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Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist says he’s happy to stay out of limelight.

When one of the most recognisable names in rock history tells you he’s actually a “very shy guy”, it takes some convincing.

Yet, that’s exactly what guitarist Slash seemed to personify in an interview with The New Paper.

It certainly explains the hair – that ubiquitous mess of curls that obscures most of his face underneath
that signature top hat.

It’s the same hairstyle that has kept the 44-year-old looking exactly as he did when he first burst onto the scene in the mid-80s as part of rock outfit Guns N’ Roses (GNR).

“I need the hair. I can hide behind it.

“Even before I had the top hat, I had the hair,” he said in a phone interview from Los Angeles.

“I saw a picture of myself in a magazine recently at a Dodgers game and I had my hair up in a ponytail.

“I was still wearing a leather jacket, but I just looked weird, man. So I’m keeping the hair.”

Going solo
The one thing that has changed is that Slash is now going solo.

His new, self-titled debut album has him working his six-string for singers such as Iggy Pop, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Alice Cooper and even Fergie.

To support the album, he “handpicked” a new band – fronted by Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy – for a world tour, including a stop in Singapore in August.

Slash said: “It’s been very liberating. You don’t have to answer to anybody. I can do whatever I want, which is cool.

“I don’t have to deal with the diplomacy and democracy of a group.”

His sentiments hint at the unpleasantness surrounding his last band, Velvet Revolver.

The future of the Grammy-winning super-group, made up of Slash and former GNR-mates, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, was left in the air after singer Scott Weiland suddenly rejoined his former band Stone Temple Pilots.

But Slash insists Velvet Revolver is alive and “quietly looking for a new singer”.

Definitely dead and buried is GNR, which split in the mid-90s.

When controversial frontman Axl Rose released a new album, Chinese Democracy, in 2008 under the GNR name, there were reports that the Gunners were plotting a reunion, much to the joy of fans.

Slash admitted he’s constantly amazed by the “rock ’n’ roll status” of the band but “I’m pretty confident a reunion won’t be happening”.

“I will never say never, but that’s because I don’t want to sound negative to the fans. But after all this time I’ve quit the band, I haven’t spoken to Axl.”

Despite that cold war, Slash is diplomatic about Rose’s album.

“It’s a good Axl statement. When you hear his voice, you realise he’s an awesome singer and he expresses himself with such sincerity. That’s what made him so good.

“Musically, it’s pretty much what I thought it would be.”

With so many frontman troubles, why not just step up to the microphone himself?

Slash said: “At some point, I will be forced to sing. But at the moment, no. I’m really very shy.

“It’s just not my personality to sing. I’m very low-key.

“I’ve done background vocals on The Spaghetti Incident? but I didn’t do it and walk away thinking: ‘Oh, I had fun on that’.”

Homebody
You get the feeling that Slash enjoys letting his lead singers dominate the limelight. The guy’s just happy to be a homebody, tinkering with his guitars – all 100-odd of them – and his infamous collection of snakes – all 260-odd of them.

His life now centres around his two boys, London, seven, and Cash, five, and his “pillar”, wife Perla Ferrar. No Slash Jrs for now, though.

It’s a bit of an anomaly that, unlike his peers –Poison’s Bret Michaels, Warrant’s Jani Lane, to name a few – Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, has somehow avoided the washed-up rock star cliche.

Time magazine recently picked him as No. 2 on its list of the 10 Best Electric-Guitar Players second only to the late Jimi Hendrix.

He collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on the Jackie Brown soundtrack, did a guest spot on American Idol and worked with the late Michael Jackson (“it is sad...all he ever wanted to do was make
people happy”).

He’s also one of the most popular playable characters on video game Guitar Hero III: Legends Of
Rock.

Slash explained: “I don’t make a conscious decision to stay relevant. I’m just very passionate and enthusiastic about what I do.”

But if you think this hellraiser has turned into a fuddy-duddy, don’t forget he used to be in a band dubbed the Most Dangerous Band in the World. There are still shades of the old rocker in him.

Discussing his last visit here in 1995, he said with a chuckle: “Was I ever in Singapore? I honestly don’t remember. I must’ve been drunk.”

- The New Paper