SLASH On '4' Album: 'This Is Actually The Most Live I've Recorded So Far'

Slash spoke to HardDrive Radio about the recording process of the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS album, "4", which will be released on February 11, 2022, via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG. "4" is Slash's fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals),Brent Fitz (drums),Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

"The way that we recorded this record, everything was just done live in the studio, and it's very spontaneous," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "This is actually the most live I've recorded so far. I've always done the bass, drums and guitars live in the studio — bar none — except for when I do other people's sessions. But in any band that I've worked in, it's always been like that. But you come back and you do guitars later because you wanna get the right sound and you go into the control room and you do the guitars from there. And a lot of the reason is because you can't have the amps in the room when you're recording the drums; producers hate that, 'cause they don't want it to bleed. And I don't give a shit, but I'd never been able to find a producer that could deal with it. So you just sort of bite the bullet and you do it where you do the guitars later, and vocals are always done after that. This one was done with the amps in the room with the drums and Myles singing all at the same time. So that's how this record was done."

For "4", Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). Cobb shared the band's desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group.

"The reason I wanted to work with Dave Cobb was because he and I had both had this fantasy about doing a rock and roll record live in the studio with everybody in the same room at the same time," Slash said. "And when he and I discussed that, he was into doing it. I said, 'Let's do this.' So that's how we hooked up with Dave Cobb. But we did in this great room, which, with all due respect to every other producer I've ever worked with, this is one of the only rooms where you can get away with having the guitars, the amps and the drums in the same room."

Last month, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS released the official music video for the album's first single, "The River Is Rising", shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak.

The band's previous albums over the last decade — "Apocalyptic Love", "World On Fire" and "Living The Dream" — have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 Billboard charting debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on 12 major charts across the globe. To date, the three SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band the best critical acclaim of their career with their latest album "Living The Dream" (2018) singled out by the Los Angeles Times, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Loudwire, LA Weekly, and more, as their best songs to date.

The new album "4" has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson's hometown of Music City, Nashville. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' album "4" will be released via Gibson Records.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will kick off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon and hit 28 major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more, before wrapping up March 26 in Orlando, Florida.