Of the many supergroups that have formed throughout rock history, Velvet Revolver seemed to be one of the more promising ones. But after only two albums, they broke up, which leaves many wondering today what happened to them.
Sometimes when a group of people play music together, there’s a chemistry that they can’t let go of, even if the band falls apart — such was the case with the early ’90s version of Guns N’ Roses. Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum were all out of the group by 1997, but it wasn’t because they didn’t enjoy playing with each other.
So, after playing with other acts for a few years, in 2002, the trio of musicians came back together to form a new band. But, finding a frontman they could all get along with posed the biggest threat, as they didn’t want to repeat any of what had happened with Guns N’ Roses again.
How Did Velvet Revolver Form?
Slash, McKagan and Sorum were all invited to play at a benefit concert after the death of Randy Castillo, who’d played drums with Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue. The rockers played with Buckcherry’s Josh Todd and Keith Nelson, among a few others, and decided that they wanted to play together again.
Dave Kushner had previously joined McKagan’s band Loaded, so when Velvet Revolver was in its infancy, he was recruited as their rhythm guitarist. They auditioned a few singers, including Sebastian Bach.
Eventually, they invited Scott Weiland to join them. He and McKagan went to the same gym, and Sorum also spent a bit of time with him in rehab. However, Stone Temple Pilots were still together at the time, but only for a little bit longer. Once they disbanded in ’03, Weiland took the rockers up on the offer.
What Happened to Velvet Revolver?
Velvet Revolver had quite a successful run, but it was short-lived. They released an album in 2004 titled Contraband, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In 2007, its follow-up Libertad came out, and peaked at No. 5. But the band had already started coming undone by that point. Nearly the entire band started struggling with their substance abuse issues again.
“I started drinking heavily and revisited my opiate passion, then had to come out of it, so eventually I had to say, ‘That’s it!’ Certainly Scott had his issues, even Duff and Matt went down the same road. The only one that stayed sober during the whole thing was fucking Dave Kushner,” Slash told Spinner [via Ultimate Guitar].
But according to the rocker, it was Weiland who put the most strain on the band, adding, “We all eventually came out of it and made the Libertad record, which I thought, musically, was a good record, but we lost Scott and we never regained that. I thought the overall spirit of everything was declining at that point… The Australian tour was the final blow.”
The Australian tour Slash was referring to was a series of dates they had planned there in early 2008 that they had to cancel because the singer checked himself back into rehab. They parted ways with Weiland in April of that year, and the singer had his own perspective on who was to blame for it.
“Now, I’m not saying that I’m innocent in this, but everybody’s at this place where the fucking finger is getting pointed and they’re all pointing the finger at me,” he told Classic Rock. “When you think about it, isn’t it ironic that the band is regurgitating the same story that they did with Axl Rose in their last band, where the lead singer was being demonized? Originally I thought: ‘What a troll he must have been. What an evil man.’ But you know what? I have to say that I have an entirely different opinion of him today.”
Did Velvet Revolver Ever Find a New Singer?
After the dismissal of Weiland, Velvet Revolver actually tried to continue on as a group with a different singer. Corey Taylor was one of the vocalists they worked on some recordings with, though it never amounted to anything. Myles Kennedy was also invited to audition for the group, but apparently never showed up. He, of course, later worked with Slash on his 2010 solo album, and they launched their own band from there with The Conspirators.
READ MORE: 10 Unbelievable Supergroups That Actually Almost Happened
They had apparently narrowed it down to a couple of vocalists after going through 400 auditions, according to an interview McKagan did with Rolling Stone in 2009. But, they gave up on it. Years later, Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in December of 2015, and McKagan and Slash rejoined Guns N’ Roses a few months after that.
They often perform “Slither” in honor of Velvet Revolver and Weiland during their shows.
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