Beating the odds

Velvet Revolver sticks together despite unstable pasts

At first, it made sense to be skeptical about Velvet Revolver.

Rock supergroups -- bands formed by musicians who already have achieved famed elsewhere -- rarely stick together for long. And this one featured former members of the notoriously unstable Guns N' Roses (guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan, drummer Matt Sorum), along with singer Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) and guitarist Dave Kushner (Wasted Youth).

You also had to factor in Weiland's long history of drug use and arrests. His most recent, court-ordered stint in rehab was in late 2003 and early 2004. (Some of his current bandmates have had their own substance-abuse issues in the past, but have straightened out in recent years.)

The unlikely happened, though. The Los Angeles-based group's debut album, "Contraband," became a hit, selling more than 1.5 million copies. And Weiland has stayed clean. The whole band, in fact, has steered clear of controversy.

Nearly a year after "Contraband" came out, the quintet is still on the road, and the musicians are starting to plan their follow-up.

"Given all the experience that everybody in this band has, one thing we should know by now is how to keep a band together," says Slash, 39.

Velvet Revolver performs at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y. on Saturday, and the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on May 20. It has also scheduled a European tour for most of the summer, then will return to the United States for the final leg of the heavy metal package tour, Ozzfest.

After that's done, in early September, the band may take its first extended break since releasing the album.

Like Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver is a hard-rock band with a punk-like attitude. The strutting Weiland provides the visual focus, but Velvet Revolver is, at its core, a no-frills, guitar-driven rock band.

It's the kind of band, in other words, that rarely gets anywhere near the top of the charts these days.

"There's just not that kind of hard-core, gut-wrenching rock 'n' roll with attitude going on; it's sort of been diluted over the last few years," says Slash, whose birth name is Saul Hudson, and whose projects outside of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver have included his own hard-rock band (Slash's Snakepit) and session work for artists like Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz and Bob Dylan.

"It was really a godsend that we all came together, because we're probably the only five guys in L.A. who could have made up a band like this. It's not a mission to influence rock 'n' roll, but at the same time, because it's been so well received, there is an inkling of hope that it could spawn a bit of a movement."

The Velvet Revolver story began in April 2002: Slash, McKagan and Sorum shared the stage at a concert paying tribute to the late Randy Castillo, a drummer whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe.

"It was the first time we played together in about six years, and it was really explosive," says Slash.

Wanting to make the arrangement more permanent, they recruited Kushner -- a childhood friend of Slash's who had been working with McKagan -- and started looking for a singer. They received hundreds of demos and auditioned many candidates before settling on Weiland.

"It wasn't like we had any forethought as to the longevity of the thing," says Slash. "But as soon as the five of us were in one room and we started working together, it was like, 'This is it. This is killer.'

"Basically, what we're doing right this second is an extension of that first day that we wrote the first songs. We're just going on all cylinders, for as long as possible."