Slash: “The time will come when rock will be purified”

Slash he is surely one of the most charismatic musicians in a world as egocentric as rock and roll. Apparently, the years of debauchery are behind him and now he prefers to stay in his hotel room composing, instead of going out on a spree. At least that is what he tells in this interview that he had with “El Comercio” moments before his tremendous concert in the Parque de la Exposición.

Do you think that in rock and roll everything is already done? There is always room for something new. What happens is that we are in a strange period, for many reasons. For example, today’s technology and the internet are diluting all the spirit that rock and roll should have when recorded and developed. Also, the entire industry is losing money to the internet.

ON VIDEO: interview with Slash. (Source: The Trade)

Do people listen to less and less rock? Everyone is focused on the top 40, on the hits, and there is no interest in other types of music. I think when it comes to rock and roll, people aren’t doing it with their hearts, like they used to, because everyone is trying to understand what the industry is doing.

Have you ever thought of adjusting yourself as a soloist to what the industry demands? I only do what I have always done, since I started. There are many great musicians, with great bands, but the companies are not interested in them because they are not going to give them much money. But I think this will start to change.

THE ROCK VS. THE TOP 40

What kind of change do you think? People will start to get sick of just having the top 40 option (a type of chart) on the radio. Eventually a lot of these good new rock and roll bands are going to come true, and they’re going to start purifying everything.

What new bands attract you? There’s a band from Canada, called Monster Truck, which I think is great. Another is Scorpion Child, which sounds very good. Another is the Hillbilly Herald of Los Angeles. There are a lot of good bands out there, but you’ve never heard them because they can’t get any real exposure.

How do you see the current state of heavy metal? Heavy metal is in one of its best periods. You can constantly hear very good material and the bands have no interest in the industry at all. I love that.

WHEN ASSEMBLY A DISC

The World on Fire album is quite long (17 songs), isn’t it risky for a music industry like the current one? We don’t care about today’s industry standard. We don’t do anything that has to do with today’s recording business. We do our own things. We put out singles, and they do like them, but there’s hardly any rock and roll radio anymore like there used to be.

Also now people buy music online… It does and they don’t care how many songs there are. I mean, I’d like to try to write fewer songs, but we write and if we like it, we put it on a record.

I imagine that many songs were left out on the other albums… On my first solo record, like on the first Conspirators record, we had the same amount of songs. Others we put aside, but we didn’t like doing that because it seemed like those extra songs weren’t as important as the others. This time we said “Fuck it!”, we will put them all.

You have been working on records and touring with the singer Myles Kennedy since 2010, do you plan to record a new album with him? Yes. We already started writing a new album. We compose during the tour. When we finish the concert season, we take a little break and go to the studio to work.

Do you always compose on tour? I do it because I have music on my mind all the time. I think I get new ideas because I’m always playing. When I’m on tour, I’m on stage, or in my hotel room writing.

Will the new record also be long? No. It will be different. The new album I’m preparing will have something like eight or ten songs. It will be something like old school rock and roll.