SLASH Talks 'Guitar Hero'

Switched conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Switched: So what made you decide to write a book now?

Slash: I put the book out to sort of set the record straight on a lot of the story having to do with why I quit GUNS N' ROSES, and the band reuniting, and a lot of other subjects having to do with that band. Basically that's what influenced my decision to write a book. Prior to that I had no interest in writing a book, even though people keep asking me. But after seeing all the attention that GUNS N' ROSES has garnered of late, all the misinformation that's available to people, and all of the other, you know, falsehoods that are going on about a lot of different things, I just figured probably the only way I'd be able to do myself and the story any justice is to write it myself.

Switched: So it was less a thing of nostalgia and more, almost cathartic?

Slash: Well, you know, cathartic in a way. I don't know how cathartic it was really, for myself, personally, but I think it'll put some people's minds at rest, especially people who are huge GUNS N' ROSES fans or who are fascinated by the phenomena that is GUNS N' ROSES.

Switched: It's coming out just on the heels of the release of Guitar Hero III, which you star in. Is the timing accidental?

Slash: (Laughs) It's all accidental. I was working on the VELVET REVOLVER "Libertad" record, when both these things... well, I started writing the book during the making of the record, and actually did the Guitar Hero thing a little bit prior to that. But they were all sort of done at the same time and they're all coming out at the same time.

Switched: So how did you get involved with Guitar Hero III?

Slash: Activision [the game's publisher] came up with the idea to have somebody in the rock world represent the game and they chose me to be their rock legend guy, which I thought was really flattering. And I was really overwhelmed and excited about the prospect of doing it because I'm a huge fan of the game. So I met with them and we shot some ideas back and forth and we rolled with it and it came out great. I got to write some music for it, I put some guitar solos on it, and I got a caricature of myself in the game. It's way left-field for what I normally do, but at the same time it's very relevant, and I'm really honored to be on the box, so to speak.

Read the entire interview at www.switched.com.