Slash

by Slash

extreme gigs-for-beer touring band I’d ever seen and we had a great time doing it.

a great bunch of guys who were just in it for the music.

she saved me from potential disaster.

At this point Izzy had been dropped by the label, as had Duff;

I’ll do whatever it takes with whoever can do it to get things done—right away. Jerry

I felt like I was back in the early days of Guns, trying to get a band off the ground while

It was the carnival all over again, amid a music industry that was completely alien to me.

playing the role of boss, which wasn’t a role I was comfortable with.

Jerry Heller proved to be a true cannibal manager; he tried to take me for everything given the chance.

which was surreal because he had no authority to do so—my manager can’t fire my attorney—

hindsight, it’s all pretty laughable, but at the time it was traumatic—it was all I could do to keep it together.

Perla had recently gotten a DUI

when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I was drinking insane amounts of vodka from morning to night, and I can’t imagine that I was clearheaded enough to make rational business decisions.

the DT’s

It was a subtle change that would continue and get worse later.

from close to a gallon of vodka a day

home, I’d drink shots of whiskey with beer chasers

The future didn’t look bright for me health-wise but nobody could have t...

it was way too Spinal Tap.

I remember progressively not feeling well.

My next memory is waking up two weeks later in a hospital bed with Perla sitting there, looking very worried. I had suffered cardiac myopathy. Years of overdrinking had swollen my heart to the point of rupture, to the point where it was barely strong enough to circulate my blood properly. I couldn’t get it through my head that I was out of commission, but I was. The doctors gave me six days to six weeks to live but not much more. Once I was well enough to fly back to L.A., I was on bed rest and forbidden from drinking or any kind of strenuous physical activity.

The doctors installed a defibrillator to keep my heart from stopping and to keep my heart rate steady. After a time I began therapy, starting with very minimal exercise and working my way up. Miraculously, my heart started to heal, and...

Eventually I was able to play again and I was determined to fini...

I had been out of circulation for about four months and I was totally sober. When I saw the band again, this time through clear eyes,...

A couple of the guys seemed less committed than guys in my in high school bands had been: they were treating this whole thing like a free ride, and no one was carrying their weight.

SOBRIETY

I finally got a break when Jerry made a mistake that Perla and I discovered

This particular period, from 1999 to 2001, was easily the darkest period of my existence on this planet. Recreational drinking had morphed into severe alcoholism. I allowed myself to be thrown to the wolves…all these people were taking advantage of me when all I really wanted to do was play and not deal with it all. It was a huge reality check.

I figure I paid my dues after Guns. It was tough going, but I guess it was something I had to go through to be able to focus

and see how tenacious and resilient I really am. And to rediscover how ba...

onstage my heart rate skyrockets.

I was suddenly hit in the chest by a shock, and my vision was flooded with electric blue light.

This happened about f...

And each time it happened, I had to stand there and make it look like everything was status quo.

tell, so I guess I pulled it off.

in magazines. This place had a champagne glass for a bathtub, satin sheets and velvet blankets on a rotating bed, tacky red carpets, and mirrors on the ceiling.

I HAD ONE RUN-IN WITH HEROIN DURING this period of my life.

stayed away and lost interest in it for so long that I actually believed my own bullshit when I told myself I’d never touch it again.

myself. I assured myself and I assured Perla that I was done with it, but I should have known—or at least admitted it to myself—where it was going.

The whole episode scared her and she threatened to leave me if I continued down this road.

Seeing her there only confirmed for me that she was the one. I asked her to get married and luckily she agreed. We had a beautiful little ceremony in Maui, and spent a week together, enjoying each other. Things were definitely looking up.

musically. I lacked focus, but I was committed, and sometimes my efforts lead to a lucky break.

My period of rootlessness in the musical sense was about to come to an end.

I had wandered and I had learned.

You can’t wait around for destiny to give you what you think you deserve, you have to earn it, even if you think you’ve paid your dues. You might have achieved what you wanted, but are you sure you learned the lesson?

these little clubs all over the U.K.

had. As Perla and I would later discover, that is where our son London was conceived.

an ad for Guns N’ Roses live on New Year’s at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. We decided that we had to check it out.

people were noticing us because Guns fans were everywhere.

“Sir, we have come to let you know that you will not be allowed into the Guns N’ Roses show tonight.”