Slash's "Sahara" and "Paradise City"

"One of the benefits of being the Music Director of WAAF, is hearing new music WAY before anyone else! Today I got a chance to hear some of the new Slash album that will be released in March of 2010.

We should have the new single (which is going to feature Ozzy on lead vocals) in January!

This song was AWESOME!

And, the lyrics are going to piss off Axl & Black Sabbath!"
[Mistress Carrie]

According to Reckless Road author Marc Canter, "The song sounds like the 1972 Ozzy and it's heavy!"

Thanks to Blabbermouth

Slash Wants to Leave Days of Guns N' Roses Behind

via Spinner
Slash has said he wants to leave his days as a member of Guns N' Roses behind him as he prepares to release his first solo album.

"I just feel for people that don't seem to get it. All things considered, it's been a really long time, and everybody's moved on," he told BBC 6 Music.

"At the same time I appreciate that I was part of a band that had such a huge impact and touched so many people, and I feel bad for them that it's not around - but it is what it is..."

His forthcoming solo album will be released on Roadrunner next spring and features the vocal talents of Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Lemmy, Fergie, and Andrew Stockdale.

He said he had taken his time to lift the lid on the heavyweight guests appearing on the record. "I've been very low key on this, because I was waiting for all the releases for all the different singers, but some of the cats are out of the bag. There's a lot of people on the record."

He added, "It's just nice to be in charge of my own destiny, even if it's just for one record. Just not to be in a group situation, and at the mercy of what everybody as a whole feels, but being responsible for my own decisions and having the final say. It's nice, ‘cause I've been doing this diplomatic band stuff for so long, I needed to get it out of my system."

All that diplomacy has given Slash some skills to take to his work as a solo artist, especially when collaborating with vocalists.

"As a musician, the more experience you get from playing with a lot of different people, the more you learn how to adapt.

The other is perseverance - keep going no matter what. To establish in your mind what you're going to do, and you just keep plodding along. The longer you do it, the more you realise that you have a purpose."

Slash has another hope for his solo effort – that it might stop people asking him if he's going to rejoin Guns N' Roses.

Slash Signs European Deal with Roadrunner Records

via Blabbermouth
Roadrunner Records has announced the signing of guitarist Slash for the forthcoming European release of his debut solo album, Slash, in spring 2010.

Slash will see Roadrunner Records enter into a unique and innovative association with a UK media partner — the special-interest media group Future. In a brand new concept in record distribution the standard album release will be preceded by a "fan pack," in which the Roadrunner Records album will be bundled together with a highly collectable special issue of Future Publishing's Classic Rock magazine dedicated to Slash's career. This will be the first format of the album available anywhere in the world.

Slash will release a two-track CD single in Japan on November 11 containing the song "Sahara" (featuring singer Koshi Inaba of the Japanese hard rock duo B'Z) and a version of the GN'R classic "Paradise City" (featuring Cypress Hill and Fergie).

"Sahara" is expected to appear on Slash's forthcoming solo album. According to the guitarist, "the [record] is in its mixing stage and the mixes to this point sound great. We have recorded 18 songs, with one more I want to track." He added, "the record is still slated for a February/March release."

Slash and Friends

Slash Track Listing:

01. Ghost (Ian Astbury/Izzy Stradlin) 3:34
02. Crucify The Dead (Ozzy Osbourne) 4:04
03. Beautiful Dangerous (Fergie) 4:35
04. Back From Cali (Myles Kennedy)
05. Promise (Chris Cornell) 4:41
06. By The Sword (Andrew Stockdale) 4:50
07. Gotten (Adam Levine) 5:05
08. Doctor Alibi (Lemmy Kilmeister) 3:07
09. Watch This (Dave Grohl/Duff McKagan) 3:46
10. I Hold On (Kid Rock) 4:10
11. Nothing to Say (M Shadows) 5:27
12. Starlight (Myles Kennedy) 5:35
13. A Saint is a Sinner Too (Rocco DeLuca) 3:28
14. We're All Gonna Die (Iggy Pop) 4:30

"There are killer additional tracks featuring Alice Cooper, Nicole Scherzinger, Flea, Steven Adler, Nick Oliveri, Beth Hart, Cypress Hill, Fergie & Koshi Inaba that will be released simultaneously with the record in different formats & territories."

Bonus tracks:

01. Sahara (Koshi Inaba) 3:56
02. Paradise City (Fergie/Cypress Hill) 5:12
03. Mother Maria (Beth Hart) 5:29
04. Chains and Shackles (Nick Oliveri)
05. Baby Can't Drive (Alice Cooper/Nicole Scherzinger/Steven Adler/Flea) 3:20
06. Sahara (English version)

"We recorded a killer last minute addition to the record with Myles Kennedy last weekend!" - Slash, February 16, 2010


Slash's debut solo album, Slash, will be released in Japan on March 24 (Universal), in the US on April 6 (EMI), and on April 7 in the UK, bundled with a collectible "Slash" edition of Classic Rock Magazine. The CD standard UK edition of the CD will be released May 10 (Roadrunner).


The track listing for the special Classic Rock fan-pack is as follows:

01. Ghost (Ian Astbury/Izzy Stradlin) 3:34
02. Crucify The Dead (Ozzy Osbourne) 4:04
03. Beautiful Dangerous (Fergie) 4:35
04. Back From Cali (Myles Kennedy)
05. Promise (Chris Cornell) 4:41
06. By The Sword (Andrew Stockdale) 4:50
07. Gotten (Adam Levine) 5:05
08. Doctor Alibi (Lemmy Kilmister) 3:07
09. Watch This Dave (Dave Grohl/Duff McKagan) 3:46
10. I Hold On (Kid Rock) 4:10
11. Nothing To Say (M Shadows) 5:27
12. Starlight (Myles Kennedy) 5:35
13. Saint Is A Sinner Too (Rocco De Luca) 3:28
14. We’re All Gonna Die (Iggy Pop) 4:30
15. Baby Can’t Drive (Alice Cooper/Nicole Scherzinger/Steven Adler/Flea)

A special Japanese edition of the CD will include a bonus DVD featuring making-of-the-album footage and a free poster in the first pressing. "Sahara" is the bonus-track on the Japanese editions. The Japanese are also releasing an SHM CD version.

You can pre-order the Australian edition on iTunes which includes "Chains and Shackles" and "Paradise City" here. The US iTunes store is offering "Mother Maria" and the English version of "Sahara."

Slash's brother, Ash, designed the logo for Slash's name on the album cover. The cover art itself, was produced from a painting by Ron English, a prominent Pop Surrealist artist and friend of Slash.

The first single, "Sahara" was released in Japan on November 11. "Sahara" debuted at #4 on the Japanese charts. Slash's tour will coincide with the album release.

The first worldwide single is "By the Sword" with Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale.

The album was produced by Eric Valentine (Smash Mouth, Queens of the Stone Age, The All-American Rejects) and recorded entirely analog. The mastering was done at Sterling Sound by George Marino.

Josh Freese plays drums on almost the whole record.

Other Confirmed artists include Teddy "Zig-Zag" Andreadis, Patrick Keeler, Lenny Castro, Judgement Day, & Steve Farrone


Slash N' Friends Setlists
Slash N' Friends Tourdates

Slash Press Release
Official Slash Site | Home
Slash Finds Solo Album Cathartic
Slash Sahara Japan 5" CD SINGLE
Judgement Day: Recording for Slash











Last updated 19 March 2010

Slash Was Paid $1.65 Million For Quart Fest Appearance

via Blabbermouth
According to Dagbladet.no, Slash was paid 10 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $1.65 million) for his headlining appearance at this year's edition of the Quart festival on June 30, 2009 in Kristiansand, Norway.

Quart festival manager Arild Buli would not comment on the report when contacted by Dagbladet.no, calling it "an internal matter" and expressing his concern about "confidential information" being leaked to the public.

Related: Slash and Friends Rock Norway

Andrew Stockdale Songwriting on Slash's Solo Album

Slash is getting ever so close to the completion of his highly anticipated solo album, which will feature a wide range of guest musicians like Ozzy Osbourne, Avenged Sevenfold's M.Shadows, Blink 182's Travis Barker, Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie, former Guns N' Roses bandmate Izzy Stradlin, Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist Flea and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones.

Slash's album is also being produced by Eric Valentine (Good Charlotte, Queens Of The Stone Age) and features prominent contributions from former Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney and former Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese.

It was also recently revealed that Slash did some songwriting with guitarist Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother for a song that was recorded after a recent Wolfmother recording session in Los Angeles.

"Well he just reached out. His manager sent an email through and asked if I'd be interested and I was honored. Honored to play with Slash. So when we got to LA to make the Wolfmother record, after the session of doing Wolfmother songs Slash dropped in one night and we just sat there with an acoustic and went through the song."

Andrew also talked about Slash keeping him on his toes with his creative process and what an incredible experience it was for him.

"It was really, really like an incredible experience to write with Slash. He's a cool guy. He moves really fast too. His creative process had me on my toes. He's very alert with what he's looking for and how a song needs to move."

Ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri has also recorded a guest appearance for the LP.

At the end of July, Slash announced on his twitter page that he is "winding down" and has 2 more songs to complete for the album that he hopes to release by the end of 2009. As of press time Slash hasn't confirmed if he will be touring in support of his solo album as his band Velvet Revolver continue their search for a lead vocalist.

ultimate-Guitar.com

Slash And Friends Rock Norway

By Scott Rowley for Classic Rock.

Backed by an all-star band including Jason Bonham, Chris Cheney (formerly of Jane’s Addiction), guitarist extraordinaire John 5 (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie), and star-in-the-waiting Frankie Perez on vocals, Slash & Friends played a 19-song set of rock classics that, in a strong summer of classic rock events, stands as one of the highlights of the summer.



It started with Slash, Bonham, 5, Cheney and Perez ripping the arse out of "Immigrant Song." Perez, a Las Vegas rocker who’s done his own solo album and worked with System Of A Down side-project Scars On Broadway, is the perfect fit – amiable but bad-assed and blessed with a voice that can handle a Led Zeppelin classic as easily as AC/DC’s "Highway To Hell" or Nazareth’s "Hair Of The Dog." His take on "Slither and "Fall To Pieces," meanwhile, surely marks him out as the frontrunner for the vacant Velvet Revolver spot. (Backstage Perez and Slash revealed to Classic Rock that Frankie had been working with VR post-Weiland, before Slash’s solo album and Duff’s Loaded commitments put it all on hold.)



For "Nightrain," McQueen’s Leah Duors takes over on vocals. Slash has long championed the all-girl band and Duors shows why, with a vicious Axl-with-PMT vocal, and a stage presence that belies her current little-league status.



After Leah, it’s time for the big guns. Rumours were that Ronnie Wood had fallen off the wagon again. It’s possible, but you can’t tell. The tracks Woodsy joins them for – "Honky Tonk Women," "Stay With Me," "Knocking On Heaven’s Door" (cheekily – or sincerely? – dedicated by Slash to Michael Jackson) and "It’s Only Rock’n’Roll" – were custom-built for sloppy, boozed-up playing. Teddy Andreadis plays piano and sings in a great Dr John meets Joe Cocker voice. It’s a riot.








Black Eyed Pea Fergie is next up. Cynical? Don’t be. She looks like a rock goddess, and she sounds like a rock god, taking "Black Dog" by the scrotum and hitting high notes that Mr. Plant just can’t anymore. By the end of it the audience is a huge braying horny mass of Viking puppy dogs, with its tongues out and eyes on stalks.



Fergie: “How do you feel?”
Crowd: “RAAAAAARGH!”
Fergie: “I said how do you feel?”
Crowd: “ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”


The last time I saw Ozzy Osbourne perform was with Black Sabbath at Download 2005. Sabbath were sluggish, dreary and at the end of their tether. Tonight, by contrast, Ozzy is a ball of energy. “Lemme see your hands!” he shouts, and the whole field sways. The guy next to me starts walking around, randomly humping the legs of strangers. “Let’s go fucking crazy!” You’ve heard it a million times, but seeing it work like it does today is a sight to behold. John 5 brings Randy Rhoads back to life as they plough through "Crazy Train," "War Pigs," "I Don’t Know" and "Paranoid." The sound is so big I swear it created a new fjord behind us.







Then he’s off and Frankie and Fergie are back on for "Whole Lotta Love" and "Paradise City." The show ends, Fergie writhing on the floor, Frankie leading the charge, Slash soloing into the night. “This is one of the best gigs I’ve had in a very long time,” says the man himself.





There's more to the article here.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

Aftenbladet
Skambankt frontman Terje Winterstø Røthing slaughters Slash, Ron Wood and Ozzy Osbourne over the show at Quart yesterday.


Skambankt frontman Terje Winterstø Røthing played at Quart yesterday. Later in the evening he complained about Slash.

The group which went by the name "Slash & Friends" arrived on the scene Tuesday evening at Quart. Slash shared the stage with Ron Wood, Ozzy Osbourne, Jason Bonham and Fergie. How well this worked, opinions varied during and after the concert. One of those who wasn't satisfied was guitarist and vocalist Terje Winterstø Røthing. He played with Skambankt earlier in the evening.

"This is the great rock 'n roll swindle. And you can quote me on that."

"Can you elaborate a little?"

"What can you really say beyond that? The biggest karaoke show ever."

Reviews after the concert were varied. Torgrim Øyre of Dagbladet described it this way: "Slash & Friends - one of the most unlikely gigs in Norwegian festival history." He gave it four stars, and described the group as a "high-profile cover-band." Harald Fossberg of the BBC was "not impressed," and called the scheme "Slash Karaoke." He gave it three stars, as did VG.


Audiences we spoke with after the concert were divided in their opinions. Arne Grimerud walked out before Ozzy went on stage.

"It was just sad. To see my old heroes up there doing karaoke wasn't anything special. It was a fun experiment, but nothing more," he said on his way out of Bendik Bay.



Sonia Nes had traveled from Denmark to get to the concert. "Fantastic! We'll never see this again. People from Guns N' Roses, The Rolling Stones, and Black Sabbath together on the same stage. It was great," she said.

Vidar A. Hansen who came with a large group of friends spoke with us immediately after the show.

"Slash is a genius, but Fergie on vocals for "Sweet Child O'Mine" was not so great. Ozzy, however - well, he is Ozzy, 'The Prince of Fucking Darkness!' It's amazing that he's able to sing at all, and he actually did quite well. This was the best show - it worked surprisingly well," he said.

Slash Karaoke

"Not impressed."

There isn't much to gripe about, but we ended up with a glorified karaoke in the amphitheatre for a somewhat goofy start to the festival.

When the Guns N' Roses guitarist slipped onto the scene we got a lot of hits - and half hits - from the last decade, performed with a kind of respect, but with little extra.

Ron Wood received points for attendance, but didn't perform as if he was completely present. When he and Slash were struggling to find the key of the backing vocals on old songs like "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" you knew that this was going be a long and strange evening.



Slash surrounded himself with a group of halfway-decent performers, one of whom was John 5. The man has a long resume - David Lee Roth to Marilyn Manson - and he rubs his guitar neck with so much joy that it almost glows. But it ended like a version of Guitar Hero in "Advanced" mode.

Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas was a breath of fresh air in between all the guitar solos, and she showed that she can stack-up to Robert Plant ("Black Dog") and Axl Rose ("Sweet Child O' Mine"), but she should really drop all the pole-dancing - it was in excess even for an audience that included a fair amount of people who were young when Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" came out.



"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was the only song dedicated to Michael Jackson, the rest of the concert was an obvious homage to so-called "Dad-Rock" - read: '70s and '80s guitar-driven hits.

And in such a setting Slash has proven himself again and again.

Almost at the very end we got the world's spookiest grandpa, Ozzy Osbourne, for a round of old Black Sabbath tunes. He was calm in the grandeur, as he sprayed the audience with water time and time again.



It was kind of sweet to see Ozzy radiating joy and jumping around (to the extent he can) on stage.

But unfortunately, even with a living legend this was quite dead.



PS: McQueen, who played second-to-last, came on with a guitarist who had only been with them for three days. It felt like a scene from last year's Quart.

Aftenposten

Slash at Quart - Interview with Perla Hudson

In this interview, Perla talks about how Slash got involved with the Quart Festival.

Slash at Quart - The Artists Arrive

Slash at Quart

On June 30, 2009, legendary rocker Slash, will take the stage in Kristiansand, Norway for the 2009 Quart Festival.

For the opening night of the festival, Slash has invited several of his friends to join him on stage.

Slash will be joined by living legend Ozzy Osbourne, acclaimed rock drummer Jason Bonham, former Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood and Pop Star Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.

"We've got a great set for Norway, but we're not playing any songs from my new CD," says Slash. Instead, Slash and Friends will perform some of music's greatest Rock N' Roll hits, including "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Crazy Train," "Black Dog," and many more.

Slash at Quart Fest

Slash (via Twitter) announced the linep for his Quart Fest gig today.

The band consits of Jason Bonham (drums), Chris Chaney (bass), John 5 (guitar), Franky Perez (vocals) & Teddy 'Zig-Zag' Andreadis (keyboards).



Special guests will include Fergie, Ron Wood & Ozzy Osbourne.

Slash: "Should be a gas."