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 Ex-Guns
N' Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan
teaming up with Stone Temple Pilots' troubled
ex-frontman Scott Weiland This could be
the greatest rock'n'roll story in history.
Unfortunately, with these guys' individual
track records, it could also be the mother
of all cock-ups. Paul Rogers prays for the
former.
Former Stone Temple Pilots
frontman Scott Weiland is a magnet for drama.
Over the past few years he's accumulated
enough arrests for a Crimewatch special,
weathered a famous fist-fight finale to
STP and lately made more headlines for his
'extracurricular' activities than his musical
output ever did.
Velvet Revolver is the biggest supergroup
to rear its rocking head since Soundgarden's
Chris Cornell got together with ex-Rage
Against The Machine members to form Audioslave.
Teaming Weiland and former Suicidal Tendencies
guitarist Dave Kushner with ex-Guns N' Roses
members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum,
VR have created more of a buzz than any
other band in recent memory.
It seems our Scott can't go a few weeks
without a spot of bother - even at the listening
junket for his new band's debut album he's
refused entry to his own party at Hollywood's
Rainbow Bar (Sunset Strip's last cock-rock
bastion) by the Grecian Formula Mafiosi
on the door. In fairness to the old mobster,
the normally porcelain-skinned Scott is
barely recognisable, having aged a decade
in the two months since Hammer last interviewed
him - he almost looks his 36 years now!
After a minor incredulous tantrum and intervention
by the ever affable Duff, Weiland's allowed
to pass, but still has to succumb to the
indignity of being the first hand stamped
of the evening.
It's just another bump in the road for this
much hyped fivesome who between them have
more talent than a strip club dressing room
and more addiction history than a Betty
Ford reunion. Which is why Velvet Revolver
are either a truly great rock band in the
making, or a train-wreck just waiting to
happen - or both!
While VR might raise suspicions
of a label manufactured cash cow, the band's
roots are in fact surprisingly organic.
The story starts in April '02 when, following
the death of his close friend (and former
Ozzy Osbourne/Motley Crue drummer) Randy
Castillo, Matt Sorum organised a tribute
concert at Hollywood's Key Club. He asked
his old bandmates Duff and Slash to join
him on-stage and they were all struck by
the amazing musical bond that still burned
between them.
"The next day I was
going, 'man, that chemistry!"' Duff
recalls. "We've all had our own bands,
I was going to school in Seattle doing my
finance major, but this thing we had between
us almost knocked the breath out of me.
I forgot y'know? I just forgot."
Dave Kushner had been in
Duffs short-lived solo vehicle, Loaded,
and had known Slash since junior high school.
His very contemporary approach to guitar
was the perfect foil to Slash's more traditional
rock'n'roll signature. The four of them
then embarked on an epic search for a vocalist,
considering all comers - unknown and infamous
alike. Those in the frame included former
Skid Row screecher Sebastian Bach, Lit's
AJ Popoff and ex-Buckcherry snake-hipped
wailer Josh Todd. While still known simply
as The Project', they eventually hooked-up
with Scott Weiland when STP's internal tensions
finally tore that band apart. Duff, Slash
and Matt had already dealt with one 'unpredictable'
frontman in Axl Rose whilst part of Guns
N' Roses so their decision to work with
the similarly troubled Scott raised eyebrows.
In the summer of last year, Velvet Revolver's
first commercially available recording,
'Set Me Free' appeared on The Hulk movie
soundtrack and they contributed their version
of Pink Floyd's 'Money' to The Italian Job
remake. Their live debut at LA's El Rey
Theatre (where they performed both cover
tunes and originals) that June produced
rave reviews and a bootleg fiesta.
The record labels weren't
blind to the buzz either, and after fielding
various offers Velvet Revolver inked with
RCA Records following a courtship from their
legendary mogul Clive Davis. So far so good
- perhaps VR could stay on the tracks and
prove the doubters wrong after all. But
then in November with their album nearly
complete and tour talk on their lips, Scott,
in the early hours after his 36th birthday,
wrecked his BMW by driving into a row of
parked cars in North Hollywood while under
the influence. He was ordered into six months
of lockdown rehab, but soon went AWOL.
FOLLOWIING THE birthday
incident Scott was again hauled before a
judge in late January and ordered into another
six months of residential drug treatment-
hardly conducive to touring behind a new
album! If Scott goes walkabout again this
time then a warrant for his arrest will
immediately be issued. Yet his bandmates
- who in fairness are hardly in a position
to criticise an addict – remain philosophical.
"The important thing
for us was to recognise integrity, talent
and the drive to persevere," says Slash
on their choice of vocalist. "So when
Scott came into it, yes there was a conversation,
an understanding... but up until now, even
though there's been all the press and all
that shit going on, Scott hasn't had any
serious problem, just one continuous thing
with the law. He's been great - there's
a big difference between having a guy in
the band who's nuts and doesn't want to
do it and having a guys who's nuts but does."
Can you say Axl Rose? "The
situation with Scott was a nervous thing
but I just knew that the issue wasn't so
serious, that what he'd got himself into,
they weren't goin'to fuckin' throw the keys
away for god knows how long. People talk
but I was in court and I know what happened
with the judge and all that but at the same
time I can say that when all these different
things initially happened I was like, 'oh
fuck!' The only thing I can compare it too
is being on the edge of a cliff: we don't
want to go down there, man! But at the same
time we're still itching to jump off that
ledge 'cos that's what we do!"
Then there's the widely
held belief that anyone with sufficient
talent and charisma to front a band of Velvet
Revolver's calibre is going to bring along
with them their share of baggage. "Everything
I've experienced in our career, everyone
I've ever looked up to - heroes or whatever
- have had some shit so I have sort of accepted
that that's how it is," Slash admits.
It's almost as if it takes
a level of inter-personal volatility, a
degree of lingering danger, to produce great
rock'n'roll. "The best bands I've seen,
and I've been in, have been dangerous and
unpredictable," says the lanky Duff,
reclining in one of the movie star bungalows
at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont hotel. "However,
we are veterans. We didn't plan on getting
a 'name' singer - this thing happened so
organically. We've been around long enough,
we're not in our 20s any more, so the train-wreck
part is not going to happen - it's not going
to happen live, anyway - we've had enough
of that, believe me! But there is an element
of danger in this band. It's not going to
be safe to be in the front row with this
band. If you're doing something untoward
towards the band then someone's going to
jump off the stage and beat the shit out
of you! Anything could happen -that's just
the way we're built!"
But for all this chest-beating
bravado, it's hard to believe that these
five musicians who are all now in their
late 30s, comfortably rich (with the exception
of Dave who until very recently was humping
equipment in a rehearsal complex to make
ends meet), and with yes-men at their beck
and call are the hungry, heckler-brawling
firebrands they once were. Duff disagrees:
"You can't take the street out of the
kid, y'know? We are what we are. We haven't
changed yet. When we strap on -when we put
on our guitars and get up in front of an
audience, it's not safe - and I can't help
it myself. I grew up playing in punk rock
bands and that part of my coming of age
stuck. I don't think it'll ever go away."
It's true that from a small
distance Duff retains the scraggy silhouette,
too-small leather jacket and tousled blonde
locks that made him an easily identifiable
rock idol in the 80's. Yet on closer inspection,
though he's smart as a tick and wise beyond
his years, he's beginning to show a few
Ozzyisms - the legacy of years of excess.
His speech slurs occasionally and he loses
his thread, his brilliant brain a few seconds
ahead of his mouth.
Enter the man of the moment,
Scott Weiland, hair now a bad black dye
job, straggling to his shoulders. He looks
blotchy and drawn compared with the impossibly
beautiful, perpetually youthful Weiland
idolised and imitated the world over. As
the wordsmith of the band, he quickly summarises
their walking-the-knife-edge situation with
a lyricist's metaphor: "I'll make it
real simple," he sighs, slouching on
the pillows of one of the bungalow's generous
beds. "One of the greatest stadium
draws during the 70s was not really rock'n'roll
- it was actually [legendary stunt motorcyclist]
Evel Knievel. People didn't pay those ticket
prices to go see Evel Knievel make the jump.
People are inherently interested in what
possibly could happen."
As Scott sits before us
he's coherent, focused and seemingly determined.
So what's his relationship with drugs right
now? His attitude to his addiction is bluntly
resigned, and far from a healthy message
to his youthful admirers: "I've been
drinking since I was 15, I've been using
drugs since I was 16, I've been doing heroin
since I was 23. And, with STP, I managed
to sell 25 million records, make millions
of dollars, own a lot of homes and enjoy
a great career in arguably one of the best
touring bands during the 90s. So I never
worry that on any given day that it's going
to be the end of it, from a business standpoint.
The only thing that I worry about regarding
drug issues is what kind of effect it's
going to have on my children [he has a three-year-old
son and a one-year old daughter]. I never
worry what kind of effect it's going to
have on my music - that's trivia."
"I don't use continuously,"
Scott expands, "I've gone back and
forth for years - that's been my pattern.
I can't just say that I'm going to be drug
free forever, obviously. So that's my statement:
that I've had an ongoing career that's probably
longer than 99 per cent of people that have
had a professional career, and I've had
an ongoing drug career. It's not by choice
that I've had an ongoing drug career but
there's no reason for me to think that I
won't have an ongoing musical career or
that I won't have an ongoing drug career,
because that's what's been happening. Both
have co-existed, so if I was a betting man
I'd say they both will go on co-existing.
I would like to not continue doing drugs
but looking at my past it would be hard
for me to bet that I'd stay sober for the
rest of my life."
So what kind of album have
this band of semi reformed reprobates cooked
up in the autumn of their careers? Don't
expect the musical fireworks of GNR's groundbreaking
Appetite For Destruction' or the melodic
majesty of STP's classic 'Purple', but Velvet
Revolver's debut 'Contra band' (see what
they did? there) is certainly a respectable
effort and way more spirited, for the most
part, than the mailed-in dross most aging
super groups serve up.
'Contraband' kicks off
with muscle-bound promise on the 'Mr Brownstone'
vibed opener 'Suckertrain Blues' suggesting
fire in the belly and gas in the tank. First
single, 'Slither', really is a world class
offering, perhaps the one occasion where
VR combine into something more than the
sum of their legendary parts. Otherwise
'Contraband' is more solid than spectacular,
it's one black sheep being proposed second
single 'Falling To Pieces', an epic, acoustic
flavoured Zippo-raiser that's more Bon Jovi
than Bon Scott and stinks of cynical filler.
Elsewhere there are flashes of Beatlesesque
psychedelia, early '70s stomping glam and
the 'Rocks'-era Aerosmith that's been such
an inspiration to these musicians throughout
their careers.
WHAT IS IMPRESSIVE about
'Contraband' is that all five musicians
have retained their sonic signatures while
reshaping their overall sound. Slash (who
takes every guitar solo on the album) still
squeezes juicy, wind-in-the-hair magic from
his Les Paul, Duff clanks out brazen yet
melodic basslines and Matt is the anchoring
powerhouse he was with GNR and The Cult.
Don't underestimate the more subtle contribution
of the unassuming Dave Kushner either, whose
almost avant-garde approach to guitar playing,
and processing, gives Velvet Revolver at
least one foot in the new millennium. Scott
is still the elegant, Bowie-esque crooner
that made him a chart-topper. Rather than
adopting some embarrassing nu-metal or electro
veneer, Velvet Revolver have been true to
their roots in classic rock and punk: "We
fought tooth and nail to be ourselves,"
Slash confirms.
Every member of VR makes
no secret of their desire to tour extensively
behind 'Contraband', to the point where
they describe the disc as a vehicle for
live performance. But how can VR effectively
hit the road when their singer seems destined
for periodic spells in rehab, prison, hospital
or worse?
Scott doesn't foresee a
problem: "I've used drugs or drink
on most tours but I've never had to cancel
a tour because of drugs - there's been two
shows when I've cancelled, but there's never
been a tour cancelled because of drugs."
This may be technically the truth (though
STP's summer'96 tour was apparently pulled
because Scott was in rehab) but whole sections
of STP's career were blacked out (notably
after the release of their excellent 'No.
4' album) by Scott's troubles. Even if tours
weren't actually cancelled, some just weren't
scheduled in the first place because Weiland
was mentally or physically absent.
"Y'know what, usually
it's been during the process of making a
record that I relapse," Scott explains.
"But that was with STP and that was
a whole different dynamic. There was a lot
of jealousy in STP - with those guys towards
me - and when there's a lot of jealousy
people try to keep you down and that was
hard to deal with, especially as we used
to be really close friends. So I would get
really down and I would fall into that pattern
during the making of a record and I would
end up falling off the wagon and getting
loaded. But it was different during the
making of this record."
There were nasty rumours
that Scott's former STP bandmates only found
out about his involvement with Velvet Revolver
when, by chance, they were working in adjacent
recording studios. "I don't know how
they found out about it, actually,"
says Scott, "Our last experience together
was on our last tour and it culminated in
a fist fight between Dean and I in the dressing
room. And that was the last time I
saw them until about two months ago, when
Dean and I finally made up. We hugged and
we spoke and, actually, he spoke with these
guys in the band. I saw Robert the next
day and we embraced and spoke. I actually
gave Dean a copy of Velvet Revolver's demos
- he was very fond of the music and he told
me that he was putting a band together with
Chris Robinson [former Black Crowes crooner]
and I'm totally backing that."
SCOTT DENIES having an
addictive personality - it's mostly drugs
that have consistently controlled his behaviour:
"I'd say my wife and I are addicted
to each other and our relationship has been
unhealthy over the past couple of years.
But I'm not a gambling person, I'm not a
shopping person - my pension is narcotics!"
Scott's all-time low was
not some TV trashing hotel rampage, or distasteful,
multi-groupie overload but something of
much greater significance: "My low
point has been when I'm not around my children.
Having children has changed everything for
me. I was always completely happy being
the perpetual Peter Pan and I never really
cared much about growing up but with the
last couple of years I've just come to this
point where I'm not OK just staying who
I am. I want to be more and I want to occupy
my children more. Actually, Duff has become
someone that I really look up to and aspire
to as a role model and who he is as a person
and as a man - the way he is with his family,
as a husband, as a father and I've learned
a lot from him. I watch what he does and
I kind of emulate that."
Duff McKagan's a great
guy and no fool to boot: to maximise his
GNR nest-egg he took a finance degree, which
he's close to completing. But it's worth
remembering though that GNR were hardly
adverse to a bit of partying themselves
and, in the long hours of downtime that
all bands endure, VR have compared backstage
stories of debauchery.
Slash: "One of the
things about rock sensationalism is everybody
bragging about how over the edge they are
or whatever - it really starts to be a parody
of itself," groans the guitarist, before
promptly divulging his most noteworthy addiction
adventure: "My most memorable fucking
experience was probably when I first realised
I had to get off junk. I was almost arrested
in Phoenix, fucking trippin' out at a golf
resort and running naked through the place
- running from something that wasn't there
and crashing through a lot of glass and
over people in the process. I was all bloody
and beat-up - it was time to stop, y'know?"
Duff seems to recall a
story even more Spinal Tap-scary than that
one: "Look, we're a bunch of guys who've
been through worse than anything Scott's
been through - hey Slash died right before
a show and when they revived him he said,
'we gotta play; and he was on stage that
night!"
How does the craziness
of the past, and in particular their time
with Axl Rose aboard, compare to dealing
with Scott's potential 'situations' today?
"It's not really that kind of thing,"
sighs a diplomatic Slash. "I mean,
just an Axl sighting is a big deal. We're
more concerned with what we're doing in
the present, just functioning and getting
on with things. It's not really important
what anyone else is doing, or trying to
keep up with the Jones' or trying to get
a record out before Axl gets his record
out."
Unlike Axl Rose, who's
apparently too terrified to actually release
his long awaited 'Chinese Democracy' album
for fear of finally torpedoing whatever
shreds of cred he has left. Velvet Revolver
on the other hand are about to once again
throw their hat in the ring and risk tarnishing
their almost god-like individual auras in
the rock world. They claim indifference
to any perceived pressure: "Are we
worried about album sales?" shrugs
Duff. "No! They [RCA] have a huge marketing
machine. We just want to go play the live
gigs! We made the record that we wanted
to make and that's all we can do. In GNR
we never worried about sales: I remember
'Appetite For Destruction' coming out and
I was thinking, 'what if we sold 50,000
copies?' So we're just going to do what
we do and not compromise."
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