Slash has revealed that, during the making of his upcoming album with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, both he and Kennedy – along with two of their fellow bandmates – tested positive for Covid-19.
The top hat-toting, Les Paul-wielding electric guitar ace broke the news candidly during a conversation with Germany’s Radio Regenbogen, labeling it the “funniest story” about the record-making process.
Describing the anecdote, Slash said (transcribed via Blabbermouth), “The funniest story about this record was the Covid story, because we took a tour bus to Nashville to keep ourselves safe – to get there and not travel commercially.
“And then we went and recorded the whole record, and then I got a phone call from Myles in the studio when I was about to do overdubs, and he goes, ‘Man, I tested positive.’
“Subsequently, two of the other guys tested positive, so they all had to go into quarantine. And we still had to do percussion and background vocals, and so we sort of stalled.”
Determined to plow on with the album, Slash continued, “We mixed what we had, which was a lot. And then we recorded the background vocals in the guest house of the house that we were all quarantined in.”
Unfortunately for the crew, Slash would only test positive after Kennedy and his co Conspirators had fully recovered, imposing further delays to the album’s production. Nevertheless, due to Slash having both shots of the vaccine, his quarantine period was considerably shorter.
“And then those guys got better. I tested positive, finally, and so I had to quarantine. But I just got vaccinated, so I only had to quarantine for a few days. So that was the funny experience about this particular record… everybody having to navigate the whole Covid experience.”
News for the highly anticipated studio effort, titled 4, has been coming in thick and fast in recent weeks, with the band debuting the album’s lead track, The River Is Rising, earlier this month.
Prior to the track’s release, Slash teased that the album would be “the best one we’ve done so far”, with Kennedy also commenting that 4 will tap into a “live vibe” by harking back to the old-school style of studio recording.
When released, 4 will be Slash’s fifth solo album and this fourth with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – comprising bassist Todd Kerns, drummer Brent Fitz and guitarist Frank Sidoris – who have so far featured on Apocalyptic Love (2012), World On Fire (2014) and Living The Dream (2018).
It will also be the first-ever album to be released on Gibson’s newly established record label, Gibson Records.
4 is available to preorder now ahead of its February 11, 2022 release date.
In other news, Slash recently admitted that Guns N' Roses are yet to commence writing new original music, though they have shared ex-Chinese Democracy cuts Absurd and Hard Skool ahead of a new four-track EP.
![Opeth's Fredrik Åkesson [left] and Mikael Åkerfeldt sit on an old sofa with their PRS electric guitars. Åkesson looks off into the distance while Åkerfeldt stares into the camera.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mBjBAxu9jXG82RYpeGpuUX-1280-80.jpg.webp)
