Win a chance for you and your band to record an EP with SLASH! SLASH says he's really into the idea of inspiring young guitar players and discovering new rock talent. Bands across the US are invited to send their music to yournextrecord.com for a chance to win. The winner gets to do a 3-song EP produced by Mike Clink, SLASH will write, record and perform on your single, and there will be a management deal with "The Collective" (the team behind SLASH), your single featured on iTunes, World-wide digital distribution of your music through Tunecore, $10k Guitar Center shopping spree, $10k in new gear and endorsement deals from Ernie Ball, opening slot on SLASH's Monster Energy Bash and an editorial feature on your band in Guitar World. So get your music together and check out YourNextRecord.com and ernieball.com for all the details. The contest is sponsored by Ernie Ball, Guitar Center and SLASH.

Another cool campaign from Ernie Ball, Guitar Center and SLASH is one everyone can get into. Just go to your Guitar Center store and pick up packs of Ernie Ball electric guitar string sets. Hidden inside select packs are gold, silver, red, black and white picks. Each pick has a corresponding prize:

*Gold - Flight, hotel and ticket to attend a private masterclass with SLASH
*Silver - Custom Ernie Ball Music Man instrument
*Red - $500 Guitar Center shopping spree
*Black - Signed copy of SLASH's solo record
*White - Free pack of Ernie Ball strings
The packs are only at Guitar Center stores, and 1,000 prizes will be awarded. The promotion runs February 1 - April 30, 2010. Check www.ernieball.com/slash for more information.

Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12. Since that time, musicians have been rushing to bring out singles and albums to aid in the star-studded recovery effort. One of these is "Download to Donate for Haiti", a 10 track album of previously unreleased music. One such track is from SLASH, and it is titled "Sister Maria" and features blues singer/songwriter Beth Hart. This song is a masterpiece! You can buy just the song for 99 cents on iTunes. The entire album is just $7.99, and we encourage you to buy the whole thing and burn your own copy. 100% of the funds received will go to the Haiti efforts. Also, there was a George Lopez benefit February 4 at the Nokia Theater in LA where SLASH and Beth Hart did two numbers.

The 2010 Grammy Awards were spectacular with great performances between the rewards. Hopefully, you got a chance to see the show. SLASH performed with Jamie Foxx, T-Pain and Doug E. Fresh on "Blame It On Alcohol". You know there's a party happening when SLASH is in the house, and the four were amazing. T-Pain said it was fun to work with SLASH even though it was a little embarrassing because no one knew who T-Pain was. The world of hip hop collided with that of rock onstage!

For more than 30 years, Clive Davis has thrown his pre-Grammy party. The Black Eyed Peas opened the show. Fergie donned a black leather jacket, and SLASH came onstage to join her in "Sweet Child O' Mine". Davis was disappointed that half the house left after three hours of music and told the crowd they must be in the wrong business! The true fans would have loved to be there for the whole six hours!

Wolfmother's creative controller Andrew Stockdale is keeping company with the A-list on SLASH's debut album. Stockdale appears on SLASH singing "By the Sword". SLASH says he handpicked the Australian rocker. SLASH says Wolfmother is in his current playlist with their Cosmic Egg along with mixes of his own record!

With all this talk of equipment reminiscent of Appetite, there has been more talk of a reunion of the old Guns N'Roses. SLASH stated he turned down "seven, eight-digit kinds" of money to reunite with GNR since he left the band. SLASH has reached out a few times to Axl, but he has always met with a sharp rebuff. It seems nearly impossible that the two could ever create any music together. The amount of money has no effect.

At the Winter NAMM 2010, Gibson released a preview of the new SLASH signature Les Paul. The guitar is inspired by the axe that SLASH played on the Appetite for Destruction album and practically every recording since. There will be different versions for every wallet, and they will be released in limited quantities. It is made to look like the Derrig replica that SLASH plays now, only less-orangey. It is being called the "Appetite" guitar although that is only its unofficial name. Also at NAMM, SLASH was gifted with a Heavy Leather NYC strap and sent his thanks personally on twitter and facebook. The new SLASH pickups were also available at NAMM. These are from Seymour Duncan, and we can say we were backstage at the Les Paul testimonial in Cleveland when the subject was under discussion. Heavy stuff! This pickup uses an Alnico 2 magnet. However, the SLASH model is wound with just enough boosted output to push a stock Les Paul toward the sweet sustain and rude crunch that characterizes SLASH's sound.

At the Winter NAMM in 2010, SLASH unveiled his new Marshall AFD100 amp. The amp recreates the fabled 100-watt JCM2203 SLASH used to record the 1987 Appetite for Destruction album. SLASH said the original amp was so good he basically stole it from SIR - that's who they were renting it from. Later, SIR took it back. The amp disappeared, and so this AFD100 recreates the 1987 amp. If you go to www.afd100.com, you can follow the progress of the amp and be ready to send in your order!

SLASH is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He owns 80-90 guitars at any one time. He dismisses talk of signing a deal with B. C. Rich guitars. He says he uses them for the tremolo arm and uses Gibsons 70% of the time. He gets sent a new one every 15 years. SLASH is the first musician to have a signature amp created by Marshall for him. SLASH says he is getting a new sig guitar and amp in 2010. More on this later.

Lemmy, the documentary delving into the private and public lives of Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, will make its world premiere in March at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The film is already out on DVD. It is available at Amazon.com. The film features high profile friends and peers such as SLASH. SLASH does commentary on this film. If you'd like to see a film where SLASH plays extensively, then you need to rent or buy The Wrestler. The soundtrack is made up of songs from various artists, but the guitar parts in the score are played by SLASH.

Indian actress Carol Furtado got her big break performing on MTV alongside SLASH. She says she saw him at rehearsals over the coffee table but didn't recognize him. He had his hair pulled back, and his face was showing. It wasn't till she got on stage that she knew she'd been working with SLASH! Carol went on to become an actress rather than heading down the rock and roll path. She is famous for her Bollywood work but hasn't forgotten her MTV work with SLASH!

Poker has become the hottest new game in Hollywood! SLASH went to the Bahamas to play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Here he's pictured with tennis legend Boris Becker. Sadly, he got knocked out early by Kelly Rowland who refused to bow to SLASH's bluff. The event was held in mid-January in the Aura nightclub at the Atlantis Resort and Casino. Better luck next time, SLASH!

In the past, we've moved the news to the current month below to permit faster downloading of the News section. Clicking a month in that month brings up all the archived news for that month. The news for 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001 are archived below by month as are the past months in 2005. Years previous to 2001 are also below but grouped into larger month sections, that is, 6 months may be together.

2004 News By Month

2003 News By Month

2002 News By Month

2001 News By Month

Read about some older SLASH events! Items here are from July 1, 2000 through December 31, 2000. Click on SLASH below:

Read about some older SLASH events! Items hear are from January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2000. Click on SLASH below: