“He doesn’t make it sound like he's trying”: Eric Gales and Slash play Hendrix

Slash is clearly having a blast on his current S.E.R.P.E.N.T blues festival, which is currently touring the US. It features an array of Premier League blues players, including Warren Haynes, Keb’ Mo’, Larkin Poe and ZZ Ward.

Amongst them is Eric Gales. Check out this footage which was posted online this week of Monday night’s gig. Gales opened the show and at the end of his set invited Slash up on stage. “You might know this tune, I think,” he quipped before the pair launched into an awesome version of the Hendrix classic, Purple Haze.

As you can see, whilst Slash himself is in fine form, it’s Gales who steals the show with some truly astounding soloing.

Slash is a long time admirer of the blues guitarist. “He’s amazing,” he said in a recent interview with Blues Rock Review. “I saw him play a long time ago, I was doing this Jimi Hendrix festival, and I was playing with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell. I’d never heard of him before, and I was just like, ‘Wow, this guy is on fire.’ I’ve been aware of him ever since then.”

“He has this natural, fluid way of playing that’s really got a lot of feel, but he’s also got an amazing technical prowess. But he doesn’t make it sound like he's trying. A lot of these guys that are real technical in their ability sound like that, and it doesn’t really do anything for me. Eric manages to mix it into his natural feel for the guitar. It’s sort of unique in blues, that kind of approach.”

S.E.R.P.E.N.T of course is much more than just your usual tour-in-support-of-a-new-album, in this case Orgy Of The Damned. In Slash’s own words it’s “a celebration of blues and rock ‘n’ roll music, and a celebration of unity and togetherness in these uncertain and divisive times.”

The acronym stands for Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality and Tolerance and to his credit the GNR man has put his money where his mouth is, donating a portion of the proceeds from every ticket to a range of charities including The Equal Justice Initiative, Know Your Rights Camp and War Child.

He’s described the tour as “a vehicle to help support and uplift people and communities suffering from the injustices of racism and equal rights violations, as well as to support children adversely affected by war and poverty across the world.”

The festival carries on throughout July and into August, ending up at Grand Prairie, Texas on August 17.