Hello world!
Today we are presenting an interesting interview with Slash and The Conspirators. It's very worth reading!
After
a nice break for the holidays, MY ROOTS returns this week with
something a little different to welcome in the new year. A few months
ago, I sat down with the three musicians who make up the core of Slash’s
solo band: bass player Todd Kerns, drummer Brent Fitz and newest member
Frank Sidoris. But instead of doing an interview the old-fashioned way,
we did a sort of round robin that was both serious and fun.
For
Kerns, this is not his first foray into the bright music spotlight. The
native Canadian had a superstar following with his bands Age Of
Electric and Static In Stereo. Ask just about any Canadian musician
today and they will nine-times-out-of-ten mention one of these bands as
influences. Today, when not running down the rock & roll highway
with Slash, Kerns fronts the popular Sin City Sinners in Las Vegas.
Fellow Canadian Brent Fitz is best known for playing drums in Theory Of A
Deadman, Vince Neil’s solo band and Alice Cooper’s band while Sidoris
was with the band Cab when he got the invite to audition for the opening
rhythm guitar spot vacated by Bobby Schneck.
With
Slash currently on a short sabbatical before jumping back into touring
at the end of the month, this was a good time to share the comedic whims
of three musical brothers who quite honestly enjoy each other’s company
– on stage and off.
How about we start with each of you telling us how you came to be in Slash’s band.
Brent: It came down to a random phone call.
Todd: Gee, that’s a brief answer, very succinct, “random phone call.” Me. In band. Phone call (laughs)
Brent: Oh you want more than that?
Brent:
Well, the phone call came from someone saying that Slash was looking
for some new guys for his band and apparently some people had
recommended me to Slash.
Todd: And then Slash called him
Brent: And then Slash called
Todd:
And I got the gig because he got the gig. He texted me one day. I was
in my car, and it said, “Slash has a guy from Winnipeg in his band now.”
Then two weeks later or a month later …
Brent:
We jammed with a different bass player for a very short couple of days.
It was Slash, Bobby Schneck and this bass player and myself. Myles
wasn’t even there yet. And I could tell Slash wasn’t quite happy with
the way it was.
Todd: He wasn’t feeling it
Brent:
He was like, “I think we’re going to make a change on the bass player.”
And I don’t think he had the answer but I did and I gave it to him and
hopefully he was going to accept it. But I just said, “I’ve got a friend
of mine that I think would be great for the gig.” I don’t mean to
answer Todd’s question but …
Todd:
Oh please do. I’ve answered this many times to her (laughs). Yeah, I
went down the next day and jammed and it’s been two and a half years
later, three years later almost now.
Frank:
And after years of that band being together they recorded the record
and then got rid of their other rhythm player and then Brent kind of
called me for an audition, cause they were holding auditions for new
guys. So I flew down on a Super Bowl Sunday to audition from Toronto,
where I was on tour with another band. Then I did the audition and four
days later I got the call from Slash and here I am.
What was something that surprised you about Slash when you met him and started playing in the band?
Todd:
Well, the most surprising thing now, or at least when I got plugged in,
was the fact that he was, well, I remember looking at him and there was
something weird about this guy – and it took me a long time to figure
it out – he’s not smoking, cause he’s all healthy and clean now. So that
was kind of, not a shock, but certainly kind of a surprise. I kind of
expected him to be the smoking and drinking party guy that he used to be
but he’s not. He’s so easy going. And I think what’s also surprising is
how grounded he is. He’s not a dick.
Frank:
This is not too much of a surprise but I noticed how a lot of my
favorite guitar players over the years kind of plateaued a bit. Like,
nothing against these guys but I just feel like they really …
Todd: They do what they do
Frank:
Yeah, it’s like they kind of hit that point and are like, “Yeah,
whatever.” They just kind of plateaued and are not really excelling
anymore. And Slash is not one of those guys and that’s why he has number
one hits on the radio currently, because he is constantly practicing;
like he is totally surpassing all these legends and he is that living
legend.
Todd: He is still learning stuff
Frank:
Yeah, constantly, it’s amazing. Everybody is like, wow, he’s better
than he has ever been and it’s because he constantly practices. But it’s
very impressive to me. I walked into the gig and I figured he doesn’t
need to practice. It’s like he’s at that point where he’s great but he’s
just sitting there from soundcheck to the gig practicing. And then in
his hotel room he’s practicing. It’s just non-stop and it shows more
than ever. Not a lot of those artists can say that at all. I’m like,
look at this guy, he’s still better than ever.
Todd: It’s impressive
Brent:
I think Slash words it that the challenge is to himself to get better.
It’s not like he’s sort of paying attention to anyone else and what
they’re doing. He’s just, “I need to be a better guitar player.” He’s
always on that quest personally.
Todd:
We all love the way he plays so why would we care if he does something
different. But when he does do something different we go, oh wow, and if
he stayed that good forever we’d all be totally fine.
When you came into the band, what was the hardest song to learn?
Todd:
Honestly, most of the Guns N Roses stuff is such a no brainer for
myself and Brent because it is just such a part of our DNA. The only
hard part was getting into learning songs I had never heard before. At
the time, the solo album wasn’t even released yet so I was learning them
on the fly. That very first day they were like, “Ok, here is ‘By The
Sword.’ It goes like this.” Press play on the CD and I’m kind of like
learning it right there and then. But that’s only because it’s difficult
to learn something that you’ve never heard before. I wouldn’t say that
anything was all that challenging per se to play. I have to do a lot of
playing and singing harmonies that haven’t really been sung before, or
wasn’t really attempted. So there was a lot of that that goes on.
Frank:
For me, it wasn’t really one specific song that was super hard, it was
more so the amount of songs that I had to learn at such a short amount
of time, cause I was still on tour with another band. I mean, I got it
done, obviously, but then again, those Guns N Roses songs, it’s funny
cause those Izzy parts, they’re not that clearly there, you know what I
mean. They’re all kind of almost winged in a way, and that’s what makes
them cool but …
Todd: That’s the challenging part. Not that they’re difficult to play it’s that they’re very unique.
Frank:
And it’s not like I’m going to take these songs into my own and kind of
just make up the part. I wanted to make sure I did justice to those
awesome songs and play it right. It was mainly just learning fifty songs
and that was the kind of difficult part.
Brent:
Yeah, cause you had to learn a set, a given set, cause we had like one
show, these are the first bunch of songs we’re going to play. But don’t
forget the rest of us band guys know the whole catalog so Frank had to
get up to speed.
Frank: GNR, Velvet Revolver, Snakepit, first solo record, new solo record that I hadn’t heard yet.
Todd:
And the other thing with Slash was that even if he tells you, “This is
the set we’re doing,” by the time you get to the show, it’s like, “I
threw in …”
Frank:
In Biloxi, it was like, “Want to play ‘Mississippi Queen?’” Alright.
Then, “You want to do ‘Stranglehold’ tonight?” Ok. “’Communication
Breakdown’”? Sure. And I think he enjoys that. I think he’s doing it on
purpose in a way to be kind of like testing in a way.
Todd:
Well, to be honest with you, I don’t know if he’s been able to do much
of that before. It’s hard to get a group of guys who are just going to
be like, “Let’s do this.”
Frank:
Literally, on the way to the show a couple of nights ago it was like,
“You guys want to play ‘Carolina’?” It’s one of the bonus tracks that
we’ve never played before. I didn’t even go over it yet cause I just
figured we weren’t going to play it for a while and then literally five
minutes till the gig starts, it’s “Carolina” and we played it and now
we’re playing it in the set.
Brent: We’ve probably never played the same set twice in a row out of all the shows in two and a half years.
Frank:
I realize there’s a wild card slot. Like, there’s the songs we’re
always going to play like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” or what not. And then
there’s the songs that, we’re going to do this tomorrow and this the
next day and …
Todd:
I always feel good knowing that cause if someone is in the audience at
any of the shows that are in close proximity where people are coming to
multiple shows, you look out and know that they’re seeing something
different every single night.
When you were recording the new album, Apocalyptic Love,
and I know Todd mentioned to me before how “You’re A Lie” gave him
goosebumps. But what about you guys? What song did that for you?
Brent:
Well, I liked the chorus in “Standing In The Sun.” The first day that
the music parts had a vocal melody, I was just like, Holy crap, Myles
has got something really cool going on. In fact, that gave me
goosebumps.
Todd:
A lot of time we’re so mired in the fucking music part of it. Like the
three of us are sort of sitting there in the dark mines of making music
and all of a sudden Myles comes in and goes, sprinkle, and we’re all
like, oh wow, that’s what that sounds like. And you put the harmony on
it and that was when it really kind of …
Brent:
But it almost didn’t complete itself till we played the music and then
Myles sang the vocals. We still didn’t quite know. We knew a melody that
we had been rehearsing with Myles, but he was still finalizing what he
wanted to say lyrically and some of the stuff changed. Like even right
at the very end to the point where I was like pleasantly surprised to
hear our song recorded with a vocal take, after I had already played my
parts. I was like, holy shit, now this song is complete. A lot of them
gave me goosebumps, actually. Most of the record gave me goosebumps
cause I was expecting it to be great and a lot of times it even went
past my expectations.
Speaking of Myles’ lyrics, how did those affect you?
Todd:
It’s funny, me and Myles used to drive to the studio every day and we
were always talking about it, cause of course it was always on his mind.
The poor guy was like obsessed with it. There was a little room
upstairs and he’d sit there writing and rewriting and talking about, “Is
this better than this?” I’m kind of a big believer in your initial
instincts are usually the best way to go but there’s nothing wrong with
sort of readjusting your way of looking at things, so sometimes songs
were rewritten and rewritten and rewritten. But there was a lot of talk
and a lot of the theme on the record is like having been through periods
of extreme behavior and kind of pulling out of it – “Not For Me,” “Hard
& Fast,” “One Last Thrill,” all those songs have a sort of a “I
used to do bad things and now I don’t” or “Now I’m kind of keeping it
together.” That was an ongoing conversation that Myles and I had the
whole way because the three of us have had histories of that to some
degree.
It’s almost like he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in his lyrics at first.
Todd:
It’s not so much confidence, it’s more I think of challenging yourself,
you know what I mean. Myles has written a lot of great songs, as far
back as Mayfield Four, Alter Bridge and here, so it’s like, as an artist
you’re constantly trying to outdo yourself and lyrics are tough, lyrics
can be really fucking corny and you have to be really careful with it.
You’re trying really hard to be clever without it being too, like, this
rhymes with this, and it’s tough.
Brent: He said this was a really hard record to make.
Todd:
He said this was the hardest record to make but he also said, for some
reason, it was the most important, in a lot of ways.
Frank: And you know GNR fans are constantly comparing him with Axl.
One of my favorite songs on the CD is “Bad Rain.”
Todd: (starts singing) That was one of the first three songs we recorded.
Brent:
It is the first. It was the first one we actually put to tape for the
new record. It was “Bad Rain,” “Standing In The Sun” and then “Halo.”
Frank:
Speaking of getting chills from the songs, for me, and I didn’t record
any of them, but when I heard “Halo,” the verses were like, holy shit.
The vocal melody is incredible. I love it.
What song haven’t you played in the set yet that you’re eager to play?
Frank: “Bad Rain” and “We Will Roam” are the only ones left.
Todd: Really?
Frank:
That’s it. And that’s another thing that I think is incredible. The
record was recorded to play live and they played it live when they
recorded it.
Todd:
But this far into somebody’s career usually a band making a new record
like this, you barely play two songs from your new album.
Frank: How many bands actually go and play the entire record? I’ve never seen that.
Todd: We don’t play the entire record every night
Frank: But over the course of the tour cycle, it’s amazing because we’ve slowly knocked out almost all of them.
Todd: And the two bonus tracks
Frank: I always liked to play “Crazy Life.” That was like my other favorite song. I love that song.
Brent: “Far & Away” is the only one we’ve done acoustically
Todd: Yeah when we did an acoustic show
Brent: And Frank played it on his first gig
Frank: Yeah, my first gig with the band at the Guitar Center sessions
Any GNR songs or Velvet Revolver songs that you’d like to play?
Todd:
We always talk about trying to convince him to do some Use Your
Illusion songs but we only ever do “Civil War.” To be honest, the three
of us being part of the new band, we aren’t really concerned about going
back. If he wants to then yeah, fuck yeah. As a fan, I’m always happy
to play it.
Frank: We’ve played a lot of Appetite too
Todd:
Yeah, we’ve added like “You’re Crazy” and “Out to Get Me” to make me
sing them so we actually do quite a bit of Appetite now that I think
about it.
What has been the most memorable show so far on this tour with Frankie in the band?
Todd: I think the one at the Phoenix Theatre was great
Frank: I was going to say, that was something special for me. I really had a blast.
Todd: That was the first proper show
Frank: We did the Guitar Center sessions, then did that, then LA, then did the music video, Jimmy Kimmel and all that.
Todd: That was pretty memorable too, but of shows I’d say Toronto, a lot of the Australian stuff was massive.
Frank: Download was another one that was like, holy shit.
Brent:
Download was a rough day. We had a hard time getting to the gig. It was
rainy and windy. The second we went on stage it was a big, holy fuck,
where did this rain come from?
Todd: We were headlining too, that was the crazy thing. And we were headlining in front of like 80,000 people or something.
Frank:
It was one of those things where the weather was so bad and the traffic
was so bad that it was just kind of like we were all in this, not like
we weren’t pumped for the show or anything, but then we literally walked
out of our trailer and we went on stage and, just like you said, it was
like a whole new thing.
Todd:
There are nights like that where you’re literally as you’re walking on
stage, the second you walk on stage, it’s a whole different experience
because if you’ve got a sore throat or, oh, I hurt my foot, when you
walk on stage you’re like, fuck yeah. It’s like it’s gone. Then after
the show it’s, oh my foot (laughs)
Brent: It’s your classic adrenalin thing
Todd:
It really should be bottled. I’d like to drink that every day.A little
bit on the serious side, when the tsunami hit, you guys were going over
there.
Brent: We were in Singapore
Todd:
We were kind of like, oh well that sucks, I guess we’re not going to
Japan. And I remember somebody going, “We’re going to Japan. We’re still
going to Japan.” And then all of a sudden we’re in Narita airport,
which is in Tokyo, and we ran into Rivers Cuomo of Weezer in the men’s
room.
Brent: Yeah, he was there because his wife is Japanese
Todd:
We played one gig, we figured we’d play here where it wasn’t really
affected, the one town. We stayed there one day off, played the show,
then Tokyo just kind of happened. But we didn’t see anything and the way
the Japanese, as proud as they are, it was almost like they didn’t want
anyone to, like, “Don’t worry about it, it’s cool.”
Brent:
Well, what we did see was on CNN. We didn’t see it when we were in the
actual country. We were seeing it from America’s eyes. So we were seeing
a lot of footage that was alarming and everyone back home was telling
us this was really bad. But as we were in the country that it was
actually in, we didn’t feel threatened by any means.
I remember you telling me about a sign at the show thanking you for playing, for still coming.
Brent:
Yeah, the people of Osaka were so thrilled cause they knew it was going
to be some time before bands would be coming over for obvious reasons
but we were already basically there so we just made sure we played. And
we probably would have played Tokyo if it was safe.
So what do you do on the bus?
Todd: On the bus? We used to play a rock trivia game.
Brent: But for the record, Todd won every fucking game
(Everyone laughs)
Brent: Then it wasn’t fun anymore
Todd:
Then most of the time we just sit around watching movies. In a lot of
ways it’s actually one of my favorite parts of the day. Just sit on the
bus and kind of hang out together and then watch something and have a
laugh and a snack and then go to sleep.
Let’s do some fun questions. Who is your favorite band in the whole wide world?
Todd: KISS because they’re the best band in the entire world.
Brent: Mine’s The Beatles because they influenced KISS
Frank: Mine’s KISS because they influenced The Beatles
)
Todd: Frankie’s is Alice Cooper
Frank: And Led Zeppelin for sure
Musician you want to jam with on stage?
Todd: On stage, Paul McCartney, I’ll say
Frank: Wow, that’s a good one. I’d like to play with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones or David Bowie
Brent: Don Henley
Todd: I would not have guessed he’d say that
Favorite Ramones song?
Todd: Well that changes all the time. “Commando” I’ll say
Frank: I’m no Todd Kerns so I really …
Todd: He’s not into
Frank: I used to listen to them a lot when I was younger but I know like the hits so “Flight Of The Bumblebee” by the Ramones
(Everyone laughs)
Todd: Wow, I’ve not even heard that version
Frank: I’ve listened to “Sheena”
Todd:
That’s a good one. You can say what you want about all those deep cuts
and all that but there’s a reason that those hit songs like the ones
that were popular and it’s because they’re fucking great. “Sheena” and
“Judy Is A Punk”
Brent: “Beat On The Brat”
Frank: I fucking love that one
Todd:
(singing) That’s another one of those bands like KISS or Led Zeppelin
where their first album is still like, a giant chunk of those records,
they played those live forever. That’s always a good sign.
Star Wars or Star Trek? And favorite character?
Todd: I’m Star Trek, Kirk
Frank: I thought you were more of a Star Wars guy
Todd: Everybody thinks that but it’s not true. Second answer would be Star Wars, Boba Fett.
Frank: I’d say Boba Fett. He’s fucking cool. He was absolutely my favorite.
Brent: Han Solo
Who did you dress up as at Halloween?
Todd: Paul Stanley
Brent: Ace Frehley, every year
Frank: This last year?
Todd: Sailor Moon
Frank: I feel like I had a good one recently, I just can’t remember it
Todd: Oh you were a fucking minotaur or, not a minotaur …
Frank: A centaur. My girlfriend at the time glued fur to my jeans and I didn’t wear a shirt. It was bad
(Everyone laughs)
Frank:
But I was Alice Cooper for like six years of my life as a kid,
unwillingly, and then probably three of those years I was like,
“Whatever Dad, I’ll be Alice Cooper.” Then I did it willingly.
Todd: I was Alice Cooper as a kid one year too
Brent: I never dressed up as Alice Cooper
First rock star crush?
Frank: I loved Joan Jett
Todd: I was going to say Joan Jett too
Frank: Newer ones I guess would be like Allison Mosshart from The Kills
Todd: My first real crush was Pam Dawber from Mork & Mindy (laughs) I swear, but she’s not a rock & roll crush
Todd: Debbie Harry and Joan Jett
Frank: Debbie for sure
Brent: I think I had a Pat Benatar moment there too
Todd: Sure, who wouldn’t
The most treasured piece of rock & roll memorabilia that you own?
Todd: I have a KISS pinball machine
Frank: I have the 1973 actual Alice Cooper sword from Billion Dollar Babies tour
Todd: That’s pretty rad
Brent: I have some Neil Peart drumsticks
Most incredible guitar solo you have ever heard?
Frank: Fred Durst. He really did. Long story but look it up.
Todd:
The first one that comes to mind for me would be “Heartbreaker” by Led
Zeppelin. The thing I love about it is the sort of loosey-goosey kind of
slightly rough & ready thing about it. That’s what I like about it.
If speaking of a guitar solo by itself.
Brent: “Eruption” by Eddie
Van Halen. I was like eight years old when that came out. That was
heavy. Still, every time I hear it I go right back to that. I’d say
“Eruption.”
Frank:
That’s a really hard question but I’d have to say, well, I’d have to
say “Brighton Rock” by Queen, even though that’s not like a super,
really well known guitar solo, it’s like every little guitar thing he
did in that song is just insanely inspirational and killer. And it’s
amazing if you listen to that song he basically invented death metal,
and that whole song I guarantee that it inspired millions and millions
to start doing that.
What do you think Slash thinks you’re doing right now?
Brent: He thinks I’m with twenty new friends. In every town I’m always hooking up with twenty people I know in every city.
Frank: He probably thinks I’m watching Foxy Shazam soundcheck (laughs)
Todd: He probably thinks I’m either drinking coffee, tagging along with Brent or watching Foxy Shazam.
What do you think Slash is doing right now?
Todd: Playing guitar
Frank: Playing guitar, I guarantee it
Brent: Yeah, absolutely.
So what do you hope to do in 2013?
Todd:
We have so many plans right now as far as like going down to South
America again and we’re going to India and all that. I can’t say what
the future holds as far as where the next chapter is except that there
will be a next chapter.
Frank:
I guess I’m just seeing how this whole thing will ride out. Right now,
everything has just been non-stop and constantly good. I’m not really
sure what is going to happen but I’m just happy to be here.
Brent: We don’t have any time to do any personal things.
Todd: That’s true. Sleep, get some sleep (laughs)
Brent:
I think we’re locked up. The true answer is we’re locked up for quite
some time. I don’t think our personal lives are a priority right now or
for at least the next couple of months but we’ll see.
Todd:
Eventually we’ll start talking about the next chapter, depending on
everybody’s projects, like my dance troupe that I have going on (laughs)
Frank: Real Diamond is going to go into full swing
Frank:
Are you familiar with Real Diamond? Let me tell you about it. It’s our
tribute to Neil Diamond. What is the Garth Brooks one?
Todd: Goth Brooks
And what song will you sing?
Todd: I couldn’t even tell you a Garth Brooks song
Brent: I Got Vampires In Lowly Places
(Everyone laughs)
Soon we will add Polish translation of this interview, stay tunned!
~Ghost
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