Text and photo: Anastasia Lelyukh ... a hat “cylinder”, long black curly hair, dark glasses, a cigarette in his mouth, narrow leather pants, as well as a blue bandana in the back right pocket of his pants. He plays mainly on "Gibson" guitars of the "Les Paul" model and is their collector. Learned? Well, who does not know him!
Legendary Anglo-American guitarist Saul Hudson, better known to everyone as the legendary Slash, has again visited Dubai! This time he came to a sunny city with American musician Miles Kennedy and the band The Conspirators.
MP4 Events, the organizer of this event, held a concert at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, located in The Aviation Club. The fans who came here received more than two amazing hours of great music for their attention.
Slash and The Conspirators are currently on a world tour in support of their second studio album, "Apocalyptic Love", which was released on May 22, 2012. All Conspirators musicians participated in the recording, including vocalist Miles Kennedy, bass player Todd Kearns and drummer Brent Fitz. Accordingly, during a concert in Dubai, songs from this album were performed, including the great hit "Anastasia" (thanks, friends!), As well as the classic hits of Guns N 'Roses.
Saul Hudson was born in 1965 in Hampstead, in the family of a white Englishman and a black American. Both parents worked in show business. Mother was the designer of stage costumes for David Bowie, and his father created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Throughout his musical career, Slash played in such rock groups as Guns N 'Roses (1985-1996), Velvet Revolver (20022008), Slash's Snakepit (1994-1996, 1998-2001), Slash's Blues Ball (1996-1998) .
According to Classic Rock magazine, Slash is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. On July 10, 2012, Slash received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located opposite the Hard Rock Cafe. Thanks to the kind help of MP4 Events, I managed to ask the legendary musician and guitarist a few questions.
The last time you came to Dubai with the rock band Velvet Revolver. What can you say about that concert? Did you like how he went? What led to the collapse of the team?
This was my first visit to Dubai and the UAE. I was shocked by the audience that gathered at the concert and was very pleased. Since then, I thought about returning here again. As for the Velvet Revolver and Scott Wayland, during our tour to Dubai and then to the UK in 2008, we already decided to fire him then. There were professional reasons for this.
Tell us about your solo career. Which is better - to speak alone or in a team?
My personal career gives me great pleasure. However, this led to her being eventually transformed into a collaboration with Miles Kennedy and The Conspirators. I was surprised to find that working together in a group is much more interesting than when you are alone on stage.
While working on your solo album, you invited a large number of celebrities. Who did you especially enjoy playing with?
Honestly, I liked working with every musician, because they are all the best in what they do. Collaboration with some of them was a great honor for me. These are my personal idols and heroes: Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy from Motorhead ... I always like to work on new material, I get great pleasure and inner satisfaction from this process. 
Over the years, you have repeatedly received many awards for your skill, have been recognized as the "Best Guitarist of the World" and all sorts of other praise and recognition. What do you feel about this recognition, assessment of your skills and how do you evaluate yourself?
I have to make efforts not to pay attention to all these ratings and ratings, or to correspond with someone else's opinion of myself. I prefer to concentrate more on what I like and what I like to do. Continue to improve your guitar technique and things like that. I don’t evaluate myself at all, I just get better as I continue to do something. That's all and I have nothing to add to this.
You probably know that you were and are the idol and hero of many children in the 80s. And who inspired you at this age?
When I was a kid, my musical idols were Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Minnie Riperton, War, Bob Marley Jimmy Cliff. This list I can continue for a long time. I listened to these artists all my childhood. But then, when I started playing guitar, my preferences in music changed a bit, shifting towards hard rock. These were teams such as Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Sweet, Motorhead, Ozzy, AC / DC. Their work had a great influence on me.
Who do you think is the greatest guitar player of all time and why?
I believe that there are many such guitarists because each of them had their own unique style and character. For example, I consider Jimi Hendrix the most talented electro-rock guitarist. Eric Clapton, in turn, had a great influence on Hendrix, but he plays in a completely different style. Robert Johnson also had a great influence and was a huge inspirer for a mass of musicians, but played in the blues style. Also, Jimmy Page. All these guys, obviously, are fantastic musicians and guitarists. But their main value is that each of them had its own unique style, sound and personality.
Can you share new names with us? Who attracted your attention from young musicians recently?
There are a couple of interesting teams that, it seems to me, are pretty good and go right ahead in rock and roll. Firstly, these are the Americans from Hamilton (Ontario). I think they are phenomenal. I also like the Los Angeles team - Hillbilly Herald, they are very very good. Australians Airbourne. So far they have released only a few records and have not yet received worldwide recognition, but there is great potential. I can call MACH22 offhand, they won the competition that we supported. It was a good find. There is also another team from France called Gojira. I think that this is one of the most "heavy" heavy metal artists that have appeared recently.
What new goals do you set for yourself? What else would you like to achieve?
The process of composing music and songs is endless. Composing something, then playing it, perfecting it, processing new ideas and getting inspired again and again is what I like and attracts me. This is neither a short-term nor a long-term goal. This is a constant never ending task. I do not think that I will ever stop and say: "Well, here I am, I have achieved everything I wanted." This is not about rewards, not about ratings, not about sales. It only concerns the satisfaction of one’s own desire to create something new again and again.
If you were asked to choose your favorite song that you were involved in creating, what would it be for the song?
I was very lucky to be involved in the song "I Ain't No Nice Guy", written by Lemmy from Motorhead. I also really love the song "Always On the Run", which I wrote with Lenny Kravitz. The song “Give Into Me” with Michael Jackson was great. The song "We're All Gonna Die" with Iggy Pop is great. There was my first solo recording. In fact, all of my collaborative projects have always been very interesting. I learned a lot, it was an amazing experience.
