Slash found it “difficult” to call other musicians and ask them to play on the new album.
Guitarist of Guns N' Roses, the guitarist of The Guns N' Roses has written primarily blues songs for a wide range of artists including Chris Stapleton, Iggy Pop, Steven Tyler, Chris Robinson, and Gary Clark Jr. He asked them to play on his record Aussie of the Damned, but claimed that despite his own worldwide fame, it was not easy to get people to feature on the record.
He told Classic Rock magazine: That's a hard gig.
“You’re trying to sell an idea.
“The two people who were the most difficult to pin down were Chris Stapleton and Billy Gibbons. Billy is all over the place. He's always working, he's always doing something. I told him I was doing a version of “Hoochie Coochie Man,” but I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was skeptical.
“I mean, he knows about me, but… I had to convince him anyway…
“We’re really honored to have him on the record.”
One of the singers who did not respond to calls from Slash was Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, but he was still able to participate on the record.
Slash said, “He was unavailable for a month. And then when we finished recording, he finally contacted me and said, 'Oh, I've been all over the place. What's going on?' '
“So he came down to play harmonica on Killing Floor.”
The record has been in development since 1996, when Slash left Guns N' Roses to work on his side project, Slash Blues Ball.
He said: “We were drinking a lot, but we had a really fun time playing cover songs and jamming.
“And we actually got to the point where we toured all over America, and we did some tours in Europe as well.
“I've always wanted to make a record anyway. But there was the Snake Pit, and then I was in the hospital, and then I went back to Velvet Revolver, and then the Conspirators, and then Guns N' Roses. I was very busy.
“Anyway, after 30 years, I finally got two weeks off and I thought, 'Now I'm going to do this record.'”