Kushner and company jump Creek

After winning a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance and having a platinum album with its debut Contraband, Velvet Revolver has shown skeptics and critics it is not just some one-hit-wonder supergroup. In fact, there are plans to carry that success into a new album slated for December.

On Thursday, May 5, the group will make its way to Alltel Pavillion at Walnut Creek with Chevelle opening before Velvet Revolver sets off on a European tour and then Ozzfest. But first, Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner gave a few minutes of his time to tell Technician what it's like to play with the likes of Slash, Scott Weiland, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum as well as what the future holds for the successful Rock outfit.

Technician: Before we jump right into Velvet Revolver, can you tell me a little about your musical
background? Where you grew up? Who taught you to play guitar? What were your influences?

Kushner: I grew up in Hollywood, born and raised. I went to junior high and high school with Slash and guys from the Chili Peppers and those types of dudes. I tried to play guitar in seventh grade and I tried to learn "Stairway to Heaven" -- it was too hard so I gave up -- then two years later I got really into Punk Rock -- when I was 15 or 16. I was hanging out with this band called Mad Society -- which was this kind of well known L.A. Punk Rock band -- and there was this girl in the band named Kathy who played guitar, and she's the one who actually taught me how to play bar chords -- that's how I actually started playing guitar.

I took a few lessons at this school -- I think Slash took a few lessons there too. There used to be this little place on Fairfax, this little, mini music school that had just had a couple teachers -- I took a couple lessons there. I just kind of learned on my own and my influences at the time were mostly Punk Rock and older 60s, 70s bands like Sabbath, The Who and Zeppelin.

So those, really, were my influences musically but I think the thing that inspired me to play was the
Punk Rock thing because it was just easier to play. Going along, I just got influenced by a lot of
different types of players.

The only way I could get out of finishing high school -- or drop out and get a G.E.D. -- was I had to
tell my mom I wanted to go to music school -- and she was cool with that. So instead of going to 12th grade, I went to music school. It was awesome; I was really into at the time. And then I got more into different types of players, like I went through my period when I was into the shredder guitar players.

I've always really been into Metal like Slayer and those types of bands. It's kind of eclectic, now I
could probably name 20 other bands that I'm into who don't fit anywhere in those categories.

Technician: Sweet. So before the album was released, there was a ton of hype about the collaboration between members of Guns 'N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. How did you come up in the equation? I mean, with Scott Weiland, there were extensive auditions for a lead singer. How were you approached?

Kushner: I was actually in this band called Ziltch, which was this project that was only done in Japan.

It was a collaboration between these Japanese and American musicians. We did a bunch of shit in Japan and at the time Duff's band, Loaded, was opening for us and Duff would do guest spots with us and he and I became good friends and started hanging out a lot.

Later, when two of the guys in Loaded got a record deal with a separate band and he needed a guitar player, I started playing in his band. At the same time, this thing came up. I wasn't part of it in the very beginning because it was this shell that did this benefit show with the singer and guitar player from Buckcherry. They started getting together and writing songs as that -- those five guys -- but that just didn't work.

About a month into it they parted ways with those two guys and then there was just the three and they said, "Hey, would you be interested in coming down and checking this out." And I said, "Yeah, I'll come down and hang out and jam." Then I just never left.

Technician: With names like Slash, Scott Weiland and Duff, did you or do you ever feel overshadowed? I guess what I'm looking for is, how do you interact with the other guys?

Kushner: I think that everything happens for a reason and I'd have to say that is the case with this
band. I couldn't have manipulated it to be any brighter. I've known Slash since junior high school and high school. We grew up together and it's comfortable for me to be around him -- and he's not the most talkative guy so it can be hard to communicate with [him] sometimes if you're not used to it. Duff: I happened to be in a band with before this, we were hanging out all the time; Matt: I've known from around, we've both been in L.A. for a long time; Scott: my old band used to play shows with Scott's old band 16 years ago. I remember the day STP got signed to Atlantic and remember seeing Scott at a bar and him telling me about it. Anyone else could have had this job but it wouldn't have been someone that knew everybody in that context.

Technician: So on June 8, 2004, Contraband is released and all the hype is lifted. It seems like Velvet Revolver disbarred any speculations of a one-time-only supergroup. What was the feeling in the band to see everything come together so ideally? What kinds of tensions were relieved?

Kushner: I think the tensions were more relieved the first time we played a show. It's weird, our whole career as this band has been like that. There was this one guy who I saw at that initial press conference when we did Hulk, when we first decided, "OK, this is our band." Before we had a record deal, we did this Hulk soundtrack song, "Set Me Free," we did this press conference and everyone doubted us.

There was this one interviewer, and I wish I knew the guy's name because I've seen all along our whole career at different points, and he was the one that asked, "How can you guarantee us Velvet Revolver is going to last?" I saw that guy on different red carpets, I've seen him at different press conferences and I saw him recently at the Grammys. I pointed him out because he was asking questions, and it's just funny because he was one of those guys at that first press conference who doubted that we would get a record deal -- we would make a record -- we would actually tour, we would actually have a number one record. To be at the Grammys and holding a Grammy in my hand and looking down, off the stage, at this interviewer who was there at the first thing, and realizing everything we had accomplished in the last two years. That was the justification. That guy, to me, represents all the doubt of the public and the critics.

Technician: What was it like to win a Grammy?

Kushner: Winning the Grammy was awesome, but what was even more awesome was standing on stage with Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Brian Wilson, Steven Tyler, Tim McGraw and some others, and playing this cover song of The Beatles' "Across the Universe" to raise money for all the tsunami victims. To be in the presence of all those people and feel like the producers of the Grammys thought we were a good enough band that we could do some version of a Beatles song that all these names could play and sing on. It was just pretty incredible. That, for me, kind of overshadowed winning a Grammy.

Technician: All right, so sticking to the subject of the album, what is the significance of the name Contraband? It's not a song title or anything. Where does it come from?

Kushner: It is kind of a tongue-and-cheek thing about where the band was at the time. The band was going through a lot at the time; with Scott's band, all the court stuff and just everything we were going through.

"Oh you can't go on tour unless you submit to these drug tests, and you can't do this and you can't do that." So Contraband was a thing about acknowledging where, and not apologizing for where, we were at. You know, yeah we're going through all that shit; and yeah, you know what, that stuff happens and we're [expletive] going to do this thing anyway. It was all that wrapped up in a nice title for a record.

Technician: How about the band's name, Velvet Revolver? It seems like an amalgamation of The Velvet Underground and Guns 'N' Roses.

Kushner: To be honest, it's just two words that five guys can agree on, and that's all it is. It's great other people have invented all these different meanings for it; but when we were originally thinking about it, Slash came up with the word "revolver" and we all thought it was cool -- some of us were into the Beatles records, some of us thought it would just be fun. We came up with Revolver, we did a search n the Internet and there were a hundred bands with the name Revolver, so we couldn't use that. I remember we were at the screening for Hulk and Scott came up with Dead Velvet Revolver or Saturday Night Revolver. That was kind of like Stone Temple Pilots, so then we were just like, "How about just Velvet Revolver?" And we were like, "Yeah, OK, that's cool, all right." We sat on it a couple days and said, "Yeah, we'll choose that." It was really that simple, just two words we agreed on.

Technician: OK, what's in the near future for Velvet Revolver? You're coming through Raleigh on May 5, then what? Are there any plans for a new album or can the fans expect the usual two-year turnover before new material?

Kushner: We're actually trying to record and put out a record by Christmas. We're hoping that's going to happen, although we're not quite sure. We've been writing songs the whole time on tour and we've got about 30 already that we've played and recorded at soundcheck. After this tour, we're going to have five days off at the end of May before we go to Europe for all the summer festivals. We come home July 10 and we're going to go right in to pre-production on July 11 and start hashing through writing and recording a record. Then we go out for three weeks on Ozzfest, and then as soon as Ozzfest is done, we're going to start recording our record.

Technician: What's the aim for the new album? More of the same or will there be some restructuring?

Kushner: It will definitely be different. When we started this band, we were very young, in the sense that we had only been playing together for a few days. Now we've grown together as a band by playing together everyday for a year. We know everyone's roles and what we're good at -- the strengths of everyone in the band. It will definitely be a little different.

Technician: I have just three more, and they are more like fan-boy questions. What in the world happened to the cover of "Money?" It is a kick ass cover I can only enjoy while watching The Italian Job. Any chance of it being released?

Kushner: That's a good question. I don't know if we have a right to release it. I thought we had... I thought it was on... I don't know... (laughs) I'm trying to remember back and I know everywhere except the U.S., when you release a single, it's a CD single with a few other songs -- especially in Japan -- like B-sides. Like they used to have on the other side of a single. We've recorded a version of Cheap Trick's "Surrender," "Negative Creep" by Nirvana, "No More No More" by Aerosmith and "Bodies" by The Sex Pistols; we've done all these songs that have come out as B-sides -- and "Money," I thought, was a B-side, but it might not be -- it might be some weird thing with the movie company or Pink Floyd. I don't know, but the long version is really good.

Technician: Right on. What is it like to work with Rock legends like Scott Weiland and Slash?

Kushner: It's awesome. The reason why those guys have a legendary status is because of how great they are. To work with them everyday and to be a partner in a company with those guys is pretty unbelievable.

I've been in other bands and I've had other singers -- some of them have been great, some of them have been OK -- and then to write a piece of music and have someone like [Scott] do his thing to it is pretty amazing.

Technician: And finally, when you come to Raleigh, can we chill?

Kushner: [laughs] Yeah, we sure can.

Technician: Awesome, thanks dude. I appreciate your time.