Slash and the new album: “Billy Gibbons was skeptical”
Even if your name is slash and something in the music you've done it's not always easy to call other musicians and ask them to play on your new album. In this case the album in question is the new solo effort by the guitarist of Guns N' Roses“Orgy Of The Damned”. To succeed in the business slash has enlisted a whole host of artists, including Chris Stapleton, IggyPop, Steven Tyler, Chris Robinson, Gary Clark Jr., Billy Gibbons and Brian Johnson.
He explained when speaking to Classic Rock magazine: “Listen, when you cold call musicians, some of whom you don't even know, it doesn't matter who you are.
It's a difficult task. You're trying to sell an idea. The two hardest to pin down were Chris Stapleton and Billy Gibbons. Billy is everywhere. He's always working and always doing something. I told him I was doing a version of “Hoochie Coochie Man” and I knew from his tone of voice that he was skeptical. I mean, he knows me, but. However, I had to convince him to do it. I feel really honored that he's on the record.”
One of those who never answered calls from slash era Steven Tyler of the Aerosmith, but eventually managed to convince him to play harmonica on “Killing Floor” which is sung by AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson. “He was unreachable for a month. Then, once the record was finished, I finally heard from him. 'Oh man, I've been here and there. What happens?' And that's why he came to play harmonica on 'Killing Floor'.”
The idea of recording a blues album has been in the works since 1996, when
slash
had left i
Guns N' Roses
and was working on a side project called
Slash's Blues Ball
. “There was a lot of drinking, but we had a lot of fun playing all these covers and improvising around. We actually went so far as to do a US tour and we did a few tours in Europe as well. Anyway, I've always wanted to record it. But then there was Snakepit, then I was in the hospital, then Velvet Revolver, then the Conspirators, then Guns N' Roses again. I was very busy. Anyway, 30 years later I finally had two weeks off and I thought, 'Now I'm going to make this record.'”
