The truth is that while Slash has obviously got one hell of a professional pedigree under his belt, he’s been living the rock and roll life for, well, most of his life. Slash grew up in Hollywood, and saw shows on the infamous Sunset Strip long before he returned there as a god after playing in Guns N’ Roses. Now, on a new interview with Jimmy Kimmel on the late night host’s show, Slash reveals which of the infamous Sunset Strip clubs was the hardest to sneak into — and the lengths he went to get in.
During Slash’s recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his new album 4, the talk-show host asked the guitar god about going to shows on the Strip back in the day, and how he got into clubs. Here’s the story he told:
“Yeah, around 13, 14, 15 years old, I used to make these fake IDs. You used to be able to get away with it with a pencil. And I was pretty good at it, so we used to get into the Whiskey and the Roxy and the Starwood….and the Rainbow.
“The Rainbow was the hardest one. Because you think…you’ve got balls of steel when you’re 15 years old. You think, Okay, I’ve got a fake ID, and it’ll work like it does everywhere else. But they had this guy Steady at the door, and he was this hardcore Italian bouncer type, so he’d be looking for it.
“And there was one time I actually went to the Rainbow with [former Guns N’ Roses drummer] Steve Adler, who was my partner in crime when I was 14 or 15 years old. And Steven showed him his ID, which I’d done, too — and they let Steven in and wouldn’t let me in! They said, Get out of here. So I went home, and I put on some make-up and my mom’s clothes — I was really drunk, you have to understand — and I went back up there, and it was Ladies’ Night, and I got in!
“And my whole thing was I was gonna pick up on Steven, because Steven would screw anything. I thought it’d be really funny. So I got in, and slowly but surely I started to realize that Steven wasn’t here. And this black cloud of reality came over me…I felt the most vulnerable I’d ever felt. To this day, I’ve never felt like that. And then having to leave and walk down Sunset Boulevard in a dress to my car…anything that sounded like a whistle, anyone raising their voice, I thought was directed at me. It was horrible.”
You can watch the whole interview below.
Slash’s new album 4 comes out February 11 on Gibson Records, the new label from Gibson Guitars, and is available for preorder.