Guns n’ Roses are set to play at Slane Castle in Meath for the first time since 1992.
Lead guitarist of Guns n’ Roses Slash has cited the Donegal born guitar legend Rory Gallagher as one of his biggest influences throughout his career.
In a documentary titled ‘Ghost Blues: The Story of Rory Gallagher’, Slash discusses how he got into Rory’s music in the late 1970s when he began frequenting blues bars, and when the 1980s came around everyone was listening to “[a] whiz-bang type of guitar playing”, whereas Slash much rathered Rory’s style of “loud, virtuoso guitar playing.”
“The cool thing about Rory’s guitar playing is it had a real hardcore rock and roll kind of thing, but also a delicate thing to it… [it was] very loud, very haphazard, but with a really delicate touch.”
Slash says that he “can’t compare him to anyone else”, and that his tone was completely unique.
Slash explains that one of his greatest memories was when he had the opportunity to jam with Rory. When Slash was just 22 or 23, and Guns n’ Roses had just become big, he met Rory at the Roxy in Los Angeles.
Slash was flattered when Rory knew who he was, and the pair jammed for 10 minutes before hanging out for the rest of the evening, drinking and playing acoustic guitar together. He says that Rory was “the most cheerful, unimposing kind of guy… he left a great impression on me.”
He also discusses Rory’s live record, which he says are completely “unreserved”, and there is an incredible sense of “energy and excitement through the whole thing.”
One of the “coolest things” Slash found about Rory was that he kept himself accessible to fans, and had his own distinct individuality. Slash elaborates, saying that Rory is one of the few artists who have “gotten away with not adhering to the rules – and those are your heroes, those are your influences, the people that said f*ck you.”
“He was a really f*cking great balls to the wall rock guitar player with all his other different nuances”.
Although Gallagher passed away in 1995, his legacy lives on in the guitarists across the globe who he has inspired, with his memory begin honoured at the Rory Gallagher festival celebrated in Ballyshannon each year.
This year’s Rory Gallagher International Festival takes place next week, between the first and fourth of June.
Gallagher is not the only Irish rock legend that have inspired Guns n’ Roses, with bassist Duff McKagan taking the time to visit the statue of Thin Lizzy front man Phil Lynott.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUhbmBdgdBP/?taken-by=officialduffmckagan
Thin Lizzy have also played Slane twice; once in 1981 with Lynott at the helm. Although Lynott died in 1986, the reformed Thin Lizzy played in 2011, with original members Scott Gorham and Brian Downey returning to Slane Castle once again.
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