 |
THE SUPERGROUP GETS READY TO ROCK HOB
Dave Kushner knows he's "the other guy" in Velvet Revolver, but he's OK with that.
"That's what he should call himself - the other guy," said Bram Teitelman, managing editor of Rock for Airplay Monitor magazine.
Playing alongside former Guns N' Roses stars Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum along with erstwhile Stone Temple Pilots' singer Scott Weiland, guitarist Kushner is the least famous of the quintet.
But Kushner doesn't mind that he can rock out before a packed concert venue every night - such as Velvet Revolver's gig Tuesday at the House of Blues - then walk down the street in relative anonymity.
"I have the best of both worlds," said Kushner in a recent phone conversation from Boston.
Although members of Velvet Revolver don't like the tag, there's not much denying that the band is a supergroup, falling into the tradition of acts that have included already established rock stars, a lineage traced from Blind Faith (Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton) to Audioslave (Soundgarden's Chris Cornell plus three members of Rage Against the Machine).
Slash's Slashing guitar solos, frizzy black hair and black top hat are practically a trademark. McKagan's rhythmic basslines drove many a GNR tune, and his long, lanky frame and tuft of blond, hairsprayed mane is a recognizable MTV image from the '80s and '90s. Sorum, who replaced original GNR drummer Steven Addler, has also pounded skins for The Cult.
"They define supergroup," Teitelman said. "They're icons."
Well, not Kushner, a junior high school buddy of Slash's who knocked around in several SoCal punk bands including Wasted Youth, and was also in Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro's backing group.
Velvet Revolver can be traced to a 2002 benefit concert that reunited ex-Gunners Slash, McKagan and Sorum.
Recognizing they still had a certain chemistry, the three recruited Kushner, who had been playing with McKagan, and set about rehearsing and searching for a singer.
Another former Guns N' Roses alum, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, was briefly involved in the project, but he didn't stick around.
The band rehearsed for more than nine months, placed ads in music publications and still couldn't find a singer.
"It was a brutal process," said Kushner, who unlike the other group members, hadn't sold millions of albums and wasn't living off of record royalties.
"I had no money. I wasn't working. I was rehearsing five days a week, and it's not like we had a record deal."
The search for a singer was documented for a VH1 special, "(Inside) Out: The Rise of Velvet Revolver" which made its debut on the cable channel this week.
As "(Inside) Out" shows, tensions came to a head several times as the band auditioned a long line of wannabe singers, like a heavy metal version of "American Idol."
But they found their man in Weiland, who announced he was taking a break from STP. "As soon as he walks in the room, we said, 'That guy's a rock 'n' roll frontman,'" Kushner said.
Yet Weiland didn't come without baggage, as he was arrested again for drug possession shortly after joining the Velvet Revolver fold and entered rehab again, this time a martial arts based program recommended by McKagan.
Upon its release in June, Velvet Revolver's debut album, "Contraband," shot to the top of Billboard's album chart, and it has spawned two hit singles to date in "Slither"and the ballad "Fall to Pieces."
But listening to "Contraband" and seeing Velvet Revolver perform live are two different animals, said Teitelman, who has seen the band perform twice. "Even songs that sound lackluster on the disc get a jolt live," Teitelman said. "You can tell they know what they're doing. It's good meat and potatoes rock 'n' roll."
While Kushner wouldn't give up the inside scoop, there is a bonus surprise if you attend Tuesday's show at the HOB:
"We do a couple of Guns N' Roses songs and a couple from Stone Temple Pilots," Kushner said.
Get ready to flick your Bic.
|
