SLASH Says Being Called 'A Cancer' By AXL ROSE Is 'Sorta Funny'

U.K.'s Telegraph recently conducted an interview with legendary guitarist Slash (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES). A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On quitting smoking:

"I've been off [cigarettes] for a year . . . The missus was bugging me about it. The first time I quit smoking was because we'd just had a baby and she claimed the baby smelled like an ashtray. So I thought, well, I'll give it a shot. So I quit for a year and then I started again. Then this time my mom died of lung cancer, and I got sick with pneumonia. And after I got sick I had a cigarette in my hand and a lighter and I was about to smoke — and it just seemed really stubborn of me."

"One of the regular statements that my mom made all my life was, 'I'm gonna quit one of these days.' And she never did. But it was actually a shock 'cause she was in great health. And she went to the doctor about a bruise that she had from bumping into something and somehow they diagnosed her with cancer. It was the weirdest thing.

"I just always smoked. A lot of vices that I've had over the years were always to make up for some sort of character deficiency, one of them being shyness. So I used to drink a lot, or do drugs. It's not been too difficult to give up smoking, apart from the fact that I've found that I use Twitter all the time to keep my hands busy!"

On drugs:

"I quit doing drugs. But 'cause I'm a habitual kinda guy, if I quit doing drugs, then I drink. And then if I quit drinking, I do drugs — forever. So I quit doing drugs this one time, and I decided not to drink too. It's been four years. And I really don't miss it."

On meeting his second wife Perla at a GUNS N' ROSES concert afterparty in Las Vegas:

"We had our little fling for a second. I knew that I was seriously attracted to her. And I didn't need that in my life, so we stayed apart.

"She and I were hard-core partiers for a long time. When we walked into a room you knew there was trouble. She was more hard-core than I was! . . . And also, more — what's the word for it? — more outspoken. A tougher all-round person. I'm sort of quiet. I don't want to draw attention to myself if I can help it. She, on the other hand, started trouble. So between the two of us, Sid and Nancy had nothing on us. We weren't necessarily that stupid, though. Although we did have a couple of rows that were, you know, serious. Cops coming and shit. . . Anyway, we've had an interesting existence. Then at some point somehow we both just mellowed out a little bit. We're still a pretty rockin' couple though, I gotta say."

On GUNS N' ROSES singer Axl Rose reportedly calling him "a cancer":

"You know, that's sorta funny. The fact that he would go and say that — I started thinking about it: I'm around a lot so to him I probably am a cancer. And now the record's doing really well, I'm even more cancerous! And apparently we're gonna be touring Europe at the same time, which will put even more emphasis on the cancer thing!"

Read more from Telegraph.