SLASH Talks About FERGIE Collaboration, 'Beautiful Dangerous' Video

Robert Gray of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with legendary guitarist Slash (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the song "Beautiful Dangerous", which features vocals from BLACK EYED PEAS singer Fergie (a.k.a. Stacy Ann Ferguson):

"The riff that I wrote was initially for a movie right before I did a solo record. I scored a movie, and a couple of the songs on my album originally came from riffs I scored for that movie. One of the scenes in the movie was the strip scene; I wrote a piece of instrumental music for that, and then I started thinking it would make a good song. When I started to work on my solo album, that's when I made that into a song. Fergie I knew a year and a half or so prior to that, and I found out that Fergie had a really great rock voice so I called her up, took the song with her to the demo studio I was working at, and she wrote the lyrics for the tune. Musically, the song was finished. It was very quick and simple; I went into the studio to record my solo album however much later, put down the actual track, and she came in and recorded vocals. It was pretty easy."

On the video for "Beautiful Dangerous", which was filmed on August 27 with director Rich Lee:

"It was a one-day shoot, and it basically involved the strip bar location and the motel location which were about a block away from each other. The bar is a really famous L.A. strip bar called Jumbo's Clown Room, and it's been around for years.

"Fergie was totally in character; she had a really specific idea of what the video was all about, what she should look like and that kind of thing. I just played myself. Compared to most concept videos I've shot, it was the easiest one to film. It was just a lot of fun, and Fergie's fun to work with. She's very focused. It was pretty quick and painless. The director Richard Lee was great.

"There was no real idea for a concept, so I called Fergie and said, 'We're shooting this video.' She said, 'I have the idea of me stalking you,' and had that idea firmly in her head. She's strung out in the video, and stalks me. I play a gig, and the way she comes into the strip bar where the after-party is seduces me. She then drugs me, takes me back to her place, and ties me to the bed. It's a very simple concept (laughs),and it was something we thought out together as we were shooting it."

On his decision to record a slowed-down, hip-hop version of GUNS N' ROSES' 1988 Top 10 single "Paradise City" featuring the unexpected tandem of CYPRESS HILL and Fergie:

"I've played 'Paradise City' with CYPRESS HILL since 2002, the night I also performed with Steven Tyler, Matt Sorum and Duff [McKagan]. We did a show that was a tribute to Randy Castillo, and at the end of the concert, we were joined by CYPRESS HILL and Steven Tyler. I always thought that was just such a cool version, and I've actually played it with CYPRESS HILL a handful of times since then. I always said, 'One of these days, I wanna record this version,' so when I was making my solo record, I called up CYPRESS HILL and asked them if they would record our version of 'Paradise City' with me. I just happened to be working with Fergie on 'Beautiful Dangerous' at the time, so I asked her if she'd be willing to sing on the song and that was it. It was just a fun thing to do."

On the possibility of future collaborations with THE BLACK EYED PEAS vocalist:

"She's been talking about doing a rock record. If she does that and wants me to work with her on that, then I will. If it does happen, cool, and whatever else she's got going that needs guitars on, I'm probably up for doing. 'Beautiful Dangerous' should give you an idea of what a Fergie rock record would sound like; she's pretty wild, and a lot more extreme than people realize."

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.