BUANASENI

I Shook Slash’s Hand

SLASH is an iconic rock and roll guitarist for Guns N’ Roses. There are only three surviving rock and roll bands today. They are Rolling Stones, Aerosmiths and Guns N’ Roses; all from different decades, namely the seventies, eighties and nineties respectively. Slash was made famous for his memorable guitar solo for the songs Sweet Child O’ Mine and November Rain. With his appearance in Michael Jackson’s video clip for Give in to Me, Slash has also penetrated the pop genre fan base.

In the mid summer of 1994 in Melbourne, I was awoken from sleep by my housemate, Jin, in the early morning hours. It seemed that another housemate, Shimi, had given him a call to inform that Slash was coming to the radio studio, Fox FM, to promote the debut album for his band, Slash’s Snakepit. My housemate was working as a cleaner at the studio. I was a student and by then, I had only gone to two international live concerts, namely Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. The chance of meeting up close with Slash would mean the World to me.

So, we washed our faces, rolled the deodorant, got into a slim-tight black rugged jeans; and of course, a Guns N’ Roses t-shirt that we had procured from their open-air concert held at Calder Park the year before. My hair was about a year long, enough to qualify as a mean rocker. So, off we went onto the train at South Yarra train station towards Fox FM. I cannot recall where the studio is.

We arrived at Fox FM and were denied entrance obviously. So, we waited outside along with the stupid Melbourne summer flies that irritated us. Ten minutes later, Slash and his vocalist for Slash’s Snakepit, Eric Dover, came out flanked with bodyguards. We charged in to say “Hello!” to Slash but was pushed aside by the bodyguards. Slash noticed the commotion and came to us and asked, “Whatsup?”

I said, “Dude, I just want to take a photo with you. That is all.” We snapped a photo. We shook Slash’s hand. Then they went into their limousine.