December 31: Blabbermouth.net reported that VR would go back into the studio to re-record one of the songs for their album, because Scott was not happy with the way it turned out from the original recording sessions. It's not known which song in question was re-recorded.

December 29: After a few hours of speculation, the title of VR's upcoming debut album was revealed. For a moment it was unclear whether it's name was going to be 'Controband' or 'Contraband,' but quickly we learned that it was the latter: 'Contraband' is the official release title of Velvet Revolver's debut album, still due out on RCA Records on April 27th 2004..

December 27: Scott completed his vocal work on the last song for VR's upcoming debut album. Engineer Douglas Grean posted on his website:

"Finished the last VR song yesterday with Scott at Lavish. He was singing great and is doing really well. We had a great time and then went to see the Lord of the Rings!! I have a couple of photos from yesterdays session that I will post later today. Hope you all had a nice Xmas."

December 26: Scott expressed his frustration with the media in a message he posted on the official site. After a few days, the message was taken down again:

"First of all let me say that Rolling Stone magazine's gossip columns exist only so rich college boys can wipe their fucking asses with the rag. As for the lad that interviewed me and then printed that I was drunk driving... get your facts straight you moron paparazzi fuck."

December 19: Velvet Revolver's debut album (as of yet untitled, working title 'Comrades') mastered in New York, with the release date set for April 27 through RCA Records. .

December 12: In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Duff reveals some of the band's future plans:

"We're going to go to Japan, Europe and play some shows, and then come back here," McKagan says. "Then our record will come out and we'll do some guerilla touring in major cities in the U.S. And then we were offered to headline Ozzfest."

December 6: Congratulations went out to Dave Kushner, who married his girlfriend Christine in California. Slash reportedly missed the ceremony because his son London's babysitter showed up too late...

December 2: Reports suggest that Scott will finish the vocals for the VR debut album on this day, and that the album will be mixed after that by the band and Andy Wallace in New York. Also in early December, a lot of schedule court dates for Scott get postponed, delayed and pushed back.

November 15: Duff, Slash and Matt performed with Camp Freddy and a lot of guest musicians, including Izzy Stradlin and former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry at the Vanity Fair benefit show "In Concert".

November 13: After almost two weeks of 'silence', Duff checks in on the fan forum www.velvetrevolverforum.com and leaves a post, thanking the fans there for their support and pictures. Here's what he had to say:

hey guys...it has been a while since i have written in.
we've spent the last couple of months doing pre-production and finally recording this amazing record that really profiles and highlights everyone's ability to shine while keeping to a real cohesive unit....a fucking real band! Scott has a few songs left to sing and then we start mixing with andy wallace at the beginning of December. i sincerely do appreciate you guys for keeping this forum quite active (yes i do read these posts). i find a lot of these photos pretty damn cool, as i rarely get a chance to see this kind of stuff...keep it coming.
lots of love...duff

October 31: Velvet Revolver performed two songs at the Smashbox Fashion Week fashion show for Susan Holmes' 2004 Swimwear collection. First they played 'Angie,' the Rolling Stones classic, on which Scott changed the lyrics to 'Mary,' referring to his ex-wife. The second song they performed is a brand new ballad called 'You Got No Right', which will end up on the band's debut album, according to drummer Matt Sorum. On this day also, Matt released his debut solo album 'Hollywood Zen.'

October 30: Scott was ordered to report to a live-in detox program followed by six months in a residential drug rehab center. Pasadena Superior Court Commissioner Collette Serio said that she would allow Scott out of the residential facility for a 10-day period starting Nov. 7 for four hours a day so that he could finish recording his vocal tracks for the Velvet Revolver album. He will be taken to the recording studio by a police officer and tested for drugs immediately on his return. In addition to that, he will have to continue his ongoing councelling sessions that were put in place after his arrest in May of this year.

October 27: In the early morning hours of his 36th birthday, Scott hits a parked car while driving on Santa Monica Blvd, on his way to visit his children in San Diego. He attemtpts to flee the scene but is later arrested by police, who charge him with DUI and hit-and-run. Later in the day, he's released on a $15,000 bail. A court date for this arrest was set for Nov. 17, but was later postponed to Dec. 3.

October 11: Recording is going on, way ahead of schedule with Slash and Scott adding their parts to the otherwise finished tracks. Engineer Douglas Grean reports that he started working on vocal tracks with Scott the day before, and that things are going extremely well. Dave speaks out on the official site, saying that he is very proud to be part of this band, contributing music that sounds better than he could possibly have imagined.

October 9: The band has finished recording of 14 basic tracks for their upcoming debut album with producer Josh Abraham and engineer Ryan Williams. Studio insiders say the mood is extremely upbeat and positive. "Believe it or not, we're actually ahead of schedule", says drummer Matt Sorum. The whole recording process is being documented by a video crew and still photographer Chapman Baehler.

August 25: A full length version of the band's first song, a cover of Pink Floyd's 'Money' is posted on www.velvet-revolver.com. It has not been available in full format previously, but is featured in the movie 'The Italian Job', during the end credits. After 'Set Me Free', this is the second studio song by the band that the fans get to hear.

August 22: Velvet Revolver sign a long-term deal with RCA records CEO Clive Davis, a friend of Slash's. At the time, the band were in the studio, doing pre-production for their debut album, and testing out different producers, like Bob Ezrin (who produced a version of 'Slither', Douglas Grean ('Loving The Alien (Sometimes), 'Fall To Pieces') and Josh Abraham. They would eventually pick Josh as the main producer for the full length album.

June 27: Duff and Matt appear on Riki Rachtman's radio show (Triple R) for an interview, in which they tell the story of the band so far, and also announce the release of an EP and DVD, featuring live recordings from the El Ray show, and one or two studio songs. The band also wanted to play some live shows around the release.

June 19: Velvet Revolver play their first show for an audience at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. They perform a six-song set which started off with the Sex Pistols cover 'Bodies'. The other songs were the original 'Set Me Free', STP's 'Sex Type Thing', GN'R's 'It's So Easy' and another orginal called 'Slither'. 'Negative Creep', a Nirvana cover, was played as an encore.

June 5: The group's spokesperson, Arlett Vereecke, announces that Scott is now officially in the band. The band also finally gets an official name: 'Velvet Revolver'.

June 2: Scott Weiland pleads not guilty to charges of drug possession and offers to put himself in rehab before his next court date on July 11.

May 18: Scott is arrested and charged with heroin and cocaine possession in Burbank after police observe a car he was in with its headlights off. He is scheduled to be arraigned two weeks later.

May 13: The band's publicist Arlett Vereecke denies that Scott is officially in the group, adding that 'Reloaded' is still a working name.

May 12: Matt and Scott attend a Marilyn Manson show in Hollywood, where Scott announces that he is officially the singer for the band, which changes names from 'The Project' to 'Reloaded'.

April: Scott Weiland begins jamming with the Project. They record Pink Floyd's 'Money' for the movie 'The Italian Job'. The band works really smooth together and they decide to do another song, an original instrumental which they gave to Scott, that turned into 'Set Me Free' for the 'The Hulk' soundtrack. Originally the band was approached by director Ang Lee to record a song for his movie. The band viewed a screener of the Hulk to get inspiration, then finished 'Set Me Free' and performed it for Lee at their rehearsal studio in LA. Lee was very impressed and the song eventually made it to the movie and the accompanying soundtrack cd.

January: VH1 crews begin following Slash and the boys around for a documentary, now known by the code name the Project. "I thought it would be fucking cool to show a band as it goes through all this bullshit," Slash told Rolling Stone.

Slash also invites former Faith No More singer Mike Patton to audition, but he declines.