SLASH: GUNS N' ROSES Reunion Tour 'Would Be F**kin' Fun'

Deb Rao of KNAC.COM guitarist Slash. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: Any plans to go into the studio to record a third album, after the European tour?

Slash: "Yeah, there is a lot of writing going on now and obviously a lot of touring. As soon as the tour ends in April. We will probably start putting together all these different ideas and start picking and choosing as to what is going to work, and what sounds right. We will take it from there. I doubt that it will take all that long. I would love to be able to say that we can probably put out an album at the end of the year. It will be a rock and roll album and a natural progression where we we're at; when we did the last one. I couldn't really tell you at this point what that means. It will be what it is."

KNAC.COM: Let's talk a little bit about your autobiography, "Slash". You co-authored it with Anthony Bozza. What inspired you to write the book?

Slash: "I am sure that you are probably aware of all the hoopla that goes on about GUNS N' ROSES. It has gotten to the point as being really overwhelming. The amount of misinformation that is taken in stock on the Internet and the media at large just got to be really overwhelming. On top of that, there was a couple of unauthorized books, one about me and one about Axl [Rose], and one about the band. It was just taking artistic license on shit that they didn't necessarily know anything about and going out and capitalizing on it. I just got to a point where I needed some sort of a vehicle to be able to set a few thoughts straight. The media wasn't the way to do it. So I resigned to writing a book. Which is way out of character for me. I have been asked about writing a book a bunch of times and I flatly turned it down. So I said, 'You know what? Fuck it. I am going to actually to do the book.' Anthony was someone who was introduced through my management. He was a little bit apprehensive. We had this great conversation one night and that was months and months before I actually decided to write the book. It was just sort of a preliminary meeting with an author to get a feel for it. The guy was so genuinely fascinated by some of the experiences that I had and just things just seemed to pan out in my life and what not, and he was really encouraging about it. He just sort of gave me an idea on an angle for writing a book so it wouldn't sound very final. That is what books always represent to me. Autobiographies are like this is my last hoorah. That is obviously not the case. He inspired probably about six or seven months and me later. He and I hooked up again, and just started commencing on doing the interviews for it. So it was in a way, it was fun to do and it wasn't an overly intimidating experience or anything like that. The intention of the book was to provide some insight on a few facts to the public that really no one never knew that had to do with GUNS N' ROSES. It is just some antidotes from where I come from playing guitar, how GUNS started, bands I was in, and some of things that happened along the way."

KNAC.COM: Well, I am glad you wrote the book, you cleared up a lot of questions.

Slash: "I haven't been asked any questions about my former band mate in a long time, so that is good. (Laughter) That was driving me nuts."

KNAC.COM: I can imagine that was driving you crazy; talking about GN'R. Why do you think "Appetite For Destruction" has remained such an iconic album more than twenty years later?

Slash: "I think it was just a brash and honest statement from a really genuine kick ass rock and roll band that basically sang about real life experiences that a lot of kids could relate to. It was delivered with a very honest rock and roll approach. It still has the same meaning now, as it did back in 1987."

KNAC.COM: Yes, I noticed that, the guitar has a very nice tone. I was really impressed with it. Now I have to ask, there has been some controversy regarding a STONE TEMPLE PILOTS reunion. Do you have any insight on that news, and how it will affect VELVET REVOLVER?

Slash: "Yeah, this is something that has been common knowledge to us. There was some offers to do some shows. Scott [Weiland, VELVET REVOLVER and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman] said, 'We will get together and do some shows.' I think one of them is booked. There is like a handful of them this summer. So it is not really that big of a deal. I think that it probably sounds like something that it is not."

KNAC.COM: As you can imagine, a lot of people are thinking that a GUNS N' ROSES reunion is imminent, since Scott is playing a few shows with STP. Would you like to clear the air on this?

Slash: "The relationship between Scott and his former bandmates is much less controversial and a lot more amicable than those guys in GUNS N' ROSES. A GUNS N' ROSES tour like that would be fuckin' fun. But I think whatever it would take for us to be able to do that, if everybody were in that frame of mind, we never would have broken up in the first place."

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.