Slash: The Autobiography

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A doctor installed a defibrillator in my heart when I was 35. Fifteen years of over-drinking and drug abuse had swollen that organ to one stop short of exploding. When I was finally hospitalized, they told me I had six days to six weeks to live. (p VIII) Slash dressed up as a woman after the bouncer didn't let him enter a bar. He couldn't find his buddy Steven Adler after he got admitted no problem (his mom who is a costume designer helped him get ready, he still lived with her at that point) and was so disturbed by all the cat calls and laughs around him that he fled the scene and concluded that "it must be really tough being a woman". It would actually be unfair to leave it at that. Yes, there is the debauchery, the indifference to your own health, and the natural musical gift. But this is not all that we can learn about Slash from his biography. There is an important thing missing. And it is this:

Slash relates how he eventually achieved stability and sobriety after his second marriage and the birth of two sons. It’s been a blast working with Gibson to create a platform for me to talk about my favorite thing, guitars,” says Slash. “This book is a great exposé of all the great guitars I’ve collected over many years.”I am a huge gnr fan and I have to say that I am terribly disappointed with this book. I could not wait to be done with it. I always found Slash to be, besides Axl, the most articulate of the band. This is the reason I wanted to read this book. But his articulation didn't lend itself well to the written word. Slash also explains how he dealt with and overcame the harsh chains of addiction, and his many close calls with death because of heroin, cocaine, pills, alcohol, and more.

When we think of Slash’s Les Pauls, designs like the Derrig and his signature models come to mind. But it’s likely another Les Paul, one he calls Jessica, that we’ve seen him wield most often. Slash acquired the guitar from Gibson – one of the two factory seconds with three-piece tops the company sent him after he retired the Derrig copy from road work. “It became my main stage guitar with Guns and through Velvet Revolver,” he says. “It still is.” In the process, he has influenced countless guitarists and musicians across generations and genres — and has amassed a staggering collection of about 400 guitars, from holy-grail vintage pieces to prototype Gibson signature models, to guitars made by B.C. Rich®, Guild®, boutique acoustic luthiers, and plenty more besides.

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Born in the UK, in Stoke of all places, Slash grew up in LA and was a decent BMX rider. He started playing the guitar and hung out a lot with Steve Adler, the two later hooking up with Axl, Izzy and Duff to form Guns N´Roses. Never steady and reliable, most members drunk, stoned, junkies or all three, the band made a blistering album and a couple of other decent ones, and collapsed after a few record-breaking years of touring during which they became famous for going on late. Slash got himself together and formed Slash´s Snakepit and, later, Velvet Revolver, and at the time of writing is touring the world with a reformed Guns N´Roses. I learned more about booze and drugs in this book than watching a documentary on the History Channel. Damn.

He discusses his reasons for leaving the band, what he did after leaving, the other projects he worked on between leaving Guns N' Roses and the formation of Velvet Revolver, and the drama surrounding that band, and everything in between.Axl remembered a riff that I'd played him when he was living over at my mom's house [...]. We were sitting around rehearsal looking to write something new when that riff came to Axl's mind. [...] I started playing it and instantly Steve came up with a beat, Duff joined in with a bass line, and away we went. I kept throwing parts out to build on it: the chorus part, the solo, as Axl came up with the lyrics. Duff was the glue on that song - he came up with the breakdown, that wild rumbling bass line, and Izzy provided the texture. In about three hours, the song [Welcome to the Jungle] was complete. The arrangement is virtually the same as it appears on the album. (pp 108-9) I used to be a HUGE Guns-N-Roses fan. I even spent a couple hundred once to see them live (and then Axel cancelled the concert!(. But I have always been a fan and always loved their music. Estranged is one of my all time favorite songs by anyone. Few artists have had as profound an impact on modern music as Slash. From Guns N’ Roses to Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, and four acclaimed albums with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, Slash has brought his inimitable style and swagger to each project. I have to believe the pitch to the Harper Collin publishing house went something like this: Tommy Lee "wrote" two books, I am sober an average of 5% of the time these days, Scott Weiland is a mess again, and Axl is still working on Chinese democracy somehwere . . . so yeah, I want to write a book. What's that, you say you love the idea? Great. Make sure the ghost writer likes to drink. Oh yeah, and about the money . . . . Yea, you favorite band doesn't have to be the one with your favorite guitarist or singer. It is called a BAND for a reason.