By Robert Duguay

In support of the release of his album Orgy of the Damned, Slash is not just touring; he’s putting on a distinctive concert experience with a positive message.

The blues fed a number of musical genres: jazz, hip hop, heavy metal and, of course, rock & roll. At this point in his career, guitar legend Slash has decided to honor that venerable pedigree in a couple of ways. Back in May, he released a new solo album titled Orgy of the Damned, a a love letter to the blues and soul. Tracks on the recording include renditions of Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Charlie Segar’s “Key To The Highway,” Albert King’s “Born Under A Bad Sign,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City.” Among the special guests on the disc: Iggy Pop, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, and Demi Lovato.

In support of the release, Slash is not just touring; he’s putting on a distinctive concert experience with a positive message. It’s called the S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, and the musician lineup proffers the likes of Warren Haynes, Keb’ Mo, Larkin Poe, Samantha Fish, and numerous blues cats. The assemblage is coming to the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston’s Seaport District on August 1 starting at 6:30 p.m.

I asked Slash about how the massive event and new album came about, what it was like to put together a touring festival with little previous experience, and the virtues of diversity when it comes to music making.

Slash. Photo: Gene Kirkland

The Arts Fuse: How did you choose the songs on Orgy of the Damned? Was the idea for the album a few years in the making or did it come about more recently?

Slash: A couple of the guys that I’m playing with on this record I’ve been jamming with for years. We go back to the early ‘90s together. I had a band with them called Slash’s Blues Ball in the late ‘90s, a blues cover band. It was a for-the-fun-of-it, for-the-beer kind of drunken thing, but we had a really cool setlist inspired by my taste in blues, Johnny Griparic’s taste in blues and Teddy Zig Zag’s taste in blues. We played a really great, really eclectic blues set. It was cool. I had always wanted to record our act; we had toured around and everything. But because it was just for the fun of it, it never became a real priority where we felt we had to head into the studio and do it.

Fast forward to all of the bands I’ve been in later and all of these different things I’ve done. I’m out with Guns n’ Roses and we had a break between legs last year. I thought about how I really wanted to record the Blues Ball, so I got the guys together. We had only a couple weeks to make a record. Teddy had a couple of the old setlists, and I had some ideas for songs I wanted to do. We picked songs that had a really specific influence on me growing up, had a really big impact on me, that were really important to my DNA. That’s how we picked the songs. We just got into the studio and started jamming them the way that we heard them. We came up with our own arrangements.

Then that was that. I had the idea of the different singers coming in to make it so it didn’t sound like a straight up blues record. I didn’t want to give the impression that all of a sudden I’ve switched gears — now I’m a hardcore blues guy. The album was just me having a good time doing music that I really like and was important to me. I thought different singers would make the session more eclectic, a little bit more broad-minded than just a straight-ahead blues covers record.

AF: Speaking of those singers, did you have a set group in mind for who you wanted involved? Or was it more about reaching out to people who came to mind as the creation process went along?

Slash: It was people who came to mind for every song. It was cool because I was lucky that everybody that I called related to whatever the given song was and had a history with it. I was able to pick the right people for the right songs. It’s interesting because, although there are some very sort of blues artists on this list, a lot of them aren’t recognized as blues singers. It just goes to show what an important influence blues has over nearly everybody who does music, regardless of genre.

AF: The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival has you touring all over the United States and Canada. Was this the first time you ever put something like this together? Did you seek advice from other musicians who have put on touring festivals, like Perry Farrell with Lollapalooza or Willie Nelson with the Outlaw Music Festival?

Cover art for Orgy of the Damned.

Slash: I just had the idea of putting the tour together and I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t ask anybody about anything, I went out there and just did it. Now that we’re in it, it’s been really, really cool. I had certain expectations and I had certain ideas about what it might be like, but I really didn’t know. Now that we’ve done a bunch of shows, it’s the greatest vibe. Playing with all of these other artists all day, it’s f***in’ awesome.

AF:  How did you come up with the name for the tour — it is an anagram standing for “Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality n’ Tolerance”?

Slash: What happened was I wanted the tour to represent something. This period in our history is so fraught with division, animosity, and a lot of negative things. I wanted to address that and, this being a blues festival, I wanted to encourage togetherness, to bring people together from all different walks of life, different genders, and different races. I wanted to erase all of these lines that we keep on putting up all over the place.

I started coming up with these different combinations of words. I didn’t come up with S.E.R.P.E.N.T. until I realized that some of words had started to spell something. I tweaked a couple of the words around, and ended up with S.E.R.P.E.N.T., the name for the festival. The tour is charity driven, so we are taking some of the proceeds from the merch, ticket sales, and everything else. These funds are going to different organizations that are supporting people who are in need, as a result of racial inequality, treating mental illness, and similar challenges that are pretty prevalent in society at the moment.

AF:What can people expect when the S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival comes to the Leader Bank Pavilion? Are these organizations that you’re working with going to be setting up booths, so people will know more about them? Will it be a revue type of thing, or more of a performer following a performer type of structure?

Slash: The concert isn’t interrupted by anything. It is clear what causes we are supporting, what is being advocated, but we’re not overwhelming people with these concerns. They are not a major part of the show or anything. People will be able to get information about these causes at the front; the most important thing is that we’re using the money from the tour to support them. As far as the bands are concerned, it’ll be one artist after the other.

Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence, who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of the Arts Fuse, he has also written for DigBoston, Aquarian Weekly, Providence Journal, Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Manchester Ink Link, and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theater, visual art, food, drink, sports, and cannabis.