VELVET REVOLVER: Stripped Down Rock And Roll For New Generation

Planet-Loud.com recently conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Planet-Loud.com: Going onto this record ["Libertad"], what did you want to achieve with it?

Slash: You know, for me personally, I didn't have any set goal as to what I wanted to achieve. I don't think I ever have. We just started working on some stuff and all these cool ideas started coming out and then you start working on them and more cool stuff comes together and that's pretty much as much focus on what you want to achieve as I guess I have. All we do is take an idea that sounds like it could be something and work on it.

Planet-Loud.com: Considering the pedigree of the band and the success of the first record, did you feel under any pressure going into this album?

Slash: I think as much as I dug the first record for what it was — a new band without any real working experience together, regardless of me, Duff [McKagan] and Matt [Sorum] working together before — just going in the studio and making a record in the spare of the moment and then going out to fucking tour it, as much as it was a successful record, I don't think that creatively or musically it even began to touch what we were capable of doing as a band. I guess what I am trying to say is that, for us, it wasn't as satisfying a record as it was commercially which doesn't mean shit, really. So, going into this record it wasn't about surpassing what we had done on the last record, it was about making something that was satisfying for the five of us.

Planet-Loud.com: On the album you did an ELO cover but I hear you weren't so keen on doing it at first?

Slash: I don't know the whole story behind that one but apparently Brendan and Scott [Weiland] were having a chat when I wasn't there and I came in afterwards and Brendan [producer] mentioned the song. Now, we all know it's a great song if you're an ELO fan and we all know they wrote some great song but I have to admit I don't have a lot, if any, on my I-pod. He mentioned it to me and I was the most apprehensive about it as it was a good song but I didn't know how the hell we were going to play that song. It took me about a week to convince me to lay down some scratch acoustic with drums and bass then he put down Scott's vocals and his vocals were awesome then I had to figure out what to do with it. We finished the record apart from that song and everyone had done their part except for me and Dave [Kushner] so we sat down and we started to get an idea of what we wanted on it. So, I went to Atlanta to finish the mix and I put the guitar solo on it and I think it made it a good version of the song but it doesn't sound like ELO.

Planet-Loud.com: Scott recently did an interview where he said that this was the most excited about a rock album he'd been since 1993. Is the music scene devoid of great rock bands these days?

Slash: You know, I was watching the Download [festival] highlights on TV the other day and they had such a diverse range of metal bands. I don't know how many people were there this year but there was such a range of bands and then you had us who were more of a stripped down rock 'n' roll band compared to everything else and it fit in great. There's that side of it then I look at it and it kind of reminds me of the early '80s where you can see where this whole group of people are going but, at the same time, it seems kind of directionless and lacks an attitude or a point or something. If people dig that then great but what I do miss is the anarchistic, punk rock, genuine punk rock attitude that turned me on when I was a kid and made me do what I'm doing today. So, you've got us on the one side but I think that there should also be a handful of bands along those lines that are capable of getting record deals and have the attitude but I just don't see that at the moment.

Read the entire interview at www.planet-loud.com.