The Gibson Video Interview: Slash Unleashes the Appetite Les Paul and a New Album
Michael Wright | 03.10.2010


Photo Credit: Neil Zlozower

As guitarists worldwide drool over the release of the Gibson Slash Appetite For Destruction Les Paul, the Chapeaued Shredder himself sits down and talks about his new, star-studded solo album and recreating the guitar that welcomed us all to the jungle.

A questo link è possibile vedere due video in cui Slash parla della nuova chitarra e dell'album solista:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/F ... -Paul-310/





Altre foto della chitarra e caratteristiche tecniche:
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... tails.aspx

Benefit Concert on March 19 at El Rey in L.A.

Legendary folk-rock-pop troubadour DONOVAN (Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Epistle to Dippy, There is a Mountain, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Hurdy Gurdy Man, etc.) isl headlining a benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation in Los Angeles on Friday, March 19!


Donovan will be joined by his daughter Astrella Celeste and backing band Jerry Vivino, Scott Healy & Rick Reed (from the Conan O'Brien late night band) and James Wormworth (drums), with special guests Peter Noone (Herman's Hermits), Jack Maness (Sublime), The Global Sound Lodge feat: Matt Sorum (of Guns n Roses, Velvet Revolver) & Lanny Cordola, Donovan Jr., POE, Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster), Amrita Sen, Danny Saber (Black Grape / Alice Cooper), Carla Olson (Textones) and more TBA.
Mathew St. Patrick, from Six Feet Under and Adam Gaynor (formally of Matchbox 20), will host the evening performances with morning personality, Larry Morgan from 100.3 FM helping with the introductions.

DJ Carlos Niño will spin the sounds that will assure the night beats in tempo with the over all flavor of this special gathering.

“This will be a unique and heartfelt performance that every music lover will want to experience,” said concert promoter Jason Rothberg.

Schedule
7:30 pm: Doors open
8:30 pm: Every Boy (Bruce Nathan / vox & guitar
Guitar - Billy Masters (Suzanne Vega)
Drums Adam Topol (Jack Johnson)
Keys - Chris Joyner (Sheryl Crow / Wallflowers)
Bass - Jeff McElroy
9:00 pm: Blessed Le Strange
9:35 pm: Jack Maness backed musically by Rickshaw
10:00 pm: Donovan & Friends
11:30 pm: The Paris Escovedo Project


"The Beatles and I brought back from India the lost art of
meditation. Now with David Lynch, we pass it on to thousands of
students world-wide .Join us to help save the world!
Change Begins Within!" - Donovan

Fonte: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=315819708907
http://dlf.tv/
http://www.donovan.ie/en/
http://www.donovan.ie/en/2010/02/benefi ... ey-in-l-a/

Thanks to sa_sky

Slash Won't Release His Duet With Ozzy Osbourne as First Single
March 09, 2010 10:12:12 GMT



Instead of dropping his joint track with the Black Sabbath rocker, the Velvet Revolver star will roll out a duet song with Andrew Stockdale.


Slash has axed plans to release his collaboration with Ozzy Osbourne as the first single from his solo album - to avoid clashing with the Prince of Darkness' new material. The Velvet Revolver guitarist recruited a number of stars, including Stacy Ferguson aka Fergie and Kid Rock, to lend their vocals to his first solo effort, "Slash", and had picked "Crucify the Dead", a track with Osbourne, as his debut release.

But he's now promoting "By the Sword", sung by Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale, since Osbourne is planning to put out his own solo disc in June. And he admits the star-studded collection is already proving problematic.

Slash tells the Pulse of Radio, "The problem with this record is, because I do have all guest singers, you run the risk of, you know, getting singles rights and interfering with the release of other people's records. So that's really what the issue was, is making sure that whatever single I was using wasn't sort of stepping on the toes of that artist's own record. And Ozzy's got a new record coming out."

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1735177/

A quanto pare la sostituzione della canzone con Ozzy, Crucify the Dead, è dovuta puramente a questioni burocratiche. Slash dice che qualsiasi fosse stato il primo singolo scelto non avrebbe voluto che le varie pratiche per i diritti e simili potessero intralciare il lavoro degli artisti ospiti stessi, cosa che con Ozzy sarebbe successa dato che sta per uscire un suo disco.

©VRitalia


thanks to Lady S

Slash Teams Up With Dora The Explorer

05 March 2010



Former GUNS N’ ROSES rocker SLASH is showing his softer side by teaming up with Nickelodeon to design a DORA THE EXPLORER backpack for charity.

The Velvet Revolver star has been hired by bosses at the children's TV company to help launch a series of limited edition celebrity-designed bag, which will go up for auction this summer (10) to raise money for the Children's Defense Fund.

Slash will put his own personal touches to the design, which features popular cartoon character Dora the Explorer, while Shakira and Salma Hayek will also contribute to the project.

Limited numbers of the backpacks will be put up for sale in countries across the world including the U.S., Britain, Canada, France and Spain, and money raised from the auction will benefit childhood education programs in each respective country, according to Blabbermouth.net.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/st ... er_1134432

Slash disegnerà uno zaino di DORA THE EXPLORER per beneficenza; la tv per ragazzi "Nickelodeon" ha contattato il chitarrista per lanciare una serie di borse in edizione limitata, che andranno all'asta quest'estate, per raccogliere fondi per il Children's Defense Fund. Anche Shakira e Salma Hayek contribuiranno al progetto.
Un numero limitato di zaini verrà messo in vendità in vari paesi del mondo, come USA, Canada, Gran Bretagna, Spagna e Francia, e il ricavato verrà destinato in ogni paese per l'istruzione dei bambini.

©VRitalia

http://www.wrif.com/podcasts/Episodes.aspx?PID=1484

Al link potete scaricare un'intervista fatta a Slash a febbraio e un'altra a Duff a gennaio.

Grazie a Filosfoxno per la segnalazione.

Concord Records is proud to announce the release of Macy Gray's new album, entitled The Sellout.

The Sellout is the Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter's first album in more than 3 years and will be released by Concord Records in the U.S., Island Records in the U.K. and Universal Music Group, internationally.

The Sellout, featuring 12 new songs, was co-written and executive produced by Gray in Los Angeles throughout 2009. The album was mixed by four- time Grammy Award winning mixer Manny Marroquin whose credits include top 10 singles for Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Rihanna, Alicia Keyes, Kanye West and John Mayer. Collaborators on the album include T.I., Bobby Brown, The Bodyrockers' Kaz James and Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum formerly of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver.

It's clear from opening moments of the record's first single, the irresistibly anthemic "Beauty In The World", that The Sellout is the work of an artist who has reconnected with the essence of her creative gifts after a long, soul-numbing journey through the music biz's star-making machinery. "The Sellout tells the story of how I found my salvation in just being myself instead of who other people thought I should be," said the striking singer. "I had got to a place in my career where I tried everything that was asked of me and in doing so I lost sight of who Macy Gray really is. I spent over a year making this album without any pressure or opinions and being able to choose the co-writers, producers and artists that felt good to me. As a result, it really reflects my true identity. I feel like I have finally made the album I was capable of and that my fans wanted. These are some of my favorite songs that I've written."

Sparkling melodies and personal lyrical insights dazzle throughout The Sellout, an authentic and confidently delivered statement from one of contemporary music's most skillful and creative forces. The highlights are rich and plentiful including the alluring, soul-pop groove of "Lately", "That Man" a mouth-watering slice of Ting Ting's inflected 80's new-wave, the Joan Jett meets T- Rex thump and screaming Slash guitar of "Kissed It", and the beguiling, "Still Hurts", a vulnerable, emotion filled keep-sake ballad, just to name a few.

Macy Gray first burst onto the music scene with her debut album On How Life Is and the massive hit single "I Try" both of which went number 1 all over the world. The album went on to sell 7 million copies worldwide with Gray winning a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Macy Gray has gone on to sell more than 15,000,000 albums worldwide and has been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards and 6 MTV Video Music Awards. She has collaborated on stage and in the recording studio with some of music's greatest artists including Justin Timberlake, Common, Outkast, Rick Rubin, Carlos Santana, Erykah Badu, Fergie, will.i.am, John Frusciante (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nas, Mos Def and Natalie Cole, among many others. She has also appeared in numerous films including Training Day, Spider Man, Idlewild and the award winning HBO Film Lackawanna Blues.

Further details on The Sellout and Macy Gray's forthcoming world tour will be announced soon.

http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/The-Sellout/

N.B. uscirà il 18 maggio

Slash: the debut solo album
“I’m like a music whore. I wanna go out and fuck everybody.”




Slash’s debut solo album is the must-hear hard rock record of 2010. Featuring a glittering supporting cast of friends, legends, contemporaries, pop stars, young upstarts and former Guns N’ Roses bandmates, ‘Slash’ the LP is absolutely “not a lead guitar solo record.” Although, as you might imagine, there’s no shortage of smoking hot guitar playing…
If you want to hear the Slash solo album first, 7 April will see Classic Rock magazine’s special 'Classic Rock Presents Slash' fan pack released. This will feature a 132-page deluxe edition of the magazine along with a limited edition poster, patch and CD containing all 14 album tracks plus two special bonus cuts.
That’s right, we said all 14 LP tracks. In addition to the tracklisting reported previously, another song featuring Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy entitled Back From Cali has been squeezed in at the last minute. So if you order the Classic Rock Presents Slash fan pack, you now get 16 songs in total.
Back at the tail end of 2009 we caught up with Slash the morning after the Classic Rock awards, and as well as revealing his favourite guitar riffs of all time, he gave us a track-by-track rundown of every song on the album, and revealed all about the collaborative writing and recording process.

Ghost (featuring Ian Astbury and Izzy Stradlin)
In “90 percent” of cases, Slash’s demos were fleshed out with the killer rhythm section of Josh Freese on drums and former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. The album kicks off with a track that’s a nod to the early days in more ways than one…
“It was actually pretty smooth sailing, and pretty easy to get it all together. I was amazed. Ian and I have a long history. Guns N’ Roses’ first tour of Canada and the US was with The Cult. Those guys had been around, and we were this crazy upstart band that they took out with them.
“I always thought Ian was great and when I finished the music to Ghost, he came to mind instantly, probably because of the chord changes. But I hadn’t talked to him in a while and I felt sort of embarrassed to send it to him. One of the things I had to get over making this record was getting the nerve up to go after these people. But he’s an amazing singer. To be in the studio and watch him work was definitely a very cool experience.
“The only other person who played guitar on the record was Izzy, who came in and put some guitars on Ghost. It’s really cool because me and Izzy have a very recognisable dual guitar sound and I hadn’t heard it in a while. It was just great fun. I love Izzy.”

Crucify The Dead (featuring Ozzy Osbourne)
“Ozzy was a lot of fun. It was a real honour – he’s so busy with his stuff – and he took the time to stop and really focus on writing the lyrics for this song.
"We recorded the vocals up at Ozzy’s house, and it was funny because I’m sitting here and Ozzy’s here and we’re sitting at the control board and he’s got his microphone, and he’s working on the lyrics and he’s singing them, trying to work out how they should go. It’s such a recognisable voice!
"It was just a trip to hear Ozzy working out the parts for a piece of music that I wrote. Somebody I’d been listening to since I was a kid, all of a sudden right there. He put together a very poignant set of lyrics about a particular subject matter that a lot of us can relate to..."

Beautiful Dangerous (featuring Fergie)
“I got hip to Fergie being probably as good or better a rock singer than she is a pop singer. I heard her do Barracuda, the old Heart song, and I was like, fuckin’ wow!
"I ended up doing a couple of shows with her where she sang Barracuda and Sweet Child O’ Mine. She’s one of the most phenomenal fucking rock ‘n’ roll singers, male or female, I’ve ever heard.”

Back From Cali (featuring Myles Kennedy)
“When we were thinking about getting a single I was thinking of writing another song and getting Myles to sing it. Then it dawned on me that I had another killer piece or music that I had demoed up for this record but couldn’t think of anybody to sing it so I'd been resigned to the idea of not doing it.
“So I put an arrangement together and sent it to him and he wrote this killer part for it. We flew him out to LA, recorded the song and squeezed it onto the record at the very last minute. Before we even recorded the song we had to get the album artwork done and had to put the name of the song in there before it was recorded. I knew it was going to be a good song, but it was by the seat of our pants.
"It’s different to anything else on the record. It’s a heavy, slow AC/DC kind of deal with really, really great vocals.”

Promise (featuring Chris Cornell)
“Chris was great. Promise was probably the most unorthodox piece of music that I’d written, it was very different. It was one of those things, I don’t know why I thought of him for that song more than any of the others, but I sent it to him and within 48 hours he sent me this great lyric and we were off and running. it was as simple as that. Everybody seems to like this one.”

By The Sword (featuring Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale)
“It’s just a riff that I had that stuck with me. I think I came up with it here in the UK with Velvet Revolver at a soundcheck. A lot of the material on the record was written in hotel rooms during that last Velvet Revolver tour.
"Andrew’s phenomenal singer but I’d never met him before so I didn’t know who to fucking contact! And a friend of mine – Tom Zutaut, the guy that signed Guns N’ Roses to Geffen back in the eighties – got his number for me.
"Andrew happened to be in Hollywood working on Cosmic Egg, so I took an acoustic over there and we wrote the song together. I had this riff and a couple of chord changes and he changed a couple of chords for the chorus, it was just very organic. It’s a very cool song.”

Gotten (featuring Adam Levine)
“It was a piece of music I couldn’t let go of. I finally got to the point where I had a complete arrangement and had written string parts on keyboard and recorded a demo. Even the engineer who I was doing the demos with was sick of hearing that song!
"I thought Adam wasn’t going to be sure about it. But I went to his house and he actually liked it a lot and he wrote the perfect vocal for it. He sings like an angel on it, and it doesn’t sound like Maroon 5 but you can tell it’s his voice. I think people will really appreciate the way it sounds.”

Doctor Alibi (featuring Lemmy Kilmister)
“Lemmy’s like one of my all-time fucking heroes, and he’s a mate too. I really appreciate everything about him. I asked him to play on the record because it just seemed like one of the coolest things to do.
"He came in and he wrote these great fucking words – he’s such an awesome lyricist. And the song is basically about the doctor saying that if you keep living the way you are living then you’re gonna die and then another doctor saying, keep doing what you’re doing you’re gonna be fine. And it sort of tells the story of my whole existence!”

Watch This (featuring Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan)
“I wrote the basic parts and I had sort of a loose arrangement, but this was definitely the loosest song of the bunch, and having Dave there, who is such a dynamic drummer – I’d never actually worked with him but I’m very familiar with his drumming – and with Duff there too, they’re both very creative so I knew we could throw this together.
"I didn’t want it to be epic, I wanted it to be three minutes long, and it came together very quickly with a very spontaneous, live kind of vibe. Actually, I tried to get Dave to sing it, but he wouldn’t sing it, so I just said fuck it, we’ll put guitars on it. He was adamant about not singing, he was like, I just wanna play drums, and he’s a fucking phenomenal drummer.”

I Hold On (featuring Kid Rock)
“Sometimes I would take two different ideas and send them to one artist to see which they gravitated towards. With Kid Rock, I sent him the first one – absolutely no reaction, no phone call back, nothing.
"I thought, hmm. So I sent him an email telling him I had another song that I thought he should hear because I had two songs that sounded like him. So I sent him the other one; instant reaction. This is great.”

Nothing To Say (featuring M Shadows)
“There wasn't a lot of conscious thought about what kind of record I was making. I was just pooling all of these people together and it was a devil-may-care kind of thing, but once I started to look at the list of people I’d already worked with, sort of halfway through the record, I had some of my heroes on there, some of my contemporaries and I wanted to have some young guys.
"For this song I was thinking that Dave Mustaine would've been great, but I didn’t want to spin way too much into any one era. Then I thought of Avenged Sevenfold, and fortunately we share the same management so M Shadows was easy to contact! And he was great, he came in and worked really hard to get the melodies together, he took it very seriously. It’s me getting away with something I couldn’t do in Velvet Revolver!”

Starlight (featuring Myles Kennedy)
“This particular song was the one I thought was the best on the record in terms of the way it was arranged and the music and everything. I couldn’t figure out who would be right vocalist and all of a sudden Myles Kennedy just popped into my head. I contacted him and I sent him the song, and a couple of days later he sent me back a demo of the lyrics and vocals he’d written, and it was fucking amazing. I was really excited to record that.”
"I wanted to get Jack White, but he didn't want to sing. He said I'll play drums, I'll play guitar, but I don't wanna sing. He was one guy that I wanted to work with. Pretty much everyone else that I went after I managed to get. It turned out to probably be a blessing because Myles really fit that song. Jack would've fit it too but it would have been a different kind of a trip.”

Saint Is A Sinner (featuring Rocco DeLuca)
“This is a very different kind of a track. It’s all on acoustic and he sings in this great, high falsetto voice. It’s amazing.”

We're All Gonna Die (featuring Iggy Pop)
“Iggy was the first guy to come in the studio and put a vocal down. When I sent him the song he called me up a couple of days later and over the phone, on my answering machine he left him singing the words while the demo I sent him was playing off the stereo in the background. It was so rock ‘n’ roll, it was really, really cool.
"I flew him in from Miami and he came in and put that down. It was just great, he sort of set the tone for the whole record.”

Classic Rock bonus tracks

Baby Can’t Drive (featuring Nicole Sherzinger, Alice Cooper, Flea and Steven Adler)
“I promised Steve Adler if he stayed clean long enough he could play on the record. I hadn’t played with Steven in 20 years and it was great. One of the reasons Appetite For Destruction is so great is the energy that he brings to the table. It was great to get in a room with him and start playing and just to recognise that sound that he has.”

Paradise City (featuring Fergie and Cypress Hill)
“I’ve been playing Paradise City with Cypress Hill since 2002. It was just one of those fun things and I always said, I’m gonna record this one of these days. Finally the time came for me to do my own record and we went in and recorded it and we didn’t know who was going to sing the chorus vocals for the longest time.
"But I'd done a song with Fergie and I was thinking, god, I would love to ask Fergie to sing the chorus but she seems like she doesn’t wanna sing it. Then we did this gig in Norway and she came up and sang a few songs and she sang the chorus to Paradise City so finally I asked her to do it.
"It’s a different version than the original and it’s slowed down the way I originally wrote the riff. With Guns N’ Roses everything sped up, which was just the nature of the band! It’s cool, but this is more of a rhythmic, heavier groove."

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... ide-238767


Slash: il debutto dell’album solista

“Sono come una puttana della musica. Ho voglia di andare là fuori e scopare con tutti.”

Il debutto dell’album solista di Slash è il l’album hard rock più sentito del 2010. Con la partecipazione di un cast di amici,leggende,contemporanei,pop star, giovani esordienti ed ex-compagni di band del Guns N’ Roses, l’ LP ‘Slash’ non è assolutamente “l’album solista di un ‘lead guitar’ .”Sebbene,come potete immaginare, non manca il calore del suono di chitarre fumanti…
Se volere sentire il primo album solista di Slash,il 7 aprile verrà messo in vendita un fan pack in un’edizione speciale del giornale Classic Rock: ‘Classic Rock Presents Slash’.Saranno inclusi una edizione ‘deluxe’ del magazine di 132 pagine assieme ad un poster edizione limitata,toppa e il CD contenente tutte le 14 tracce più 2 tracce bonus.
Avete capito bene,abbiamo detto tutte le 14 tracce . In più è stata aggiunta all’ultimo minuto anche una canzone con il frontman degli Alter Bridge Myles Kennedy chiamata Back From Cali.Quindi se ordinate il fan pack ‘Classic Rock Presents Slash’, avrete in totale 16 canzoni.
Verso la fine del 2009 avevamo incontrato Slash la mattina dopo l’evento dei Classic Rock Awards,e oltre a rivelare il suo riff preferito di tutti i tempo, ci ha dato uni analisi traccia per traccia di ogni canzone dell’album,e ha rivelato tutto riguardo la scrittura in collaborazione e le registrazioni.

Ghost (featuring Ian Astbury and Izzy Stradlin)

Nel 90% dei casi, i demo di Slash erano arricchiti dalle sezioni ritmiche di Josh Freese alla batteria e dall’ex bassista dei Jane’s Addiction , Chris Chaney. L’album si apre con una traccia che è un accenno ai vecchi tempi in più di un senso..
“Era effettivamente un viaggiare senza problemi,ed era semplice stare tutti assieme.Ero sorpreso. Ian ed io ci conosciamo da tanto.il primo tour dei Guns n’ Roses in Canada e Stati Uniti è stato fatto con i The Cult. Quei ragazzi erano erano conosciuti e noi eravamo una band di pazzi esordienti che avevano preso con loro.
“Ho sempre pensato che Ian fosse un grande e quando ho finito la musica per Ghost, mi è venuto subito in mente lui,forse per gli accordi.Ma non ci ho messo poco per contattarlo(?)e mi sentivo tipo in imbarazzo a mandargliela[la musica].Una delle cose a cui ho dovuto fare attenzione lavorando all’album è stato tenere i nervi saldi per star dietro a queste persone.Ma lui è un cantante eccezionale.Essere in studio con lui e vederlo lavorare è stato decisamente una gran esperienza.
“L’unica altra persona che suona la chitarra nel disco è Izzy,che è arrivato e ha messo su un po’ di chitarra per Ghost.e’ grandioso perché io e Izzy abbiamo un’unione di suoni di chitarra davvero inconfondibile e non lo sentivo da tempo.E’ stato molto divertente.Adoro Izzy”

Crucify The Dead (featuring Ozzy Osbourne)

“Con Ozzy è stato uno spasso.E’ stato un onore – era molto impegnato con la sua roba – ed ha avuto il tempo di fermarsi e concentrarsi nella scrittura del testo per questa canzone.
“Abbiamo registrato le parti vocali a casa di Ozzy, ed è stato divertente perché io ero seduto qui ed Ozzy lì ed eravamo seduti al pannello di controllo,ha preso il suo microfono ,e lavorava al testo e lo cantava provando a farlo suonare per bene. Che voce inconfondibile !
“Era un trip ascoltare Ozzy che lavorava per far venire fuori un pezzo di musica che io avevo scritto. Una persona che io avevo sentito sin da bambino, e all’improvviso era lì davanti. Ha messo insieme un testo molto commovente riguardo un particolare argomento in cui molti di noi possono rivedersi..”

Beautiful Dangerous (featuring Fergie)

“Mi sono ritrovato accanto a Fergie che forse è una buona,se non migliore,cantante rock più di quanto non lo sia come cantante pop.L’ho sentita cantare Barracuda, e la mia reazione è stata “WOW”!
“Sono finito a fare un paio di show con lei dove cantava Barracuda e Sweet Child o’ Mine. E’ una delle più fenomenali cantanti di rock ‘n’ roll,uomo o donna, che io abbia sentito.”

Back From Cali (featuring Myles Kennedy)

“Quando stavamo pensando di fare un singolo pensavo di scrivere un’altra canzone e farla cantare a Myles.Poi mi venne in mente che avevo un’altro pezzo che avevo registrato come demo per l’album ma non riuscivo a pensare a nessuno che potesse cantarla quindi mi ero rassegnato all’idea di non farla.
Quindi ho messo su un arrangiamento e gli ho spedito il materiale e lui ha scritto questa parte grandiosa.L’abbiamo fatto arrivare[Myles] a Los Angeles,abbiamo registrato la canzone e aggiunta all’ultimissimo minuto nell’album.Prima ancora che registrassimo la canzone,abbiamo portato a termine la copertina dell’album ed inserirto il titolo della canzone,tutto prima che fosse registrata.Sapevo sarebbe stata una buona canzone,ma era complicato.
E’ diverso da qualsiasi altra conzone nell’album.E’ ‘heavy’,lenta alla maniera AC/DC con parti vocali davvero grandiose.”

Promise (featuring Chris Cornell)

“Chris è stato grandioso. Promise era probabilmente il pezzo meno ortodosso che io avessi mai scritto,era molto diverso.Era una di quelle cose,non so perché ho pensato a lui per quella canzone più di ogni altro,ma gli ho mandato e nel giro di 48 ore mi ha mandato questo gran bel testo ed eravamo lì pronti.Era semplice. A tutti sembrava piacere[la canzone].”

By The Sword (featuring Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale)

“E’ un riff che non mi levavo dalla testa. Credo mi fosse venuto fuori in UK con I Velvet Revolver durante un soundcheck. Molto dle materiale nell’album era stato scritto negli alberghi durante l’ultimo tour dei Velvet Revolver.
“Andrew è un cantante fenomenale ma non l’avevo mai incontrato prima quindi non sapevo con chi cazzo mettermi in contatto!Un mio amico– Tom Zutaut,il tipo che ingaggiò i Guns N’ Roses per la Geffen negli anni ’80 – prese il suo numero per me.
“Andrew dovette recarsi ad Hollywood per lavorare a Cosmic Egg, quindi ho suonato una versione lì e abbiamo scritto la canzone assieme.Io avevo questo riff e un paio di accordi mentre lui ne ha fatti un paio per il ritornello,era tutto molto organico. E’ una canzone grandiosa.”

Gotten (featuring Adam Levine)

“Era un pezzo su cui mi ero fissato. Alla fine avevo un arrangiamento completo e avevo scritto le parti di chitarra su una tastiera e avevo registrato la versione demo. Lo stesso ingegnere del suono che ci stava lavorando era in fissa per quella canzone!
“Ho pensato che Adam non ne sarebbe stato convinta;ma sono andato a casa sua e gli è piaciuta davvero,ha scritto la parte vocale. Ha cantato come un angelo,e non sembrava affatto una canzone dei Maroon 5 ma ci si accorge che è la sua voce. Credo che alla gente piacerà.”

Doctor Alibi (featuring Lemmy Kilmister)

“Lemmy è uno dei miei eroi,ed è anche un amico. Apprezzo tutto quello che fa. Gli ho chiesto di suonare sull’album perché mi sembrava una delle cose più grandiose da fare.
“E’ venuto e ha scritto un gran bel testo – è davvero un gran autore di testi. La canzone praticamente parla di un dottore che ti dice che se continui a vivere in un certo modo morirai e un altro dottore che invece dice di continuare a fare quello che stai facendo e ti farà bene.E’ un po’ la storia della mia intera esistenza!”

Watch This (featuring Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan)

“Io ho scritto le parti basilari e ci ho messo su degli arrangiamenti in scioltezza, ma questa è sicuramente la canzone più libera dell’intero mucchio,ed avere Dave lì,che è un batterista dinamico – non ci avevo mai lavorato prima ma mi sento a mio agio con suo modo di suonare – ed avere anche Duff lì, erano entrambi molto creative quindi sapevo che ce l’avremmo fatta assieme a tirarla fuori[la canzone].
“Non volevo che fosse ‘epica’, volevo fosse lunga circa 3 minuti,e venne fuori davvero velocemente e in modo spontaneo,come una sensazione.In realtà,ho provato a farla cantare da Dave,ma non l’ci ha voluta cantare,allora ho semplicemente mandato al diavolo la cosa e ci abbiamo messo le parti di chitarra.E’ stato irremovibile sul non cantare,voleva solo suonare la batteria ed è un batterista fenomenale.

I Hold On (featuring Kid Rock)

“A volte ho mandato due diverse idee ad un unico artista per vedere per quail sarebbe stato propenso. A Kid Rock,ho mandato il primo – assolutamente nessuna reazione,nessuna chiamata,nulla.
“Ho pensato,’hmmm’.Quindi gli ho mandato una mail dicendogli che avevo un’altra canzone che pensavo dovesse ascoltare perché avevo due canzone andassero bene per lui.Quindi gli ho mandato l’altra e..reazione istantanea.Questa è grandiosa.”

Nothing To Say (featuring M Shadows)

“Non ero del tutto consapevole di quale tipo di album stavo facendo. Stavo semplicemente mettendo dentro tutta questa gente assieme e non mi importava della cosa, ma dando un’occhiata alla lista di persone con cui avevo già lavorato,tipo a metà del lavoro,avevo alcuni dei miei eroi,miei coetanei quindi volevo qualche giovane personaggio.
“Per questa canzone stavo pensando a Dave Mustaine,ma non volevo spingere troppo nell’epoca di qualcuno(???).Ho pensato agli Avenged Sevenfold,e fortunatamente abbiamo lo stesso management quindi era facile contattare M Shadows!Ed è stato bello,è venuto e ha lavorato duramente per mettere assieme le melodie,l’ha presa molto sul serio. Ero io a dover tirar fuori qualcosa che non ho potuto fare con I Velvet Revolver!”

Starlight (featuring Myles Kennedy)

“Questa canzone particolare era quell ache ho pensato fosse la migliore del disco nel modo in cui era arrangiata e per la musica e tutto.Non riuscivo ad immaginare chi potesse essere il cantante e ad un tratto Myles Kennedy mi è venuto in testa.L’ho contattato e gli ho mandato la canzone,un paio di giorni dopo mi ha mandato un demo con il testo e le parti vocali che aveva scritto,ed era meraviglioso. Ero eccitato all’idea di registrarla.”
“Avrei voluto Jack White,ma no ha voluto cantare.Disse che avrebbe suonato la batteria o la chitarra ma non cantare.Era una persona con cui avrei voluto lavorare.Ed è stata la stessa cosa anche con gli altri che(?).Dev’essere stata una benedizione perché Myles calza a pennello in quel brano.Jack ci sarebbe stato bene ma sarebbe stata un’altra storia.”

Saint Is A Sinner (featuring Rocco DeLuca)

“E’ una canzone molto particolare. E’ tutta acustica e lui canta con questa grandiosa,acuta voce in falsetto. E’ fantstico.”

We're All Gonna Die (featuring Iggy Pop)

“Iggy è stato il primo a venire in studio a registrar. Quando gli ho mandato la canzone mi ha chiamato un paio di giorni dopo e ha lasciato un messaggio nella mia casella vocale mentre nel quale cantava mentre in sottofondo si sentiva la demo che andava allo stereo. E’ stato forte, molto rock ‘n’ roll.
“E’ arrivato da Miami,è entrato e ha registrato. E’ stato grande, ha sistemato il tono dell’intero album.”

Classic Rock bonus tracks

Baby Can’t Drive (featuring Nicole Sherzinger, Alice Cooper, Flea and Steven Adler)

“Avevo promesso a Steven Adler che se fosse rimasto pulito abbastanza a lungo avrebbe potuto suonare nell’album. Non suonavo con Steven da 20 anni ed è stato bello. Uno dei motivi per cui Appetite For Destruction è così grandioso è per l’energia che lui trasmette. E’ stato grandioso entrare in una stanza con lui cominciare a suonare e riconoscere quel suono che lo caratterizza.”

Paradise City (featuring Fergie and Cypress Hill)

“Suonavo Paradise City con I Cypress Hill dal 2002.Era una di quelle cose divertenti su cui mi sono sempre ditto che un giorno l’avrei registrata.Alla fine è arrivato il momento di fare un mio album e l’abbiamo registrata ma per la maggior parte del tempo non sapevamo chi avrebbe cantato il ritornello.
“Ma avevo fatto una canzone con Fergie e pensavo che mi sarebbe piaciuto chiedere a Fergie di cantare il ritornello ma credevo non volesse farlo. Poi abbiamo fatto questo concerto in Norvegia e lei ha cantato un paio di canzoni e anche il ritornello in Paradise City quindi alla fine le ho chiesto di farlo
“E’ una versione diversa dall’originale, è più lenta del riff originale. Con I Guns N’ Roses tutto era velocizzato, era semplicemente la natura stessa della band! E’ forte,ma questa versione è più ritmata con un groove più marcato.”

©VRItalia

GRAZIE A LADY S. PER LA TRADUZIONE!

Da questo link si può ordinare la copia di Classic Rock interamente dedicata a Slash, con il cd in allegato:

http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/s ... p;id=36044

Il prezzo per l'Europa è di €18.77.
Sarà in vendita dal 7 aprile.

VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeEuBsgeQ4c

SPIN Interview

Q&A: Slash Goes Solo



By David Marchese on February 24, 2010

Featuring vocal contributions from the likes of Fergie, Kid Rock, Lemmy, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, the self-titled Slash features the heavy riffage and soaring, bluesy solos beloved by fans of the guitarist's work in GNR and Velvet Revolver, but it also offers its share of surprises. "I gave an open canvas to the singers," says Slash, speaking on the phone from L.A., "And I think some of them decided to go in unexpected directions."

Given that you're used to making music with a stable band lineup, was it a challenge to work with so many different singers?

It wasn't the easiest thing, I'll tell you that. The way it worked was that I'd have a demo of a song, either in its complete form or maybe a couple of parts, and then send it to whomever I thought would be an appropriate singer. We'd work out the arrangements together, but that person got to write whatever lyrics they wanted to. Some people, like Fergie, came down to my studio in L.A. and sang their parts. Other people did it remotely. So it was very stitched together. It was fun, but kind of crazy. If I'd known about the obstacles I was going to have in making this record, it might have deterred me from doing it.

You should have just made an instrumental album.

[Laughs] Personally, I like to play within the confines of song structure. I don’t do well with 20-minute guitar solos. The idea of an instrumental record bores me. There is an instrumental on the album ["Watch This"], but that's because I couldn’t get Dave Grohl to sing but he said he'd play drums. So I was like, "Fuck it, I’ll make an instrumental."

Which singer took their part in the most unexpected direction?

I think the Fergie song ["Beautiful Dangerous"] is going to shock everybody. She’s got this amazing rock voice. Calling her up and saying, "I’ve got a song for you to sing" and then hearing what she did vocally was a surprise. The other person who really surprised me was Nicole Scherzinger. Her song ["Baby Can't Drive"] isn't on the album -- it's gonna be a U.K.-only single. But she duetted with Alice Cooper on it and turned out to be a fucking amazing rock singer.

Was there anyone who you wanted to sing on the album but couldn't get?

There was one person who couldn't do it because of contractual issues. I can't say who it was. There is a lot of red tape with using any of these artists. But I want to make one thing public: It was said somewhere that Jack White refused to be a part of the album. That wasn’t the case. Originally the idea was that Mark Ronson was going to produce the record. I was looking for a vocalist and Mark suggested Jack’s name. Then I guess Mark went to him and he said he’d be glad to play on the album but he didn't want to sing. That was basically it. I just wanted to clear that up.

You're also involved in a talent contest with the Guitar Center. One lucky band gets to write and record an EP with you. Are you hoping to mold the winner?

I don't want to go in and manipulate a band. I'd rather discover a really great fucking group with some cool songs, cool style, and good energy and fine-tune them. I remember in the old days people came along trying to tweak Guns N' Roses. We were like, "Fuck You." Changing the essence of a band does not thrill me at all.

You have some experience with bands being different from what they once were.

[Laughs] You could say that. But I just want to focus on my own thing right now.

Will you be touring the record?

[Alter Bridge frontman] Myles Kennedy is gonna come with us and sing. It'll be killer. I promise.

http://www.spin.com/articles/qa-slash-goes-solo

"Ho dato campo libero ai cantanti" dice Slash parlando a telefono da L.A., "e penso che alcuni di loro hanno deciso di andare verso direzioni inaspettate".

Dato che sei abituato a suonare con un gruppo stabile, è stata una sfida lavorare con tanti cantanti diversi?

Non è stata la cosa più facile, ti dirò. Avevo una demo, completa o solo magari un paio di parti della canzone, e la inviavo al cantante che ritenevo adatto. Lavoravamo agli arrangiamenti insieme, e questa persona inoltre doveva scrivere il testo che voleva. Alcuni, come Fergie, sono venuti al mio studio a L.A. per cantare le loro parti. Altri l'hanno fatto da lontano. Quindi si combinava tutto. E' stato divertente, ma un po' fuori di testa. Se avessi conosciuto gli ostacoli che avrei incontrato nel fare questo disco, avrebbero potuto dissuadermi dal farlo.

Avresti dovuto fare solo un album strumentale.

[ride] Personalmente, mi piace suonare nei confini della struttura della canzone. Non mi muovo bene in 20 minuti di solo di chitarra. L'idea di un disco strumentale mi annoia. C'è una canzone strumentale nel disco ["Watch This"], ma è perché non potevo far cantare Dave Grohl ma ha detto che avrebbe suonato la batteria. E quindi ho detto "Fanculo, farò una strumentale."

Quale cantante è andato verso una direzione inaspettata?

Credo che la canzone di Fergie ["Beautiful Dangerous"] scioccherà tutti. Ha un'incredibile voce rock. Chiamarla e dire "Ho una canzone da farti cantare" e sentire cosa è riuscita a fare vocalmente è stata una sorpresa. L'altra persona che mi ha sorpreso è stata Nicole Scherzinger. La sua canzone ["Baby Can't Drive"] non è nell'album - sarà solo un singolo per la Gran Bretagna. Ma ha duettato con Alice Cooper e n'è venuta fuori una cantante rock fottutamente sorprendente.

C'era qualcuno che volevi far cantare nel disco ma che non ha potuto?

C'era una persona che non poteva farlo per problemi contrattuali. Non posso dire chi è. Ci sono tanti casini con questi artisti. Ma voglio dire una cosa pubblicamente: è stato detto che Jack White ha rifiutato di prendere parte al disco. Non è andata così. Originalmente l'idea era che Mark Ronson doveva produrre il disco. Stavo cercando un cantante e Mark suggerì Jack. Poi credo che Mark andò da lui e lui disse che sarebbe stato contento di suonare nel disco ma non di cantarci. Fondamentalmente è andata così. Volevo solo chiarirlo.

Sei anche coinvolto in una gara di talento con Guitar Center. Una band fortunata potrà scrivere e registrare un EP con te. Speri di plasmare il vincitore?

Non voglio manipolare una band. Preferirei scoprire un gruppo fottutamente grandissimo con canzoni fighe, uno stile figo, una buona energia e rifinirli. Ricordo quando nei vecchi tempi le persone venivano e tentavano di modificare i Guns N' Roses. Noi dicevamo "Fottiti." Cambiare l'essenza di un gruppo non mi emoziona per nulla.

Hai esperienza di gruppi che diventano diversi da come erano una volta.

[Ride] Lo puoi ben dire. Ma voglio solo concentrarmi sulle mie cose ora.

Farai un tour per il disco?

Myles Kennedy [frontman degli Alter Bridge] verrà con noi a cantare. Sarà micidiale. Lo prometto.


©VRitalia