originally printed in the Trenton Times…

BY BRENT JOHNSON

Slash has made a fine living off of playing a real guitar. But how
does he fare with a fake one?

Like millions of others, he got hooked on Guitar Hero.

“I got addicted enough to the point where I actually beat the game,”
the Velvet Revolver and ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist says of the
insanely popular six-string simulation. “But I beat the game on medium
— I didn’t make it to expert.”

Then, he got a call from his manager and actually became part of Guitar Hero III. Beat a virtual Slash at playing “Welcome To The
Jungle,” and you beat the game.

I know what dude I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!

Which begs the question: Can Slash defeat himself?

“I just actually played it for the first time last night,” he says,
laughing with slight embarrassment. “I’m terrible. I have to get
reaccelerated to it because I’ve been playing on tour, playing real
guitar for the last seven or eight months.”

At this rate, becoming an expert might take a while. Velvet Revolver
is set for an upcoming two-month tour of Australia and Great Britain,
and they’ll prep for it Dec. 29 by playing the Sovereign Band Arena in
Trenton.

International gigs haven’t gone smoothly of late for VR, the
marquee-name rock group Slash formed with ex-Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland, ex-Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner and
fellow Guns N’ Roses alums Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums).

Kiss & Tell: Slash talks Weiland, Axl and more in this piece

The band was supposed to tour Japan last month, but had to cancel
after their visas were denied, reportedly because of the band members’
criminal histories. Slash says they’re contesting the decision.

“We haven’t done anything since the last time we were there,” he
protests via phone from his Los Angeles home. “You know what I mean?
It’s not like someone got busted for possession or f**king being with
underage girls. Nothing’s happened.

“I attribute it to some s**t being on the Internet that’s false.
People always get their information from the Internet, and I would
imagine whoever it is in Japan probably would have gotten
misinformation.”

The conclusion? “It’s one of those things that goes with the territory
of this band.”

Apparently. Revolver has a reputation for being a reckless band of
rockers keen on booze, drugs and an unlawful lifestyle.

Take Slash’s answer when asked whether people call him by his stage or given name, Saul Hudson: “Everybody calls me Slash,” he says, “except for the police. Even then, once they figure out who it is, they call me Slash, too.”

Or how Weiland — known for his in-and-out-of-rehab heroine habit — was recently charged with a DUI.

“I don’t know about other bands, but for this band in particular, I
guess you know in some ways we deserve,” Slash said when asked about if it’s fair the band is tagged with the reputation. “The only thing
that’s frustrating about it is that people spend so much time dwelling
on it. All you have to do is make a good record, put it out do the
tour and that’s all anybody should really care about.”

Their most recent album, Libertad — the band’s second disc — was a confirmation for VR. They recorded their debut alum, 2004’s chart-topping Contraband, amidst strained conditions: Weiland was on probation and allotted only three hours a day to record. And some saw the band — anchored by Weiland’s throaty vocals and Slash’s slithery riffs — as a temporary supergroup.

“All the tags, all the labels that were put on us from the inception
were just that: labels that were put on us,” Slash says. “It had
nothing to do with where the band was coming from. The band was coming from a completely more sort of band-oriented, organic place. Which was just a bunch of musicians — albeit sort of high-profile musicians, I guess — but still coming from the same frame of mind of any sort of garage band.”

But the second time around, he says, Revolver felt more like a unit.
The atmosphere was more relaxed and organized. And now, Slash says
they’re getting ready to start a third album, hopefully when they’re
done touring around the summer.

“I’m sure people are already gearing up to say they’ll never do it,”
the top-hatted, curly-locked fretter laments. “… I know it’s going to
be a great record because this band is moving progressively in a
forward motion, evolving and getting better with what we’re doing.”
Of course, then there’s also the issue of the members’ past musical
lives. Especially the ever-present questions surrounding Guns N’
Roses: Whether the long-in-limbo Chinese Democracy will ever hit shelves. Whether Slash or Duff still talk with Axl.

Why Can't We Be Friends- The happier days of GNR

Slash says he gets asked at least three times a day whether the band
that defined late-’80s rock will ever reunite. That’s part of the
reason, he says, he penned his recent autobiography, Slash: to clear
some of the GNR rumors.

For the record, Slash said no one is “exercising” the idea of a reunion.
“It’s just something we don’t really discuss in any kind of detail,
because it’s just not something that’s interesting to any of the
original members,” explains Slash, who has been out of GNR for 12
years. “Nobody’s like sitting around going, ‘Oh, you know it would be
great to put the band back together.’ It really hasn’t been a topic of
conversation.”

But he understands why people ask. Really, he does.

“I think if the band could pull it together to do a small tour or
something like that, I think it would be great for the fans,” says
Slash, who often plays GNR songs — and Stone Temple Pilot songs — in
concert with Revolver. “I think it would be a huge thing to give back
to those people.

“It’s just that the circumstances that it would take for everybody to
get together in order to do that, if it was that easy, we would never
have broken up in the first place.”

Plus, he’s got a tour to worry about. And Guitar Hero waiting when it’s done.