Slash Plans Paternity Break From Tour

Veteran rocker Slash is taking a break from his first tour with VELVET Revolver this summer (04), to prepare for the birth of his son.

The tour, which kicks off next month (MAY04), will press on without Slash in July, when his second son with wife Maria is due to arrived.

He says, "I'm the kind of guy who would wait to find out the sex, but if she knows, I know."

And the former GUNS N' ROSES member plans to take his new offspring out on the road with him as soon as he can.

He adds, "We went out with the year-and-a-half old - the wife and the nanny and the baby, and it was fine, much better than to sequester them at home.

"My parents were in the music business. My mom was always doing clothes for entertainers, and my dad is a total troubadour kind of guy, so we were always at shows. I thought it was a great, bohemian way to be raised. That's why I'm still in the music business now and not crazy."