LAYN Rocks

In this exclusive interview, Slash talks to ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino about LAYN Rocks this Sunday, his upcoming solo record and Marty Scorsese ...

Slash is the rock n' roll equivalent of Martin Scorsese.

While maintaining a classic sensibility, he injects true grit and passion into each and every composition, just like Marty. Appetite for Destruction was Slash's Taxi Driver — a raw and primal piece of cathartic art. In the same vein, Contraband was his Casino — a sprawling epic collaboration by genre titans.

In between laying down tracks for his forthcoming Slash & Friends solo debut, the legendary guitarist is focused on giving back—much like our favorite filmmaker ...

This Sunday November 22nd at Avalon in Hollywood, Slash & Friends will play a benefit show for Los Angeles Youth Network [LAYN], an organization aiming to end homelessness among kids. Some of those "super friends" appearing at LAYN Rocks include Ozzy Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Billy Idol, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park & Dead By Sunrise, Travis Barker, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, Dave Navarro and a few surprise guests. Plus, Mr. George Lopez will be MC-ing.

It doesn't get anymore rock n' roll than that, and this is bound to be an unforgettable evening.

How did LAYN Rocks come together?

My wife, Perla, and I support LAYN. She's actually on the board. We're trying to raise money to keep it going, and we've been doing these Slash & Friends gigs recently. Basically, we get a bunch of people together and put on a concert. Perla had asked me if I'd be interested in doing it to support LAYN, and I was fully into it! This will actually be the first Slash & Friends gig I've done in Los Angeles. Basically, I wanted to put together something that would be a really big blowout, and that's what we've done! We've got all these different artists, and it should be an amazing event.

Does performing on stage with other musicians tend to breed studio collaborations later on for something like your solo record?

No, this show actually has nothing to do with my solo album. One doesn't feed the other. However, having done a couple gigs with Chester Bennington makes me think about him if I'm writing a song. If there's a song that's right for Chester, I'll be like, "I've jammed with him, he would be perfect for this!" Performing together on stage inadvertently fuels future collaborations. The correlation isn't totally direct though. But, if there was an idea, we may come back to it. The more people you know that are singers and musicians, the bigger pool you have to pull from when you want to do some sort of collaboration.

Andrew Stockdale's playing with you on Sunday. Are you going to do your song together?

We're talking about it [Laughs]. That seems to be the plan. That's a cool thing too. There's a song that I recorded with Ozzy, but we're not going to have a chance to learn it. I've actually done two songs on the record with two of these guys performing at LAYN Rocks.


When you play a benefit like this, is it more special than a regular gig in some aspects?

It is special! There's something about it. It's a one-night event. It's not totally self-centered — which is how a concert usually is [Laughs]. Everybody is hanging out and having a good time. There's no pressure. You don't feel the pressure of having to be "The Headliner" and having an entire set to put together. People can leave all of those concerns at home and simply get up and jam. Because everybody is a pro, the jams are really good [Laughs]. The audience has no idea what they're in for because most of them have never seen anything like it. It turns out to be a really exciting event for everybody involved. It's a lot of fun.

The energy in the room must be particularly palpable because everyone is playing for the same goal — even though you're all from different bands.

Exactly! There's definitely a feeling of camaraderie and a feeling of giving and caring as well. It's really cool.

Do you have anymore of these benefits planned?

This is the only one that I've got going on. After Sunday, the holidays are coming, I've got a record coming out and all of this other stuff happening. One thing I've got to tell you — you lose a lot of sleep trying to get these things together [Laughs].

Well, the lineup looks legendary enough to be worth the sleep deprivation.

[Laughs] Musicians are coming from all different directions. We'll all convene over the weekend and rehearse. Then we'll put it together on Sunday and see how it goes. It should be a lot of fun! I've worked with pretty much everybody on the bill. I've never played with Travis Barker before, which is going to be cool. I've never worked with Andrew Stockdale outside of the studio, but he's a great guy. I've played with Chester, Dave Navarro, Billy Idol, Perry Farrell and Ozzy live before. Having all of these amazing get together is incredible. For me, to be on stage the whole night while they walk up is huge.

There's a '70s vibe to the whole event. It's very classic. In many ways, you're like a filmmaker from that particular renaissance. You're like the Scorsese of the guitar! There's an outlaw vibe but an epic sense of refinement ...

[Laughs] That's a huge compliment! I love Scorsese! I was obviously raised in the '70s, and I come from the outlaw rock n' roll background as far as who I was raised with, what my parents were all about, what kind of music I listened to and so on. I would imagine I've gotten some influence from that which has spilled over into what I've been doing since I picked up a guitar. I like that old, '70s vibe where people just get together and jam for the sake of making music as opposed to everything being the way things are today. Now it's money-driven, image-driven and that corporate sort of thing. It's nice to be able to make a minute and do something that has nothing to do with any outside interests except for jamming — especially if you're doing it for a cause.

Is that vibe spilling over into your solo material?

The solo stuff is really cool because it does have a similar vibe. It wasn't created for any kind of cause, benefit, fundraising or anything like that but, at the same time, there's something to it. The last couple bands I've been in — Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses and even Snakepit — there were so many concerns coming from the record company about so many different things. The pressure can be a little bit of a drag at times especially if you've got ego problems within the band. That's what being in a rock n' roll band can be about. I wanted to do a solo record so I could do something that I'd dictate myself and would be my responsibility. Whether it sinks or swims is all up to me. To get a bunch of people together who I think are really talented and have them sing is amazing. The singers were all great because they didn't have to worry about pressures from their record labels about whether or not the song was going to be a huge hit single. I got amazing performances because the whole thing was so laidback. That's one of the similarities between my record and this concert that we're doing on Sunday. It's really done for the pure joy of it, as opposed to trying to prove something, trying to sell a certain number of copies or whatever it is that motivates everybody these days [Laughs]. [ARTIST direct]

Sunday, November 22, 2009
8 PM - 11 PM
The Avalon, Hollywood CA

Tickets
LAYN Rocks on Facebook

Slash @ Game 2

Thanks to rbaly79 for the video.

(Go SOX ! Go Beckett!)

Satan Laughing Spreads His Wings!

Slash N' Friends at the Mirage, October 2, 2009. More videos.





"War Pigs" and "Immigrant Song" thanks to Nando.



"It's So Easy" thanks to TartynPink

More Slash N' Friends Videos

Courtesy of Holybop

Slash N' Friends Review From the Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS SUN
Where Courtney Love meets John Momot: Slash concert a true variety show

By John Katsilometes
Photo: Justin Bowen

The allure of these rollicking Slash & Friends concerts brings to mind the imperious message from old late-night TV pitchmen: “How do we do it? Volume, volume, volume!”

Quality, quantity, high spirits and jacked-up amperage made for a late-night carnival at Bare Pool Lounge at The Mirage late last night, a showcase that spilled into the morning with an after-party at Jet. The all-star rock ’n’ roll exercise hosted by the former lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses summoned the old (dueling iconic guitarists Rick Nielsen and Joe Perry), bold (Courtney Love, tossing aside typical stage protocol to read lyrics to the gender-unspecific “20th Century Boy”) and beautiful (the wholly captivating Nicole Scherzinger, the leather-and-lace encased frontwoman for Pussycat Dolls).

As for the latest SlashFest, it hardly mattered that over the past few weeks, the event’s lineup experienced more drops than Terrell Owens during last Sunday’s Bills-Saints game (Rob Zombie, Jason Bonham, Tommy Lee and announced emcee Kiefer Sutherland were among the fall-out boys). The show drew ample star power anyway, and of course the requisite oddities, such as an onstage visit from Slash’s wife, Perla. The stormy spouse and Slash’s apparent voice of reason strode onstage in a beaded black corset adorned with long tassels over each side of her chest, snug black shorts and lace stockings. All dolled up, in other words. She then quoted a dead woman, Anna Nicole Smith, by asking, “How do you like my BAH-dee?”

We like it just enough! But not so much to offend Slash, the evening’s BFF.

Following are more “hooky” riffs from a crisp and loud evening in VegasVille:

*The vocalist for much of the evening was Las Vegas native Franky Perez, whose look has matured to the point where he looks like the father of the guy who released the promising “Poor Man’s Son” in 2003. The last time I’d seen Perez perform was that year when he opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd at The Orleans Arena. He roared through “Whipping Post” that night, and again last night, along with AC/DC's “Highway to Hell” and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Dressed entirely in black, shedding the shades and jacket in favor of a tank top late in the show, Perez obviously relished performing with the high-level stars like Perry, Nielsen, Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan, who swapped spots on the stage over the two-hour show. At one point, he asked if anyone was from Las Vegas (a few among the crowd of about 650 cheered) and then he gave a call-out to his alma mater, Bonanza High School. Not your typical rock-show moment, eh? In the late stages, Perez also wore what appeared to be an old red-and-blue Las Vegas Stars hat from about 20 years ago.

It was fun watching Perez work it out onstage again. There was a time when he was at least as promising an artist as The Killers. It’ll be interesting to see if he can, as we say, parlay this fortuitous gig into something he can sustain.

*The Joe Perry Project opened the show and performed a song Aerosmith ignored during its visit to the MGM Grand Garden Arena a couple of months ago, a reggae version of “Dream On.” Perry said that version of the song was requested by an individual who booked the band to perform during a cruise, and Perry’s response was something like, “Forget you, cruise boy,” but it was a pretty cool rendition.

*Jot down Scherzinger’s name on that list of performers you don’t want to follow. She’s an exotically beautiful, easy-on-the-eyes, hard-on-the-ears performer able to share the stage with anyone (just in the past month, she’s appeared with both Gossy-Goss and Slash). By the time she finished with a full-force take on “Whole Lotta Love,” Love walked to the mic and said, “I just got my a** handed to me. I’ve gotta follow that?” Give Love credit for conveying that revelation, at least. She’s no dummy.

*Anyone clamoring for a meltdown by Love came away disappointed. She sipped from a glass filled with orange fluid and produced a lyric sheet to make it through “20th Century Boy,” a move I’d seen only once before, when Pink unfolded sheets of lyrics for “Rock and Roll” during the opening-night party at Empire Ballroom four years ago. But Love still has that haggard-sexy act pretty much perfected. She might not look or sound great each time out, but no one looks or sounds quite like her. At least, no one famous.

*Notable jams: Nielsen, who should be our next mayor, played on the full-group effort of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender.” Perry returned for “Toys in the Attic.” Sen Dog of Cypress Hill joined Perez on a blistering “Walk This Way.” McKagan and Sorum (who seemed to be in full, stroppy revelry by the time he hit the stage late in the show) joined Slash in a mini-Guns ’N Roses reunion for “It’s So Easy” (which I’ve always felt would make a great ballad) and an everyone-in-the-pool “Paradise City” to finish the show.

Slash N' Friends Gig at the Mirage Tonight

Slash N' Friends will play the Mirage Hotel and Casino tonight.


The line-up for the Mirage gig is: Tommy Clufetos on drums, Johnny Griparic on bass, Ted "Zig Zag" Andreadis on keys, Slash and John 5 on guitar, and Franky Perez, vocals. That's basically the house band.

Slash's special guests tonight are (more or less in this order): Rocco Deluca, Nicole Scherzinger, Courtney Love, Rick Nielson, Robin Zander and Joe Perry. Also, Matt Sorum is jamming a couple songs and there will be some other surprises.

The Joe Perry Project is playing as well, it's going to be a loud night.

Tickets are available through Mirage Entertainment on the Mirage website.

Another gig Slash is putting together will be on November 22. It's a fundraiser for LA Youth Network or "LAYN" at the Henry Fonda Theater.

The solo record is in its mixing stage. & the mixes to this point sound great. We have recorded 18 songs with one more I want to track in the next couple weeks.

The record is still slated for a February or March 2010 release.

Links: Slash on SayNow!
The Mirage's 20th Anniversary Concert Bash

Slash and Friends at the Mirage

Courtney Love, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Rob Zombie and drummer Jason Bonham are among the many musicians who will join Slash for his all-star concert in Las Vegas on October 2.

The concert, billed Slash & Friends, celebrates the 20th anniversary of Las Vegas hotel and casino the Mirage.

Other guests include Matt Sorum, Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick, Rocco Deluca of the Burden and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. (Courtesy of Rolling Stone)


In other news, Slash is auctioning off an autographed top hat to benefit Hollywood Arts, a charity which uses performance, music and media-based education to help homeless, foster care and low-income, high-risk young people, 18 to 24, improve their sense of self-worth, develop thinking skills, master basic educational concepts and receive job-readiness training in a variety of creative disciplines.

Loaded to Play Acoustic Benefit Gig Tuesday

Next Tuesday, August 18 at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard section of Seattle, Duff McKagan will be playing with Loaded's acoustic offshoot, the Rainmakers, at a benefit concert for Dave Ravenscroft, who has been suffering through Squamous-cell Carcinoma.

Dave has not been able to work for the last 12 months while going through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy.

Donations can be made to the Dave Ravenscroft Benevolent Fund at any Chase branch.

Slash at Quart - Interview with Perla Hudson

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

PISSER @ Don Hill's

Pisser (Eric J. Toast, Rob Bailey, Anthony Esposito and Frank Ferrer) are playing Don Hill's on Friday, 22 May 2009 at 11PM.

Don Hill's
511 Greenwich @ Spring Street
New York, NY
(212)291-2850