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SLASH's 'Jessica' Les Paul standard guitar available worldwide

11-04-2024

As it celebrates 130 years of music history, Gibson, the iconic global instrument brand, has shaped sound across generations and genres of music for over a century, becoming one of the most relevant, played, and loved music brands around the world. With a partnership that has lasted over three decades, the iconic, Grammy-winning guitarist and songwriter Slash and Gibson luthiers have teamed up to create one of his favorite stage guitars for 30 years. Introducing the Slash “Jessica” Les Paul Standard from Gibson. Made in close collaboration and with significant input from Slash, the guitar is available via authorized Gibson dealers and on www.gibson.com.

GUNS N’ ROSESVELVET REVOLVER and SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS fans will undoubtedly be familiar with the guitar that Slash named “Jessica.” Jessica has been Slash‘s main stage guitar since 1988 and is still on the road with him to this day. The original Jessica is a factory second and one of two Les Paul guitars that Gibson sent to Slash in the late 80s. Now, Gibson is proud to introduce a new model based on Slash‘s old favorite. Jessica features a three-piece plain maple top on a non-weight-relieved mahogany body and a mahogany neck with a 1950s vintage neck profile. Jessica is powered by a pair of Custom Burstbucker pickups with Alnico 2 magnets that are hand-wired to Orange Drop capacitors. Originally a bright Cherry Sunburst, Slash had Jessica refinished, which is reflected, minus the considerable road wear on the original, in the gloss nitrocellulose Honey Burst with Red Back finish used on the new model. Slash‘s signature is reproduced on the truss rod cover, the rear of the headstock features Slash‘s familiar “Skully” logo, and Schaller Strap Locks are preinstalled on the guitar. Other extras include a Slash guitar pick set, a Gibson USA leather strap, a multi-tool, and a blank truss rod cover inside the included hardshell case.

Watch the interview with Slash in which he describes the story behind Jessica during his interview on the Gibson TV original series “The Collection” below.

Jessica is also heavily featured in the stunning coffee-table book “The Collection: Slash”, which marked the first book release from Gibson Publishing. At over 300 pages in length, “The Collection: Slash” is a lavishly illustrated, rare and collectible book in large format with numerous photos of the guitarist and his impressive guitar collection.

On the road with GUNS in the late 1980s, Slash decided to retire his Kris Derrig and Max Baranet Les Paul replicas. He called Gibson and they sent two guitars with three-piece tops that were factory seconds. In “The Collection: Slash”, the legendary guitarist describes Jessica.

“This guitar has been with me since 1988,” says Slash when asked about Jessica, the Les Paul Standard that’s been his number-one live guitar for more than three decades. “It’s faded, I fucking dropped a cigarette on it … I named it when I was drunk, but I don’t remember what the catalyst for that was!”

“Both of ’em were pretty identical, with a bright Cherry Sunburst,” Slash recalls. “I started using those on the road for a while, then I had them refinished so that they were a little duller. And that became my main stage guitar and the backup all the way through GUNS N’ ROSES and on through VELVET REVOLVER, and now with GUNS again.”

Mostly used live for “Appetite For Destruction” songs and a handful from the “Use Your Illusion” era, Slash says Jessica is a great and unique-sounding instrument: “I take a lot of guitars out on the road, but this still has a very specific sound compared to all the other Les Pauls I have out there.”

Slash has recently announced his highly anticipated sixth solo album titled “Orgy Of The Damned”, will be released on May 17 via Gibson Records.

A collection of 12 dynamic songs that shakes up and revitalizes blues classics with a stripped-down, instinctive approach, “Orgy Of The Damned” creates a singular expression that pays homage to the blues.

The first single “Killing Floor” — which features Brian Johnson of AC/DC on vocals, and Steven Tyler of AEROSMITH on harmonica — is an electrifying, raucous and gleefully unbridled take on Howlin’ Wolf‘s 1964 Chicago blues standard.

The new video for “Killing Floor”, which can be seen below, offers a first look at Slash and his blues band Johnny Griparic (bass), Teddy Andreadis (keyboards), Michael Jerome (drums), and Tash Neal (vocals/guitar), recording the song in the studio.

Slash spoke to Steve Migs of Audacy Check In about his upcoming solo album called “Orgy Of The Damned”, a collection of 12 songs that shakes up and revitalizes blues classics with a stripped-down, instinctive approach. Due out May 17 via Gibson Records, the LP features such guest vocalists as AC/DC‘s Brian JohnsonIggy PopTHE BLACK CROWES‘ Chris RobinsonGary Clark Jr.ZZ TOP‘s Billy F GibbonsDorothyBAD COMPANY‘s Paul Rodgers, pop star Demi Lovato and country artist Chris Stapleton. The first track to be released is a rendition of Howlin’ Wolf‘s “Killing Floor”, with Johnson on vocals and AEROSMITH‘s Steven Tyler on harmonica.

Regarding why he chose to record a blues album at this point of his career, Slash told Audacy Check In: “When I was a kid, I got turned on to a lot of blues music coming up. But then, as a guitar player, I was turned on by Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and all those sort of guys that came out of the U.K. And I quickly found out that their particular styles were all rooted in that music that I grew up listening to previously. So it was a full-circle thing for me. But those original musicians, when you listen to the original tracks, like Eric Clapton and Rory Gallagher and all these great guitar players and also singers that have come along that came out of the sort of English explosion there, British, whatever you call it… And they’re so phenomenal, but when you listen to those original guys, man, it’s some serious fucking shit. The feel and just the natural kind of cadence and just the delivery of those songs from those original artists is something that you really can’t touch. Even some of the best blues guys around can only barely scratch the surface on how great some of that original stuff was.”

As for how he got Johnson and Tyler to appear on “Killing Floor”Slash said: “That’s a good question. I had the song and I was trying to think who would be great to do it. And Brian came to mind. And I’ve known Brian for a pretty long time now. And he just has that great kind of grit to his voice. And I called him up and it turns out that he’s a huge fuckin Howlin’ Wolf protégé. And so he had been in cover bands before AC/DC and even before GEORDIE. And also, he was telling me that he’s doing something at present where he’s putting together sort of a blues-orchestra thing. Don’t quote me on that, but something to that effect. Anyway, and so he was excited to do that particular song anyway. And that’s the key thing that you’re looking for, is that when you call any of these great artists up and you have a cover song that you want to attack and if they would be willing to participate, that the song speaks to them, that it has meaning to them too, not just me. And that’s how it was with Brian. He was, like, ‘Oh, fucking great. Yeah, let’s do this.’ And then Steven Tyler came in. He came to my studio after Brian had already done the vocal. And I’m trying to remember exactly… I mean, he came in to do the harmonica or he just happened to have a harmonica with him. I can’t remember, but I played him the track. It was, like, ‘This is great.’ So it was very spontaneous. It was very just sort of inspired in the moment, which is a great thing to be able to capture, especially nowadays because people just, by and large, don’t make records like that now. Everything is very well thought out and cultivated and homogenized and produced, and this was just very, very off the cuff.”

On the topic of Pop‘s contribution to “Orgy Of The Damned”Slash said: “The Iggy Pop thing, that recording was actually very special because it was something that — it was the only song on the record that was delivered to me as an idea from the singer. In other words, I already had the songs and I went to them, but in Iggy‘s case, I found out through the grapevine — actually from our bass player — that we’d read somewhere that Iggy would always wanna do a blues thing, but he’s just never done it. So I called Iggy — I’ve worked with Iggy a lot over the years, and I called him up and I said, ‘Well, if there was a track that you would wanna do, what would it be?’ And it was Lightnin’ Hopkins‘s ‘Awful Dream’, which is such a left-field, obscure track. And when you listen to it, I’m pretty sure it’s an outtake that was done between takes or at the end of the session. You have to hear it. It’s not really put together; it’s just sort of like a loose jam. But Iggy is pretty profound, and there was a lyrical content in there that he really fuckin related to. Anyway, so when we did the song, we just sat in the lounge at my studio, which is really just one room — just a tiny little room — and he sat on a stool and I sat on a stool and Michael Jerome played drums right next to us and we just did it live right there. And it was something that meant a lot to Iggy, so the way that he sang it was very, very emotionally effective.”

“Orgy Of The Damned” track listing:
01. The Pusher (feat. Chris Robinson)
02. Crossroads (feat. Gary Clark Jr.)
03. Hoochie Coochie Man (feat. Billy Gibbons)
04. Oh Well (feat. Chris Stapleton)
05. Key To The Highway (feat. Dorothy)
06. Awful Dream (feat. Iggy Pop)
07. Born Under A Bad Sign (feat. Paul Rodgers)
08. Papa Was A Rolling Stone (feat. Demi Lovato)
09. Killing Floor (feat. Brian Johnson)
10. Living For The City (feat. Tash Neal)
11. Stormy Day (feat. Beth Hart)
12. Metal Chestnut

Last July, Slash revealed to Yahoo! Entertainment that he was working on his second “solo” album. The follow-up to 2010’s “Slash” was described by the now-58-year-old axeman as having “a bunch of different singers” and being “sort of similar to my first solo record, which featured FergieAdam LevineOzzy OsbourneDave GrohlLemmy KilmisterChris CornellNicole Scherzinger and other vocalists, but “more blues-oriented.”

According to Slash, the upcoming LP, which will “definitely” come out in 2024, will include a guest appearance by pop superstar Demi Lovato.

“There’s not really much more to tell you at this point, but Lovato and I definitely recorded something,” he said.

In addition to their collaboration for Slash‘s next solo album, the GN’R guitarist guested on Lovato‘s rock version of her 2017 song “Sorry Not Sorry”, which appeared on her “Revamped” LP, released last September.

“I told her, Hey, if you ever need me to put some guitar on something, just let me know and I’ll do it,” he said. “And so she hit me back about two weeks, three weeks later, and said she’s got this song that she’s doing a remake of and asked if I’d put some guitar on that. GUNS N’ ROSES did a show in Norway and I had a day off, so I found a cool engineer and studio in Norway and just put the guitars on there. It’s amazing how fast it came out.”

Slash added that the two tracks sound “completely different” from each other. “So it’s interesting how diverse her voice can be,” he said.

Although Slash‘s upcoming LP will be his second under the “Slash” banner, he has released a handful of albums with his long-running band SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS, in which he is joined by ALTER BRIDGE frontman Myles Kennedy.

Last month, Slash resumed touring with SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS‘ latest album, “4”, was released in February 2022 via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG.

“4” was Slash‘s fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring KennedyBrent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

Photocredit: Gene Kirkland

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