Slash did something unthinkable for many people. In 2021, the guitarist managed to reunite with producer Dave Cobb and his longtime colleagues Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators in a Nashville studio. The result is 4 , Slash's fourth studio album featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators , and Slash's fifth solo album, away from Guns N' Roses.
Released this Friday, the 11th, the album – which you can listen to at the end of this article – is composed of ten organic and focused tracks. 4 doesn't overproduce its tracks or overload them with grand elements. It's pure rock and roll made by a group of musicians playing together – simultaneously in a single studio room. This means that, upon listening to the album, the fan is automatically transported to the studio where they recorded. All the instruments are in perfect balance, although the first tracks might sound strange to the uninitiated.
On the eve of the release, Slash spoke with journalists from around the world in a Zoom press conference. There, he talked about using a sitar for the first time in the studio, explained why he decided to record the entire album live in the studio, and more.
First, Slash was asked by a European publication: why record live in the studio? And the guitarist explained: “I always wanted to do this, put everyone in a room with the amplifiers and play live like that. And the producer, Dave Cobb, accepted the idea.”
The magic of 4 lies precisely in the strength of the group gathered in a studio room. The album doesn't bring surprises or any other innovation, but it does its job of continuing to surprise us with Slash's genius and the connection he found with Myles.
Wikimetal Slash how he stays energized to continue making music in so many different ways, as is the case with 4. To that he replied: “You know, I have a great passion for what I started doing and continue to do. I love the guitar, I love rock and roll, I love everything that has to do with all of that. It still excites me — maybe even more now than when I started — and it’s a journey that never ends, there are always new things to do with it.”
It's not even a question of reinventing myself. I'm still in the process of inventing myself, to begin with. So I'm kind of just following through with the aspirations from the beginning and trying to get good at this and that in terms of music. And just as far as playing guitar is concerned… that's also a never-ending journey, because there will always be new things to learn until I'm dead.
So I just have fun with this whole thing. And you have to work hard at it, because there are so many obstacles there to derail you [laughs]. So I've always learned that you have to persevere, and that's become part of my nature. Anyway, I love what I do and I can't imagine myself stopping.”
The album opens with "The River is Rising," which had already been released as a single. The track features heavy riffs, an explosive solo, and showcases Kennedy's vocals perfectly in tune, giving a glimpse of what's to come.
If the opening song was classic rock and roll, the second, "Whatever Gets You By," is a blues inspired by The Doors . After this introduction, the fan already knows what to expect: strong influences from Slash, ranging from classic rock to southern rock, passing through blues. And then comes "C'est la vie," an explosion of music that raises the bar for the following tracks. With Slash not letting up for a second, the song features an impeccable guitar solo.
The energy felt in this track can also be felt when Slash talks about his love for music. At the press conference, when discussing his inspirations, his ideas, and when reminiscing about good times with Myles, a shy smile appears, he leans back in his chair and tries, once again, to profess how much he loves what he does.
Delving into these inspirations, "The Path Less Followed" is something that could have come straight from the 70s, a decade from which Slash draws considerable influence. The same can be said of the next track, "Spirit Love," a strong and powerful song that manages to highlight the work of each of the band members.
It's a song that flirts with slowing down, but then explodes with one of Slash's most powerful solos and, most surprisingly, a sitar, the famous and traditional Indian instrument. During the press conference, the guitarist said that the track started with just a guitar, but the plans quickly changed:
“I bought an electric sitar in the 90s and never used it because they're too cliché. I never wanted to do something that sounded like the Beatles or anything else from the 60s with a sitar. When I composed 'Spirit Love', the introduction was born on the guitar and up to that point it was okay. But when we were getting ready to go to Nashville, I thought that part of the song would sound great with the sitar, so I took it… I initially recorded it with the guitar, but then I plugged the sitar into my Marshall, played it and thought it was cool. I didn't think it sounded like the Beatles or Ravi Shankar [Indian musician and composer whose main instrument was the sitar]. That's how it happened. The Beatles are great, but a lot of people had already done that,” he commented.
Moving on to the final part of the album, “Fill My World” and “April Fool” work perfectly as a sequence, since the first could very well be a power ballad from one of the bands that Slash admires, and the second a great track straight from the 1990s, when the guitarist had already achieved great success.
“Call Off The Dogs”, another single that had already been released previously, picks up the pace a bit more before finishing the album. Here, the guitar and drums connect as if they were one, and then Myles comes in to perfectly balance it out.
The album ends with “Fall Back To Earth,” a power ballad with a touch of progressive rock and over six minutes long, the longest track on 4. The song takes us to the end of the journey with a melodic verse, which surprises us with a cinematic solo. Slash even mentioned during the press conference that the song was inspired by movies he likes to watch, but shyly, he didn't reveal which ones.
With ten tracks, Slash, Myles Kennedy, and the Conspirators show us once again what they are capable of, but this time we have a special seat in the VIP section to hear it all. 4 is a great rock and roll album that brings all the classic elements of the genre, but the highlight is definitely the experience of listening to this rock as if it were live, bringing us a little closer to the musicians and especially the shy Slash.