You may or may not know Slash from the legendary rock group Guns-N-Roses was big into BMX back in the day. There’s even some old photos floating around the internet of a young Slash in action hitting some jumps. But not many folks know that back in 2012 Slash did a rare interview where he talks about his BMX past. It was for a BBC show called Jamie Stangroom’s The Rock Games. In the interview Slash talks about how he started as a skater then went to BMX. He was a BMX freestyler and BMX racer back when he was in his teens. Slash was pretty heavy into BMX Racing, he raced nationals and even raced pro.
Even when Slash was in the band he took his BMX bike with him on tour. I found some footage of him riding his bike during one tour behind the scenes. He was riding hella sloppy but hey he was riding 😉 .WARNING!! There is explicit language in this clip
Here’s a more recent clip of Slash playing around on a vintage Diamond Back while kicking it with actor Clifton Collins Jr
Below are some of the photos I’ve found.
“Oh, yeah, man! Absolutely! I was a pro-BMX racer as a kid, and my main aspiration was to eventually become a moto-cross champion. I was obsessed! But then I inadvertently picked up the guitar and everything switched gears inside of 24 hours, and before long, my career took off.”
He’s almost sighing as he says this, like it’s a bit of a bummer. Here he is, a multi-millionaire rock star, suddenly wistful for what might have been.
“I still follow the BMX stuff, you know? It’s evolved so much now. I thought we were pretty crazy back in the day, but those riders have taken it to a level I never even dreamed was possible…” ~Stuff.co.nz Interview, Dec 2018