He tours the world playing his guitar with rock stars, and he's proud to highlight his hometown of Las Vegas.

Frank Sidoris is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

His father was a pit boss and his mother a Las Vegas showgirl.

He learned to play the guitar as a teenager, and he now plays for both Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators as well as Mammoth WVH.

He also took on a massive renovation project rejuvenating one of Las Vegas' oldest bars.

Frank Sidoris, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Frank Sidoris) Thank you.

Happy to be here.

-We were talking about playing the guitar for Slash, but I'm thinking in my head, well, here's one of the greatest guitarists, right?

And you're playing guitar for-- how does that even work?

-Well, every rock band, most rock bands you've ever seen, they have two guitar players, usually one guy to kind of keep rhythm with the drummer and the bass player and then one guy to just riff solos all day, play riffs and solos.

-He's the lead guitarist?

-Yes, he is the lead guitarist, one of the most iconic, honestly, in history.

It's an honor to do it.

It's not lost on me that we get to do this all the time.

Even though we're friends, it's just kind of like, yeah, that's still slash.

-What about the pressure involved in that?

-Well, I joined when I was 23, and that was, that was probably the hardest.

That was when I felt the most pressure, because I was 23 and I had touring experience globally, but just not with these guys on that level.

These guys have been doing it before I was born.

And they really took a chance on me, you know, because, again, if they were mid 40-something or low, you know, early 40s and-- -Well established.

-Exactly.

They'd been doing this forever.

It's part of their lives.

And to take a chance on a kid, essentially, it was-- that was a big risk.

And, you know, I'm eternally grateful for it.

But again, that was-- it's a big jump, so I definitely felt the pressure then.

But now, you know, again, they're really nice people and very understanding.

And there was a couple hiccups in the beginning, but, again, they were like, You had to learn the hard way.

And I definitely did.

And again, I'm very grateful for it, considering where we are now, 13 years later.

-What do you mean by "hiccups"?

-Oh, just, you know, learning a song incorrectly or just thinking I was prepared and then something gets sprung up on you, and it's like, okay, we're doing this song now.

And it's just like, Oh, I didn't know.

And just not being-- the feeling of not being prepared back then used to just kill me, and now I'm just like, Let's just wing it.

It's a big jump from that to today.

-What kind of impact do you think that had on you as a 23 year old, getting that kind of opportunity?

-It made me really prepare for anything I did going forward, whether it was a very small little like, Hey, we're going to go jam at a bar, or, We need you to play with these other, you know, big artists for whatever event.

Now I was just so prepared.

After not being prepared a little bit or just, you know, being, I guess, just trying to be ready for anything coming at me, just trying to really over analyze everything.

And again, that kind of, in a way-- now I just, I feel like I'm ready for anything, especially since then.

Twenty-three, it was tough.

But I was just trying to be like, oh, yeah, I'm like these guys.

And when I honestly didn't feel it and then eventually, as the shows went on, I was like, yeah, I should be here.

I think they've made me feel that way, and I feel like I proved myself as well.

Which was tough.

-Oh, how neat.

-Yeah.

-Okay.

Slash is the guitarist for Guns N' Roses.

Guns N' Roses is the first rock band to play at Allegiant Stadium.

But technically, there was an opening band.

-I love that you're saying this.

-That was Mammoth WVH.

And you are the guitarist in that band, so technically you were the first-- -Yes.

- --to open up Allegiant Stadium.

-Yeah, we tell everybody that.

It's one of my favorite stories, because I believe Garth Brooks had played, you know, country, and then there was some other artist in a different genre, but we were the first rock band.

You know, because they were advertising like Guns N' Roses, the first rock band, but it's like, who opened the show?

-You described that as a "core-level memory."

What is a core-level memory?

-One of those experiences that you're in immediate flow state of just, you know, they say, Five minutes to the show, and then you go out on stage.

And then just to see all of Vegas in a very new stadium watching us, it was just, it was so special.

It felt so much more alive than most venues, too.

And most cities, some cities aren't as excitable, and some cities are real rock cities.

And Vegas is one of those industry towns.

And sometimes you get the arms crossed up front, but it was not that at all.

It was just the best.

And I wore my Golden Knights shirt as well.

So everyone-- I got a lot of emails and calls after that, because to not wear a Raiders jersey, as a hometown person, you know, I had to.

It was our first team ever.

I had to represent the Knights.

There were a lot of people when they saw it, they were pointing it out.

So it was just a nice hometown moment just all around.

-Yeah.

That love for the Golden Knights, where does that stem from?

Simply because they were the first Major League pro sports team?

-Yeah.

I mean, honestly, for me, my whole family is from the Midwest, for the most part.

I grew up loving those teams, the Cleveland Indians and the Browns and all of that.

But as time went on, like to have my own hometown team meant just everything.

And I learned how much hockey is just one of the more honorable sports ever.

I think it's just a really-- I don't know.

Those guys love each other.

Even if they fight, they love each other.

It's just a respectable sport.

I love it.

So to have something to root for and wear on a T-shirt, like, that says Las Vegas, you know, that's not from a gift shop-- -Yeah.

- --all over the world.

It means a lot to me, because then people, they can't believe I'm from here.

That's not normal, you know?

But I'm from that generation where that's a bit more prominent It happens more often, you know.

Or it happened more often.

-Right, it's changing.

And speaking to your deep love of Las Vegas, I notice that you're wearing a Tark the Shark-- it's not a zipper, it's a pin that you put on a zipper.

-Yeah, because it wasn't going through the leather jacket.

So, yeah, I had to do that just to represent.

-Late, great basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.

-Yeah.

You saw him all over the place when I was a kid, too.

And the guys at the Piero's restaurant, they all wear this on their jackets.

And recently, one of the guys from Piero's came to Hard Hat, and we were just talking about just Vegas stuff and how much I appreciate that these top-tier food and beverage people from Piero's or Golden Steer and Pepper Mill and whatnot, just like Vegas mainstays, go to Hard Hat after their shift.

It means the world to me.

So I mentioned the pins at some point, making a joke, oh, eventually we all need to get the Tark pin.

He's like, I have one in my car.

I'll be right back.

So I had to wear it for PBS Vegas.

-Hard Hat Lounge, why take that project on?

You mentioned a little bit just now.

You're providing almost, well, a community gathering space.

-Yeah.

Growing up in town, like I said, with the show business side of my family, like we'd go to the shows.

I used to be a stagehand at the Flamingo for a magic show.

And, you know, what we would do is go to a PT's or go somewhere after.

We'd, Where do you want to eat?

We'll go somewhere like that.

And I love that communal-- I just love that.

Like, the showgirls had their makeup on still.

Everybody was, again, the ties are just hanging at the side, whatever.

It's everyone just, just have a drink and relax.

I always wanted some sort of business in town.

I wanted either a bar or a coffee shop.

And I love coffee.

I'm way into that whole culture.

And the bar culture, food and beverage culture, is something I love.

And so I wanted to just create something that was communal and where all of my friends and food and beverage and entertainer friends can all go and just hang out.

And I didn't know how it was going to happen or when, but it just kind of happened.

It came across my desk through my friend, and it was like, how are we going to-- we have to make this happen.

We can't let this go away.

It's the Hard Hat lounge.

I've driven past it on Industrial my whole life, making deliveries to hotels for my mom's show.

And I would just always pass it, and I'd always see it.

And just the fact that that is somehow our building now, it just blows my mind.

But again, it was just-- I wanted to be a part of the community more than just being on the other side of the bar.

I really wanted to just create a space for all of our friends and artists and whatnot, just to kind of hang out, take care of them.

-Yeah.

When you say "delivering for your mom," what were you delivering?

-So back then there was, they were called rack cards.

They're just little advertisements for ticketing.

I don't even know if they exist really anymore, but they were just little, these little posters that you just put in different ticket-- what were they?

They were like, kind of a broker.

They were ticket brokers.

-Okay.

-So you just go deliver these, these little pamphlets, essentially.

So tourists, anybody walking by, like back in the Hawaiian Village, that was one of them, and all over the Strip, the Fashion Show.

I had a whole route.

And before The LINQ was there, I used to drive straight across from behind the Flamingo to Caesars.

-Okay.

-Every day, back and forth, every hotel, dropping off flyers.

-Did your mom get you that job?

-Yes.

I did not apply for that job.

-When you are telling people about your mom, how do you start?

Where do you begin?

-Now it's amazing, because she just recently, her and my stepfather, Matt Stabile, just passed, it's like, 21, 22 years of being producers in Vegas.

So I love to tell everyone she was a Vegas showgirl when I was a kid.

So she moved here, she was a dancer at multiple shows, but most notably Crazy Girls.

So if you have been in Vegas for a couple decades, you know, you've seen the poster, you've seen the billboard, the taxi ad, the bronze statue, all of that.

Like, it's just-- -The iconic statue.

-Yeah.

It's the best.

-What was that like, growing up in Vegas and your mother is a part of that statue, which is still on display at Planet Hollywood, right?

-Yeah.

You know, I think it got taken away.

I'm not sure where it is now, but it's our goal to find and display it at Hard Hat, if we can.

-Yeah.

-We have to figure that out somehow-- a GoFundMe or whatever we got to do.

But for the town, we have to.

But, yeah, her whole experience, like, it was just cool.

She's famous.

She was famous then to me and to all my friends.

And, obviously, as a kid-- and if you know the poster or the bronze statue, it was like, Hey guys, take it easy.

That's my mom.

But it was just, it was great.

I still, I love it.

I still, I get a lot of photos from friends when they go to vintage stores in town--the shirt, the poster, the mug, the mouse pad, the just anything.

It was truly iconic.

-And you told me off camera that the poster was on a taxi.

-Yes, the first poster.

The first, yeah, the first rollout of that advertisement, the "No ifs, ands, or butts."

-Yes.

-My dad called a taxi cab to go to the house, just in case it would have the poster on.

I don't know if they had any idea it would, but it showed up, and it had it.

So it was a photo of me as a five year old just kind of sitting on the taxi.

So, yeah.

We're all proud of it.

-How did she influence you as a person and then as a performer as well?

-I think that just by taking my sister and I to the Strip constantly as kids, just for the entertainment purpose.

I mean, in the '90s, it was so family focused, Vegas, it felt for the most part, a lot more than it was up until then.

And we're kind of in this middle ground now where it's kind of, there's amusement parks still.

But back then, MGM had a theme park.

Wet 'n Wild was a thing, and Scandia still existed.

And there was one off Trop as well, near Polaris, but all that-- it was just awesome.

She took us everywhere.

We saw a million shows.

We saw EFX all the time.

We saw Splash at the Riviera.

We just, we were so much a part of the Strip just by being there.

And I think I just loved the whole showbiz aspect of that, and I didn't think about it.

I just enjoyed going to shows and being around a stage and performers and people.

And we all love music, you know.

And she always played really cool music growing up.

Same with my dad and my sister.

And I thought that the only way to really appreciate the music more was to kind of play the-- or play an instrument, you know, because I love music.

It's all I cared about was buying CDs and having tapes back then, too, you know?

And no one was really a musician, so it was just kind of-- I think I've been peripherally influenced in a lot of ways by her.

-Yeah.

Okay, well, we're getting close to the end of this, but tell me about what you're doing now.

I mean, after this interview, you're leaving to LA to do what?

-To write with Slash.

So we're in the middle of a new album, and it's, it's a busy experience.

Like working with Hard Hat now, you know, doing two bands is already a lot.

And scheduling is tough and things conflict, but having a bar on top of that was an undertaking.

But it's very easy because of the staff and every-- like, the people that we've surrounded that bar with are seriously the greatest and people I've known my whole life.

So it's just really easy.

So doing all this at once is definitely a lot, but I feel like I need that.

Like I need that-- my brain needs to just be like, what's happening tomorrow, what's happening tonight, you know?

And I could probably credit my mom for setting us up for that.

That's just what it is.

-And what is it like writing with Slash?

-In the beginning, pressure, like I said.

I felt it.

Even though he never put it on me or anybody in the band, I definitely felt it.

Because, again, it's like, here's a guy I always looked up to.

And I'm a guitar player, he's a guitar player.

How's this gonna-- how's this gonna go?

I remember the first moment, I was like, here's my first idea for this.

And he was like, Cool, yeah, let's try it.

I was like, wow!

Okay.

-I gotta wrap you there.

We're out of time.

Frank Sidoris, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Do it again sometime.