Fans lined up around the block last Thursday, September 15 as Slash appeared at the new GuitarGuitar store in Epsom, U.K. In between cutting the ribbon to officially open the impressive new building and sign autographs for hundreds of expectant fans, Music Radar managed to grab the former GUNS N' ROSES guitar hero to give them the skinny on his new Dunlop signature wah-wah pedal and the plans for the follow-up to his acclaimed debut solo album.

When asked about the status of the recording sessions for his new solo album, Slash said, "We actually haven't started recording, but we've been in pre-production. We're about nine songs in, as far as that goes. And when I get back from England tomorrow, we'll go in and do another 12 songs. And we start actually recording late October. This is a record with Myles [Kennedy of ALTER BRIDGE] singing in the entire thing. And also Brent Fitz's playing drums and Todd Kerns is playing bass."

He added, "I was really fortunate. When I'd done the record, I thought, 'I've gotta tour on this.' And I had to figure how I was gonna actually pull that off. And I set about auditioning musicians in L.A. and I just happened to meet Brent Fitz, who I'd never played before and who is not from Los Angeles; he was one of the guys I auditioned and he was great. And then he introduced me to Todd Kerns, who fit in perfectly. And it turned out to be a great band from the start — definitely worth going in and making a record with."

Slash's new album will once again be produced by Eric Valentine, who has previously worked with QUEENS OF STONE AGE and THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS. But "the big difference," according to Slash, will be that Eric is "also gonna be mastering this one" in addition to recording and mixing the CD. "So it's like one-stop shopping, which is pretty cool," the guitarist said.

Regarding the musicial direction of his new material and how it compares to last year's self-titled effort, Slash said, "This one's definitely a very focused… Very hard. Some of it's very heavy. It's got sort of a more unified sound to it, especially with one vocal all throughout."

"Slash" was released in North America in April 2010 via EMI Label Services. The album featured an all-star roster of guest musicians, including Ian Astbury, Chris Cornell, Rocco DeLuca, Fergie, Dave Grohl, Myles Kennedy, Kid Rock, Lemmy Kilmister, Adam Levine of MAROON 5, Duff McKagan, M. Shadows of AVENGED SEVENFOLD, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, and Andrew Stockdale of WOLFMOTHER.

"Slash" was completed with the rhythm section of bassist Chris Chaney (JANE'S ADDICTION) and drummer Josh Freese (NINE INCH NAILS). Slash handled the majority of arranging and songwriting duties and hand-picked each guest artist. The album's guests worked collaboratively with Slash to round out the song.

-blabbermouth.net