In a new interview with Clay Marshall, Slash dismissed the idea of Guns N’ Roses only reuniting for the money.
“Sitting on the outside, the Guns tour, it wasn’t ever about it being whatever it ended up being, looking at it from a dollars and cents [or] a status thing or whatever other people look at it for,” he recently told writer Clay Marshall. “The actual experience of doing it and having these amazing fucking crowds and this response to the band, and the band itself, just that whole thing was amazing. It was so cool and it was such, in a way, a validating thing for that lineup. That was that was about — that’s why it was so much fun, and that’s why we did it for so long. It wasn’t because, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to make a lot of money on it,’ but as a player, that’s what I was getting off on.
“The whole big-numbers thing, that’s not the thing that turns me on about it,” he continued. “What is great about it was that it happened, and it was a positive thing. For us as individuals or as a a group, it was something that I had no idea was even possible, because there was so much bad blood lingering for so long, and when we got together to do the Troubadour and Coachella, there was such a great vibe going on. That extended through the entire tour with no hitches, no matter what different obstacles came up against us like we’ve had in the past. Nothing derailed us, so that in itself was great, and then on top of that, the response that we got… we didn’t have to get that response. All that shit is really humbling. That is really the magic of it for me, and the fact that it was successful monetarily and all those sort of accolades, it’s cool and I appreciate it, but it’s not the thing that makes it what is really great about it.”
During Slash’s ugly divorce proceedings in August, his ex-wife Perla claimed he made $45 million in 2017 touring with Guns N’ Roses.
The Blast reported in August that Perla Ferrar’s legal team claimed Slash earned $45,000,000 in 2017 and allege that the only reason the rocker’s team was refusing to hand over financial documents at the time is that “your client has been manipulating the income that he will earn in the future that could affect his future support obligations.”
Izzy Stradlin infamously said in 2016 that he didn’t take part in the Guns N’ Roses reunion because Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan didn’t want to ‘split the loot’ equally.
