SLASH Talks About Illegal Music Downloading, Autobiography

Los Angeles Times recently conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash. An excerpt from the chat follows.

Los Angeles Times: What are your thoughts on the blogger who posted tracks from "Chinese Democracy" who was arrested last week?

Slash: I think it's totally fine that he got arrested. I hope he rots in jail. It's going to affect the sales of the record, and it's not fair. The Internet is what it is, and you have to deal with it accordingly, but I think if someone goes and steals something, it's theft. At one point, I had an early version of all of "Use Your Illusion" on CD and I had it all stacked up with a piece of cardboard around, wrapped in duct tape. I left a hotel in South America to do a gig, I came back and I saw that it had been ripped off. One of the staff at the hotel ripped it off. Fortunately, I got it back, and the guy got arrested. That was a really frightening experience… making a record is like making a painting or any other personal art project. I don't see the difference between that theft and this one. [Editor's note: blogger Kevin Cogill is not under suspicion of stealing the forthcoming tracks from "Chinese Democracy". He is, however, accused of copyright infringement.]

Los Angeles Times: What was the experience like writing your own book?

Slash: It was a different experience. I was resigned to writing the book due to the fact that some guy came out with an unauthorized Slash book. So, I just decided to do my own book, because doing an interview or press release to offset any of this stuff didn't work. The guy who I wrote the book with [Anthony Bozza] had such a genuine zeal for my whole story. Not just the cliché stuff. It was a real collaboration between us. I wrote entire chapters of the book on my Blackberry… sending it to my co-writer. But you know, it was worth it, because finally after all my input, it turned out good.

Los Angeles Times: How was it promoting "Slash"? Letterman seemed to really dig you when you went on the "Late Show" to talk about it last year.

Slash: Letterman sort of has known me for a while. When he first signed to CBS, they did a show here in L.A. and he asked me to be there. I went down and I liked the guy. He, like a lot of other people, sees me as a sort of comic book character. They find me entertaining. But I got him some cigars and ever since then we've been close. But he did do me a good turn [on my most recent appearance]. I was very uncomfortable the first two or three minutes. But in general, I really liked promoting the book. You get a chance to really get close to your fans. I mean, we had kids from 6 years old all the way up to people in their 60s [at book signings]. The book crowd is different than the record buying crowds, but all in all it was a good experience.

Read the entire interview at Los Angeles Times.