Slash Says He Does 'Not Recall Any' of His First Gigs with Early Band: 'Such a Drunken Kind of Thing' (Exclusive)

After his latest album was at number one, Orgy of the damnedSlash looks back on one of his earliest forays into blues music — but admits that not many memories from that time immediately come to mind.

Speaking to PEOPLE, the legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist opens up about how he “doesn’t remember” when he first hit the road with Slash’s Blues Ball, the band he formed in 1996 in Los Angeles with Teddy “Big Bag Zig Zag.” Andreadis, Johnny Griparic, Alvino Bennett, Bobby Schneck and Dave McLaurin.

According to Slash, excessive alcohol consumption was to blame for the forgotten memories. “It was such a binge, and it was just for fun,” he shares. “I don’t remember any of those gigs.”

Slash in Seattle on February 9, 2022.

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Delving into how Slash’s Blues Ball came about, he recalls, “When I first met them, a couple of guys, they were playing in a band called The Screaming Cocktail Hour, which was a great blues band that played at the local Rogie’s and Baked Potato and Cozy’s and all these little blues divers around LA And I’d go hang out with them and get there at 10 or 11 at night and play until two in the morning.”

Eventually, after parting ways with the aforementioned group of local blues musicians, Slash “started a band with two guys, and we called it Slash’s Blues Ball.”

“I got a few other guys,” he adds, “and so we started doing the same circuit, but then it turned into a real tour, and we did it in fits and starts for a few years, we even managed to make it to Europe.”

During Slash’s Blues Ball’s two-year run from 1996 to 1998, the band did not release any recorded music, but performed live blues covers at various venues in the country and abroad.

For the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, all that matters is remembering that the tour “was fun” and capitalizing on his love of the blues at the time.

Slash at the House of Blues in Chicago on December 2, 1996.

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“Luckily, Teddy kept the setlist, which gave us where I picked some of the songs from,” he says, referring to the tracklist of his current Board top-topping Orgy of the damneda collection of classic blues covers reinterpreted by Slash and an all-star team including Iggy Pop, Chris Stapleton, Demi Lovato and more.

In addition Orgy of the damned, and Slash’s love of the blues as a whole, the artist is also embarking on the SERPENT Festival tour, which kicks off July 5th in Montana and ends August 16th in Arkansas. During those tour dates, the award-winning musician says he’s “looking forward to being able to really open up and play his a– off for two hours every day for a few months,” while constantly tapping into his love of blues music with a team of hand-picked blues artists.

Reflecting on the experience of working on the new album and tour, Slash adds: “I can’t remember much about Blues Ball, but [S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival] it’s not the same as a drunken club band just hanging around for beer.”

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Source: HIS Education