USA: Legendary rock guitarist Slash releases his first solo album with guest artists ranging from Fergie to Ozzy Osbourne

Record ID: 643955

  • Title: USA: Legendary rock guitarist Slash releases his first solo album with guest artists ranging from Fergie to Ozzy Osbourne
  • Date: 9th April 2010
  • Summary: NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SLASH ON BEING CONSIDERED A GUITAR LEGEND, SAYING: "All the guys who I consider guitar legends are people that are the pioneers of electric guitar, and rock and roll guitar in particular. And blues guitar as well. And so I'm still sort of struggling to keep up. And it's a work in progress. So I definitely don't put myself in the legend category."
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2010 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA2DBINVU147TN71Q4MNZL6V9R
  • Story Text: Legendary rock guitarist Slash has released his first solo album. It dropped on Tuesday (April 7).
    The self-titled "Slash" features an impressive roster of guest musicians. The diverse group of collaborators ranges from popular hip hop singer Fergie to soulful crooner Adam Levine of Maroon 5 to heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
    Slash is the former lead guitar player for the popular American rock band "Guns N' Roses" and more recently helped form Velvet Revolver.
    The British-born, Los-Angeles-based guitarist, whose real name is Saul Hudson, talked about what inspired his debut solo effort.
    "At the end of the last Velvet Revolver tour, I knew that I needed to just do something away from the group environment. You know, something on my own where I was sort of the master of my own destiny at least for five minutes. And, I had the idea to do with all the different artists, at some point when I was writing my book. And I thought 'You know, that would be a fun thing to do, where I get a bunch of different people to guest on my record as opposed to me appearing on everybody else's records.'"
    The 44-year-old rock musician handled the majority of arranging and song-writing duties and hand-picked each guest artist.
    "The concept was basically simple. I would just sort of casually write music or compile some music that I'd already written or whatever and then just think what the music inspired in me as far as who should sing the songs. So I would sit and work with the song for a minute and establish it in my head who I thought would be the appropriate voice. And then call them up and go, you know, 'Hey, you want to play on my record?' And that was basically it."
    Each of the musicians worked closely with Slash to round out his or her song.
    "Well, I think the music itself-- because doing a solo record afforded me the opportunity to be able to play whatever I wanted. Which was sort of the point, you know, from a creative point of view. And, so, because the music was more or less diverse, it called for a diverse chorus of singers (laughs), you know. Which made the album actually sort of interesting."
    Slash is set to start a world tour next month in support of his new album. He will be performing in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and South America.
    Slash also revealed that Velvet Revolver plans to release another album once they find a new lead singer. The supergroup has been on hiatus for the last two years.
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