INTERVIEWS DE SLASH > Toutes les interviews de Slash traduites en français

Interview de Perla Hudson (en anglais)
guitarinternational.com | 07/03/2011

Rick: I was wondering how Slash ended up with the dinosaur collection that’s to be auctioned?

Perla Hudson: He’s been enamored of dinosaurs ever since he was a child and he’s a big collector, as you can see, with guitars and dinosaurs, cars. There are a few things that he’s interested in, but when he does get interested in something, he takes it to the next degree.

The dinosaurs…he’s probably just as schooled on paleontology as actual paleontologists are. This man is the encyclopedia of dinosaurs and that’s just his thing. A lot of those models he made himself. A lot of them he bought when he was in Japan touring in the early ’80s with Guns and put them together.

A lot of that stuff is all stuff that we got on different tours, but the dinosaurs in particular, when he and I originally hooked up, he had like a 10,000 square foot bachelor pad filled with pinball machines and dinosaur models. We’ve been keeping these in storage ever since and it was just time to unload them. They’re pretty cool.

Rick: I think it probably takes a lot of true grit to really be married to somebody who’s moved up so far in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Did you know what you were getting into when you first met him?

Perla Hudson: You know what? It takes true grit, as you said, to be in any relationship long-term, regardless of with a rock star or not. Did I know what I was getting into? Not necessarily, but I had no expectations, and I still don’t and I just deal with things as they come. There are no expectations and nothing really shocks me.

Rick: I would think that you’d really have to be true to yourself at the same time.

Perla Hudson: Absolutely, and keep each other grounded and keep him grounded, specifically. Slash is such an introverted person that it’s very easy for him to get into his little world of music. We’re completely polar opposites, him and I, and it’s up to me to bring him out of that on a regular basis and be part of the real world. He’s kind of like a mad scientist in his lab, creating his music. Left to his own devices, he would be there 24/7.

Rick: How do you deal with all the noise, the media and the hysterics that surround the rock star thing?

Perla Hudson: It doesn’t really bother me. I’m not married to a politician, so what can they say that can bother us? [Both laughing] I’m a pretty open-minded person and nothing really shocks me, to tell you the truth.

Rick: The last time I interviewed Slash, after the interview he was going to a soccer game, taking your two kids to a soccer game. He sounds like he’s a pretty normal guy.

Perla Hudson: You know, we try to be. Recently, someone started working with us that couldn’t believe that he and I actually drive the carpool. He does too, with the rest of the kids. We have a carpool with two other families.

We try to be normal and as grounded as possible because at the end of the day, we’re all just human and you can’t escape your reality. Our reality might be a little different than others, but we have two really young boys that we want to keep grounded and have them grow up and be normal.

Rick: People tend not to like to brag about themselves. I actually taught a course with a psychologist and he said that people have no problem denigrating themselves, but when it comes to bragging about themselves, they tend not to like to do that. How about it? Would you mind bragging a little bit about who you are and what you think people should know about you? Things that you’re proud of…

Perla Hudson: Oh, okay. Goodness, I’m proud of my character, my survival skills. My parents were Cuban immigrants that, speaking quite frankly with you, were drug dealers when I was growing up. To have overcome that and have any sense of being normal was difficult. I grew up to be very loyal, but I had this entire crazy part of my life going on growing up.

I just think being a survivor and being open-minded are among the things I’m most proud of when it comes to my character. I’m very proud of my two children, that I have these two amazing little boys, and I’m really raising them to make a difference in the world when they grow older. I’m proud that I’ve been married 10 years this October. That’s a stretch!

Rick: Congratulations! Hey, your sons are really handsome little boys, really cute.

Perla Hudson: Thank you. They’re tough.

Rick: I bet.

Perla Hudson: When the older one was six months old and I had this baby nurse help me. She looked at me, she goes, “Oh, Perla,� she’s a little Irish lady, “This one is definitely not gonna be a wallflower,� and she was right. [Rick laughing]

Rick: A lot of guys who play, and I play guitar a lot, they often find that their spouses get a little bit tired of them playing guitar, maybe too loudly, and it’s happened to me and other friends of mine that when we’re playing, we kind of notice that the door gets closed on us. The wives are thinking, “That’s enough.� Tell me that Slash ends up experiencing the same thing, that he’s normal.

Perla Hudson: Yeah, but I love it when he plays around the house on his acoustic guitar. He does have a studio that’s completely soundproofed in the basement though. But, when they first built it, you could hear him blaring in the kitchen. It was okay for a minute, but after a while it got old, so we had to have it fixed. [Both laughing] But, he’s got like a soundproofed room down there.

Rick: That’s a good fix.

Perla Hudson: But, I love hearing him play acoustic guitar around the house, especially around the boys because one of them is taking guitar lessons. God, if he heard this, he’d probably kill me. I don’t know if he’s got that music gene, the older one, but the little one is extremely talented and self-taught to play piano and he’s in a little violin class. The little one is just amazing, so he’s enamored when he sees his father playing guitar. He just sits there and stares at him, so I love it, to tell you the truth.

Rick: Let me see if you’re willing to do an exchange with me here. If you’ll tell me what Slash’s favorite meal is or food, I’ll tell you what Les Paul told me his favorite food was and you can tell Slash.

Perla Hudson: Great! Let’s do that.

Rick: Les Paul’s favorite food was macaroni and cheese.

Perla Hudson: Slash’s favorite food is something spicy. Anything spicy.

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