During the making of his upcoming fourth album with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, Slash – as well as Kennedy himself, and two of their bandmates – tested positive for COVID-19.

The modern-day guitar great shared the news in an interview with Germany’s Radio Regenbogen, saying (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “The funniest story about this record was the COVID story, because we took a tour bus to Nashville to keep ourselves safe – to get there and not travel commercially.

“And then we went and recorded the whole record, and then I got a phone call from Myles in the studio when I was about to do overdubs, and he goes, ‘Man, I tested positive.’ And subsequently, two of the other guys tested positive, so they all had to go into quarantine. And we still had to do percussion and background vocals, and so we sort of stalled.”

Slash went on to say that he tested positive after his bandmates had recovered, throwing yet another spanner in the works, although he noted that because he’d been vaccinated prior to receiving his diagnosis, he “only had to quarantine for a few days”.

The group’s new album, ‘4’, is due out on February 11. It comes as the debut release on the newly minted Gibson Records label, following their 2018 album ‘Living The Dream’. The album’s first single, ‘The River Is Rising’, landed in October.

Earlier that month, Slash teased that ‘4’ (then untitled) was “probably the best [album] we’ve done so far”, assuring fans that he, Kennedy and their troupe of fellow rockers were “showing no signs of slowing down”.

Also in October, The Conspirators’ guitarist Frank Sidoris – who is set to appear on ‘4’ – was involved in a serious car accident. He described it as “a truly traumatic experience”.

This new era for Slash’s solo project comes amid a studio comeback for his main band, Guns N’ Roses, with the classic rock icons set to release their first new material in 13 years – a four-track bundle of ‘Chinese Democracy’ outtakes and live cuts titled ‘Hard Skool’ – on February 25.