The first single “Killing Floor" features Brian Johnson of AC/DC on vocals, and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith on harmonica.
“‘Killing Floor’ is one of my favorite Howlin’ Wolf songs, but also one of the iconic blues riffs that turned me on as a young guitar player. I've always wanted to cover it in some capacity and this record was the perfect vehicle. But playing it with this band, and with Brian Johnson singing, it was an achievement I would never have imagined back then. Let alone Steven Tyler providing the harp.” -SLASH
"When Slash asked me to sing on ‘Killing Floor,’ I said yes immediately. It was one of the first songs I learned in my very first band, and when he played me the backing track it was a no-brainer, and Steven's harmonica is so bloody hot. I had a ball with Slash in the studio, and I think we did this great old song justice. Rock on.” -Brian Johnson (AC/DC)
Slash feat. Brian Johnson - "Killing Floor" (Official Music Video)
By celebrating both well-known and largely undiscovered songs, SLASH offers a nostalgic nod to the past while reinvigorating the songs with his inimitable guitar playing and the spirit of collaboration. For Orgy of the Damned, the acclaimed guitarist re-teamed with storied producer Mike Clink and enlisted the album’s diverse guest vocalists, which include Gary Clark Jr, Billy F. Gibbons, Chris Stapleton, Dorothy, Iggy Pop, Paul Rodgers, Demi Lovato, Brian Johnson, Tash Neal, Chris Robinson, and Beth Hart, in a similar way to his 2010 self-titled solo LP Slash. To round out his band in the studio and on the road, SLASH reunited with two of his bandmates from his Blues Ball outfit in the 90s, bassist Johnny Griparic and keyboardist Teddy Andreadis, and brought on drummer Michael Jerome and singer/guitarist Tash Neal.
Although he grew up in England, SLASH’s American grandmother turned him on to the blues early on, and he was immediately taken with B.B. King. At the same time, his parents raised him on a healthy diet of 60s British rock ‘n’ roll, from The Who to The Kinks. Once he moved to Laurel Canyon, SLASH found himself surrounded by rock and folk singers like Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Neil Young—all of whom eventually inspired his playing and songwriting. It wasn’t until he began playing guitar himself that SLASH realized all of his favorite musicians had been influenced by the same B.B. King blues records he’d listened to as a young kid.
Slash's Orgy of the Damned
Orgy of the Damned encompasses a broad range of styles within the blues genre, veering from an upbeat, rowdy take on Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” to a plaintive, twanging rendition of T. Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday.” Some of the songs, like Steppenwolf’s “The Pusher,” Charlie Segar’s “Key to the Highway,” and Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” had been performed by Slash’s Blues Ball, while others, like Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City,” were long-time favorites for Slash. “Hoochie Coochie Man,” written by Willie Dixon and made famous by Muddy Waters in 1954, showcases the in-the-moment nature and unrestrained energy of Orgy of the Damned, with Z.Z. Top’s Billy F. Gibbons stepping in on guitar and vocals. The group went into a rehearsal room in North Hollywood and began hashing out soulful, rollicking takes on the classic songs. Everything was played live in the room, with an emphasis on improvisation which resulted in a collection of dynamic, energized songs that are immediate, raw, and distinctly familiar.
As Slash was considering vocalists, he approached his old friend and collaborator, Iggy Pop, who had long wanted to record a blues song. Pop suggested Lightnin’ Hopkins’ 1962 track, “Awful Dream,” a sparse, drawling number originally laid down on acoustic guitar. The duo decided to recreate that stripped back vibe and recorded their own languid, emotionally resonant version sitting on two stools in Slash’s studio. “Iggy’s interpretation of that song is actually sublime,” says Slash. “And it’s something that nobody’s really heard from him. At the end of the track, you can hear him just singing the harmonica parts.”
Elsewhere on Orgy of the Damned, Demi Lovato lends her powerhouse voice to “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” a fervent, soulful version of the 1972 single by The Temptations that SLASH admired as a kid. Although the song veers more towards R&B, the guitarist wanted to give it his own impassioned spin. The album concludes with a soaring original instrumental number, “Metal Chestnut,” penned specifically for Orgy of the Damned by Slash.
Orgy of the Damned showcases a lesser-heard aspect of SLASH’s musical prowess. While he has always embraced a broad range of styles and genres, the album offers a rare opportunity to explore a unique side of his playing and bring to the forefront a rollicking journey through his strong blues inspirations, that have long been in the background of his illustrious career.
Orgy of the Damned will also be available on vinyl and via CD.
For more information, please visit slashonline.com.
The top-hatted one discusses his third album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, all the Les Pauls, and the possibility of a new Guns N’ Roses album.
Thousands of kids wear Slash costumes on Halloween each year. (Full disclosure: My kid dressed up as Slash last year, too.) Top hats, black curly wigs, and leather are ubiquitous in October, which—if nothing else—is a testament to Slash’s massive cultural impact.
Iconography aside, Slash’s stature as a guitarist is even bigger. Case in point: His opening lick to the Guns N’ Roses classic “Sweet Child O’ Mine” replaced “Stairway to Heaven” as the go-to riff that beginning guitarists played to flaunt their skills in guitar stores. (It’s possible that “Seven Nation Army” now holds that distinction, but “Sweet Child O’ Mine” dominated for decades.) He’s been called the “Last Guitar Hero”—and his image was central to the branding of the video game, Guitar Hero III—but it was his arrival in the late ’80s that cemented his legacy. In a world of big hair and synths, the Les Paul-playing Slash was a breath of fresh air—a vision of a better tomorrow.
It’s been more than 30 years since Appetite for Destruction, Guns N’ Roses’ debut, but Slash is no relic from the past. From GNR’s tumultuous initial run, through Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, his solo outings backed by Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and his long-awaited never-thought-possible reunion with Axl Rose, Slash is a consistent presence and an ambassador for the primacy of guitar-centric rock.
But what’s more, Slash somehow keeps getting better.
Compare his playing on his most recent solo release, Living the Dream, to his earlier output. This is no lazy rock star resting comfortably on his laurels. It’s obvious he works on his craft. Although if you ask him, he downplays it. “I have a hard time seeing myself doing what I consider most lead guitar players doing these days,” he says. “Which is working on runs, patterns, and fucking dexterity. I’m just playing my guitar all the time.”
But whatever he calls it, guitar playing is his obvious focus. He still looks cool—and kids still want to be him—but his mission is music. He keeps busy, works hard, and, despite his almost elder statesman status, manages to stay relevant.
We caught up with Slash at the end of his tour in support of Living the Dream, his third album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and as he was getting ready for the final leg of GNR’s Not in This Lifetime… Tour. He shared his approach to working with the Conspirators, his recording and songwriting methods, his bare-bones signal chain, and his insights into working with a second guitarist. We also spoke with Myles Kennedy (see accompanying sidebar), who, although he limits himself to vocals with Slash, is a world-class guitarist in his own right.
Do you practice all the time? It sounds like you keep getting better.
Yeah, I definitely play. Obviously, I tour a lot, and in between tours I’m always recording, so I’m always playing. I think that’s where the practicing sort of shows up—just playing every night and improvising a lot. I think that’s where the growth is. If I sit home and just play my guitar, it’s really just to write or if I have an idea or something like that. I do warm-up scales or whatever I can come up with, but I’m not really what you’d call an ardent practicer. I don’t sit down and work on runs or theory or studiously work on my hand technique. It’s really more just playing all the time and growing as a player that way.
You’re not one of these guys who sit in front of the TV playing all day long?
I keep a guitar with me at all times, and if I’m sitting in my hotel room, sitting on the bed watching TV, I’ve got my guitar in my hands for sure.
What’s your approach to recording the band?
We rehearse—we call it preproduction—if I come up with a new idea and present it to the band. It could be anywhere: It could be at soundcheck, it could be just a riff on the bus or in the dressing room or something like that, and when we’re on tour, that’s where all the ideas sort of happen. When the tour’s over, we go into a room and start jamming together. We’re all there. We work on the riff, and whatever arrangement I’ve got going on, and Myles is coming up with melodies. We just work on all that together.
And then you record the tracks live?
We do a hell of a lot of preproduction, rehearsing, so we can just play the songs in one or two takes live. Sometimes there might be three or four takes just to get the feel right. When we actually go into the recording studio, we’ve got all the songs down and we go in and jam them out real quick.
Do you do extra guitars later by yourself?
Yeah.
I heard you like to stand in the control room when you’re recording your solos.
For the most part. Sometimes I’ll go into the booth, into the sound room, but I like to do everything really loud in the control room.
Living the Dream marks the first time Slash’s touring rhythm guitarist, Frank Sidoris, appears on a Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators’ album. On previous albums, Slash handled all guitar work in the studio.
How do you get your guitars to feed back when you’re in the control room?
Yeah, that has been a thing. I’ve been working on ways of doing that forever. Sometimes I can get the feedback I want out of the monitor in the control room. When we did the Apocalyptic Love record, which was a couple of records ago, we actually built a room called the Slash Box. I was in the room with big monitors and a Marshall all competing together. I could get full-on, automatic response from my cabinet, without having headphones on. That sort of worked. There’s no perfect formula for that. I will go out to the room in front of my amp with headphones if there’s something in particular that I’m trying to achieve feedback-wise. But the thing is, the amp is so loud. Headphones have a hard time competing with that, but I work it out one way or the other.
Do you bring your live rig into the studio?
When I’m on the road, I take primarily new guitars and amps. When I’m in the studio, I might take one of my road amps in the studio. Like the amp I used on this record was a brand-new Jubilee that I just got from Marshall that sounded good. But on this record—are you familiar with the Kris Derrig Les Paul I’ve been using since 1986? That was only a road guitar in 1987 and I retired it to just being a studio guitar. But on this record, I primarily use vintage guitars. I use the Derrig for one or two songs. I use a ’56 goldtop, a ’59 standard, and a ’58 that I have. Those guitars I would never take on the road, because I’m way too hard on guitars when I’m touring.
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11. Warpaint
PG’s John Bohlinger caught Warpaint's Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman during a seemingly never-ending tour. The childhood pals walked us through their funky, vintage, and sometimes homemade gear before their gig at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley.