Slash Reveals Onstage Heart Scare With Defibrillator

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Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash discussed past heart issues in a new interview with Clay Marshall via Blabbermouth. The other quote is from another Clay Marshall/Blabbermouth article.

On the defibrillator he still has in his chest:

Slash: “I had the option to leave it in or take it out, but taking it out meant an operation where they were going to have to disconnect the electric wire from my heart. I was like, ‘Eh, just leave it in.’ But I’m in good health. I haven’t had any issues like that since basically 2002. That was the last incident. It was just because I never explained to the doctor when they put it in — you have to know the lowest threshold for your heartbeat and what’s your highest, and I didn’t take into account the adrenaline from performing, so it was set at certain place. When I’d go out and get going, playing, it would kick in, so I had it adjusted and I didn’t have that problem again.”

On what inspires his improvised solos in concert:

Slash: “As a guitar player, we just love being able to improvise. Any time you have an opportunity to just make shit up on the spot… it’s really inspired by the energy of the place you’re at and the people you’re playing for, and the mood as well. The beginning of every solo usually starts out pretty subtly, and that is definitely [a matter of] where you’re going to go with it and how you’re feeling at the moment. It’s not a conscious thing. When singers write lyrics, because it’s verbal, you can really understand the mood, where they’re coming from, what they might have been thinking about, whether it’s a sad song or a happy song or an aggressive song, an angry song, whatever. With music, you’re sort of picking up stuff in your surroundings all the time. You don’t put a fine point on it, but you’re absorbing all these different feeling through the course of the day. You pick up a guitar and you can put two notes together that lend itself to a certain vibe. That is not specific, but it is the result of whatever you’ve been dealing with that day or that week.”