  Partying With a Humble
Rock God
Slash and
Rod Jackson talk about Snakepit,
AC/DC, Les Paul, and why there will never be a Guns
N' Roses reunion
By Gail Worley
For Slash, the
35 year old guitarist who has no need for a last
name or an introduction, the band, Snakepit,
(originally known, for marketing purposes, as
Slash’s Snakepit) was just something to
occupy his time while Guns N’ Roses
attempted to get their act together in the wake
of a crumbling infrastructure despite phenomenal
worldwide success. Slash is, according to those
who know him, a workaholic who didn’t want
to sit around waiting for the hammer to fall, so
he took the songs that, apparently, Axl Rose had
rejected for a new GN’R album, and recorded
them as a solo album on which he enlisted the
help of friends like Matt Sorum and Gilby Clark
(both members of GN’R at the time),
vocalist, Eric Dover and bassist, Mike Inez (of
Alice in Chains). That record, It's Five
O'clock Somewhere, released in February of
1995, was a project on which all were enthused to
be involved. When Guns N’ Roses still
wasn’t ready to record or do anything, Slash
decided to take his record on the road and
whoever was available to go on the road went with
him. Five years later, Guns N’ Roses as we
knew and loved them are long dead and buried, and
while members of the first incarnation of
Snakepit have gone on to other projects (Gilby
Clark with a solo career and various projects
with Alice Cooper, Matt Sorum as drummer for The
Cult) Snakepit has risen again as a lean, mean,
rocking machine with a second full length album,
Ain’t Life Grand, released to rave
critical reviews in October of 2000.
A few days
before Halloween, I met with Slash and Snakepit
vocalist, Rod Jackson, in the Bar of the Parklane
Hotel, across the street from NYC’s Central
Park. It was 2 in the afternoon: Slash was
drinking a double Stoli with Cranberry Juice, Rod
had a Corona while, despite Slash’s
insistence that we all party, I opted to
stick with gingerale. Slash and Rod were two of
the biggest total sweethearts I’ve been
privileged to interview, and the scene was
ultimately very rock and roll, as it should be
when in the presence of a humble rock god.
*******
When
GN’R was starting to self-destruct -- and
guys are leaving the band for whatever reason --
it was pretty well-hidden from the public. Was
there any one turning point or one event -- an
epiphany you had --where you looked at what was
around you and thought "This is going to
end"?
Slash:
Yeah. It’s really not as complicated and
it’s not as "Rock and Roll Heroic Break
Up Stuff" as everybody makes it out to be.
When Steven (Adler, drummer) got kicked out, and
then we kept going from there, that was one
thing. Then when Izzy (Stradlin, guitar) quit,
that’s when I went "Oh..." And the
only reason Izzy quit is...it had a lot to do
with Axl. So, I hung in there, because we set out
on a mission to do this thing -- and we did it --
but the camaraderie was not totally there. We
hung in as long as we could, then it finally came
to a point where I was like, you know what, I
can’t fucking hang in there anymore.
Was it hard
to walk away from that?
Slash:
At that point, by the time I had to walk away,
technically, logistically, yeah. But from an
emotional point of view, no. What’s done is
done, you know. It’s like getting divorced.
The orgasm wasn’t there.
Following
that, I was talking to another journalist about
you and we were saying that artists can generally
move on but the fans can't. You want to talk
about Snakepit and everyone else wants to talk
about GN’R. Do you have any problems with
people not letting you move on and do new things
and being hung up on Guns N’ Roses?
Slash:
It’s not an issue. It’s like [a reunion
of GN’R] wouldn’t happen. If it were
going to happen it would be for a second, just so
that the guys -- all sort of being more or less
still friends -- could go "Hey! Hi!"
and then play like a song. But
it’s so not that.
Rod:
Can I comment on that?
Slash:
Wait, before I forget...because you know
I’ve got a short attention span...
Rod:
He’s on a roll!
Slash:
The thing is, when it ended, it was a series
of events that made it end. When I got out of
it I was just like, okay that’s a chapter
done! I can’t foresee it all coming back
together and being what it once was. That’s
my whole attitude.
What’s
cool is that you don’t seem to have problems
looking back and saying "This is what
happened when..."
Slash:
I was in one of the fucking biggest rock and roll
bands in the world.
Rod:
It’s hard to leave a fast moving train, is
what I was going to say. That’s got to have
been the hardest thing in the world for him to
have stepped off that train. I mean, I
wasn’t even into heavy metal that much, and
I even realized what they were doing.
Slash:
It hurt more than anything else. Sometimes
you just have to go out there and do it, and I
won’t name any names but [there are some
bands that] I wish they would break up.
Ain’t
Life Grand was recorded for Geffen, so why did
Interscope chose not to put this record out?
Slash:
The whole Geffen thing started going
through its own demise when [David] Geffen left
his own company. When he went to Dreamworks,
then Geffen became a former shell of
itself. People started getting fired and those
were most of the people I grew up in this
business with, as far as who I was committed to
working with. So, I didn’t really take it
that seriously as far as "Well
so-and-so’s not here and so-and-so just went
blah blah blah...." Geffen turned
into Interscope and it was like we were
dealing with a hip-hop label, and we’re a
fuckin’ hard rock band. Geffen is now
basically run by hip-hop guys...
Rod:
They literally didn’t know what to do with
us. They didn’t know how to market us.
Slash:
...and the only good thing that came out of that
whole thing was Jimmy Iovine introduced us to
(Producer) Jack Douglas. When we got into making
[Ain’t Life Grand] it was like, they
had no idea what to do with us. They’re on
one page and we’re on another. They
didn’t know what to do with the Guns record
either. I had to sit on the Guns record.
I don’t
even get that. But I’m such a rock head.
Slash:
You’re pink!
You know,
even though rock has been making a real comeback
in the past two years, it’s still the
underdog, it’s not very fashionable to be a
rock and roll musician, really. Do you find
it’s a struggle -- not within yourself but
in this business -- to really stay true to the
kind of music you want to make, even if
someone’s telling you that rock and roll
isn’t cool?
Rod:
You know something, nobody tells him that. I
swear to god, he does what he does and I
don’t think I’ve ever met anyone
who’s told him rock and roll isn’t
cool.
Slash:
It’s never been justifiable. There’s
always been really cool rock periods, then some
sort of fuckin’ trend, or wave, and then
rock comes back. And that’s the only thing
we’re good at. I could never conform to all
that fuckin’ [stuff]. It’s weird,
because people ask that all the time. (Adopting
high pitched voice) ‘With all of this
that’s going on right now, how do you feel
you fit into ...’ If anybody remembers
correctly, at least from my personal history, I
was one of the members of one of the most
notoriously anti-what’s-going-on-now bands.
Before that, ten years before that, it was the
same thing. Every time these trends come around,
sometimes it’s really creative and really
cool, but then everybody starts to capitalize on
it. They make a million dollars, sell a million
records, and make a lot of money and the whole
business goes haywire. Madonna, I think, is the
only person who’s been skimming off the same
shit forever. But genuine rock and roll bands
don’t change. They just fall into the cracks
for awhile. Do you get my point?
Yes I do.
Slash:
So you just hang in there. I’m just trying
to get better at what it is I originally started
out to do. That’s what I like. If I had to
start doing stuff I don’t like I’d be
fucking miserable. I’d still be out there
just playing some licks.
On Ain’t
Life Grand, there seems to be a really
overwhelming feeling of freedom, especially with
the way Rod sings. Do you feel that way as well?
How about you Rod?
Rod:
The band pretty much just let me do what I wanted
to do and that was the cool thing about getting
in this band. Of course, they showed me
‘This is here and this is that.’ But
they pretty much said ‘Just go for it.’
And that’s pretty much the band, everybody
just does...
Slash:
...what they do.
Rod:
It’s funny because we never argue over
music. When I first got into this band, I watched
the way they work and, watching these guys work,
everyone wants to do the right thing. Everyone
takes that bassline home or that guitar riff
home, and brings it back the next day to its
simplified and its complete form. They just let
me go.
Slash:
That’s how it started. A piece of music,
which in my mind’s eye is some fuckin’
really killer riff, but it’s just
instrumental. Being a guitar player you can come
up with some very whacked shit, but you have an
idea in the back of your mind like ‘This is
a great song!’ as long as everybody else
understands it, which isn’t always the case.
I gave a piece of material like that to Johnny
(Blackout), our bass player, he gave it to Rod,
Rod fuckin’ sang on it...and we all go
‘Yeah! That’s it!’ (laughs)
Rod:
(laughing) It was a fucked up song too.
Slash:
And it will be on the next record.
Rod:
Yes, it will!
Slash:
We just didn’t finish it. That was when I
was like ‘There you go!’ after I
don’t know how many songs we went through
that didn’t work out. That was what started
it. From that point on we just said, everybody
does what they do. It’s not about someone
going ‘Can you change this?’ We
don’t do that. The only thing is Matt (Laug,
drummer) might go ‘Well, your guitar’s
a little out of tune.’ (laughs).
I know that Ryan Roxie was the Snakepit
rhythm guitarist but he was obligated to tour
with Alice Cooper. Since he and Kerri
Kelly were in Dad’s Porno Mag together, did Ryan make that
introduction for you, with Kerri?
 Slash:
He did, there was a little bit of irony there. Ryan introduced us to Kerri,
and Kerri came in and it was like one of the Team
Guys was missing. There was nothing we could do
about it. We had to get this record out. But Ryan plays on the record.
Rod:
I want to say this, at the time Kerri Kelly came
in, we were like ‘Oh wow, what are we gonna
do now [that Ryan is gone]?’ I have
to say, he walked in and went ‘The glass is
half full.’ He is such a part of this and
I’m so happy he’s in this band. I love Ryan, but Kerri is, like, so
down with this. He drowns himself in this.
Slash:
He’s flexible and...charismatic.
Rod:
He is, yeah. It was funny because he didn’t
really know Slash, and we were sitting in his
kitchen, and I was wondering ‘How are these
two guys going to get along?’ Someone was
trying to talk to Slash and Kerri goes ‘Yo!
Slick!’ (laughs). That’s what he called
him, ‘Slick.’
Slash:
It’s like being on a baseball team.
Everybody’s just going to do their jobs.
Everybody carries their own weight.
Rod:
And [Kerri] does his job to the fullest.
Slash:
We did 37 shows with AC/DC. If you’re gonna
cut your teeth on anything, it’s going to be
that.
How was the
AC/DC tour?
Rod:
They were great. They were so awesome. It was
funny because when we started opening up for
them, our album wasn’t out, so we literally
had to win over the crowd.
Slash:
Some shows they didn’t even know we were
coming.
Rod:
At the end of the show everyone would be on their
feet.
Slash:
They were like ‘So, this is
Snakepit." And AC/DC were great, they were
like ‘Why don’t you stay on?’ It
was great because we had a good camaraderie
going. But it was a hard gig, not because we had
to live up to any particular reputation, but
because we had to go out there and play songs
nobody had ever heard before and go out
there and play in front of a band who’s been
around forever and has had so many hit songs...
Rod:
Their catalog is amazing.
Slash:
...and go out there and be good enough to play in
front of them. Otherwise people would be throwing
shit at us. So we figured we were ok (laughs).
That was the beginning thing for us, that tour,
and now we’re back in the states and
we’re doing the whole national thing, just
with Snakepit. We might play with another band
but, actually, AC/DC was the best band for us to
play with. I’m not really sure what’s
going to be going on at the beginning of [2001].
I always think of good concerts as being a
package deal, so we’ll see what happens.
Do you have
questions for Rod because I’ve gotta go get
some cigarettes.
Rod:
(laughs)
(Slash exits
temporarily.)
So, Rod,
what were you doing before you joined Snakepit?
Rod:
The funny thing about Slash and me is we knew the
same people. We were both friends with West
Arkeen, who helped write a lot of the stuff on
Appetite (For Destruction) [Note: West Arkeen is
credited only with co-writing "It’s so
Easy"]. We were a part of that thing that I
call ‘Old Hollywood’ -- the Hollywood
Billiards and all of that. The thing of it was, I
knew him and he knew me but we really
didn’t know each other, you know what I
mean?
You knew each
other by Reputation.
Rod:
Exactly. So I would see him at West’s or he
would see me doing my thing and it’d be like
"Hey man!" or whatever. Finally,
Johnny, our bass player, said ‘Hey man, why
don’t you sing for Snakepit?’ And I was
like ‘Er, I don’t know.’ So I went
and checked it out and I was like ‘Yeah,
I’m down with this.’ And that’s
about it.
(Slash returns
with a pack of cigarettes at which point Rod gets
up and disappears for ten minutes.)
What’s
the difference for you between making a GNR album
and making a Snakepit album?
Slash:
It was not really that much different. It’s
just like that ‘strength in numbers’
[thing], when you get a band together and you
just go for it, and it takes you...wherever. I
mean, Guns was not some sort of preconceived
thing. There was only five guys in LA at that
time that could have made up that band. As soon
as you get back into another situation, where
you’re in a band, it’s like a gang. You
go into it, taking into account the different
personalities that you’re dealing with and
the differences and so on and so forth. For me,
personally, I’m still the same guy and, as
individuals, we all fell into it. Comparatively
it’s the same as with Guns or any other
band. You’re just like ‘Hey! I’m
having a good time! Are you?’ You take your
chances and it’s you against the world.
Slash:
With Appetite, [that success] surprised
everybody, especially the band -- other than the
fact that we thought it was cool because we were playing
it. But we were all playing that shit for ages
before anybody recognized it as being good music.
The only thing that was cool about it after the
fact was that kids who heard us play this song or
that song fucking responded to it. That’s
what made it huge, at least for me. It
wasn’t about how fucking great we thought
the record was, because that was just us. It was
exciting when it started to sell.
As well
grounded as you are, does it ever just blow your
mind to know how much your fans idolize you?
Slash:
I’m just a guy who plays guitar. The one
thing I do from time to time, every so often
I’ll go and I’ll play along with some
blues stuff, something on the radio and I’ll
realize that I do have a thing for the guitar: I love
it. That’s the only thing I have. It’s
not about anything else.
Do you have
to practice or do you just let the inspiration
flow through you?
Slash:
It’s hard. I want to achieve something when
I’m playing and, in order to achieve it, I
have to really approach it with respect. I hate
to sound so philosophical about it (laughs), but
I could just sit around and bend this note and
bend that note for days. But, to actually play
is the hard part. But I love it. I played a
birthday party once and Eric Clapton goes, he
goes (adopting British accent) ‘Oh, he can
play.’
He said that
to you?
Slash:
He said it to Ron Wood. But it goes all the way
back to the original question, it’s all a
matter of wanting to play it and having a little
bit of control of it and having a personality.
That’s all it took, that’s all
you’re about, you pick the fuckin’
thing up and...(to Rod, who has returned)
remember that one night when we were all fucked
up together?
Rod:
Yeah (laughs).
Slash:
I was like ‘I just can’t play right
now.’ But when you’ve got all the
components together, and you’re emotionally
intact it’s like ‘Oh, I LOVE
this!’
Rod:
He’s one of those guys who like, when we
write a song and when we’re recording at his
house and jamming and stuff, you’d show up
[the next day] and he’d be sitting at the
table in the kitchen, still playing a song. And
you’d be like, ‘Have you been here all
night?’ ‘Yep!’ He’s married
to it.
Slash:
Can you imagine the divorce situation (adopting
high brow British accent ) ‘Oh, I’ve
taken up cello!’ (both laugh).
Are there any
songs on this record that feel especially
personal to you?
Rod:
"Just Like Anything," because of the
space in the verses. And "Shine," I
love...
Slash:
I get a little dew drop...
Rod:
Because [the band’s] going (imitating guitar
riff) ‘Na na na, Na na na" and I’m
singing straight. That was one of the first songs
that they gave me and I went ‘Oh Fuck! This
is like a cross between Led Zeppelin and the
Beatles,’ and that just floored me, that
song "Shine." When I heard that, it
blew me away.
Slash:
The song "Ain’t Life Grand," [is
special to me]. There’s a story behind this.
"Ain’t Life Grand" is a song that
I penned for Les Paul. I did it with Iggy Pop,
Lenny Kravitz, Kenny Aronoff and Duff McKagan. We
recorded this song and it was supposed to be on a
Les Paul tribute record. Time went by and all of
a sudden I went ‘What ever happened with
that tune?’ It was called "Burn
Out" back then. Les was really sick and I
thought Warner Bros is just waiting for him to
croak so they can really capitalize on this
record, so I bought the song back. I had the
music and the exact same arrangement that we do,
so me and Rod sat down one night in the studio
and we created this song, "Ain’t Life
Grand" to the already more-or-less existing
music. Then the horns came into it and [created]
the whole vision of what the song was supposed to
sound like. That, to me, seems really special
because it was a conglomeration of the entire
band doing this thing.
Rod:
And that song really paints a scene, you know
(Quotes lyrics) "End of the summer/Down in
New Orleans..." I got another story for it.
[Slash] comes to me one night and he goes
‘We’re gonna write!’ And I went
‘Cool.’ Jim Mitchell, who was recording
us at the time, is hanging and Slash comes in
with all these candles. And we’re like
‘What the fuck is this guy doing?’
Jim’s looking at us like ‘I’m
outta here!’ Slash lights the candles and
I’ve got my pad and the music’s
playing. Slash just starts going "End of the
summer/Down in New Orleans..." da da da da.
And I’m like, ‘Where’s he getting
all this from?’ I’m writing and
writing, and I look up and go ‘What do you
want to call it?’ And at the time, the
candle had hit his face right here (points under
chin) and he looked like the Devil, and he goes
(pause for dramatic effect, whispers)
‘Ain’t life grand...’ and I went
"Ah, yeah cool.’
Slash:
So that was special for me and Rod.
Email Gail Worley
Also in Pandomag.com
The Best CDs of
the Year 2000
...as voted by Pandomag.com
staff and associates
Toys in the Attic
Rock
Stars from across the world remember their
favorite Christmas toys, both hoped for and
received, in The Worley
Gig
Getting In Tune
Steve
Stav reviews a brand-new Who tribute album
THE KLEMPERER'S
NEW CLOSE
Captain
Spaulding gives the lowdown on Colonel
Klink and the late Werner
Klemperer in Hooray For
Me!
Abstract
Confessions, Concrete
Dreamscapes
Dave Liljengren reviews the new CD from Tagging
Satellites
The Ventures A
Go-Go In The New Millenium
Don
Wilson opens a pipeline to rock history
and looks to the 21st Century, by Steve Stav
Elliott Smith Vs.
Himself
Although he doesn’t like to talk about it
(and who in his right mind would?), Mr. Smith has
tales of serious substance abuse, suicidal
flings, and broken noses in his past. By Sean O'Neill
Night of the Living
Rock God
Gail
Worley remembers Alice Cooper and
shares the wit and wisdom of the Cult's Ian
Astbury in The Worley Gig
Our Little Polly
Jean is in Love
Or
at least she’s made an album as though she
were. Norm Elrod reviews PJ Harvey's
Stories From
The City, Stories From The Sea
Most Artists
Would Kill for a Single Moment of Transcendence
U2 has managed three albums worth. Norm
Elrod reviews U2's All That You
Can't Leave Behind
Long Live Teen
Angst and Rock N' Roll!
Kimberly
Reyes examines the imaginative power and
raw sex appeal wielded by [The London]
Suede
Lost Empires,
Found Memories:
Joel R. L. Phelps and the Downer Trio release
a gripping new album, by Dave
Liljengren
|
