I'm Tom Morello, host of Maximum Firepower. A weekly podcast focusing on the music, the moments, and the movements that have shaped my worldview and left an indelible mark on me as an artist and activist. I'm Tom Morello, host of Maximum Firepower by SiriusXM. Hey, I'm Tom Morello, this is Maximum Firepower. What a pleasure and an honor to have my good friend Slash on the program today. Slash, what's going on, man? How are you?
I'm happy to be here. It's good to see you and I was looking forward to this. Yeah, yeah. Slash and I have a long musical history together, both you sort of me being a fan from day one to playing a lot of shows together. But the one thing I don't think that you and I have ever discussed is like what were your kind of like first cornerstone rock influences and guitar influences and riff influences and soloing influences?
Right, okay, that's a big question. All right, so when I was 14, 15, and started picking up the guitar, that's when you're at that teenage age when you start picking your own music, because I grew up on my parents' music, which was great, and I still listened to a lot of the same stuff they did. When I picked it up, I started listening to like, I think Erosmith was a really big one for me because right at that age, I got turned on to that rock album. Yeah, I mean, dude, that's the one.
And that really, if I can focus me, right? So there was that, there was those beginning ACDC records, Zeppelin and, you know, Roy Gallagher. God, I suppose I could go on forever with this, you know, like Derek and the Dominoes, which is actually one of my parents' records, but I still love that, you know,
yeah, and Almond and Eric Clapton and stuff. So, so I say, you know, Jeff Beck was a big one, the true, true, true, cool records. And then also at that time, there was like 10 New Junt, I was into live records. So there was called double live God's old, dude.
Rick Nielsen and sheeptrick at that time, and there was UFO back then. Absolutely, absolutely. The strangers in the night live record, one of the all-time great, yeah. Yeah. I actually met a guy back then when I was, I was still a junior high school on this stoner friend of mine took me over to this guy's house to get some pot or something.
And he took me over there and the guy could do air guitar to strangers in the night from one end of the summer. And it was so perfect, like note for note air guitar. I was blown away. I'll never forget that. Yeah, getting them all every last Michael Shanker rip that.
So funny, but, but you know, with air guitar, so it was all the physical nuance is every single lick on the record. Yeah, yeah, where's Michael Shanker? I think just stood there a little. I mean, he just stood there. So I mean, we're in the same wheelhouse there because I mean that eros mid rocks record for me was so was so huge.
You know, I lead maybe a little bit more kind of kiss and let's up one but that record just blew my mind. I remember sitting in class in the eighth grade, maybe, and I had gotten air as mith rocks and you know the teacher's voice sounded just like the Charlie Brown teacher's voice like want, want, want, want, and all I could think in my mind was when I go home and am I going to play eros mid rock side one or am I going to play eros mid rock side two like that was the biggest decision I had to make.
That's funny that you remember that. Yeah, it was something about that particular record, the swagger on it and the looseness of it. Yeah, that sort of devil make hair kind of attitude that they had that really spoke to my personality. I go, you can hear that eros mid rocks record throughout your entire career.
So including up to now so tell me tell me and all the listeners about your new record. I mean for the most part we managed to get it out through the pandemic, you know, we did it April of last year. So we've been wanting for a while, we're trying to find a window when it was going to be good to release it.
We write on the road most of the time so some of the songs half the songs on the record were written on the last tour and then I wrote some new stuff during the pandemic because of the whole sort of COVID thing we couldn't get together in jam. So I started I made demos of all the songs I sent in the miles he worked on the lyrics and stuff and then eventually Todd snuck out of his place in Vegas and drove over to my place and put base on the tracks and everything.
And so we had some loose arrangements and then finally the restrictions led up a little bit and everybody came over and we did two weeks of pre production and we recorded it in Nashville with Dave Cobb. Oh, yeah, I love Dave. Yeah, and I didn't know who he was at the time, but I'd asked around it on contemporary producers who were doing rock and roll these days that were good.
That was a very short list of 40. Dave was one of them. So I checked out his discography and I noticed that like he was the one guy who was doing country music that had some soul. Really sort of wrong, very human. Whereas the rest of the whole genre has gone down the top 40. Yeah, filter. Yeah. Yeah.
So I was like, okay, well, that's cool. But then he also did rival sons record. And I knew rival sons from K. Lois first driving around and I thought, this is a really great sounding band. I mean, the good songs and everything, but there was something about the sound of it.
So that always stuck with me. So I saw that he was the guy that produced those guys. I thought, okay, I'm going to call him. So we talked and he goes, you know, what I really like to do slash is just, you know, record you guys live, you know, like right in the room.
And I was like, I've been trying to do that my whole career, no producer, whatever, let me do it. I hate headphones. And they're always like, well, you know, that's why I've always gone in the control room and redone it because I never trusted my guitar playing or my guitar sound through headphones. So it goes, no, I'm going to record you right off the floor. And I was like, that was, that was a eureka moment from it. Great.
We've been down there and that's what we did two songs a day for five days. Yeah, Dave's great, you know, didn't fix anything didn't like tweak out on stuff, but then the, if so, is a, you know, like we we went in with really loose arrangements to like we normally rehearse the shit out of everything before we go in the studio.
So that we just sort of bang through it, right? This time we went in with like 30 to 70% done arrangements and we worked them up that day when the day that we were recording the songs. There's a lot of sponady in that. I'm really proud of it. It's just a good sort of in this day and age, a really raw in your face rock and roll record.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds great. I did a song with Dave Cobb with Chris Stapleton called the war inside for my record yet. And I had sort of known him through shooter Jennings in the past and exactly as advertising.
He's got a little bit of that sort of like Brendan O'Brien vibe to me. We're going to set up the mics and we're going to get takes and then that's going to be the music. I'm going to make sure it sounds good, but you guys wrote the song you play the song. That's what we're going to capture on the thing.
True. He can find me a little bit of her name. We both work with Brendan, obviously. Yeah. And you know, it's funny because I knew shooter. I know shooter and I never I just never heard of Dave before. He's an LA guy. Yeah. And he actually by his own admission, he's a rock and roll guy, but he just ended up doing something country and made it sound that everybody started calling him and started getting Grammys.
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Just around the way Grammys. One thing that you and I have a comment is like we play in bands and we also have solo careers. And I know that the thing with miles. That's a band too, but it's your names at the top.
Give me some of like sort of the pros and cons of solo artists versus band metal. That's a tough question. I mean, for me, I was always to do something that was just really sort of loose and easy. Yeah. No pressure. I mean, I'm an ambitious person, but only to a point.
You know, I'm not trying to change the world with it. I'm not trying to. I don't have goals like selling a million records or getting on the radio every day or any of that kind of ground or I just like to put something together that I like doing. And have fun with it and just go out and fuck around and I like staying at ground level. And being in a band like Consrosis, you know, and I obviously I wasn't in guns for like 20 years.
I was doing a solo record as my soul means of yeah, existing. But prior to that when I was still in guns versus it was such a big band that I needed that sort of release on a different level. It helped kept me from going crazy. So even at this point in time and I'm backing guns and everything's great. I like keeping my thing with miles and the conspirators together because I still have that downside is fun thing that's got to share and just wait.
I was the name exactly I completely feel like there were times where I was out on tour with audio slave, you know, doing a rena tours with audio slave and on nights off, I would sign up at open mic night coffee houses to like play my acoustic songs.
Because it just felt like, you know, like there was a nice balance to because one thing there's a certain like the stakes are a certain amount and there's a pageantry and stuff that goes along with you don't have to worry about it all when you kind of. And you spotlights or whatever and just you know do something very simple and from the heart and just fewer people who are listening to you from a different reason than that's right.
So here's one thing that I tell everybody is like I throughout my career organized a lot of benefit shows and things like that and there's a very short list of people that I can call or text and say hey, there's this thing and it's this time and I'm always like last I'm not very good organizing things
or like last minute who will say yes and show up, you know, if they're available and you're on that list and I got to say it, but if you missed any of those hotel cafe shows that we used to do is a little little club normally sort of like an acoustic venue in Los Angeles called the hotel cafe. A couple times a year for a month like every Tuesday night we would do these access of justice shows we charge $10 at the door, the people's price give all the money away to charity.
There was really nothing planned, but I was just whoever I could get to come on that particular night I would text in my thing my blackberry at the time whatever and come down and we would rehearse a little bit kind of before the thing started and then have an entire night full of music in that room. It might be like some homeless teenager who I saw a covenant house who was busking for change outside and motley crew or you know the cypress sale.
I remember you one night was like in the middle of the show you were gracious enough to come down you're just like through your Les Paul in the car Les Paul and top at the car whatever and and I'm like in the middle of the show like texting you directions to the thing. I'm like I promise you guys slash is going to be. You just show up there's like no answer or else there's no nothing.
It's just you head down, stole away in the night away having the best time. Do you remember that totally remember I did the picture in my in my mind of that room. Yeah, yeah, mall and crowded and dark you know yeah yeah yeah it's totally cool. Now I like that because I think you know when you go and do that kind of stuff it's just fun it's there's a million things it's it keeps you like I said it's very sort of down to earth.
There's no rock star bullshit with that kind of stuff and it just keeps you humble and you've gotten you play with people you learn stuff you meet new people you're just like.
Immersed in music and you're not bigger or better than anybody else and everybody's together and I think that's really you know I mean I just I think that's something that I need to sort of maintain sanity yeah yeah yeah yeah some of my favorite nights of music that I've ever been involved in a bend that you know I mean there was another one at South by Southwest where I was on we basically took the idea that hotel cafe show and went around the country so we do some like.
Good deeds and charity stuff in each city and then have a show that we would you know we use that money for that we played show it South by Southwest I remember having it was you and less play pool and perifero and new no betting court and I'm sorry I'm probably missing you know half of them but the idea was you know we're each going to play a set.
And then at the end we're going to have this grand finale but the last minute I remember going like let's just start the show with everybody do you remember this and we just like and it's like and people they even don't want to expect like oh it's going to be Tom Rill playing a few acoustic songs.
And all of a sudden they're slash unless and you know and with that was one of my favorite nights of music to this people I just see people's jaws on the floor like I know it's like scrambling trying to keep up with it because it's a little overwhelming yeah it was a little overwhelming for us to because I'm like what she is that one and I have no idea but it was pretty super fun.
I'm Tom Morello you're listening to maximum firepower and my guess today is guitar legend and good buddy slash so let me ask you this question because this is something I wonder how much you get this in your life do the people in your audience in your substantial global audience like not know that you're half black.
It comes up on occasion when I'm doing media stuff yeah somebody will mention it it's weird that in my career it has never been a foreshadowing thing yeah it's never really come up it's never been like the topic of conversation yeah whereas when I was a kid before all that it was definitely a topic of conversation yeah I was trying to find my place you know it was definitely
something that was on my mind on an exorbitant amount of time but since since you know I've been a musician it really hasn't come up that much yeah yeah because for I mean the crazy thing for me is like I have you know occasionally I'll mention something you know what like black history
month or whatever and there are a lot of fans of my music that have no fucking clue that I'm half black and are kind of they'll be like you are not that music that I listen to that I like the type that's I've got to be made by somebody looks like me.
I don't think people really realize I think people are more knowledgeable about where I was born you know I talked about that I was born in England and all that that seems to be more of a topic than yeah yeah yeah so it's interesting I probably I would imagine people probably think that it's probably more white based or whatever and I really I really
grown out of having any kind of like a strong feeling of being one or the other yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so it just yeah but it's a weird question when it comes up you know like I'll be talking to somebody in the press or something and they're like what do you feel more black or more white oh geez what's happened I mean there's been those rare moments where somebody's asked a question about about
my ethnicity and and that was one of them I'll never forget that sort of being like Deer and headlights going yeah I really didn't think of myself as either right right yeah I suspect there are a lot of your fans and fans that maybe maybe don't know like for for me what was trippy was I grew up when I was the only black kid in the town I grew up in so I mean I was half black but I was so yeah twice in black and
anybody else well yeah I was my I mean I was and I'll you know all of sort of the racism stuff that comes along with that and so I really my whole life only identified as black like I was black and everybody in my town thought I was black so then but later on like when I'm in bands that were popular and they have
songs on radio stations that might be sort of predominantly reserved for white rock and roll artists or magazines that you know are not interviewing black artists or whatever it's like people just sort of assume why would you not be white like everybody else on this station and everybody else on this magazine and everybody else you know and it's interesting because in some ways even though my skin color is state exactly the same in the eyes of people who view me I've changed colors wow you know
yeah it's pretty trippy yeah rock rock and roll leads to some very interesting place all right so you and I are guitar play still like fly the flag very very much for rock and roll guitar in a world now where you know while there are big tours of rock and roll bands from guns to
rage to food fighters to you know nine channels or whatever but rock and roll is not the top of the chart like what do you see or do you see sort of the future of electric guitar play that's a deep question because I mean you know all throughout my career and even before I actually
came where you consider professional I've been hearing how guitar is dead you know especially like I picked it up on the guitar in like 1979 I guess it was and in 1980 all of a sudden it was all this fellow and like all this big new wave change was happening guitar was dead at that one I heard it so many times but it just sticks around it is it's the mainstay no matter what trends happen electronically or otherwise it's always a mainstay in anything that's even remotely rock and roll
you know what I mean and rock and roll in and of itself is an attitude that's irreplaceable there's no other music that can replace what the rock and roll statement is all about and with that unique guitar so you go through all these sort of musical trends what's popular what's not I mean right now rock and roll is definitely out of both but I think that it'll have its resurgence I don't know commercially or whatever I get hard to imagine how that's going to happen but I think
guitar will always be a significant part of it you know from looking online I mean there's a zillion fucking guitar players out there that are just mind blowing and mind blowing yeah and then yeah exactly who are 11 and like the stuff like the you get to see I mean they may have always existed
but now like they can all have like a YouTube channel so they're there for you I mean it is definitely more visible now but it reminds me a little bit of like because I used to race BMX and did a lot of freestyle and we thought we were like cutting edge and hardcore back then and I look at the guys now and it's unbelievable yeah so guitar is sort of evolved on a technical level of space evolved that way it's like check this out and it's like you can't see it online you're like
jeez anyway so I think guitar will always be a prominent whether it's popular to say it or not you know yeah finally I have a 10 year old guitar playing son who's like loves your stuff and is a you know and he practices he can like sort of blue shred and he's got his kiss songs down he you know he tries to do sort of rock versions of kpop songs and whatnot what advice would you give to young guitar players and particularly to my son shredding son
well you know so that's a tough one because I see guitar playing in a firm a very simple or any instrument really when it comes down to it from a very simple point of view where it's just something that you love the sound of it it attracts you whatever instrument it is you know but if it's guitar and and then you want to learn how to do it I think getting some sort of a musical education even the most of us rock eyes you know don't don't have that
it's it's a good thing to go after as long as you got a focus on what it is that you're trying to do so that you don't become you know like a slave to the student ethic right yes yeah yeah yeah but anyway and then and then just you know really stay focused on what you enjoy doing and learn and try to expand your mind and learn a lot about the instrument and a lot about the different genres of music and and and do that and and work really hard at it
and I mean I know that I did I know you did like spending hours and hours and and and stop worrying about the pressures of how you're supposed to make it in the industry and yes but I mean and then there's a point there was like well you want to have a band
like I wanted to have a band second I could stand up with the guitar and then so you do that then the idea of going out and playing and venues and all that kind of stuff happens but it's such a different landscape now when we started so you really you know I mean I think
the first thing is to really explore the instrument and get it you know get a handle on it and then figure out where you want to go musically as a group or you know whatever it is that you want to do and then look at it from a perspective of like well
here all the different possibilities and options of how to go out there and maybe have somebody hear my music and go out and play for people but I just think it's the most important thing is to be passionate about it and don't be don't have too many outside influences telling you what to do
you want to do you know I think that's very wise and like you know because sometimes people like younger musicians have asked me like how to become successful and first of all the model is so much different now I mean I don't understand between there's a lot of different ways that you know young are we'll call them artists and quotes like the dude I don't know I don't know what to do hand dances and what you know become become successful before it used to be you know you practice eight hours
a day for you know 10 years and you move to Hollywood and take your shot like that was kind of what it was but when I think now like the really only answer to how to be successful is to make sure that you that you love and believe in what you're playing you know and that that's a level whether you're in your basement plan in front of your folks or whether you're in stadium in Argentina playing if you don't have that you kind of don't have anything well I think there was something that happened
and I I mean you know the industry has a lot to blame for a lot of things and there's also a lot to blame for the success of the music industry the rock and roll industry through the 80s into the 90s when there was just so much money to be made and when when the whole
streaming or whatever you want to call it file sharing thing happened and everything went digital and it got really weird the industry sort of fell apart you know then everybody was trying to figure out ways of how to be famous and how to be big rock stars
and all this kind of stuff but there was no musical integrity behind it it was just material and I think what's happening now a lot of kids are discovering music for music sake and actually going back a lot backwards to really great music that existed before the MP3
and all the yeah and and doing it for all the right reasons I think a lot of people have come to are resigned to the idea that there's not any kind of a guarantee to be rich and famous and drive around in limousines to get all the girls in rock and roll
and so I noticed that there's a groundswell of kids that are doing it because they just love the music and putting bands together and then they just circulate amongst themselves and that's you know so it's under the radar but there's a lot of them you know because I've got kids that are in music and I hear a lot about it my girlfriends got her daughters are in music so I hear all the stuff that's happening and it's not mainstream and all the kids trying to you know meet the industry standards
so I think that's really important because I think that's going to spill over and become a movement unto itself yeah yeah and if you just trust in the arts like you did in your band and I did it in my like let that and whether or not is at the top of the charts or whether it's something that's made made from the heart
originally no no it was great when we got there but yeah into it it was just about getting to play every day and just going out and having a gig exactly having a gig well slash thank you so much for being on the show it's always lovely talking with you and you're going out on the road
this is you're taking this out no I'm here now I'm in a hotel in Phoenix oh I got oh you're on the road right now okay fantastic all right great stay safe out there and I look forward to the next time when when you and I can can jam together in some unusual venue yeah well for sure and thanks for having me you know it's going to be you and talk to you at length and and we will definitely hook up at some gig yeah I look forward to crossing paths again safe travels out there brother
and thanks for you know you and I are friends but I've never stopped being a fan you know what I mean like when I got that cassette appetite because I was the first one in line at music plus on Fairfax the day they they that you know I saw you in the clubs I was at
I was at Madam Wong's West and at Rodgers back come on really hell yeah hell yeah dude when I first when I first moved out here like all the free papers like Bam magazine and the LA rock review and stuff you know which were the ones who were free those were the papers like that was the
band they were talking about so I found I was there on day one man so I couldn't wait for that cassette to come out so I've been a fan since day one so I appreciate you and what your contribution to all things rocket roll well I'm I'm a specialist all right lots of love man take care
and save travel so I cheers brother you've been listening to maximum firepower I'm Tom Morello till next time take it easy but take it this has been Tom Morello's maximum firepower you're this episode again or listen to past shows right now on the serious oxen pop search maximum firepower