Velvet Revolver

Velvet Revolver is a rock supergroup with three former members of Guns N' Roses — Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum (who also played with rock band The Cult) — plus Scott Weiland, the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, and Dave Kushner of the 80s hardcore punk band Wasted Youth.

Band history

Velvet Revolver was formed when three Guns N' Roses alumni — Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), and Matt Sorum (drums) — joined to play a benefit concert for fellow musician Randy Castillo in 2002. They subsequently decided to form a new band that would bring back the spirit of rock to the mainstream. When Izzy Stradlin declined an invitation, the band recruited guitarist Dave Kushner, who had previously played with Wasted Youth and Dave Navarro. Kushner had gone to school with Slash and had worked with McKagan in Loaded, the band he'd played with before joining Velvet Revolver. The quartet were referred to under the temporary moniker "The Project" for a short period pending the selection of a permanent name.

The quartet then set about recruiting a lead singer with VH1 filming the recruitment process. A number of lead singers auditioned, including Canadian Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), Josh Todd (of Buckcherry), Sebastian Bach formerly of Skid Row, Kelly Shaefer of Atheist/Neurotica, and Travis Meeks of Days of the New, but were unsuccessful. Scott Weiland had become friends with McKagan and had played on the same bill as Kushner when Stone Temple Pilots were known as Mighty Joe Young and Kushner was in Electric Love Hogs. Weiland heard the material and offered his services as the lead singer and the band clicked.

Slash suggested the name "Revolver" for the project and Weiland suggested the addition of "Black Velvet" to the title. Slash thought this sounded too similar to "Stone Temple Pilots," so the name was abbreviated to simply "Velvet Revolver." Many people believe that the name "Velvet Revolver" is a play on words of Slash, McKagan, and Sorum's former band "Guns N' Roses", since the word "Revolver" relates to "Guns", and the material "Velvet" is soft like a "Rose." Another interpretation is that "Velvet Revolver" is both a tribute to and the antithesis of The Velvet Underground, the influential New York proto-punk band whose moniker is a euphemism for the vagina, while "Velvet Revolver" (like punk pioneers The Sex Pistols) is a reference to the penis.

Velvet Revolver recorded its first track "Set Me Free" for Hulk soundtrack in 2003 and was also responsible for a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money," featured in the movie The Italian Job. The band played its first live gig at the El Rey in Los Angeles in June 2003. It recorded its first album, Contraband, in the latter part of 2003 with recording complicated by Weiland's court appearances for drug charges and his subsequent sentencing to undertake rehabilitation.

The marketing campaign for Velvet Revolver in the run-up to the release of the first album was profiled as part of the Frontline (PBS) program The Way the Music Died, which included interviews with the band members and producers.

Contraband was released in June 2004, debuting at #1 on the Billboard album charts, #11 on the British album charts, and #2 on the Australian charts. The first single, "Slither," topped a composite world modern rock chart in June, reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #5 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Slither," which is also the band's first music video, has also reached #64 on the Billboard Hot 100, gone top 20 in Finland and top 40 on a European composite chart, in Canada, and in Australia. Since then, the band has released three more singles: the ballad "Fall to Pieces" the hard-rocker "Dirty Little Thing,", and "Come On Come In", all of which have videos featured for them. "Fall to Pieces" has been remarkably successful not only on rock stations, but also on modern music stations. The band consequently declined an invitation to tour with KISS after learning that Poison would be a part of the bill. The members of Poison were far from impressed naturally.^*

As of August 2005, "Contraband" had sold more than 2 million copies in the United States, and the rigorous touring in support of the album has reached global scales. Already, the band has toured both the United States and Europe twice, while also hitting Australia and Japan. For the Spring of 2005, the band has several Canadian dates lined up as well as a headlining arena tour for the U.S. In addition to this, they are slated to open for Black Sabbath in Europe this summer, before likely finishing a second album sometime this fall. The CD has SunnComm's MediaMax DRM rootkit on it, exposing users to a security vulnerability.

Velvet Revolver performed at Live 8, playing "Do It For the Kids," "Fall to Pieces," and "Slither." However, only "Fall To Pieces" appears on the Live 8 DVD.

In 2005, a part of Contraband's "Dirty Little Thing" was inserted in Universal Studios' sequel to XXX, " State of the Union"

The band also recorded a new song entitled "Come On, Come In" for the 2005 movie Fantastic Four.

Also during 2005, the group announced its sophomore album, which is due out in 2006. Scott Weiland announced at the 2005 Radio Music Awards that it will be a concept album, and will be less single-driven than its previous effort. In December 2005, the band set Libertad (Spanish for "freedom") as the working title of the album.

Members

Scott Weiland - Lead Vocals (ex-Stone Temple Pilots)
Slash - Lead Guitar (ex-Guns N' Roses, Slash's Snakepit,Tidus Solan, Black Sheep, London, Road Crew)
Dave Kushner - Rhythm guitar (ex-Wasted Youth, Infectious Grooves, Electric Love Hogs, Cyco Miko, Suicidal Tendencies, Zilch,Vanilla Ice, Loaded, Dave Navarro)
Duff McKagan - Bass guitar (ex-Guns N' Roses, Neurotic Outsiders, Loaded, 10 Minute Warning, The D.T.'s, Crisis Party, Our Gang, Thankless Dogs)
Matt Sorum - Drums (ex-Guns 'N Roses, The Cult, Y Kant Tori Read,Neurotic Outsiders, Slash's Snakepit)

Discography

Contraband (June 8, 2004); (U.S. #1, CA #1, UK #11, Aus #2), Certified 2x Platinum US, 2x Platinum Canada
Libertad (Working Title) (2006)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
Year	Title	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Modern Rock	U.S. Mainstream Rock	UK	Album
2003	"Set Me Free"		#32	#17		Contraband
2004	"Slither"	#56	#1	#1	#35	Contraband
2004	"Fall to Pieces"	#67	#2	#1	#32	Contraband
2005	"Dirty Little Thing"		#18	#8		Contraband
2005	"Come On, Come In"			#14		Fantastic Four ^*

Trivia

Kushner acknowledged that he was Vanilla Ice's touring guitarist for the rapper's 1998 tour in support of Hard to Swallow, a quasi-heavy metal "comeback" album.

External links

Official Websites

Rock music groups | Supergroups | Post-grunge groups | RCA Records musicians