Guns N’ Roses Slash recalls first time he heard Axl Rose’s “bluesy, melodic” voice

"You didn’t often hear somebody hold that melody together so naturally."

Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Slash has recalled the first time he heard Axl Rose’s voice at the very beginning of the iconic band’s career.

In an interview with Kerrang, Slash said that Rose’s voice was played to him on a cassette by co-founding Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin before he eventually joined the group.

“The first time was on a cassette that Izzy brought over to my house,” he said.

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“There was all this noise and then there’s this really intense high voice over the top of it. My first impression was that it was very soulful. It had a bluesy, melodic thing to it, which was rare for that type of voice. You didn’t often hear somebody hold that melody together so naturally. Then I went to see him and Izzy play one time.

Guns N' Roses
Axl Rose and Slash of Guns N’ Roses. CREDIT: Mark Horton/Getty Images.

“I didn’t actually realise I was going to see the same person that was on that cassette. They were fucking hardcore on stage. Izzy was doing knee slides and Axl was bashing down. It was cool, like, ‘Fuck…'”

Opening up on their early rehearsals, he added: “The first time that we jammed together was at a rehearsal place in Hollywood and it was intense. We started working together at that point, we did some shows and it was always very unpredictable and wild. Like, ‘Okay, let’s see what happens.”

The group – who reunited with Slash and Duff McKagan in 2016 – have seen the majority of their 2020 shows cancelled due the coronavirus crisis, including gigs in London, Glasgow and Dublin — will be going ahead this year. They will now play the shows in 2021.

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In May, they launched the ‘Not In This Lifetime’ video series sharing live clips from recent dates on their world tour.

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