SLASH: 'I Had Absolutely No Aspirations To Be A Movie Producer'

Nick Krewen of GRAMMY.com recently conducted an interview with legendary guitarist Slash (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GRAMMY.com: Congratulations on venturing into film with your own company, Slasher Films. Has this been a lifelong ambition?

Slash: No. It came out of nowhere, and the only way I can put it is that I had absolutely no aspirations to be a movie producer, but [I've loved] horror movies ever since I can remember and I had a very rare conversation [with another producer] where I got to express and vent my passion for horror movies — what I think is wrong with the new ones and what I think is great with the old ones. It was, from the ground up, developing this particular script and getting it to where we wanted it, and then going and casting and getting the director and meeting all these distributors … and announcing Slasher [Films] as an entity. It was really an interesting and tough struggle to get the money [for] an indie kind of thing, and it was fun.

GRAMMY.com: After this first experience, are you hungry to do it again?

Slash: Yeah, I'm looking for scripts now, trying to find that story or script that has the right elements that I can sink my teeth into and say, "This will make a great Slasher film." A lot of people are sending me stuff now and it's all roughly predictable. So I'm definitely looking for something different and I want a memorable sort of villain — something you could make a Halloween costume out of — something with a personality. And we have to have good actors. I want to concentrate on spending money on actors as opposed to CGI or any other of the expensive elements of making a movie.

GRAMMY.com: You've collaborated with an amazingly diverse group of artists — from Michael Jackson and Carole King to Iggy Pop and Fergie. Has there been anyone who has eluded you?

Slash: Well, Stevie Wonder and I have mentioned playing together a handful of times, and we still have never done it. That's the only one that comes to mind. The rest of them — there's not any forethought. It's something where you meet in the lobby of a hotel or you're at a function, or something, and maybe you're introduced. And you naturally get to talking music, and you think you might wanna jam sometime, and that's how those things really are born. The only time I've had to put some forethought into working with other musicians was when I was putting together my [2010] solo record ["Slash"] with all the different singers. That was really the first time where I had to reach out to set musicians to be able to work with them. Other than that, it's really a spontaneous thing.

Read the entire interview at GRAMMY.com.