Slash recently spoke with Variety to discuss Guns N’ Roses, unreleased Chester Bennington collaboration as he was working on his first solo record. Slash told Variety “When I was doing my first solo record, I worked with a lot of different people, some of whom, for whatever reason, didn’t end up on the record, One was with Chester Bennington.” Continuing to tell Variety “We did a song and Linkin Park at the time didn’t allow it to happen, so I did it with Lemmy. The guy who engineered my demos sent it to me and I sent it to Chester’s family. But it was a trip cause the song “Doctor Alibi” really speaks to his state of mind.”
“His family has got it so it would be totally up to them. It was really good. He was awesome. It would be fine with me if they wanted to [release] it. Musically it’s basically the same as the Lemmy song, but the lyrics are really poignant.”
Interview questions below are from Variety’s interview with Slash, which can be read in full HERE.
As you see so many artists who didn’t make it to the other side, does it give you a greater appreciation for making it?
I have to appreciate, just for myself personally, being able to f—ing get up and do those gigs every single night. Because I would bet my bottom dollar if I was still carrying the same habit I had 12 years ago, there’s no way I could cope with it. It would be too physically and mentally difficult. There’s something to be said for a sense of clarity. It’s funny cause dope is such an insidious thing. I was thinking about bands from the ‘70s cause I grew up around a lot of that craziness, and I didn’t know it at the time, but I looked back on it and said, “F—ing every single massive argument between artists was 90 percent of the time fueled by coke.” Taking the cocaine out of the equation, how many less rock ‘n’ roll stories there would have been? But speaking of Chester [Bennington], and I forgot all about this until just recently, when I was doing my first solo record, I worked with a lot of different people, some of whom, for whatever reason, didn’t end up on the record. One was with Chester. We did a song and Linkin Park at the time didn’t allow it to happen, so I did it with Lemmy [Kilmister]. The guy who engineered my demos sent it to me and I sent it to Chester’s family. But it was a trip cause the song [called “Doctor Alibi”] really speaks to his state of mind.
Will the song possibly be released?
His family has got it so it would be totally up to them. It was really good. He was awesome. It would be fine with me if they wanted to [release] it. Musically it’s basically the same as the Lemmy song, but the lyrics are really poignant.
