Slash on his new album, his relationship with Axl Rose and being a Halloween costume

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

Slash says the recording of his latest album was “quite an adventure” and “a memorable experience.”

“We went in and we did this album live,” he told CNN in a recent interview. “We did it in about five days. It was a lot of fun to make.”

The not so fun part, he said, was that they all caught Covid despite being extremely careful, including traveling to Nashville to record via bus so they could avoid flying on planes.

Slash said it happened just after he got vaccinated and thankfully everyone is recovered and well.

The new album, “4” by Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, is the group’s fourth and was recorded in April.

He said the pandemic had an influence on the new project – especially because there was “pent up anxiety going into the music, wanting to get together and actually play after not playing for what had been a longer period of time than any of us are used to.”

“That had a lot to do with sort of the urgency vibe of the record,” Slash said. “[Recording it live] was very cathartic. It was a big release to get in a room and play.”

Being in two bands – he’s of course best known as the guitarist for Guns N’ Roses – Slash is so accustomed living life on tour, he said it was “discombobulating” to suddenly have live music shut down.

But he stayed productive, he said, and is now happy to be back out performing.

Slash said he’s looking forward to touring for the “4” album in February and loved the tour he did with Guns N’ Roses.

That one went incredibly well, he said, in part thanks to the great relationship he, Axl Rose and the other band members are currently enjoying.

“When we got back together, that whole chemistry and that thing that makes what Guns N’ Roses is for me and Axl and Duff it all just sort of came together,” Slash said. “After that long a period of time, we’d sort of forgotten what that was like.”

“Everybody got along great,” he added. “That’s actually why the tour has kept going, because initially it was just going to be a couple of shows.”

As one of the world’s most famous guitarists, Slash has had some interesting moments, like having people enjoying dressing up as him for his favorite holiday, Halloween.

He said he’s honored and sometimes freaked out by it.

“It’s a little unnerving to go someplace and run into yourself,” he said. “I do recall going to a party a few years ago and there were two of me, so it was a little bizarre.”

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