Slash a family man? Former drug-addled rowdy takes the wife and kids to a soccer game

Back in Gun N' Roses' heyday you could hardly find a photo of GN'R guitarist Slash that didn't show him bleary-eyed and clutching a near-empty bottle of Jack Daniels. He even offered me a sip from it once backstage at a gig in Vancouver, although I chickened out due to health concerns (and the fact that it's nasty-tasting shit straight-up).

But the times have changed. The top-hatted rocker cleaned up his act years ago, and now it looks like he's a prime candidate for the Father of the Year award. A clip posted on YouTube yesterday shows a contented Slash--accompanied by his wife Perla and sons London (10) and Cash (7)--being interviewed down on the field at an L.A. Galaxy game.

I like the way London, who plays soccer, claims that he's not a fan of the game. Does his "football"-loving pop force him to play it then? I kinda doubt it. Judging by the short clip, Slash seems like a super-cool dad. And, as he's explained before, fatherhood totally suits him.

"I never actually was one of those guys that said I'm gonna be single forever and never have children," he told The Pulse of Radio around the time of Cash's birth. "I just never made plans for it, so when it happened, it was, like, at the perfect time in my life.

"If it had happened a second earlier," Slash added, "I couldn't have handled it, 'cause I was too out there. Then when the kids came, it actually sort of secured me, more than anything."

Slash also appears to have it going on in the wife department. I like how Perla is quick to second the notion of her hubby playing the national anthem at a Galaxy game. The interviewer seems like a bit of a knob, though, since he can't tell her when the next home game is, apart from being "not too far away". Slash should have butted in with something like: "Hey man, do your homework." He said that to me once during a phone interview when I didn't know all the facts about Guns N' Roses' early years.

I forgive him, though, since he's a good dad.

You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at twitter.com/earofnewt.