Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators - The Making of Apacolyptic Love [Kosjeyr]

From Slash Paradise

Apocalyptic Love

"We had started playing with those on the road last year at soundchecks and rehearsals, so those kind of started to morph and metamorphosize into songs." (Todd Kerns)

After being on the road for his first solo album Slash decided to make a record with his touring band. Produced by Eric Valentine, Apocalyptic Love featured vocalist Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz. The album started at number 4 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 38,000 copies in its first week of release.

Apocalyptic Love
Album information
By: Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators
Released: May 22, 2012
Length: 54:22
Labels: Dik Hayd International / EMI
Producer: Eric Valentine
Recorded: Barefoot Recording Studios
Singles: You're A Lie / Standing In The Sun / Bad Rain / Anastasia
Associated tour: Apocalyptic Love Tour

Line-up
Myles Kennedy: lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Slash: lead & rhythm guitars
Todd Kerns: bass, backing vocals
Brent Fitz: drums, percussion, electric piano

Tracklist
Apocalyptic Love (Slash / Kennedy)
One Last Thrill (Slash / Kennedy)
Standing In The Sun (Slash / Kennedy)
You're A Lie (Slash / Kennedy)
No More Heroes (Slash / Kennedy / Valentine)
Halo (Slash / Kennedy)
We Will Roam (Slash / Kennedy)
Anastasia (Slash / Kennedy)
Not For Me (Slash / Kennedy)
Bad Rain (Slash / Kennedy)
Hard And Fast (Slash / Kennedy)
Far And Away (Slash / Kennedy)
Shots Fired (Slash / Kennedy)
Carolina (Slash / Kennedy) Classic Rock edition bonus
Crazy Life (Slash / Kennedy) Classic Rock edition bonus

Recording guitars
Gibson Les Paul Standard 1959 replica
Gibson Slash Les Paul Appetite (rhythm): Standing In The Sun / Halo / Bad
Rain
Music Man Baritone (rhythm): We Will Roam

More
The whole album was recorded with analog equipment only.
"Apocalyptic Love" is the first song that Slash and Myles Kennedy worked on together.
"Anastasia" was written from a riff Slash played on stage during World Tour 2010-2011.
Myles Kennedy recorded some guitar blues licks for "Far And Away".
Slash, Myles & The Conspirators also worked on two more songs which stayed demos.
Apocalyptic Love debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 38,000 copies in its first week of release.

Slash about Apocalyptic Love songs
Apocalyptic Love: "That was the first song I went to Myles and the guys with at some point in late 2010, maybe early 2011. I would make up stuff here and there and record it in GarageBand or Pro Tools in my laptop."

One Last Thrill: "It's that very unbridled rock thing without any meticulous care but I actually wrote it on an acoustic."

Standing In The Sun: "For that song, as well as "Halo" and "Bad Rain", I used my live guitar, the Gibson Slash Appetite Les Paul because my Derrig was in the shop for repairs."

You're A Lie: "This song was the second one I presented to the band during writing and it had a different chorus for a while there. Then it had another chorus riff and just before we decided to can the song I came up with the idea for the chorus that's there now."

No More Heroes: "I used my neck pickup with the tone off for the main riff. It had a longer solo originally and we shortened it because it was going on and on and on. I was trying to get the same amount of punch out of it in a shorter amount of time. That was a little tricky for me at first. I kept wanting to go off."

Halo: "It's definitely a metal riff but it was actually inspired by some music I heard when I was in Spain at a hotel. It was the kind of music you'd never have guessed could inspire it in a million years. I got the melody stuff in my head and your brain has a way of turning things around. When I got to the gig that night in the dressing room I turned it into this other thing and that's what Halo is."

We Will Roam: "It's a little different from other things I write. I wrote this song at home when I was off the road. I play both the rhythms on here. The first guitar that you hear in the intro is a baritone then I did it again on a regular guitar."

Anastasia: "This track was born out of something I started doing during my guitar solo during the live shows. It turned into an entire song and there's an extended outro solo and an extended fingerpicking intro. It's probably the most guitar-focused song on the record."

Not For Me: "This was the last song we wrote on an acoustic when we were out on the road. I was really attached to it and when I sent all that random leftover stuff to Myles it was one of the songs he didn't react to right away. So I thought he didn't like it. But then he told me, 'Oh, I have a really great thing for that'. It's really cool. It's one of the slow songs on the record but it's very heavy. It starts off mellow but then it turns into heavy choruses."

Bad Rain: "That was something I remember recording on Pro Tools on my laptop. It takes forever to set that shit up, then by the time you've set it up you don't feel like playing any more."

Hard And Fast: "After working on something for a long time you need to break out of it. That came up spontaneously on the spot and we put it together real fast then went back to work on the other song."

Far And Away: "There's no what you would call 'ballads' on this record. But this is the closest thing to it: a slow picking blues song."

Shots Fired: "This one was a song that was written at my house and then I sent it to Myles and he came right back with the chorus part and it pretty much wrote itself after that. The chorus is one of the guitar parts that Myles came up with for the record."