The wild bunch

One week ago: Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner has had a long night.

The band arrived in New York in the evening, and he went straight to the Roseland Ballroom to take in a Weezer concert.

When his publicist gets him on the phone at 12:30 p.m., he's somewhat refreshed, thanks to a breakfast with Weezer bassist Scott Shriner. But the weariness is still evident in his voice.

The only time he appears animated is when he begins talking about Velvet Revolver's ability to not only stay together long enough for an album and tour -- which was its initial goal -- but to compete in a business saturated with angry pop-punk, glittery 'tween stars and sexed-up rappers.

The amalgamation of Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots has sold more than 1 million copies of its debut CD, "Contraband," played to sold-out audiences around the world for almost a year, and -- this is what has really confounded critics -- managed to keep from imploding.

"I guess in order to feel a tremendous amount of vindication, one of your goals would be to vindicate yourself," Kushner said. "It was our intention just to survive."

When you think about the shared history of Velvet Revolver -- lawsuits, rioting fans, the hijacking of your band's name and catalog by your former singer, and addiction followed by rehab followed by back-sliding followed by more rehab -- it really is a wonder that even that small goal -- survival -- has been achieved.

Eleven years ago: Guns N' Roses was one of the biggest bands in rock 'n' roll. Its 1987 album, "Appetite for Destruction," spent five weeks at No. 1 and was the biggest-selling debut in history. The two-part follow-up, "Use Your Illusion," shipped platinum and debuted at No. 1 and 2 on the charts.

Critics and fans alike credited G-N-R with single-handedly saving rock from big-haired, whiny-voiced pretty boys who wore more makeup than their mothers and played music that sounded lifted from an episode of "Full House." They were vipers in a den full of sheep.

But by 1994, Guns was running out of bullets. The same sense of danger that fueled its music was manifesting itself in non-musical ways. One member had been fired for heroin use, another had left in disgust, and the others drifted in and out of rehab. And frontman Axl Rose seemed to like inciting riots more than he did making music.

So, shortly after the band recorded a remake of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" for the "Interview with the Vampire" soundtrack, guitarist Slash left. Bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum eventually followed suit, leaving Rose with ownership of the Guns N' Roses name and an album that's been almost a decade in the making with no release date in sight.

Meanwhile, San Diego's Stone Temple Pilots was helping to fill the void left by G-N-R. STP sold more than 3 million copies of its 1993 debut, "Core," and followed it up with the chart-topping "Purple," soundly silencing critics who had derided it as a Pearl Jam rip-off.

But STP's frontman, Scott Weiland, had his own demons. Heroin addiction led to an arrest and a court-ordered rehab in 1995, forcing the band to abort a tour behind its third CD. He recorded a poorly received solo album, reunited with STP in 1999, started using heroin again, was sentenced to a year in prison and released after serving less than half that, and kept drifting back to drugs.

By the dawn of the new millennium, it looked as if both G-N-R and STP, along with the careers of all those involved, were all but dead.

Three years ago: In April 2002, Slash, McKagan and Sorum reunited on stage at a benefit for the family of former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo, who had died of cancer.

The chemistry was still there. They called up Kushner, an old junior-high pal of Slash's who had played in Dave Navarro's band and with McKagan in Loaded, and began rehearsing.

And rehearsing. And rehearsing. The band, dubbed The Project and then Reloaded before settling on Velvet Revolver, auditioned singer after singer (including Sarasota resident Kelly Shaefer of Neurotica) for almost a year. The process dragged on for so long, there was even talk of a reality show to document the process.

"I wasn't asked to join," Kushner said. "I just went down there and jammed and never left. And then we were rehearsing and writing songs five days a week for 10 months. So it was weird."

Somewhere along the way, Kushner was approached by Limp Bizkit's management to replace Wes Borland. He turned it down -- probably a good thing, since Bizkit hasn't done much of anything since, and recently rehired Borland.

"I was never their (Limp Bizkit's) biggest fan," Kushner said. "Nothing against them, but there's certain music that moves you emotionally and certain music that doesn't."

Apparently, the new music made by Slash and company moved Weiland too. After listening to he joined the band -- but almost to the day he announced this, he was arrested on charges of possessing heroin and cocaine.

The other members of Velvet Revolver -- all of whom had wrestled with addiction at one time -- stood behind Weiland during yet another round of rehab. And when "Contraband" was finally released in June, it shot straight to No. 1. It still hasn't fallen out of the Hot 200.

Now: Every time it appears that Velvet Revolver's "Contraband" tour may be winding down, response demands the band add more dates. Once it finishes the current leg in Florida this week, it heads off to Europe, then replaces Iron Maiden on the last stops for Ozzfest.

Eventually, the band hopes to get back in the studio to record the follow-up to "Contraband." (Impatient fans will have to settle for a new track on the upcoming "Fantastic Four" soundtrack.) If all goes well, it will be out by Christmas.

"We've got a ton of parts. I wouldn't say we have any songs yet," Kushner said.

Given the absence of any of the drama that was omnipresent in the old days, the prognosis for Velvet Revolver is good. Wild backstage parties have been replaced by family time; four of the members are married, and three have children.

The band itself is also starting to be known as "Velvet Revolver," not "Guns N' Roses plus Stone Temple Pilots." Kushner admitted he felt like an outsider at first, but said he now feels like part of a unit.

"It was a little uncomfortable, only because those three guys (Slash, McKagan and Sorum) had been playing together for so long," he said. "Slash and Duff will stand together in front of the drum set literally a foot apart from each other, so you either have to stand back and listen, or get right up there with them."

Velvet Revolver has not only survived -- it's thrived.

If ever there was a moment when Kushner felt a sense of vindication, it was during the Grammy Awards, when Velvet Revolver won Best Hard Rock Performance, beating out the more modern bands Incubus, Nickelback and Slipknot.

"There was one reporter ... who was at the first press conference we did when we did our first show together," he said, "and he asked, 'Can you guarantee the longevity of this band?'

"Then I saw him in the front row asking questions when we got the Grammy. And that was cool."