Axe wielder, legend and famously private Slash, is a busy guy.

And very nice.

At 53, he has toured the planet, sold out arenas, written tonnes of new material, and generally done enough vice in the first quarter of his adult life to just take things easy in 2019.

But he isn't. Or hasn't.

Slash will be coming to Singapore to play a show with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators on Jan. 8, 2019. (Tickets available here.)

This tour comes on the back of Slash's third album, Living The Dream, which is out now. It is 12 songs with big choruses, crunching riffs and a whole load of guitar playing.

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, he actually took time out to reply to a Q&A by Mothership.sg.

What has Slash been up to?

Before we even get to the questions proper, we need to understand where Slash is coming from.

Guns N' Roses played a sold-out show in Singapore on Feb. 25, 2017.

Back in April 2018, Billboard revealed that the Guns N' Roses reunion tour was the fourth-biggest earning tour of all time – grossing US$480 million until that time.

That money was made the good old fashioned way: Showing up and pounding out the tunes night after night.

The tour came back to Asia in November 2018.

And before that, in 18 months between 2014 and 2016, Slash played more than 150 gigs all over the world.

Dealt with loss

Also in those 18 months, Slash made some movies.

His former Velvet Revolver bandmate Scott Weiland died.

Chris Cornell, who sang on Slash’s debut album, killed himself.

David Bowie, who Slash first met aged eight, died.

Lemmy Kilmister, a long-time close friend, passed away after a long battle.

In his personal life, Slash got divorced from his wife of 13 years, Perla, and rekindled a relationship with a woman he went out with when he was 25.

And somewhere in the midst of all that, Guns N’ Roses got back together.

In case anyone is unaware: Guns N’ Roses didn't speak to the media when they re-formed.

They didn't do interviews to avoid opening old GN’R wounds.

But now Slash has a solo album, he has to talk. But Slash admits he is not much of a talker.

He said before that he can't argue with anyone because he doesn't have it in him. But he can outplay anyone on the guitar.

"Yeah, I mean, guitar playing is that for me; it’s an extension of myself, it’s a way to express myself that I can’t do in any other sort of arena. The guitar is a release for me," Slash said previously to an interviewer.

He still does interviews anyways

Described as cagey and distrustful in person during interviews, he doesn't give up too much about himself.

But he still did, because the definitive Slash interview had already been written by Classic Rock back in September 2018.

Questions about what he is doing, how is Axl Rose, how he tells his kids not to take drugs, dealing with losing Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, and many other topics of interests were addressed.

With so much ground covered, there is no point flogging a dead horse.

Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, got his nickname from a friend's father who saw Slash’s “sense of hustle”.

Any questions asked here will be to tie up some loose ends and not repeat the queries that have been asked before.

These queries will be about his hustle and his craft.

Having to ask semi-original questions of a legend that has reams of columns written about him is never easy.

So, the best way is to ask him fan boy questions.

Here goes:

How Slash and Axl restarted Guns N' Roses

In 2016, Slash and Axl Rose talked and broke the ice.

The plan was just to do two dates at Coachella and some warm-up gigs, but ended up booking a leg of a tour.

Axl was professional the whole two years they were on tour, Slash told Classic Rock.

Myles and Slash, on the other hand, have been playing for eight years now.

And their chemistry is great.

While touring for GN'R, Slash would dabble with the other band's projects and materials on the side, and come back to it later.

Slash said: “When we’re on the road, I write the entire time. That’s what I do in the dressing room or in my hotel rooms. I’ll play him something, or we’ll record it at sound check, and he keeps all that stuff and he works on it while we’re on the road or while he’s out with Alter Bridge or whatever he’s doing.”

The Classic Rock interview also wrote about how Slash has been compared to the late Lemmy Kilmister, the Motörhead front man.

Both are completely rock 'n' roll, but gentlemen.

In 2001, at the age of 35, Slash was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of congestive heart failure caused by his many years of alcohol and drug abuse.

Lemmy was diagnosed with the same condition subsequently.

Slash had advised Lemmy what to do to get through it.

In the end, Lemmy was diagnosed with stage four cancer, which wasn't discovered before, despite the battery of medical tests.

These days Slash uses social media, especially Instagram to share with his fans.

He admits to using the medium mainly for marketing and to promote his new material.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqsozkSgcJi/

It also allows him to curate his own content -- his very own aesthetic preferences.

He thinks social media is toxic though -- and it has nothing to do with getting old, which he has no problems with.

Thirteen years clean and sober, playing music and in a new relationship, with four kids between them, he’s got the freedom to do his movie projects and make solo albums.

But he insists on setting the record straight on his new album name.

"Just to get one thing straight,” he told Classic Rock, “the title, Living The Dream, has nothing to do with that. It was totally about this current state of global unrest. It was a tongue-in-cheek sort of joke. I’m not one to advocate politics, but I have to take little stabs at it where I can, as innocuously as possible."

“I mean, if you were to sit there and put any news channel on right now and spend a good two hours watching it, that’s when the sarcastic ‘living the dream’ statement comes to mind. World On Fire was similar."

Don't stop, Slash, don't stop.

(Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators will be playing in Singapore on Jan. 8, 2019. Tickets available here.)

All photos via Gene Kirkland