wrestling. I never watched it when it was on TV. Right. But she got me into it. And I was like, oh, man, this is great. I remember this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, thanks, man. It's great meeting you. Nice meeting you. All right, that's it. I love that guy. How can you not love that guy? Again, the record, Living the Dream, featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators, comes out tomorrow, September 21st. Get it wherever you get that stuff.

Do I play some guitar my way? The simple way? the amateur way after i talked to one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived no you know what i don't boomer lives Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category,

and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th

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