VELVET Revolver and ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has said that he has no plans to stub out the on-stage fags when the smoking ban hits the UK on July 1.

Harking back to the recent Velvet Revolver gig in Cardiff - during which guitarist Slash and singer Scott Weiland lit up on stage prompting an investigation into whether they had broken the law - Slash said: "Yeah you know what, they didn't come to me. No one said a word to me about it. I heard about it through the newspaper.

"And I was like 'Well I didn't know!'. I thought it didn't start 'til the 1st of July."

The comments came during an interview with radio station Xfm.

"And even if I had known", he said, "like I'm not gonna smoke during a show! So if it's gonna cost me £50 every gig, I'll just tout some tickets on the side to make up for it."

But one person who will no doubt be showing his full support for the imminent UK ban - which comes into effect on July 1 - is Slash's long-term friend and collaborator Alice Cooper.

The healthy tee-totaller told revealed, "The fact that I never smoked cigarettes means I can perform five nights a week, two hours a night and it doesn't bother me at all.