Dude, it's like ... Life and stuff
Here's something to tide over or all of you Phish-heads until their next
tour - the Dude of Life. An old friend and collaborator of Phish (they
supported the Dude on his recently-released debut), the Dude of Life and
his top-notch band promise to kick out the same sort of friendly, good-
rocking vibes as his friends. Catch him tonight at the Blind Pig. Tickets
are $8 in advance and available at Schoolkids. Doors open at 9:30 p.m.
Monday,
Apdl 17. 1995
S, i
Slash's Snakepit is full of venomous rock 'n' roil I7:'"
r
By Brian A. Gnatt
Daily Arts Writer
Slash is rock 'n' roll. "I'm sitting
here laughing about all my dead sol-
diers on the table, because there's no
ash tray in here," the spry Guns N'
Roses axe man chuckled in a phone
interview before a show in St. Peters-
from their debut record, "It's Five
O'Clock Somewhere."
"If there's ever a road dog you
could meet, it would be me. I love
being on the road," Slash admitted. "I
hate being at home. All I do when I'm
home is spend my time working to get
back on the road."
While Guns N' Roses is taking its
time to follow up their 1991 multi-
platinum "Use Your Illusion I & II,"
Slash has been writing and playing
constantly, yearning to get back on
tour. After pulling in ex-G N' R gui-
tarist Gilby Clarke (who, according
to Slash, had "musical differences"
with Axl), Alice In Chains bassist
Mike Inez, ex-Jellyfish tour guitarist
Eric Dover on vocals and G N' R
drummer Matt Sorum, the group re-
corded "Five O'Clock," a gritty, scath-
ing and rowdy rock 'n' roll record.
"This whole band is really cool,just
because it's a bunch of backline guys
for the most part," Slash explained in
burg, Florida.
Back on the road, the top-hatted
Les Paul slinger has a glowing ciga-
rette dangling magically from his lips
once again, but this time without Axl
& Co. The 29 year-old Slash is tour-
ing with his new side project, Slash's
Snakepit, groovin' away with songs
his placid and surprisingly sober tone.
"It has a whole different work ethic
than, say, the typical rock star kind of
mentality. Basically, this album is built
on a bunch of guysjust hanging out, and
we ended up making a record without
really thinking about it.
"The name 'Snakepit' goes way
back to one of the houses I used to live
in, where we had a room in the house
that was filled with snakes, and it was
called the snakepit," Slash continued.
"Then- I moved into another house
and we had another room that was
filled with snakes, and we built a
studio next to it and called it 'Snakepit
Studios.' Then all of a sudden this
band evolved, and we just called the
band 'Snakepit' because we didn't
want to fuckin' sit around and think
about what to call it. It wasn't a pre-
conceived kind of thing. It just sort of
happened, and next thing you know, I
had a record going on, so I just wanted
to tour on it."
As was Slash's problem in the pre-
Guns days, finding a singer was no easy
task. The music for the album was
completed, but Snakepit was still look-
ing for a singer. After trying out dozens
of vocalists, Slash stumbled upon Do-
ver, who had played guitar for the sug-
arcoated pop band Jellyfish on their last
tour before breaking up.
"(Eric) was working with a guy
named Marc Danzeisen who is Gilby
Clarke's drummer, and I had gone
through some 40 singers," Slash said.
"I think (Marc) got a basic idea as to
what kind of singer I was looking for,
and he goes, 'Oh, I know this guy.' He
gave me a demo tape, and the music
was completely fucking different than
what Snakepit sounds like, but the
voice still had something very cool
about it. I gave (Eric) some of the
finished material that the band had
recorded, and I said, 'Make up some-
thing.' He wrote 'Beggars and Hang-
ers-On' which turned out to be our
first single, ironically enough."
After picking up Dover, the two
finished writing the album. From great
blues rock tracks like "I Hate Every-
body (But You)" to "Lower," a song
about Slash's porn-star friend Savan-
nah who committed suicide, the flashy,
bright trademarked G N' R sound can
be heard throughout the disc. It's the
vocals however, that distinguish
Snakepit from other Guns material more
than anything else. Although he co-
wrote all but one of the songs, Slash is
still one of the few G N' R members
who refuses to take a turn at the mic.
"I hate fucking singing," Slash de-
clared. "On tour right now I'm singing
backup on one of Gilby's songs, which
is 'Cure Me ... Or Kill Me ...,' and I
don't mind doing it, but I'm not what
you'd call a focused singer. I can sing in
key and everything, but it's like a dis-
traction for me. I don't enjoy singing
that much. I just do it to fill the gap."
Life on the road is a little different
for Slash these days, now that he's
bound by the state of matrimony. "It's
still as much fun. The only thing is,
there's certain shit I can't doand there's
certain shit I have to do," he explained.
"One is check in and say 'Hi honey,'
and that's fine. Things I can't do that
I'm used to doing is that whole chick
thing that happens on the road when
there's girls around. I made a commit-
ment when I got married. It was like,
now I won't be fucking around on you.
So I made a promise. I don't go back on
my promises, so I maintain that as a
rule. And that's sort of difficult, be-
cause there's girls everywhere, and I
love women. It's rough."
While Slash's Snakepit is touring,
the rest of Guns N' Roses are in L.A.
writing and rehearsing for their next
album. "We've just been taping shit,
and writing down ideas," Slash said.
"It's not what you'd call completely
focused, but still productive anyway.
I'm on tour for the next five months,
but those guys will still keep working.
That's why Matt's not touring with
us; he's gonna stay working with
Guns. Axl wants to make another
record - he genuinely does. In Sep-
Slash has made it through another day.
tember when I get back, the first thing
I'll do is try and really focus on the
Guns project, or whatever we're do-
ing, and take it from there. I'd like to
get a record out by next year."
At the same time, Snakepit has
begun working on their next record.
Slash is planning to keep both bands
running simultaneously. "We've
started writing already," he said. "It's
like my mistress, I guess."
One of the major problems with G
N' R at the moment is the quest for a
rhythm guitarist to replace Clarke,
who was dropped from the band last
year. Filling the spot of original
rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who
left Guns in 1991, has been somewhat
of a challenge for the band ever since
the split. "Izzy quit, and then I found 0
Gilby, which was a godsend, because
it's not easy to fill Izzy's shoes, obvi-
ously," Slash said. "Axl and Gilby
had some musical differences, and so
he went on to do his thing. But he and
I have still maintained a great friend-
ship. Now that Gilby's gone, there is
no other guitar player at the moment."
Meanwhile, the new Guns mate-
rial may not be as focused as Slash
would like. "Considering Gilby's not
in the band, it's been sort of like
random, kind of weird shit," Slash
See SLASH, Page 9
'Jury' not guilty by reason of inanity
You wouldn't know these guys were rockers just by looking at them.
IF YOU THINK OUR
BURGERS ARE GOOD..Y
TRY A HELPING OF 0pPOTU
By Michael Zilberman
Daily Arts Writer
If you happen to be pondering the
nature of fame, Pauly Shore makes for
a fascinating study case. Nobody can
say for sure exactly what this guy does
to deserve his current household name
status. In less information-saturated
times, people used to become celebri-
ties in their fields. Now, being a celeb-
rity is a field, and Shore is a perfect
example of that. His fame seems to be
fueled by random gigs - emceeing
parties, hosting TV specials, traveling
the talk show circuit.
Unlike, say, Richard Simmons,
whose absurd "fitness guru" tag serves
as an excuse for being a full-time
goofball; Pauly Shore doesn't need to
do anything out of the ordinary to at-
tract attention. His popularity is of side-
show type - we're expected to sit
back and -enjoy observing this idiot in
his natural environment. Remember
the intro to MTV's "Totally Pauly" -
a manic camera zoom into the half-
chewed contents of his mouth? Pauly's
schtick is Pauly's very existence.
There, and I didn't even get to his
movies yet. Shore's vehicles, it seems,
are side effects of his popularity.
byproducts of the notion that if the man
is famous, he might as well do some-
thing. However, Shore's debut ("Son-
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IOPLE
AUNT
In-Law") contained one precious, sim-
ply good moment: The hero takes his ,
whiny-dude mask off to quietly ex-
plain that his mugging and pranks are
the only available means of self-de-
fense in a world where it's safer to be an
idiot hipster than an average Joe.
Jury Duty
Directed by John
Fortenberry
with Pauly Shore and
Tia Carrere
At-Briarwood and Showcase
As didactic as the scene itself was,
it seemed for a second that we caught a
glimpse of something that might have
made Shore's characters genuinely lik-
able: their perverted, painful vulner-
ability. If only Pauly took a clue from
these 10 seconds and learned how to
check his image at the door on promo-
tional tours, he might just have con-
jured up a sort of weird integrity Jim
Carrey seems to possess: The cha-
risma of a guy who gets paidto act like
a moron and is smart enough to realize
the scariness of the situation. Unfortu-
nately, Shore opted for endless repris-
ing of his zonked-out image. 0
Still, a certain degree of improve-
ment is there. In "Jury Duty", I am
pleased to report, Pauly is downight
subtle in comparison to his earlier, er ..%
work. This time around, his character
even has something like a personal his-
tory. The film opens with Shore audi
tioning in a male strip club, and his
delirious act, "CreamMachine." isprettk
damn funny: A third-grader's idea 4
machismo combined with old-fashioned
slapstick. Unable to find a job, he's
driven to the condition when a juror's
five bucks a day seems like a good idea,
and so Pauly gets stuck in what prom-
ises to be one of the longest trials ever.
The plot doesn't matter, the direc-
tion is of no importance, the
camerawork is not worth discussing.
It's so easy to dismiss the whole thing,
so why not try and find something
positive about it. Here goes. A) The
movie has spawned a successful
catchphrase ("Say hi to Judge It-
taaah! ! !"), which is what your average
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