SLASH - "Rock Isn't Mainstream Anymore, And In Some Ways, I Like That"

September 20, 2018, 5 years ago

news slash guns n' roses hard rock

SLASH - "Rock Isn't Mainstream Anymore, And In Some Ways, I Like That"

Legendary guitarist Slash recently sat down with USA Today reporter Patrick Ryan to discuss his new album, Living The Dream, and more. An excerpt follows:

USA Today: What's the significance of the title, Living The Dream?

Slash: "It was just a tongue-in-cheek remark about domestic and global politics, but people have been looking into it as being something about what it is that I do. Which it applies, but that's not where it came from." 

USA Today: Was any of the new music inspired by what's going on in the news? 

Slash: "This one is actually less political than the last one. It's more about personal experiences for Myles (Kennedy,vocalist) and a couple shared experiences, but not so much politics. But I did have to say something, so I titled the record the way I did."

USA Today: "Civil War" is arguably GNR's most political song. What do you remember about writing and recording that with Axl? 

Slash: "That was something I just came up with on acoustic and an idea that Axl had, and the two just came together. It’ll be interesting to see what's on the next Guns N' Roses record if we get around to doing that. I'm not wanting to be a political advocate myself, but it'd be interesting to see what Axl comes up with. He definitely is more outspoken in that area."

USA Today: For the first time this past year, R&B/hip-hop overtook rock as the most popular genre in terms of total consumption. How do you feel about the state of the genre? 

Slash: "Rock isn't mainstream anymore, and in some ways, I like that. It harks back to when rock 'n' roll was more of an underground concept, when people were speaking about things that they weren't necessarily comfortable saying in the mainstream arena. As far as hip-hop is concerned, it's become so generic at this point. It's definitely taken on a very top-40 thing."

To read the complete interview, visit this location.

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators will release their new album, Living The Dream, on September 21st via Slash's own label Snakepit Records, in partnership with Roadrunner Records. A static video for the song "My Antidote" can be found below.

Living The Dream is Slash’s fourth solo album, and third with Slash and his bandmates Myles Kennedy (Vocals), Brent Fitz (Drums), Todd Kerns (Bass & Vocals) and Frank Sidoris (Guitar & Vocals). The band has launched a physical pre-order for a variety of bundles for Living The Dream. View them now at this location.

Pre-order trailer:

The cover art for Living The Dream was created by renowned visual artist Ron English.

Living The Dream tracklisting:

"The Call Of The Wild"
"Serve You Right"
"My Antidote"
"Mind Your Manners"
"Lost Inside The Girl"
"Read Between The Lines"
"Slow Grind"
"The One You Loved Is Gone"
"Driving Rain"
"Sugar Cane"
"The Great Pretender"
"Boulevard Of Broken Hearts"

"My Antidote" static video:

"Mind Your Manners" static video:

"Driving Rain" static video:

For Living The Dream, Slash and his band re-teamed with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Alter Bridge, Iggy Pop, Incubus) on the powerful 12 song collection. The band’s previous albums World On Fire and Apocalyptic Love, debuted in the Top Ten on 12 charts globally, spawned three #1 hit singles at US Rock Radio and earned worldwide praise garnering Slash some of the best critical acclaim of his career.

On September 12th, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators performed on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! The band performed five songs on the show's outdoor stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd. Watch them perform "Driving Rain" and "Mind Your Manners" below:

Tour dates:

September
21 - Paradise Cove Margaritaville - Tulsa, OK
22 - Winstar - Thackerville, OK
24 - Stubbs - Austin, TX
26 - House of Blues - Houston, TX
28 - Louder Than Life - Louisville, KY
29 - Four Winds Casino Resort - New Buffalo, MI

October
1 - Wellmont Theatre - Montclair, NJ
2 - Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
4 - Casino Rama - Rama, Canada
5 - Pier 17 at South Street Seaport - New York, NY
6 - Mohegan Sun - Uncasville, CT
9 - Paramount - Huntington, NY
10 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
11 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
14 - Aftershock Festival - Sacramento, CA



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