Planet Loud recently caught up with VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash to discuss the band's new album, Libertad. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Planet Loud: How difficult was it to get back into the swing?

Slash: "Yeah, it was difficult and we found that I would take to Dave or I would talk to Scott or Duff and we’d talk about doing this again, but we could never get all five of us in the same room together at the same time. It was always two of us or three of us but never all five. It took a little while but then, once we got back on the wagon and started working together again, it just fuckin’ took off."

Planet Loud: Was it as good when you got back together?

Slash: "You know, the thing is that this band has so many good qualities that people don’t know about. It’s the same with any band that people on the outside don’t know about the inner workings as to how a band can work together and make a piece of music."

Planet Loud: Going onto this record then, what did you want to achieve with it?

Slash: "For me personally, I didn’t have any set goal as to what I wanted to achieve. I don’t think I ever have. We just started working on some stuff and all these cool ideas started coming out and then you start working on them and more cool stuff comes together and that’s pretty much as much focus on what you want to achieve as I guess I have. All we do is take an idea that sounds like it could be something and work on it."

Planet Loud: Scott recently did an interview where he said that this was the most excited about a rock album he’d been since 1993. Is the music scene devoid of great rock bands these days?

Slash: "You know, I was watching the Download highlights on TV the other day and they had such a diverse range of metal bands. I don’t know how many people were there this year but there was such a range of bands and then you had us who were more of a stripped down rock ‘n’ roll band compared to everything else and it fit in great. There’s that side of it, then I look at it and it kind of reminds me of the early ‘80s where you can see where this whole group of people are going but, at the same time, it seems kind of directionless and lacks an attitude or a point or something. If people dig that then great, but what I do miss is the anarchistic, punk rock, genuine punk rock attitude that turned me on when I was a kid and made me do what I’m doing today. So, you’ve got us on the one side but I think that there should also be a handful of bands along those lines that are capable of getting record deals and have the attitude but I just don’t see that at the moment."

Go to this location for the complete interview.