Saul Hudson

About Saul Hudson

Saul Hudson (born 23 July 1965), better known by the stage name Slash, is a guitarist best known as the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses and as the current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver. In 1983, Slash formed the band Road Crew with childhood friend Steven Adler. He placed an advertisement in a newspaper for a bassist, and received a response from Duff McKagan. When Road Crew disbanded, Slash joined a local band known as Black Sheep. Headed by Willie Bass, the band shared an agent with another new group known as Hollywood Rose. In 1984, both bands opened for Christian metal band Stryper. After the show, Slash and lead singer Axl Rose were introduced to one another by a friend. The two quickly became friends, and several months later, Slash and Steven Adler were invited to join with Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin as the band, Guns N' Roses. Guns N' Roses toured bars and opened for larger acts throughout 1985 and 1986. It was during this period that they wrote most of their classic material, including "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine", and "Paradise City." During this time, they were scouted by several major record labels, and signed with Geffen. From the start, they spent half of their advance on clothes, and the other half on alcohol and drugs. It was during this period that the "Most Dangerous Band In The World" tag was first attached to them. In 1988, Slash remarked: For some strange reason, Guns N' Roses is like the catalyst for controversy, even before we had any kind of record deal.[citation needed] With 15 million copies sold in the United States, their album Appetite for Destruction is the second highest selling debut album of all time, behind Boston's debut. By 1988, Guns N' Roses scored its first #1 hit with Sweet Child o' Mine, a song spearheaded by Slash's riff and guitar solo. After his departure from Guns N' Roses, Slash focused on his side-project, The Snakepit, playing a few tour dates before disbanding the group in 1998. Over the next decade, Slash became an in-demand session musician, recording music with the likes of Alice Cooper, Sammy Hagar, Insane Clown Posse, Ronnie Wood, Bad Company, Cheap Trick, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Velvet Revolver began as "The Project", a venture by Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum to find a new lead singer. On rhythm guitar, they initially worked with Izzy Stradlin, and they were offered to open for The Rolling Stones but Slash, Duff and Matt wanted to have a lead singer; after this Izzy became less involved. They would find their second guitarist in the form of Dave Kushner, who had previously played with McKagan in "Loaded" prior to this project. For many months, the four of them listened to demo tapes of potential lead singers, a monotonous process (documented by VH1). After many months, Slash and the others were almost ready to give up. However, Stone Temple Pilots had recently imploded, allowing lead singer Scott Weiland to volunteer to record a song with the band. Realizing there was chemistry between each member, Weiland officially joined the band in 2003.

Taken from Last.fm

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