Faces-Wisdom of Slash 1989

Faces - June 1989

Wisdom of Slash

His "relationship" with Poison:
Has it that Slash once said that if you put him and Poison in the same room, he'd be the only one to walk out (or so it came out in print). "I don't know if that was the actual remark, something like that, but I've been advised by the powers that be not to talk about that. There's already a magazine out with my feelings on it in big bold letters… I mean, I'd enjoy doing it, if I had it my way - I say all kinds of stuff, but I'm supposed to act like an adult…"

The "lawsuits":
"We've got lots of lawsuits pending, but I don't think it would be wise of me to state any names, or someone will hold it against me somehow. They're richer and more influential than we are, on the average."

I did it my way…:
"We get a lot of advice from different people in different directions, not telling us what to do, but suggesting certain adjustments in our lifestyle, trying to keep us out of trouble. I never took this whole thing that seriously. I mean, it's very nice that Geffen signed us, it gave us a new lease on life - rather, it extended our lives a little longer. But I'm still going to do things my way, and when we signed our contract, we did it on those terms, that no one was going to tell us what to do or how to do it. I think we make all our best judgements on our own, as far as that goes."

The L.A. street scene incident:
"After a long day of other bands playing, we got onstage and started playing, and the kids took that as the signal to just lose it. It was cool, we had all these skinheads throwing oil barrels and playing catch with them, tossing them across the crowd. They were tearing the stage from underneath and all kinds of stuff. After the fourth song, we had so many people onstage we didn't know who was the band or what. Well, the fire marshal shut us down, that was it. The fans, or whoever they were, were really cool. I go in for that sh*t. That's my big kick - the more hardcore, the more I get off on it."

Breaking the law:
"The cops were after us for some incidents, and we were hated by them, so anytime there was a gig with our name on it, they were there, but it's no big deal."

The name "Guns N' Roses":
"There was Hollywood Rose, right? A band that Izzy and Axl had, and I was in for a while. Then there was L.A. Guns, who you know. Then there was a period that I stopped playing with Axl and he joined L.A. Guns and played with Tracii Guns. Then Tracii, Axl, and Izzy got together, then I came back, and it was Guns N' Roses."