Much like his guitar playing — energetic and relentless — British-American musician Saul “Slash” Hudson doesn’t particularly enjoy downtime, preferring to always be working on music instead. 

In the 40 years of his illustrious music career of playing in some of the world’s biggest bands — Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver — Slash still took the time to release his own music. In 2021, he finished 4, his first solo album in four years under the name Slash Ft. Miles Kennedy and The Conspirators or SMKC for short. (Kennedy is also known as the singer for rock band Alter Bridge).

Talking exclusively to The Jakarta Post via Zoom on Jan. 20, Slash gives insight into the creation of SMKC’s new record. 

“I worked through the whole thing [the pandemic],” Slash said laughing. “I took a break literally for about two weeks then got into writing, recording, doing sessions and just being busy the entire time until now.”

Naturally, some of the songs on 4 were influenced by the pandemic, both lyrically and in mood, Slash said. 

“It definitely influenced my music just because of the mood, and it also influenced Miles’ lyrics on some of the songs,” he continued. “That’s to be expected because there’s a lot of anxiety, frustrations and uncertainty about it.” 

The band’s first single off the new album, "The River is Rising", is a catchy but powerful throwback to 1980s hard rock that pushes the theme of anxiety into a broader political sense. 

“It’s definitely inspired by what’s been going on politically in the United States over the last few years and it’s really coming to a head in 2020. Coupled that with the politicizing of the pandemic as well, ‘The River is Rising’ is inspired by all that,” Slash explained. 

The cover: The album cover of "IV", a hard-rock album influenced by the pandemic, both lyrically and in mood. (Courtesy of Slash Management) (Slash Management/Courtesy of Slash Management)

Capturing live energy  

4 was recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Texas with producer Dave Cobb — known for producing mostly country artists such as Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell. Working with Cobb allowed the band to record everything live since no other producer that Slash has worked with in the past would let him record his guitar that way. 

“I always used to redo my guitars because I hated headphones, and I couldn’t appreciate my guitar sound through headphones,” Slash admitted. “And it sort of affects the way I play. When I talked to him [Cobb] on the phone during our initial meeting, he said something about wanting to record a rock n roll band live in a studio like Glyn Johns — legendary recording engineer who worked with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles.

"That’s exactly what I want to do and we did exactly that. We played the songs live in the studio and kept the tracks as is.” 

Unlike his previous recording sessions, Slash said there wasn’t a lot of layering which contributes to the energy of the record. 

“There’s a couple of harmonies, background vocals and some percussion added afterward, but they were very minimal,” he added. “It was very liberating and we captured the excitement of the record, so I’m happy with that.” 

Good ol’ rock’ n roll 

Overall, 4 is exactly what listeners would expect from Slash. It’s a rugged, blues rock album with strong riffs and memorable guitar solos. It’s a familiar sound that doesn’t exactly break new territories but does its job in getting listeners to bop their heads and play air guitar. There is also enough variety to keep listeners engaged, such as Slash’s eastern sitar intro on “Spirit Love” and the six-minute epic ballad “Fall Back To Earth”.

Slash said he’s proud of the record and hopes that people would be drawn into its energy and attitude. 

“I expect people would be able to pick up the spontaneity of it, it has a lot of elements that’s missing in rock 'n roll nowadays,” Slash added. “But more than that, I hope they have a good time with it.” 

Coming soon: In 2023, Slash feat. Miles Kennedy and The Conspirators plans to tour Asia and hopes to come to Indonesia again. (Courtesy of Slash Management) (Slash Management/Courtesy of Slash Management)

Indonesian tour?

Promoting 4, Slash will tour the States in February with SMKC before returning to tour with Guns’ N Roses in mid-2022. He added that SMKC would be doing international tours next year and hopes that he’ll get to come to Indonesia again. 

“The first time we came to Indonesia with The Conspirators [in 2010] was my first time ever in the country. It was great, the crowd was great and I love the food,” Slash recalled. 

In 2018, Slash performed in Indonesia with Guns 'n Roses after the popular rock band announced its reunion in 2016.

“We didn’t get to do it enough, which is sort of a drag,” he lamented. “Hopefully we’ll be able to come again soon.” 

Guitars are here to stay 

For the past two decades, guitar-based rock music hasn’t exactly dominated the charts, and many see it as the decline or even the death of rock. Slash thinks that narrative has been around longer than that and believes that guitar music is still at the forefront of live music. 

“There’s always a jury trying to sentence rock n roll — ‘rock 'n roll is dying,’ ‘it’s over,’ — I’ve been hearing that since I was a little kid,” he said laughing. “But as far as guitar is concerned, there’s more guitar players now than there ever was.” 

Slash added that like any musical instrument, the guitar still holds so much potential. 

“Any musical instrument is untapped when it comes to the amount of creativity and ideas that are left in the instrument, and guitar is no different. When you think about the music business right now, the guitar is not front and center, it’s all digital electronic pop, EDM and hip hop, that’s just the nature of the industry,” he explained. 

“But there’s a bigger market for live rock n roll than anything else, so I think guitars will continue to stay at the forefront, I can’t see them disappearing.”