What is the origin of Slash’s nickname?

Owner of memorable riffs and an iconic style, slash is known to be, well… unique! And part of the guitarist’s identity is precisely his artistic name: Slash is the name that made an unknown illustrious Saul Hudsonone of the idols of Armas e Rosas.

British by birth, Slash moved early to Los Angeles, in the United States, where he would spend his early years. His name, Saul, came as a tribute to the cartoonist Saul SteinbergRomanian-American known for his work in the The New Yorker.

Still in childhood, however, he would meet a friend who would change his life – or rather, he would meet this friend’s father, who would give him the nickname with which he would be known throughout the world.

The revelation came in an interview with metal hammer (via loudwire), on which Slash tells:

“My best friend’s dad was this actor named Seymour Cassel and we used to skip school to stay at his house, and he started calling me Slash. It was always like that with him.”

Over the years, the nickname would start to stick – despite Slash himself, who never questioned Cassel as to why. It was only a few years later that he ran into his friend’s father at a restaurant and asked him:

“I was on tour in Europe and I ran into him and we went to dinner. I had to question him and he told me he called me Slash because I was always in a hurry, rushing everything, whatever I was doing back then. [na infância], and never had time to sit and talk. Then he started calling me Slash.”

“Slash”, in English, means “bar”, as in someone who does many things at the same time – the case of Slash himself, who accumulates activities and functions until today.