Slash's family call him by his nickname because it's "more exciting" than his real name.

The former Guns N' Roses guitarist was born SAUL HUDSON in England, but even his close family use his adopted moniker, because it reflects his larger-than-life rock persona.

When asked how his family refer to him, the 'By The Sword' rocker said: "They definitely call me Slash. It's hard to explain why that is.

"I think because the person they knew as Saul was this little boy, and they haven't seen me since then until I became Slash and Slash is sort of, for the most part, sort of bigger than life.

"They like that aspect. I'm still Saul in the family sense. But they call me Slash because it's more exciting."

Slash was reputedly given his nickname by family friend Seymour Cassel, as he was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another."

While the guitarist left England for Los Angeles when he was still a boy, he says it always holds a special place in his heart, and he loved coming back to play a special concert there in July.

He told Revolver magazine: "I've been wanting to play in Stoke since probably since Guns did its first UK tour back in, like, 1988.

"Because it's such a small place, it was never, like, a choice destination for any of the promoters or agents. So this time around, since it was my own solo thing, I made sure that it was on there.

"It was a great experience doing the gig and it turned out to be, you know mistakes and all, a pretty cool live show."

A live album of the show, 'Live: Made in Stoke-24/7/11' is out now, and Slash is currently working on his second solo album in Los Angeles.