Classic Rock’s Jerry Ewing recently spoke to VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash for an article that will be published in the issue that goes on sale on April 30. A couple of excerpts from the story follow:

Slash: I was talking with Robert Plant the other night and he was casually naming certain ZEPPELIN songs and then in the same breath who it was ripped off from.

Classic Rock: Did GUNS N’ ROSES ever get taken to court for allegedly ripping anyone off?

Slash: No. One of the things about myself and the other members of GUNS N’ ROSES, with the exception of maybe Izzy [Stradlin], ‘cause he was maybe a bit more freeform, was that we were huge sticklers for anything that sounded like anything else. Straight off the bat if you played a few chords and it really reminded you of something else we scrapped it. It’s very different with VELVET REVOLVER. Even though myself and Duff [McKagan] are the same way, and Matt [Sorum], Scott [Weiland] will rip something. We’ll be like, “No, we can’t do that,” and he’ll be like, “Oh, go on, let’s do it,” and we’ll do it.

Classic Rock: Going back to VELVET REVOLVER, there’s been a lot said on the Internet between Scott and Matt. What’s the current state of play?

Slash: We’ve got six shows, ha-ha.

Classic Rock: How do you deal with that stuff flying around?

Slash: I have no comment. Obviously I’m very aware of everything that’s going on. The only thing I can add to that is, in contrast to what Scott says, there will be a VELVET REVOLVER after this tour.

Classic Rock: With Scott singing?

Slash: I have no comment on that [chuckles].