Meeting a celebrity whom you admire can be a fraught experience. You might feel pressure to make an impression while you have the chance, but your hero might be entirely focused on something else and not really in the mood to meet someone new.
Slash is familiar with both sides of this equation. While he's been fortunate to befriend icons like Lemmy Kilmister and Joe Perry, he admitted in a recent interview that he's annoyed plenty of his heroes by being too desperate and awkward.
Keeping your head on straight when you meet someone whose work you love is crucial, but the Guns N' Roses guitarist says he knows from experience that it's not always so easy.
"I get probably as starstruck, if not more starstruck, than the average person," he said. "And you just have to be cool. You have to keep your cool and try not to make anybody uncomfortable by telling them what a big influence they are on you right away. Because I think that's unnerving. It is for me because I don't know how to react."
He then continued, looking back on a Velvet Revolver gig circa 2005 when he met both Jimmy Page and Brian May in London.
"Talk about just being really uncomfortable [laughs]. But they're lovely guys — really, really down to earth. And I was really happy to meet them and also to find that they were so, sort of, human. But I'll never forget that as being one of the most intimidating shows I ever did."
Page joined Slash on his tour bus before the show to say hello. May introduced himself afterwards. To ramp up the pressure even more, both guitar icons watched the show from the side of the stage.
"So it was an entire day," Slash laughed.
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators are on tour now in North America. Get all the tour dates here.