Guns N’ Roses’ Manager Recalls Shocking Airport Incident Involving Slash and Izzy Stradlin

 

In a candid interview with *Classic Rock*, Guns N’ Roses’ former manager Alan Niven recounted a wild and reckless incident involving bandmates Slash and Izzy Stradlin before the group’s first-ever tour in Japan. The debacle, which took place at Los Angeles International Airport, involved a stash of drugs, a boom box, and some very questionable decision-making that could have derailed the band’s journey before it even began.

The drama unfolded as Guns N’ Roses was preparing to board their flight to Japan. The band was waiting for frontman Axl Rose, who had yet to arrive at the airport. It was at this moment that Stradlin, who was known for his chaotic yet charismatic persona, asked Niven where Axl was. But what followed was far from a typical conversation about schedules or tour plans.

Stradlin allegedly held up a boom box and said, “I don’t care. I’m set. I’ve got my stash.” Niven, likely expecting a discussion about music for the journey, was caught off guard when Stradlin revealed that the “stash” he was referring to wasn’t a collection of preferred tunes—it was drugs.

The co-founder of Guns N’ Roses had wrapped his stash in foil and hidden it in the boom box, hoping he could bypass security and smuggle the drugs onto the plane.

However, Niven, ever the pragmatist, immediately warned Stradlin that the airport had advanced security measures, including drug-sniffing dogs and electronic devices designed to catch smugglers. He advised Stradlin to flush the drugs down the toilet and score more once they arrived in Japan.

Stradlin, however, wasn’t having any of it. In typical rock-and-roll fashion, he responded, “That’s a fuckin’ waste of good smack.”

It didn’t take long for Slash to join the fray, and Niven, now with two band members involved, repeated his advice to the guitarist. With both men clearly not keen on the idea of losing their precious stash, they headed off to the bathroom. When Stradlin returned, Niven was shocked to see the guitarist “waving slightly” before his knees buckled under the weight of his decision. It appeared that Stradlin had taken the extreme measure of swallowing his entire drug stash in an attempt to avoid detection.

Slash, on the other hand, managed to make it to his seat on the 747, though barely. Niven noted that the guitarist also “employed the ethic of waste not, want not,” consuming his stash in a similarly reckless manner.

Despite the bizarre and potentially dangerous stunt, the band managed to make it to Japan, albeit in a rather precarious state. Niven, understandably concerned, was forced to reschedule his flight, taking a separate plane with Axl Rose the next day on a different airline.

While the antics of Stradlin and Slash may have seemed like a chaotic blur in the moment, they would eventually go down in history as part of the band’s legendary rock-and-roll lifestyle. Over time, however, both men have moved on from their drug-fueled past. Slash, in particular, has been sober since 2006, turning his life around and continuing to make music, while Stradlin’s role in Guns N’ Roses has remained more sporadic in recent years.

This wild airport tale offers a glimpse into the chaos that defined Guns N’ Roses in their early years, and it’s a reminder of just how far the band has come since their reckless beginnings.