2005.01.DD - MTV2 - Interview with Slash and Duff

Transcript:
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Interviewer: ...you’ve been seen chatting in L.A.

Slash: That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve never met Gary (?).

Interviewer: (Laughs) This is – you gotta understand. This is our mates here on the planet, so...

Slash: Maybe I have and I just don’t remember it (laughs). But I think you remember something like that.

Interviewer: Alright. This one’s for Slash: How come do you play Les Pauls? I’m not knocking them, it’s just that there’s so many different guitars there. What is it about Les Pauls?

Slash: It was, I think, the first guitar that I ever had. The first electric guitar was a Les Paul copy. And then I finally stuck that guitar through a steel wall and I had to move on, right? So I tried out Strats, I tried out different (?) and I tried out... and there was a lot of new (?) guitars coming along. And I remember when Guns N’ Roses first started living in this little studio behind Guitar Center in Los Angeles-

Duff: About the size of this room.

Interviewer: (Laughs).

Slash: Yeah. I got one of Steve Hunter – you know the guitar player Steve Hunter?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: I got one of his old Les Paul’s and that was the guitar that I used-

[Inaudible cross talk]

Slash: I don’t know, I think I traded that for some money one time.

Duff: (Chuckling) Was it money?

Slash (Laughing) Yeah.

Duff: Are you sure it was money?

Slash: Anyway. So I lost it, and I went through another sort of search trying to find a good guitar that ended up taking me to the Appetite sessions. And while we were doing the basic tracks for Appetite, I was going through all these guitars and they sounded terrible.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Slash: Everything - especially in the studio, everything is like microscope. And right before I went to do the overdubs, not knowing what the [bleep] I was gonna do, our old manager handed me this Les Paul, which is still the main guitar I use to this day. And it’s not even a real Gibson, it’s a handmade 59 by some guy, some artist, guitar artist-

Interviewer: It’s how it sounds to you, isn’t it? How it feels to you, man. That’s all about guitars, you know what I mean. We’ve got to end this session, unfortunately. It’s been really good fun. Well, we should end it with a classic question from (?). This is the all-time classic Gonzo question: Duff, what’s your favourite cheese?

Duff: I don’t eat cheese.

Interviewer: Aaargh! Slash, what’s your favourite cheese?

Slash: Cheddar. I had to just say something real quick.

Duff: You could say gorgonzola.

Slash: No, because I’d be lying.

Interviewer: Havarti. Havarti, in honour of our old friends Rival Schools we could have a Havarti party. Also, Slash, if you just run your finger down the strings of that guitar for us just one time?

Slash: (?) (runs his finger down the strings)

Interviewer: Breaking! US Union rules, ladies and gentlemen, and Slash plays guitar on his UK trip and doesn’t get arrested. Alright (?).

Duff: You have no idea (?).

Slash: I can’t play guitar on the...

Interviewer: (Laughs) You’re not allowed to play guitar on this trip. Nice to meet you guys.

Slash: Gonzo, you’re [bleep] great.

Interviewer: (Laughs) Right, man. Right on.