December 23: Velvet Revolver inks a worldwide publishing deal! Velvet Revolver has inked a worldwide publishing deal with Chrsyalis Music (administed by Mushroom in Australia & New Zealand). Sucker Train Blues is due in Australia 21st February.

December 15: Motion Theory will direct Velvet Revolver 'Dirty Little Thing' music video. The video is commissioned by Lorin Finkelstein and will be shot on December 21st in Los Angeles. Velvet Revolver will perform live action inside an animated runaway train while the exterior and surrounding environment is animated.

December 14: VR on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Thanks to Alfred here is the setlist of VR on Jimmy Kimmel Live: Fall to Pieces, Sucker Train Blues, Do it for the Kids, Slither and Set Me Free. Only Fall to Pieces and Sucker Train Blues were televised.

December 9: Australian tour dates announced for the first time ever! VR is scheduled to perform five shows in Australia! They will be playing in Brisbane on 2/21, Sydney on 2/23, Adelaide on 2/26, Melbourne on 2/27 and Perth on 3/2.

December 7: VR is nominated for three Grammy awards, Best Rock Song (Fall To Pieces), Best Hard Rock Performance (Slither) and Best Rock Album (Contraband). The 47th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (EST/PST).

New Zealand tour dates announced for the first time ever! VR is scheduled to perform two shows in New Zealand in February 2005. The ticket agency has added shows in Christchurch on February 17 and Auckland on February 19th!

December 3: Japan tour dates announced for the first time ever! VR is scheduled to perform in Japan in February 2005 at the Sonic Mania festivals in Tokyo and Osaka.

Radio And Records lists 'Dirty Little Thing' as the next radio single taken from 'Contraband', the song is being added to radio playlists already.

December 1: Watch VH1 tonight at 11pm EST (10c) to see the VH1 (Inside)Out special 'The Rise Of Velvet Revolver'!

November 25: VR performed two songs last night on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The full performance of 'Fall To Pieces' was shown, and the beginning of 'Sucker Train Blues' was broadcast at the end of the show.

November 19: I want to send out best wishes to Matt Sorum, who celebrates his birthday today. Happy birthday Matt and rock on!

November 18: RCA records will re-release 'Contraband' next Tuesday (11/23) with a 3-song bonus disc featuring the covers 'No More, No More' (Aerosmith), 'Surrender' (Cheap Trick) and 'Negative Creep' (Nirvana).

November 16: Best wishes go out to Dave Kushner, who celebrates his birthday today! Happy Birthday!

November 14: VR will be the presenters at tonight's American Music Awards show on ABC hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

November 9: VR announced that they will be releasing release b-sides and/or a DVD. Duff spoke to Launch Radio Networks about releasing a new version of 'Contraband' later this month, with an added bonus cd featuring cover song. In addition to the re-issue of 'Contraband', the band are also looking to release a DVD.

According to FMQB, RCA Records will release 'Sucker Train Blues' as VR's new radio single on November 15/16.

November 2: Scott posts a political statement on Election day 2004m, urging people to vote for Democratic candidate John Kerry. Read the full statement here.

October 31: VR perform a Halloween show in Little Rock, AR, where they dress up for the occasion on the first 3 songs of the set. Scott dressed as 'Appetite For Destruction'-era Axl Rose, Slash as Buckethead, Dave as the Devil, Matt as a Skeleton and Duff as 'Live Through This' Courtney Love!

October 21: Scott leaves a message on the Official Site:

To Jeffy
Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the shark-infested waters of the once respected world of rock and roll journalism I meet Jeffy. At the end of the interview, I give him a rare compliment about the integrity of his magazine, saying how much I like Classic Rock; it's an actual music magazine for music fans. Jeffy took this as a sign of weakness. He uses it as my final quote to close his piece on me, alleging that due to my "nice boy" demeanor, I must not be quite the legend that he was hoping to talk to. I live my life: "musician" , "junkie", "artist", "friend", "ex-felon", "father", "husband", "rock star". Who are you? A man so desperate to take a sincere rare compliment after the completion of an interview and use it against me? I still like Classic Rock Magazine, and Ross Halfin, legendary photographer, way out of your league, but as for you? Where's that fucking fly swatter?

October 19: Dave and Slash write in to the site to say hi to all fans:

[Dave:] Thanx for letting us know about the voting thing! That's pretty much the reason why we posted it on this site as well as our site. That and the fact that this site rules!!! Also, I just want to apologize to everyone for all the confusion lately with the tour dates, but we've been a little confused ourselves. But hey... We're human too. Please hang in there as we are trying to get all this shit straight. I'd also like to thank all of you who are so supportive of me and my roll in this band. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!! Dave K.

[Slash:] Wow, a site better than ours. And yes this is really Slash. Sorry guys I didn't check out sooner. But now I have, and its better than ours. I'm on the road right now, and Duff wants me to say "hi guys". Thanks to all the fans for going to our gigs and sending us fan mail. Lots of love. Slash.

October 14: The band perform 'Fall To Pieces' on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC.

October 13: VR perform a special concert at the Parking Lot in the Southwest corner of Selma and Ivar Ave. in Hollywood, CA after they are denied a permit to perform on the roof of the Hustler building on Sunset a few days earlier.

October 9: The band decides they want to let their fans pick their next single, so they open polls on both this site and the Official site.

September 24: 'Fall To Pieces' hits #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.

September 19: VR perform at the TV Guide's Emmy Awards afterparty.

September 18: The band played their own full performance at Rock Through Time: Sucker Train Blues, Do It For The Kids, Headspace, Big Machine, Crackerman, Fall To Pieces, It's So Easy, Sex Type Thing, Set Me Free, Slither, I Want To Be Sedated (Ramones cover), Surrender. The band was joined on stage by The Strokes' lead singer Julian Casablancas and guitarist Nick Valensi for 'I Want To Be Sedated'. Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander joined the band for 'Surrender'.

September 17: Slash guested with James Brown and Lenny Kravitz at day one of the 'Rock Through Time' event in New York City.

September 15: Scott, Matt and Duff present an award at the World Music Awards in Las Vegas:

Duff: "And the worlds best selling pop rock artist is..."
Scott: "In the great tradition of the Sex Pistols [Matt is laughing] and Black Flag..."
Duff: "Avril."
Scott: "Lavigne."

September 13: VR's second single 'Fall To Pieces' is released in Europe. The b-side for the single is a studio cover of Cheap Trick's 'Surrender'. BMG announces a special DVD single to be released at a later date (9/27) featuring the music videos of 'Fall To Pieces' and 'Slither', as well as a 'Making of' of the 'Slither' video and a photo gallery.

September 9: Scott and Duff, together with Fuel's Brett Scallions team up with Jon Gabel and Mike Diamond, proprietors of the Vela restaurant in New York City, to create a rock-friendly venue open 24 hours a day on weekends. Dubbed 'Snitch', the nightspot will offer surprise live gigs, sports on big-screen TVs and "a steady flow of leather pants." Snitch will also offer culinary delicacies like mac and cheese, fried-chicken-and-waffle baskets and "beer balls." Snitch is located at 59 W. 21st St. in New York City.

September 5: Izzy Stradlin joins VR on stage in Bologna, Italy at the Independent Days Festival for a rendition of the GNR classic 'It's So Easy'. He also travels with the band to shows in Paris, France (9/7) and Barcelona, Spain (9/9).

September 3: The band appear at London's Virgin Megastore Piccadilly Circus for a signing session. Many hundreds of fans turn up for the event, and even though the band is tired, they stay as long as they can to sign cd's, shirts, guitars, and everything else but GNR and STP items.

August 26: VR won 'Best International Newcomer' award at the Kerrang! Awards in London, UK. Scott and Matt posted messages on the official site:

Scott's note about the FTP video:

If there was a turning point for me over the last year and a half it was the day Fall To Pieces was written. The night before, I had just gotten arrested. It wasn't the first time obviously, but to the point of which I had sunk in my soul had seemed as if there was a bottomless oblivion that I would never be able to crawl out of. I had lost my wife and children recently, my old band STP had fallen apart, and now the spectre of losing my freedom loomed over me like dark heavy wet blankets. The only thing positive in my life was the new band Velvet Revolver. New blood. New start. The song symbolizes both. It really is the cornerstone of this record for me; if it wouldn¹t have happened, the record wouldn't have happened. The only way to be real about the subject matter of the song was to tell the truth on film. It wasn't hard to sell this to the band, they lived it with me. I felt Kevin Kerslake would be the only director that could possibly get me to the point of reliving some of those narcotic nightmares and re-drudging some of the pain out of the old wounds that have healed from Mary's and my 12-year relationship. In short, it was the most difficult video I've ever done from a fear perspective, yet at times with beautiful, sweet memories that are chronicled on paper and in the heart and mind. All in all it was somethin' else! "She's still my little Rock-n-Roll"

-Scott Weiland

Matt's 2nd diary entry:

Hello all of you loyal Velvet Revolver fans. It's Matt here making my second entry into my diary. Have been on tour in Europe around three weeks now. The shows have been amazing. We started in Denmark at a festival.

Beautiful outdoor gig. Then onto Helsinki, Finland. The weather has been outstanding. The Finish people don't get much nice weather so people were in the streets. Scott and I were walking and listening to classical musicians in the square of Helsinki. Astounding musicians. Then we headed to Stockholm, Sweden.

To this day in all of my travels I don't think I have ever seen so many beautiful women. Perfect summer there. Out on the town both nights surrounded by stunning Swedish babes. I was loving it. Hit a place called Cafe Opera. Then to my homeland of Norway. Played Oslo, about a hundred miles outside of Oslo is a town called Sorumsand. My father's side is Norwegian so I definitely feel a connection to this beautiful place and its people. After Norway headed to Brussels. Out on the town that night with Scott, Mary, Dave, his wife Christine. A gig in Berlin after that. Great gig followed by the most tragic news I have ever had to hear.

After finishing the encore Duff walked me outside to tell me that my best friend and soul mate, Drac, my Black Lab, had passed away back in Los Angeles. I was crushed. I've had him for over 10 years not even realizing he had died on his 11th birthday. He was always so clever. Needless to say the next few gigs for me were very difficult. I know there are a lot of you out there that understand. I got Drac when he was 8 weeks old while still in GNR. That beautiful boy went through everything with me: The breakup of Guns, I was married once so he comforted me during my divorce, my drug and alcohol problems, rehab, some bad times. But on a more up note he also lived life like a rock star!!!!!

At my Malibu house he shared my pool with many naked women. I would say Drac has probably seen more beautiful naked women than most guys I know!!! Not to sound sick but he's probably kissed more, too. When I moved to Beachwood Canyon near the Hollywood Sign I threw crazy parties that became legendary in Hollywood. We would have great jam sessions with members of Alice in Chains, Marilyn Manson, Steven Stills, Tommy Lee, Randy Castillo, Slash of course. Any many, many more.

Drac was there for it all. So by remembering him that way it is easier to deal with even though. His loss is the worst I've ever experience. Being that I can't go home, I've arranged that Drac take his final ride in a black stretch limousine. I know Drac was aware of my happiness with my new band and I think let go knowing that everything is going to be alright with me now. I am going to get his name tattooed on my arm as a reminder of his love and understanding. His sensitivity and sweetness. Long live the greatest Rock and Roll dog of all times DRAC SORUM! Just played Vienna. On our way to Munich.

Remember. Be good to one another and Keep Rockin'!

- Matt

August 23: Thanks to all the fan visits to the site, the 'unique visitor counter' broke through the one million mark! Over a million pageviews were logged in almost 160 countries since I started the site on June 8th 2003. Thanks for all the support!

August 22: Duff announced in an interview that the band recorded some studio covers for b-sides. The band did Aerosmith's 'No More, No More', Cheap Trick's 'Surrender' and Queen's 'Tie Your Mother Down'. The 'Fall To Pieces' video premieres on Yahoo's Launch video service.

August 8: VR play their first-ever show in Europe in Denmark at the Smukfest festival in Skanderborg. The European tour is scheduled to run until September 12 in Portugal.

August 4: Scott has a court hearing on his probation status and is praised by the judge for his efforts and accomplishments. He's also granted permission to leave the country to perform in Europe with VR.

Matt Sorum leaves a message in his diary on the official site:

Hello Velvet Revolver People,

This is the first entry in my diary. Everything has been going so crazy this is the first time I've had a chance to sit and reflect on what's been happening. Right now I'm on a plane back from playing the Rolling Rock festival. Me and Scott took a later flight back to L.A. than the rest of the band so we could sleep a bit, but got to the airport to find our plane had been delayed 5hrs. With no other flights out we waited. Missing home. It's really a drag. Sometimes it's hard dealing with all the travel. I love playing with this band so much, but sometimes I get bummed about all the hassle in between. But nevertheless I really feel like this is the greatest band I've ever been in. And as you all know I've been in a few. So much hard work has gone into putting this together and now everything is moving. The American tour was amazing. The fans were better than ever and made us all feel so good to be playing for you. Thank you so much. Sometimes my life feels like a dream, very surreal. As a kid it was all I ever thought about. Rock and Roll was always in my blood. And it's good that our fans feel that way too. Just finished shooting the video for "Fall To Pieces" last week, I think it's going to be amazing. Back to L.A. now to pack, then off to Europe. 5 weeks there and then we are working on a big tour of the States in October.

Can't wait!!! Love to all of our fans and thank you again,

Matt Sorum
Drums and Vocals

July 29: 'Contraband' goes platinum, after Nielsen Sound Scan certifies that 1,000,000 copies of the album have been shipped to record stores.

July 22: A special alternate version of 'Loving The Alien (Sometimes)' is posted on this website. Not long afterwards, producer Douglas Grean hears that this track has been leaked and clarifies that this is not a demo version, but an alternate version that was almost complete, but never finished when the band chose to work with producer Josh Abraham.

July 21: Blabbermouth.net announced the concept for the 'Fall To Pieces' video the concept for the clip is said to be the basic storyline of the song - a drug addict falling in a big, black hole. The setting for the video will reportedly be the old Starwood venue and the surroundings from that era. The footage will be shot July 24-25 in Los Angeles.

July 14: Posting by Scott, from the Official Site:

"I was going to go into this long diatribe about the further injustices of celebrity reporting but its redundant. Regarding my plea, No Contest does not mean guilty! The chances of me winning a trial are 50/50, depends on honesty of the participants. The only thing that I would like to be known is that my urine was held for almost 4 months. For a prescription diazepam? Wow! someone has a bizarre fetish!"

July 7: 'Contraband' reaches 'gold' status within a month after its release by selling 515,000 copies so far, according to HitsDailyDouble and Nielsen Soundscan. 'Slither' is #1 on the Mainstream Rock charts for the 5th consecutive week!

June 30: Matt Sorum calls in to 93.2 Rock in New York to request the band's new single 'Fall To Pieces'. He announces that the band will be shooting a video for the song in Los Angeles, sometime in July.

June 26: 'Slither' is still #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, but also claimed the #1 position on the Modern Rock charts. Double success!

June 23: Slash becomes a father for the second time. His son Cash Anthony was born by Caesarian section at 1:54 PM. He weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces! Congrats to Slash and Perla!

June 16: 'Contraband' debuts at the #1 spot on the Billboard Albums chart, with 256,000 units sold in the first week!

June 10: 'Slither' reaches the #1 spot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts!

June 9: A day after the official release, HitsDailyDouble already reports that 'Contraband' is headed for the #1 spot on the album charts with an estimated 200 - 250k sales number.

June 8: This is the official worldwide release date for 'Contraband'.

June 4: All lyrics and artwork of 'Contraband' become available as the cd has been released to stores in the Netherlands, Spain, other parts of Europe, and Australia.

June 1: 'Contraband' is available for audio streaming on MTV and VH1, revealing most of the songs to the public for the first time. A week prior to its release, the album has not been leaked on the internet yet. Quite an achievement for a record label these days!

May 25: The band make their network television debut performance on the Late Show with David Letterman, performing their single 'Slither'.

May 24: Velvet Revolver's first single 'Slither' is commerically released in Europe and Australia today, with the exception of the U.K., which has the released slated for July 5th.

May 18: Slash's Official site was updated today with three videos (Windows Media) of the Roxy show that VR performed on Sunday, May 9th in Los Angeles. The tracks posted are the STP-cover 'Crackerman', Sex Pistols' 'Bodies' and the GN'R classic 'Mr. Brownstone'. In addition, the band is confirmed to play the KROQ Weenie Roast, their first 'major' show on June 12th.

May 16: Dave Kushner stopped by on the forum yesterday to reply to Tomass74's question about a guitar sound on 'Slither'! Tomass74 posted "You know that little distortion growl and then the slide in between the intro and main riff of Slither??? Well that totally kicks ass.!!!! I assume it's Dave because the distortion just doesn't sound like something Slash would use. Anyone know? Dave???" Dave replied:

"Tomass, the answer to your question is Dave. All that noise is my fault. Slash does the chugging sounds and I do all the noise and then the octave riff. I also want to say what's up to all and thanx again for all your ind words and support. O yeah, I'm not a very fast typist so some times it takes me a while to check in (sorry) but we're in Minn. today. I've had my coffee and I'm headed to the gym. If any of u were at the first 3 shows, u people are fucking awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These shows have really made us feel like a real band and u guys are all part of making this thing happen!!! Thank u all so much. -DAVE KUSHNER"

"I feel that I can no longer be a part of the rock "Press Type Thing".

Although I greatly appreciate the respect our album has been given in review, it has become increasingly clear that in "respect" to me, the word journalism' is blurred with tabloid sensationalism and untruths. I will not stoop to the level of these mosquitoes in order to simply sell records. I won't play your fucking game.

Velvet Revolver agreed a month ago to do a feature for Rolling Stone; I have already committed to this. In the past my relationship with R.S. has been an honest one for the most part. I have had a very positive and open relationship with one writer there over the years when S.T.P. has been featured on covers and so on. His name is David Fricke. If it could be worked out that he and I speak than I would feel more comfortable to participate in this last piece.

This decision is not just about me. I have two young children, one of which is old enough to comprehend things, but not yet of the age to be able to distinguish the truth from outright lies.

I understand that you guys may feel that you won't be able to crawl inside my head, and I am sympathetic to that, so I will contact you all through the website via Yoko every few days to keep in touch and answer questions.

- Scott Richard Weiland"

May 13 :VR's tour kicked off tonight in St. Louis, MO. It's the first of the 23 dates that have already been confirmed for the timeframe May 15 - July 31st. Also, Slither' moves steadily up the charts again this week, reaching #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, and #6 on the Modern Rock charts.

May 9 :VR will play a 'tryout' show at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles tonight. Limited tickets were made available to the public for this, and they were sold out even before they went on sale through Ticketmaster. Only a handful of people ordering by phone were lucky enough to get tickets. The rest of the audience will be press and music industry people, as well as friends and family of the band. The set was professionally recorded by producer / engineer Douglas Grean, for a possible future release, and all fans attending the show received a unique t-shirt for the event.

May 7 : According to Weiland, he was pushed to change the lyrics to the first VELVET REVOLVER single, which is called "Slither".

"You know, I was told when I was editing our video that I couldn't say 'smells like poppies' in 'Slither' because it was a drug reference. 'Smells like poppies'? Poppies are a flower! But they said it was a drug reference, so I said, 'All right, I'll change the lyrics. I'll change it to 'Smells like Nazis.'"

May 6 :'Slither' moved up to #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts and to #8 on the Modern Rock Charts in it's 4th week on the charts. Velvet Revolver has the Hot 100's top debut with "Slither," which enters the chart at No. 63!

May 5 : According to Slash's Official Website, VR will play the KROQ Weenie Roast in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 12th!

May 1 : VR's 'Makes A Video' with the official 'world premiere' of the 'Slither' video will air tonight at midnight EST (9PM PST) on MTV2, right after Headbangers' Ball.

April 29: The single 'Slither' moved up to the #9 spot on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts, and to #11 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts, with 'Air Power' mention!Also, Velvet Revolver visited KROQ's Kevin & Bean for an interview and a 3-song acoustic performance this morning! The band played 'Slither', the STP cover 'Interstate Love Song' and the GN'R cover 'Used To Love Her'!

April 28: After more confusion over the airing of VR's 'Making The Video of 'Slither'' on MTV, the official site reports that the airing has been postponed. It's unsure if it's going to air, and at what time. Also, Scott posted a retort to the Maxim magazine review of 'Contraband' on the official site.

April 23: Even though RCA Records and VR's management haven't published anything, we got the 'official' tracklisting for 'Contraband' today, thanks to Ravens, who listened to the album to write a review. Also this week there was some confusion about a special edition of 'Contraband' for the U.S. which included a DVD with the 'Slither' video, 'Set Me Free' (Live from El Rey, 5.1 Surround Mix), 6 online teasers and the 'Making Of..' 'Slither'. A few days after publication of the news, the release bonus was scrapped. The European version of the album will have the bonus track 'Bodies', a Sex Pistols cover.

April 20: 'Slither' is available for digital download on iTunes for $0.99, and a lot of tour dates for the spring tour are starting to flesh out: venues are announced, tickets go on sale. A day later, Scott posts a message on the official site: "I'm disgusted with the music industry. Since making my last record two years ago, I've encountered more censorship in the past three months than in ten active years with S.T.P. Let's hear it for the lambs! Censorship Is Naziism"

April 19: The cover artwork for 'Contraband' has been revealed on Slash's official website. The album will be released with three different covers: white, black and red. According to Slash because they couldn't agree on one colour.

April 17: Producer Douglas Grean reports on his website that he and Scott have been working on a new Scott solo song, a cover of the Pink Floyd classic 'Wish You Were Here' for an upcoming soundtrack.

April 16: The official site of the band posts a revolver that you can load with bullets to play various teaser video clips. New videos will be added on a daily basis. The footage shown on the online teasers are taken from conceptual footage filmed for the 'Slither' music video.

April 15: The start of VR's world tour has been announced, and the dates for the 'warmup shows' in the U.S. have been published. Here's the schedule:

April 12: Slash announces that the band will start a two-month U.S. tour starting on May 13 in St. Louis, Missouri. No tour dates have been announced immediately, but they are said to follow shortly.

April 4: VR shoot performance footage for 'Slither' in Los Angeles, when Scott is let out of rehab for 9 hours by a Pasadena judge to shoot the video.

March 17: Slash & Duff land in Paris, France at Charles de Gaulle airport for the European promotion for 'Contraband'. Duff tells a fan that the band hopes to be back in May for a tour.

March 13: VH1 publishes the definitive tracklisting of 'Contraband'. Also, Duff and Slash head to Japan to promotion for 'Contraband'.

March 12: RCA Records announce that the release date for both 'Contraband' and 'Slither' have been pushed back a few weeks: To June 8 and May 3, respectively.

March 6: VR's publicist announces that the band will be making a video for 'Slither' with director Kevin Kerslake (Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins). The director will shoot conceptual footage of catacombs in France and band footage in Los Angeles.

March 4: A 30-second audio clip of the studio version of 'Slither' is posted online at StreetWise. It will soon float all over the internet.

March 2: MTV publishes an article/review about 'Contraband' with detailed song information.

February 27: Velvet-Revolver.com added the Velvet Revolver Encyclopedia to the site.

February 25: Finally all song titles for 'Contraband' are revealed! The order is not yet published, but the songs on the album will be titled: Big Machine, Do It For The Kids, Headspace, Falling To Pieces, Illegal Eye, Loving The Alien (Sometimes), Set Me Free, Slither, Spectacle, Suckertrain Blues, Superhuman and You Got No Right. There's also an additional rumoured title 'Dirty Lil' Thing'. This song might be included on the Japanese version of 'Contraband'.

February 24: Scott's court dates for the DUI trial (stemming from an October 2003 arrest) are being pushed forward a few times... new dates for the trial include March 15 and March 22.

February 14: RCA Records sets the release date for 'Contraband' to May 18, 2004. The single for 'Slither' is now slated for a April 26 release in Europe, and the band is doing a lot of press for magazines around the world. They are featured in Classic Rock, Riff, Record Collector, Hit Parader, the Norwegian 'Dagbladet' and Rolling Stone Magazine, to name a few.

February 14: RCA Records sets the release date for 'Contraband' to May 18, 2004.

February 6 : Dave Kushner checked in on the forums today with the following message:

Hey everyone, First of all, I'd like to really thank everyone for thier kind words of encouragement and congrats regarding my recent wedding !!!! I just came from duff's b-day dinner. It was really great. The band, the wives, friends, family, even izzy showed up . As far as the record and everything,it's all still looking good. The record is really fucking good !!!!! It's a balls out , heavy rock record. Not one rock single and then a bunch of mid tempo "safe" songs. We're also getting geared up to do a video, hopefully later in the month. Thanx again everyone for your support and patience. - Dave kushner

February 3: Scott's main recovery doctor, Drew Pinsky speaks out about Scott's situation and his move to a new rehab facility. Mike Nasatir, Scott's attorney, says, "We were under the impression that Scott's move was not against the court's wishes and that Scott was in compliance with the court's orders."

January 23: Scott is ordered to another six-month stint in a lockdown rehab by Pasadena Superior Court judge Colette Serio. He's now eligible for release in July, if he doesn't leave the facility or tests positive for drugs. A probation progress report is scheduled for March 5. Also, Scott is due back in court February 5 on DUI charges stemming from his October 27, 2003 arrest. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in a seperate hearing today.

January 20: Blabbermouth reports that VR have chosen 'Slither' as their first single and 'Falling To Pieces' as the tentative second single off the debut album 'Contraband,' now due out on May 11 through RCA Records. The band also planned a 6-week promotional tour through Canada, Europe and the U.S. in March and April. They are expected to do press at each location, and also a short performance at each stop.

January 17: RCA Records confirms that the release date of VR's upcoming debut album has been pushed back to May, but no exact date has been given.

January 15: RCA Records released VR's 'Official Band Biography,' with a lot of background info about the start of the band and the recording of their debut album. Read it here. Also, the bio suggests that their debut album's release date will be pushed back to May.

January 12: VR's only released original song to date, 'Set Me Free' was picked by Guitar World Magazine as best riff of 2003. Here's what they had to say about the song:

"Whew-- I'm not touching that song title. Sadly, Scott Weiland seems to create his best music when he's dancing with Mr. Brownstone, with one foot in the stir. But at least Slash and his motley crew are actually accomplishing more with this troubled singer than that other troubled singer has accomplished in too many years to count. Originally released on the soundtrack to The Hulk, this track unleashes what sounds like years of pent-up frustration, all harnessed in a dynamo of a pushing, pulling neo-classic riff. It's enough to make other guitarists green with envy."