We catch up with the iconic guitarist Slash before his one-off gig in Bangkok tonight (Mar 10).

Can you tell us about your show here in Bangkok?
Slash: I’m excited! I’ve been here before. I always wondered why Gun N’ Roses never played here. I would come here during days off, and I would fly here and hangout. So it’s exciting to actually be able to fly here and do a performance. We’re going to do a two-hour session here. I'll be stretching my ways and playing as long as we want to. There’ll be a lot of materials that people will probably like. You know, Sex Pistols stuff, the Gun n’ Roses stuff, and the stuff from the Solo Records. It’s a pretty good set and it's gonna kick ass.

Looking at your set list, there are many songs from you fame eras. What’s the difference between your recent work and the songs from the past?
Slash: I guess the difference is how I’ve changed over the years. It’s not what I really think about too much. It’s just me, picking up different things as I went. So I think that would be the major difference.

Which songs can we expect to hear at the concert?
Slash: Which songs? There are a lot of songs (laughs)! We’d probably won’t do "Don’t Cry", but we’d probably Switch Online a couple different songs from Gun N’ Roses or Velvet Revolver, and Snakepit songs.

On your new solo album, you’re featuring with a lot of great artists. Who was the toughest for you to ask?
Slash: Nobody really. There were a couple of people who were already scheduled, or some were on the road. So I had to make the timeframe fits. But for the most part, I got about 90 percent of people I was hoping to work with so it's not too bad after all.

You worked with Fergie, too?
Slash: Yeah! I’m from LA and so are the Black Eyed Peas. I’ve seen them around and stuff but I’ve never met Fergie, so I didn’t know who Fergie was at the time. But then few years later Will.i.am called asking me if I’d do a show for a fundraiser with them in LA. So I said yes, and when I got there they said Fergie’s gonna sing the Rock n’ Roll medley, so I was like, really? She sang her ass off which blew my mind. Fast forward three and a half years later, there’s one song that I needed a female rock singer so I just called Fergie.

What do you think about young musicians today in America?
Slash: There are so many more musicians now than when I was coming out. You know, it’s such a crazy business. But it seems like people are picking up instruments at a really young age. That’s probably really healthy as well that they’re trying really hard.

We heard you're a part of the LA youth network for children shelter.
Slash: The reason we helped LA youth network is basically because they provide homes for affected children and teenagers who grew up without families. Maybe their parents have been arrested, or maybe they’ve gone to prison or something like that. So these kids might have drug problems or prostitution problems. That’s why the LA youth network support them by providing a temporary or sometimes permanent housing, and jobs too.

As a Guitar Hero presenter, how do you feel when they decided to stop manufacturing the game?
Slash: It was Guitar Hero 3 that I got involved with. It was really a massive game. They sold a zillion copies of it. And then from that point, it sort of declined. It’s become too expensive to produce such amount of games. So they decided to put it off the shelves, which is fine by me.

So what's up with this heart condition that you have?
Slash: I think it’s an alcohol poisoning and they told me that I have 8 days or 8 weeks to live. So they put this thing into my heart and said it would help a little bit. But it’s fine now, and they’re gonna take it out.

From a quote in your book saying that “The Rolling Stone once said that Gun n’ Roses remind them of themselves.” Which artist would you say remind you of yourself the most?
Slash: The artists that influence me the most like the Old Stones, or Aerosmith. Those were ones I was most like. There are a lot of artists that I listen to.

Where did you find that cool hat? And why’d you decide to use it as the part of your look?
Slash: It just became a thing. I got it from a store one day. I always liked hats, so I saw this one hat and I thought it was cool. It became something I wear all the time. I didn’t plan to staple it as an image or anything, but it just something I started to wear regularly as I feel comfortable with it. I was about 19 or 20 back then.

Is there any chance Gun N’ Roses will reform in the future?
Slash: Do you feel like you’re the only person in this whole room who’s coming up with that question? Or on this planet? The answer is no.

Slash Live in Bangkok happens tonight (Mar 11), 7pm. IMPACT Exhibition Hall 2, B1,200-1,500 from www.thaiticketmajor.com.