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Slash shows off one of his new Gibson signature models

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Any guitar that could withstand the hardcore touring schedule of the Use Your Illusion days must be pretty tough.

"I think Gibsons are hands down the toughest guitars, I have to say. I smashed one once at a show in New Jersey a while back, and it took a couple of good, heavy whacks."

We've heard rumours about a Slash solo record. How is it going?

"I started writing on the road with Velvet Revolver and then when we finished the tour and I got back from the UK at the beginning of the summer I started to sift through the ideas I'd recorded and elaborating on them."

What do you use to record your demos?

"It's not real complicated, it's a 16-track Boss digital recording studio. It's really simple because I really can't stand to deal with anything complicated. At this point though I've got a friend who has a Pro Tools set up in his garage and he's been sort of engineering. I put down the basic ideas here at home, then go over there and sort of expand on that at his place. And that's basically the demo at that point."

Do you think your solo record will surprise people?

"I don't know if it will be so much surprising…I mean, it touches on a lot of different sounds. There's different singers for every song and I think it will be the choice of vocalists that surprises people the most. But you'll just have to wait and see who they are. I'm sure there will be huge rumours going around will be reported as if they are a matter of fact!"

"We want to try different things – with Scott in Velvet Revolver it was kind of limiting."

On the subject of rumours, everyone from Sebastian Bach to Lenny Kravitz has been reported as being the new Velvet Revolver singer. Are you any closer to finding a permanent replacement for Scott Weiland?

"I mean, we haven't picked anybody, so until we actually pick somebody and find that guy….the first time around we auditioned so many singers – we weren't even called Velvet Revolver at the time – and then Scott became available. We sort of knew it was a pretty touch and go situation.

"Anyhow, this time around we've established ourselves as a proper band and we want to try different things – with Scott it was kind of limiting – so we are concentrating on just writing really cool stuff and waiting for the right guy."

You've worked with really great singers in the past, but on occasion they've perhaps been difficult to work with so finding someone really easy going would be a bonus too…

"Haha, I figure we've paid some dues."

Fans recently voted for Axl Rose to be the new Velvet Revolver frontman on MusicRadar. Something tells us that this is unlikely to happen.

"I heard that too. Yeah right. Anyway...haha."

On a more light-hearted note, you are obviously famous for sporting a top hat – who are your favourite hard rock hat wearers?

"I always thought Stevie Ray Vaughan looked pretty cool in that cowboy hat. Lemmy always wears that same kind of hat too, it looks pretty good on him. I think that back in the day, Mick Jagger used to wear a couple of different hats that all seemed to be pretty cool for him. I don't know though, I never really singled out people who wore hats!

"It's funny though because before the top hat came around I was always on a quest for a hat – it's funny looking back at old pictures at some of the stupid hats I'd wear at any given gig. Then the top hat came and it just stuck, it's sort of like the Les Paul, you know, here's something that works. I always though Rick Nielsen's baseball cap was particularly cool for him."