HE may have slowed down his life of excess in recent years but there is no chance that Slash will be giving up on his first love any time soon.

Despite being the lead guitarist in Guns n Roses — arguably one of the biggest rock bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s — the man born Saul Hudson still cannot get enough of making music.

Still rocking his trademark sunglasses, top hat, a mass of black curls and jeans, the only thing that looks different than the Slash from 20 years ago is that the cigarette dripping from his lips is missing.

Oh, and the band — but leaving GnR and well publicised arguments with former band mate Axl Rose have done no harm for his reputation.

The Stoke-on-Trent born musician has consistently kept his popularity, proved by his appearance at Manchester’s Phones 4u Arena in November along with Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, who will be showcasing their new album — along with a few GnR favourites, of course.

Slash said: “I just love making music. It’s something that I probably love as much now as I did back when I first started. That is the motivation for me.

“All the other stuff [booze, drugs, etc] were just add-ons. It’s always been about the music. The motivation wasn’t the booze, the drugs, the lifestyle — that was just the stuff you did in between.

“Initially that was all fun to do and then it turned into something else later in life where it became a physical and mental crutch, which got boring and old after a while.”

The band will release its second album, entitled World on Fire, on September 15 — after a typically rock and roll album launch at... the Houses of Parliament.

He said: “The Houses of Parliament gig was one of the coolest things ever. I had no idea what to expect. Despite being born over there [England] and visited there a million times I had never been near the place.

“We did some acoustic songs and let the album play. The most surreal aspect was the people that were singing along were the people that were earlier dressed in their work tuxedo and gold medallions who went home and came back with ripped clothes with tattoos showing. And I’m not talking just one or two — I’m talking sleeves.

“They knew all the songs and that was amazing. I would never expect the people that work there to be so rock and roll.”

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators play the Phones 4u Arena on November 28.