Guitarist Slash plans star-studded solo album

Guitarist Slash smiles at the presentation of the new Activision game Guitar Hero III during the E3 Media and Business Summit in Santa Monica, California July 11, 2007.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A solo album or the third Velvet Revolver album -- or possibly both -- are on Slash's docket for 2009.

The guitarist told Billboard that he's "at the very tail end of the demo phase" for the solo project, which he hopes to start recording early next year.

He began creating material during Velvet Revolver's last tour and said that while it will have references to his work with that band and Guns N' Roses, "there's really no particular direction. I just wanted to take a little bit of a break from all the politics and the democracy that is a band and just sort of do my own thing for a little bit. There will be a lot of stuff I don't have the freedom to do in a band situation."

Slash plans to use different singers for each of the album's songs but isn't divulging who's on the list yet. "They're all sort of well-known singers," he said. "It's sort of like how I go play on a lot of other people's records, so other people will just play on this one."

Slash cautioned that the solo album could be interrupted if Velvet Revolver finds a replacement for vocalist Scott Weiland in the near future. The group has turned down offers to conduct the search via a reality TV show -- "There's such a huge lack of integrity in that process" -- but is considering a variety of possibilities, including some established singers whose interest has surprised the band.

"There's been a couple that might have been interesting," Slash said, "but with any of those 'name' people ... it's really hard to make something sound original if you've got somebody people are so familiar with hearing somewhere else."

Reuters/Billboard