It is nice to see Slash still wears the top hat. The former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses is still the embodiment of old-guard rock'n'roll - 15 years have not made a dent in his wild afro and demonic guitar solos.
But now he is teetotal, has a wife and children and is the face of his own iPhone app. He has even collaborated with mainstream pop stars such as Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Maroon 5's Adam Levine on his first solo album - names that diehard GN'R fans probably would not have expected to ever accompany Slash's extravagant, wailing riffs.
Another thing that has not changed since Slash's raw, sleazy Guns days is his sound. Fergie might cover Guns classic Paradise City (with Cypress Hill, and rather well), but half the vocalists on his long-anticipated solo effort are big names of hard glam rock - Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop.
'When I was a kid, Aerosmith, Iggy and Ozzy had a huge influence, so I did okay,' Slash says. Throw on his eponymous album and you are back in a time when rock 'n' roll was the big, bad wolf, guitar solos lasted longer than a pop song, and fans wanted their stars without the vice airbrushed out.
'I miss the older attitude that made rock 'n' roll. It seems the younger generation that's coming along right now doesn't have those influences,' Slash says in a surprisingly mellow American accent. 'I miss the risk, the danger, the whole sex element. All that really exciting stuff is a bit diluted - almost non-existent.'
He is due to hit Japan for the Summer Sonic festival after his Hong Kong gig on July 29, and watching MTV on the road while he does the European summer festival circuit.