A LULLABY FOR THE WICKED
Ask the average punter who Saul Hudson is, and you’re almost certain to be met with an apathetic shrug. Change your tone to Slash, however, and eyes will light up. “Oh yeah! The dude from Guns N’ Roses! With the sunglasses and the tophat!”
In three decades of rock’n’roll debauchery, the London-native shredhead has become more of a character than a human being – seriously, did you know that he’s 53 years old? Many don’t, because unlike some of his less genetically blessed bandmates (sorry, Axl), Slash hasn’t aged a day since he first tore through that iconic “Sweet Child O’ Mine” riff. He’s timeless; a living legend amongst mere mortals in his class.
Much of that can be ascribed to his almost cartoonish aesthetic – the ragged, untamed hair; that tophat-and-sunnies combo; a Gibson Les Paul pressed against his chest and a cigarette always dangling from his lip (well, until he quit smoking a few years back).
But underneath the silvery, no-damns-left-to-give veneer lies a father and fretboard enthusiast not too much unlike ourselves. Slash is idolised to the barracks, but Hudson is just a gifted dude with an affinity for a good axe. He sleeps eight hours, butters his own toast and slips into his leather pants one leg at a time.
On the phone to Australian Guitar, he’s decidedly easygoing. He laughs at our jokes and shares little stories of his day-to-day. It almost doesn’t feel like this man could be responsible for some of the most outlandish tales of excess in rock’n’roll history.
Because all things considered, it makes sense that Slash is so immortalised in his character – for the better chunk of two decades, he lived that storybook lifestyle through and through. “Sex, drugs
