“It was very tense – he wasn’t at rehearsal... there's too much mystery around him”: Slash almost missed the I’m Just Ken performance at the Oscars

Ryan Gosling has revealed that Slash nearly didn’t make it to the showstopping I’m Just Ken performance at the Oscars earlier this year. 

Gosling’s technicolor showcase of his song from the Barbie movie – beaten to an Oscar by Billie Eilish’s track, What Was I Made For?, from the same film – stole the headlines. And not just for Gosling's charm – it also featured the electric guitar talents of Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen. 

However, guesting on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his latest film, Fall Guy, Gosling revealed that – due to his gigging commitments on either side of Oscars night – Slash nearly didn’t make it. 

“We had to have Slash, but he’s an enigma, there’s too much mystery around him,” says Gosling. “It was very tense. He had a gig in China the night before and then one in Thailand the night after. So it was like, ‘Slash is never going to be able to be here.’ He wasn’t at rehearsal.”

Thankfully Slash, who has a blues solo album on the way, did make the performance, as part of a band that featured Wolfgang Van Halen – playing a pink prototype EVH SA-126 Wolfgang signature guitar – and super-producer Mark Ronson on bass guitar. 

“Suddenly, as I was walking into dress rehearsal, I saw a guitar case and it had a skull with a top hat on it,” the actor recalls. “And I knew that Slash had arrived. Then after the show, he was gone.”

Slash recently talked to Total Guitar to discuss why he used a Strat to cover Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well (which features the legendary Peter Green on guitar) on his forthcoming blues album, Orgy of the Damned. 

The whole record has allowed the guitarist to give his Les Paul a well-deserved rest and try out some different guitars, with a Gibson 335 used for its lead single, Killing Floor.  

The Guns N' Roses man also recorded with Fender and Dumble amps, despite recently launching a signature, British-voiced Magnatone amp.  

• Slash's Orgy of the Damned is set for a May 17 release via Gibson Records, and can be preordered now.