Guitar Hero
Iconic guitar-slinger Slash talks to Peter Murphy about Thin Lizzy’s influence on Guns N’ Roses, how Phil Lynott inspired him in his formative years and confirms that Axl Rose got a tattoo in tribute to the Dublin rockers.
Peter Murphy, 28 Feb 2011
Forget working with Iggy Pop, Fergie, Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne on his eponymous solo album: one of the sweeter moments of last year for ex-Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash was meeting Philomena Lynott after his Dublin show in May.
“That was very, very cool,” he says, the day after picking up his Album of the Year gong at the Classic Rock Awards in London. “She was amazing actually, so sweet and very, very gracious and enthusiastic. She gave me a statuette of Phil and it was a really nice moment. She's definitely, what's the word for it, very comfortable in that environment. I mean, we're talking about not just Phil Lynott's mom, but a mom, which sorta tripped me out.”
Presumably he was too young to catch classic Lizzy live?
“I started going to concerts in 1978 and I just don't remember those guys ever coming to LA during that time. I heard them on the radio all the time, but I didn't really start getting Thin Lizzy records 'til I started playing guitar, and then I started listening to a lot of bands in a different way. I was into Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Ted Nugent, Rory Gallagher, different guitar-driven bands. I started playing 'Jailbreak' in one of my first bands in junior high school.”
For the adolescent Slash, the obvious hook was the Live & Dangerous-era Robertson/Gorham dual lead guitar sound.
"A lot of the bands that I liked were two-guitar bands,” he admits, “be it the Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith or Thin Lizzy or whatever, even The Scorpions. You just got more out of two guitars! I never really set out to be in two-guitar bands, but when Guns N' Roses started, that's the way it came together. I hooked up with Izzy and Axl and they were sort of a package, it was sort of established already. But the way that Izzy and I did it was completely different than Thin Lizzy. I just played my thing and he played his. We did have a good chemistry, he and I. But it's great when it works, certain chord progressions can sound a lot more interesting with two guitars that have a natural cohesion."
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