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Exclusive: Slash talks Indonesian food, new album and the persistent power of guitar rock
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Keep rockin': Even though guitar music is not front and center at the moment, Slash (second left) believes there's a bigger market for live rock 'n roll than anything else. (Courtesy of Ross Halfin/Ross Halfin) (Ross Halfin/Ross Halfin)
D
espite the current state of the music industry, iconic Guns ‘n Roses guitarist Slash believes guitar will continue to stay at the forefront.
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.”
