A gig is always made better when an artist looks like they want to be there. When you see Slash perform, you can rest easily knowing that you’re enjoying yourself, watching someone play who is having equally good a time. Slash has always been committed to his music and dedicated to life on the road, which can be seen not only through his work with Guns N’ Roses but also his work on other projects.

“I’m a road guy. That’s why the pandemic was such a shock,” said Slash, discussing how much time he dedicates to life on the road. “I’d say I spend probably 85 per cent of my time touring and have done for as long as I can remember – since 1985 or ’86. And that’s what I love to do.”

The Guns N’ Roses guitarist continued: “People think I’m crazy because the older I get, the more I love touring – it’s, like, the more exciting it is for me… But a lot of it is because of the simple fact that I love guitar playing, and my favourite venue for actually playing is live as opposed to being in the studio or being at home. So if I really wanna get off on guitar playing, I’ve gotta go out on tour.”

Even when Guns N’ Roses split up, what seemed like a massive blow to one of the biggest hard rock bands on the planet was swiftly met with a range of side projects that Slash put forward in a bid to get back on the road. These included recording solo music with a range of different artists, playing in Velvet Revolver and forming the supergroup Slash’s Snakepit.

Given how much emphasis Slash places on going out on the road, it’s unsurprising to hear that he measures success based on the size of the venues he plays. Given that he loves performing, the more people adamant about seeing him, the better his career will be going. This was the case when he was playing in Guns N’ Roses, and they started performing in arenas for the first time, which he described as the band’s peak.

Interestingly, his love for live music means that he is sometimes hesitant to play in huge venues, which seems counterintuitive. Playing anywhere bigger than an arena, such as a huge festival or football stadium, notoriously comes with sound problems. As such, Slash lives in an awkward constant contradiction, where he wants to play in bigger venues but doesn’t want to succumb to the logistical problems of performing in them.

“I was surprised when my manager said that we were going to be doing venues like Wembley Arena, but it’s been a nice steady ascent from where we started to where we are now; we didn’t pay anyone off or anything,” he concluded. “So we’ll see how all that goes; I don’t wanna be in any big huge places too much. I remember playing Wembley Arena with Guns N’ Roses back in the day, and that was, like, the peak of where you want to be. You know, beyond that, it starts to become complicated.”