Slash: I Haven’t Spoken to Axl Rose Since 1996
As he makes the rounds promoting his new album ‘Apocalyptic Love,’ Slash can’t avoid countless questions about Guns N’ Roses and his relationship (or lack thereof) with Axl Rose. Slash was interviewed on Piers Morgan’s CNN show last night (May 23) and he had some interesting things to say about his former band mate.
Morgan asked about the way it ended with Slash and Axl. “It’s a lot of attention put on a lot of negative stuff. And granted, the negative stuff existed, and might still exist or whatever, but dwelling on that stuff … All things considered, I left the band in 1996, so we’re talking a pretty long amount of time that I haven’t really even focused on that.”
Slash said that the last time he spoke with Rose was back in 1996, and what his last words to his former singer were. “ Basically, it was just that I’m done. And it wasn’t even me necessarily leaving the band, it was not continuing on with the new band that Axl put together that he was now at the helm of, which was the new Guns N’ Roses. I was given a contract to basically join his new band, and it took about 24 hours before I decided, I think this is the end of the line.”
The subject of the amount of amount of money offered to reunite the classic Guns N’ Roses lineup was brought up, and Slash responded, “I’ve heard a lot of numbers, but I’ve never been handed a specific offer. But I’d say it starts off with seven figures and then sometimes it starts to get even more grandiose than that.”
When asked if there was any size check that would tempt him, Slash said, “I don’t think it’s a matter of that; it really isn’t. I think you’ve got a situation where nobody involved wants to revisit. It’s not just me, it’s the whole band. And so I don’t think there’s a price tag that anybody’s going to put in front of us that’s going to make that work.”
Whether it’s rumors of Scott Weiland rejoining Velvet Revolver or the Guns N’ Roses Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction that Axl Rose skipped, Slash can’t escape talking about his former singers, when he wants to focus on his current album and tour.