SLASH Addresses GUNS N' ROSES Rumors, Talks About Upcoming VELVET REVOLVER Album

VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash joined VR/ex-GNR drummer Matt Sorum this past Saturday, May 13, as a guest on Camp Freddy Radio. During the two-hour show, Slash addressed a number of topics, including the rumors that he was rejoining GUNS N' ROSES, Axl Rose's claim that Slash made an unannounced visit to Rose's house in October 2005, the reports that he had quit VELVET REVOLVER and filed for divorce, and the songwriting process for VR's sophomore album. A few excerpts from the broadcast follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):

On the rumors that Slash was rejoining GUNS N' ROSES:

Slash: "I saw a thing that was put out that said something to the effect that I won't be doing any gigs until after a certain point [referring to a May 8, 2006 Associated Pressarticle which stated that 'Slash may end up back in the band as well, but probably not before the Hammerstein shows.' — Ed.] He put out some sort of… He [GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose] did a radio interview, I guess, in New York, and it said whatever city he was gonna be playing, it said it won't be until after that… And I was like, 'Where does this stuff come from?' But before that, the whole thing was, like, everybody just assumed that I'd quit VELVET REVOLVER and I was joining… Even you guys [speaking to Matt — Ed.] thought that."

Matt: "Well, hey… You can't believe everything you read. [Laughs]"

Slash: "It was like all these rumors going around. So I just wanted to dispel that one. That one and the fact that I ever had a conversation with him [Axl] at all.'

Matt: "I told the story last week that I ran into him [Rose] in New York and actually talked to him, and it was fairly pleasant. It was very pleasant, actually, but we were both drunk, so that helped. [Laughs]"

Slash: "When we were on the red carpet last night [at the MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert in Hollywood], that was the first thing that I went and talked about to what's-her-face from CNN, and [I was] just so inundated with questions about what's going on with VELVET REVOLVER, supposedly all this in-band fighting going on, and then all these rumors about GUNS N' ROSES, and this and that and the other, and I was just like… I've been minding my own business, sitting at home, working on the songs [for the new VELVET REVOLVER album]. I mean, the fact that people even care enough to start rumors or keep regurgitating them… it's amazing."

Matt: "I mean, I guess FALL OUT BOY isn't doing anything crazy to talk about, so they might as well talk about us old sods. [Laughs]"

Slash: "I guess that's one thing that's always gone along with that name, GUNS N' ROSES — there's always been this controversial… just talk. [Laughs]"

Matt: "Well, like you were saying before, it didn't help us get through airports quickly. It's like, 'You guys over there, in the room. Drop your pants.' [Laughs]"

Slash: "I think this is the first time, though, that it's actually been so intrusive that I started, like, going… 'Cause I don't read… I don't get on the computer and read everything that's going on, so it's always by word of mouth. 'Oh, I heard this,' or 'I heard that.' 'Where'd you hear that?' 'Oh, it's online.' [Laughs]"

Matt: "You can't get away with anything in this world anymore, man — I'm telling you. If you're down there in Atlanta hanging out with some stripper, the next day it's on the Internet, and if you've got an old lady back in… wherever. I mean, there's nothing you can do in the world that everybody isn't gonna put up on the Internet, and it's a real drag, actually. [Laughs]"

Slash: "In this case, though, it started stuff with my band. And, of course, that whole thing that I filed for divorce didn't go over well either. [Laughs]"

Matt: "The old lady didn't dig that too much. [Laughs]"

Slash: "No, that was like… [I was like], 'What are you talking about?' 'Look on your computer.' And I'd look on there… [It was written] very matter-of-factly, on the date that [supposedly] I did it… this, that and the other, and all things considered..."

On VELVET REVOLVER's current status:

Slash: "We're still a band and none of that stuff [the rumors] is…"

Matt: "We actually just recorded a song that we're gonna put on this movie. Do we have the movie? Or don't we? [Laughs]"

Slash: "I think they offered it to us and we have to give them song, and… It sounds really good, so I don't think there's gonna be a problem, like, 'Oh, I don't think that's what we wanted.' [Laughs] I mean, I guess that could happen, but I doubt it."

Matt: "It's this new Steven Spielberg flick. It's…"

Slash: "And [Robert] Zemeckis."

Matt: "And Zemeckis… yeah, I forgot about him. Zemeckis and Spielberg… And it's this animated flick called 'Monster House'. It's really cool. They took us down to see it in a private screening room and the whole deal. It was nice."

Slash: "Yeah, it should probably be a big movie."

On Axl Rose's claim that Slash made an unannounced 5:30 a.m. visit to Rose's house in October 2005 during which he stated, among other things, that "Duff was spineless," "Scott [Weiland] was a fraud," and that he "hates Matt Sorum":

Slash: "I'm not gonna go into the whole long thing. It was just something that he [Axl] decided he was going to… It was a lot of this stuff was built to promote the next GUNS record and the tour and all that kind of stuff, 'cause there was this blatantly fabricated thing in there that I'd gone to his house and that he and I had a conversation in which I said all this stuff about my bandmates. And it's just blatantly untrue. For one, I have not talked to the guy in any way, shape or form since 1996, so it's going on 11 years. [Laughs] So that's basically it. There's just no truth to it. And all things considered, it put lot of whatever in people's minds that I was that kind of a guy, so it's… there you have it. So it's not true."

On Slash's claim in a February 2006 interview that GUNS N' ROSES' "Chinese Democracy" would finally surface in March:

Slash: "I got a lot of flak for having said that, 'cause everybody through I was on glue. I'm the first guy to go… I would never have put out a date. But somebody who would know is who told me that, and that's somebody close to that side of the fence that told me, 'Oh, we got a March release date.' So I just repeated it, basically. It was somebody in the business. They made it sound like it is coming out on such and such a date. Really, I didn't realize that it was such a big deal. And I think some people were like, 'You've gotta be out of your mind.' But it was very sort of casual, in conversation."

On potential producers for the new VELVET REVOLVER album:

Slash: "I think Duff ran into Lenny [Kravitz] at some point and they were talking about producers, and Lenny offered his serverices. Something like that."

Matt: "We haven't actually figured out who's gonna produce it yet, but we are doing one song with this guy Dave Sardy, who produced JET and the new WOLFMOTHER band. We're kind of gonna go… I think we're gonna be a little nastier sound on this record, hopefully."

Slash: "The whole record thing… Everything that I've heard that everybody's been working on is just awesome."

Matt: "Yeah, we've got a bunch of songs, so we've basically… Everyone's kind of just been doing their own thing. You come off the road after being on the road together for 18 months and it's kind of like, 'I'll see you in a couple.' [Laughs] So we kind of all spread out. We've got a big pile of… Slash's got a pile of songs, and me and Duff got a couple of that we did together, and Dave's [Kushner] got one, and actually one that we're using for this movie."

Slash: "That's how this band seems to get together every time. We just do one song for a movie and that kick-starts the whole project. [Laughs]"

Matt: "It's gonna be kind of cool 'cause the song is coming out really good, so it'll get us out there again, 'cause we've kind of been out on the road. People don't realize that when you're out on the road that you're out there. I've just been on an 18-month tour.

"But the new album is gonna be good… very good. We don't know who's producing it yet.'

Slash: "A lot of good candidates."

Matt: "Everybody's just throwing it out there. Sometimes you get in a press thing or something and you might say something that maybe… Scott talked to Pharrell at the Grammys and then it became, like, an idea, but it hasn't been, like, engraved in stone or anything. And then, like, I… I talked to… Duff talked to Lenny Kravitz — I was there when Duff was talking to him — and it was sort of like, 'Let's just get together and see what we can come up with.' That kind of thing. It wasn't like, 'Hey, do the record.' It was more like just a couple of musicians getting together seeing what they could come up with, really."

Slash: "What really is casual conversation, once it hits the press, man, it gets turned into something else. Everybody who's out there listening sort of gets the wrong… gets the misconception, basically."

Matt: "So that's basically the story for now. We're definitely… I have my studio. We were over there the other day, and it seems like it's a pretty good vibe over there, so we're just gonna get in there and kind of demo everything up and get the songs happening, because, you know, it's all about the songs, my friend."

An MP3 file containing the audio of Slash's May 13 appearance on Camp Freddy Radio has been made available for download at this location (40 MB).