Scott is good lead singer. Slash is a great guitar player.
VR was an 'effort', although it offered nothing new, nothing original. So for me, it never challenged my senses. In other words it sucked, almost as bad as STP's Tiny music album.
Scott with STP is better. I really enjoyed the Purple album.
I think this STP reunion is knee jerk reaction to being let go from VR. I don't think it will last.
Slash should have never walked out on W. Axl Rose. Axl will have the last laugh on Slash, Duff, and Matt when Chinese Democracy comes out.
I highly doubt that.
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
SLC 11/2/95, Park City 6/21/98, Boise 11/3/00, Seattle 12/9/02, Vancouver 5/30/03, Gorge 9/1/05, Vancouver 9/2/05, Gorge 7/22/06, Gorge 7/23/06, Camden I 6/19/08, MSG I 6/24/08, MSG II 6/25/08, Hartford 6/27/08, Mansfield II 6/30/08; Eddie Albany 6/8/09, 6/9/09; Philly 10/30/09, 10/31/09; Boston 5/17/10
I thought the world...Turns out the world thought me
10/31/2000 (****)
6/7/2003 (***1/2)
7/9/2006 (****1/2)
7/13/2006 (**** )
4/10/2008 EV Solo (****1/2)
6/25/2008 MSG II (*****)
10/1/2009 LA II (****)
10/6/2009 LA III (***** Cornell!!!)
no, we can agree that drugs have whacked them out
they write great music, they just fuck it up as far as touring and releasing it.
Really, for Libertad, they didn't write anything that could be considered "great". Contraband had its share of wonderful music, I'll grant you, but that was their last worthy contribution, in my opinion.
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
Really, for Libertad, they didn't write anything that could be considered "great". Contraband had its share of wonderful music, I'll grant you, but that was their last worthy contribution, in my opinion.
still havent heard that yet, I like contraband, i like guns, i liked snakepit, stp, weiland solo.
so you got me.
Ill have to check it out, I believe you though.
I don't think they have anyone yet. Slash is claiming they will have a website up for people to audition but he also did mention before that they worked with someone before Weiland even quit/was fired.
Yeah, according to Slash, they don't have anyone. The guy they were working with must have not worked out.
I'm betting whatever they come up with will pretty much be a joke. I can't see them getting anyone that will bring their music up to the level it needs to be besides Weiland.
Using the word "methinks" in your message board posts doesn't make you look smart.
I think with Slash being in the business as long as he has and having problems before, I think he should have handled the situation more proffessionally. He makes himself sound foolish in this articel.
"Velvet Revolver are a band full of junkies and fucking tramps who are
trying to pretend they're fucking St. Francis!"
At least that's what Scott Weiland says. In a world exclusive the former
Velvet Revolver singer gives Classic Rock his side of the story, just
days before he was sacked from the band.
"I guess the problem at the moment is that I have some great things
ahead of me and I'm in a band that I'm not getting along with who are
junkies and fucking tramps and are trying to pretend that they are St.
fucking Francis!"
Scott Weiland is, to use an American colloquialism, pissed. It's Easter
Monday, the day before Velvet Revolver's first night in London's Brixton
Academy ((4 days after the Glasgow gig when he announced the split)) and
Weiland's relationship with the band is in meltdown. Right now he's
aggrieved because he claims the management have confiscated his passport
to prevent him absconding before the end of the tour. But he is also
very optimistic about future prospects including a reunited Stone Temple
Pilots tour; a solo double album and a biography - all happening this year.
Wearing a skinny black suit and Wayfarer shades, he looks like a hybrid
of Bob Dylan and John Cooper Clarke - the epitome of grunge chic. Still
very raw from a recent and much publicised stint in rehab, in this
interview - a week before his sacking from the band - he speaks openly
and uncensored about his grievances with Velvet Revolver, the tragic
death of his brother Michael, his on-going battles with addiction and
the re-formation of Stone Temple Pilots.
*What's your take on the Velvet Revolver situation?*
Theres a lot of baggage that comes with the band, and a lot of displaced
anger. Y'know when I first joined Velvet Revolver I already had issues
regarding the politics of a rock'n'roll band. When you're the frontman
and the person who writes the majority of the music - all the melodies,
all the lyrics - the person who comes up with all the creative ideas -
video ideas, concepts for covers, that sort of thing - eventually other
band members start looking at you.
Initially you're the asset, especially in the first couple of years.
You're the one who has to give all the interviews, when times are great
and when times are not so great. So suddenly people are saying "Why is
he getting all the attention?" Well sometimes none of the other guys
want the attention. Well, they want the attention but they don't want
the responsibility that comes with it. Which is one of the issues I
brought with me from STP. The problem with STP - which leads into the VR
problem - was that we were best friends for a long time. We grew up
together as kids. I was 19 when I formed the band together with Robert
(DeLeo, bass) and I knew him from when I was 16. It started out as every
band does as a gang and it really never was a case of me trying to jump
out and sieze the spotlight; because I was really conflicted about the
whole thing.
I don't mind doing photo shoots and I don't mind doing an interview if
it's an important interview. Talking to Classic Rock - that's an
important thing. It's a respected, legendary magazine. I'm not one of
those people who are into saturating the media. if you have an important
thing to say then say it.
But along the way with STP our communication broke down. it was this
great band with great chemistry. We were not only great songwriters
together, it was based on camaraderie, experience, the friendship I had
with Robert. All of this ended up breaking down because of resentment we
never spoke about. It ended up with Dead (DeLeo, guitar) and I having
fist fights.
So there was this period of time before Velvet Revolver that I really
didn't want to play in a rock band again. I was knee-deep in recording
my solo record, I was in the process of putting together my record
company and I was producing other bands. I produced two of the Limp
Bizkit records. Not my favourite band by any stretch of the imagination,
but it definitely put me on the map as a producer. I also had kids and
didn't want to spend the rest of my life on the road.
But those guys (the rest of VR) were looking at a bunch of singers and
doing a movie. They were sending me Cd's of songs and eventually I heard
some stuff that I found intriguing and I started to get to know them a
little bit. I felt a kinship with them in the beginning because they had
gone through some shit with their previous band.
*
From the outside you and those guys getting together looked like two
people comming out of horrendous divorces; relating to each others
appearance but also having the baggage that comes with that experience.*
Definitely but it was almost like comming off a rebound. At first it was
very exciting and we did jive. We had a lot of common interests; Duff
and I shared a lot of the same musical interests with punk rock; Matt
and I shared an interest in experimental music. Dave and I had known
each other from back in the days of playing clubs in Hollywood. And then
you had Slash and I who were - and I don't want to come over as
lifesaving - two iconic figures, which the media tried to turn into a
Mick/Keef kind of thing. We did have that gang type camaraderie at
first. At the same time I was going through the worst period of my drug
addiction that I'd ever gone through.
*Was Slash messed up too?*
Not at that time, he was just drinking a lot, he hadn't done drugs in a
few years. He seemed pretty cool at the time. Duff had been sober for a
long time and Matt had been sober for five and a half years. Dave, of
course, was solid as a rock.
So VR was a musical thing that looked like it could be promising, but it
also looked like it could be a life-raft. These were guys that had
walked the same streets that I'd walked and in the same shoes. They were
totally supportive and non-judgemental.
In the last couple of years in STP the guys had become very judgemental
and, to jump ahead a little, ironically Dean ended up comming to me a
couple of years later and said "Listen man I need to make amends to you.
I was a horrible hypocrite, I was strung out too."
*
You told me in our last interview that you were getting the brunt of
STP's criticism while Dean was getting wasted at home.*
Yeah. There were some tours where we would be smoking crack and heroin
together. And then the next tour I would say "Alright! Let's get on with
it." And he'd say "What are you talking about man? Get your shit
together!" But he made amends to me and I was shocked because he had
gone to rehab and he's been clean for some time now.
But going back to VR, at the time it seemed like a completely different
situation to STP. It felt like the most non-judgemental situation
because the first six months was like the process of me getting clean.
The first thing to go was the heroin and then the cocaine and then the
pills. Then I got into treatment and I got clean. I was clean and sober
for two years and then I started drinking. And all that seemed cool for
about a year, but then it started escalating. During that time is when
the guys started falling off the wagon. Matt relapsed and went into
treatment and then Duff relapsed and went into treatment and then Slash
had his situation. So everybody in the band ended up falling off except
for Dave of course. At that time I was maintaining my problem in a sane
way and I didn't really fall off intensely until my brother died.
*I was going to bring that up. It seemed a little too current the last
time we spoke as you had just been to his funeral a week before.*
He was a great guy. Very smart, very well read, a great writer. He was
very loving, a great dad. Unfortunately he didn't love himself as much
as he loved other people. There were years when we were just ripping and
roaring together and then unfortunately we were never clean at the same
time. I was loaded, he was clean; he was clean I was loaded. We could
never be on the same page, on the same schedule, to support each other.
*
Did you write the song For A Brother before or after he died?*
I wrote it for him when...it's the most fucked up story. He had a
custody date in court. There was a restraining order against him and he
was going to be able to see his kids and have visitation again which
would lead up to partial custody. We'd been getting along the best we
had in years, he spent Christmas with me. Two days before the court date
he did the same thing he always does: whenever something good is going
to happen he shot himself in the foot. And he went out and got loaded
and got arrested for possession. So that completely fucked up his
situation. He turned up at court and told his wife what had happened and
that he wouldn't be able to see his girls for a while and to tell them
that he loved them. She told me afterwards that she had a feeling that
she wasn't going to see him again.
I was so angry when I heard about it that I never called him. I felt I
had to wait a week before I called him, to let it sink in. So I never
had a chance to talk to him again. I got a call when they found him, I
had to go over and identify the body. Nobody knows for sure if it was
intentional. When I got to his place he was lying on the bed with the
sheets pulled up to his chest. There weren't any works nearby. I felt he
just sort of gave up, died of a broken heart. There were drugs in his
system but not enough to kill a junkie. There was a notice on his fridge
door that said "Live for Sophia and Claudette' - his daughters.
So that's when things started going downhill for me. The family came out
and we kind of had a wake for a week. I started drinking non-stop.
*It's strange that you responded to your brothers relapse and tragic
death by relapsing yourself.*
Exactly! It was a bad year, my mother got cancer, they got the cancer
but she had to go through radiation therapy. My grandfather got really
sick with heartdisease and emphysema. A lot of bad stuff happened that year.
*
You also split up with your wife. How do you deal with all that? Where
does that stress go?*
How did I deal with it? It was even more confusing because in the band I
was playing with until then we'd all had each others backs and then
suddenly it all started evaporating. Suddenly these guys who had all
fallen appart themselves all became very judgemental. When they went
through their shit I was the last person who would be judgemental after
what I had gone through in my life.
The relationship I had with Matt became horrendous, he and I came close
to fist-fights so many times it became ridiculous. He has an attitude
with lead singers - it's a problem he had before Velvet Revolver, in
Guns and The Cult and who knows, maybe even before that. Slash and I
have always been able to maintain, except on a few occasions, a
professional relationship. Duff and I have usually been close. Then
everything started to erode. I couldn't believe I was in this situation
where I was getting ostracised by these people who had been in the same
fucking situation I was in.
So while all this was going on I had been talking to the guys in STP and
we said: "Let's get back together. This story's not over." I feel like
we had the best shit ahead of us. I definitely didn't want to put VR to
bed. I also don't believe in outstaying your welcome when you're touring
a dead album.
We toured Contraband for a long time because it sold 3.5 million copies.
But when you have an album that didn't do that well you don't tour it
for over a year. You take a break, you wait for the songs to happen.
Like Keith Richards said: "Don't fucking labour over songs."
So the whole thing with STP doing a tour and some festivals was a
perfect window of opportunity while the rest of the band could have been
taking some time off, working on some songs of their own. And then when
I was done VR could get back together.
Right now it's like a relationship that's dead in the water where you
need some space to figure out if it's important enough to last. The band
need time out to sit back and let the creative juices flow and also to
realise what everyone's part is in why things have reached the point
they have. Now I'm not saying I'm innocent in all of this but
everybody's at this place where the fucking finger is getting pointed
and they're all pointing the finger at me. When you think about it isn't
it ironic that they did with Axl Rose in the last band where the lead
singer was deamonised? Originally I thought: "What a troll he must have
been. What an evil man." But you know what? I have to say that I have an
entirely different opinion of him today.
*That's a turnaround. Last year you verbally laid into him in a very
public manner.*
But you know what? That was a long time ago and I'd heard a lot of
stories. But there are two sides to every story and having been in this
band I actually feel for the guy and understand him a whole lot more.
*Is it true that VR's Australian tour was cancelled because you relapsed
and the band and management insisted you went back into rehab before
going back on the road?*
Oh that's a bunch of bullshit! There's absolutely zero truth in that.
The band had nothing to do with me going to rehab at all. I never even
had a conversation with them about it. I wasn't even speaking to them at
the time, as a matter of fact they didn't even know I was going until
the night of the show.
*Did you do that impulsively?*
I was talking to my manager - who is not their manager - and trying to
get a bed at this place. The only person who had an idea I was going was
Matt because he went when the original tour got cancelled. What happened
then was I went to dry out for three days at a place my shrink has,
because I was drinking a lot. We were supposed to leave for Australia
but Matt came to rehearsals and was so fucked up the band sent him back
to rehab. That's why the first tour of Australia got cancelled. A tour
gets cancelled and regardless of what Matt's offences were no one pays
attention to that because quite honestly no one gives a shit.
A couple of months later I was saying to my manager "I can't believe I'm
saying this but I think I need to go back to rehab again." I was looking
for a place by my house but prices had changed from five years ago. So
Matt directed me to a place in Orange County. It's fucking ironic that
the band says they asked me to go because I tried to stop the tour
earlier and go. So eventually I said "fuck it! Book me a bed and after
the gig I'm going." So I packed a bag, did the gig and split off without
them even knowing. So the last couple of dates (in the US) we didn't do.
But y'know what? It was more important that I went because I was in a
really miserable place. It was the first time in years that I went to a
rehab place because I wanted to.
*
Comming out of rehab this time and going straight on tour must have been
quite a shock to the system. You must be in quite a raw and vulnerable
place.*
Yeah but it's not like it's the first time I've done it. It's what my
life is really. But it has changed my philosophy to the concept of what
VR is about. With this band everything is about touring. I think by this
time we should have made three albums but we've spent almost the entire
life of the band on the road and I've missed a lot of things in my
children's lives because of it. At this point I prefere recording. At
least it gives you something a little more thrilling to do when you are
touring. Something more challenging than playing 'It's So Easy/Sex Type
Thing' every night.
I think the emotional let-down that we achieved was something special.
We pushed the envelope and created something special and then blew it.
The initial goal was to tour our albums and not fall back on our old
catalogue from our respective past. What ended up happening was exactly
the opposite. We needed up falling back on the old material because
there's not enough confidence in what this band is about. It seemed to
be more important to play the old rock stuff than to build a legacy with
the new band and it just became not fun. I think I have a lot more to
say musically.
*There have been rumors on the net that during the last shows you're
going to destroy the stage or just split prematurely.*
Oh I can't do that because the management have threatened to arrest me.
How do you figure that one? What is this a fucking Mormon Tabernacle choir?
*Wouldn't an alternative to this heated situation be that you all cool
off, do your respectively projects and then regroup and see how the land
lies?*
I think they should get Guns N' Roses back together to tell you the
truth. I think that would be the greatest thing they could do. I think
the world would be very happy. If they could stop talking trash about
Axl in the press. It almost happened, the pens were ready to sign. With
the Greatest Hits there was the possibility but there was too much stuff
being said but it was a close call. As A GNR fan I would love to see that.
In the same article, VELVET REVOLVER bassist Duff McKagan was asked
about Weiland's statement that Duff, guitarist Slash and drummer Matt
Sorum should reunite with Axl Rose in GUNS N' ROSES, as well as Scott's
claim that "the pens were ready to sign" at one point for a GN'R reunion
and that the contracts were on the table. "I know he [Weiland] was
really paranoid about that and we had to allay his fears at one point,
when we were writing for [VELVET REVOLVER's second album] 'Libertad',"
McKagan responded. "He got wind that our manager at that point had been
talking to Axl about bringing Axl over to what was our management
company back then. And Scott freaked out that we were getting GN'R back
together and we weren't going to make the second record. I don't know
where it came from — there was no contract on the table or pens ready to
sign. Maybe now he's convinced himself that's what happened."
Everybody rips scott including myself, but you cant deny his passion for his fans, this obviously has upset him, and I think its great that he is back on with stp, I hope he at least gets on a straighter path, he is super creative and a good singer.
Comments
dont' you mean "...IF Chinese democracy comes out" ?
the bad idea or me befallen by it?
It will come out eventually but we may have to wait until after Axl dies and the record company puts it out.
VR was an 'effort', although it offered nothing new, nothing original. So for me, it never challenged my senses. In other words it sucked, almost as bad as STP's Tiny music album.
Scott with STP is better. I really enjoyed the Purple album.
I think this STP reunion is knee jerk reaction to being let go from VR. I don't think it will last.
...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.
FaceSpace
I highly doubt that.
-Tom Waits
...and that's the ONLY way it ever comes out!
I thought the world...Turns out the world thought me
No.
I don't agree to that...
6/7/2003 (***1/2)
7/9/2006 (****1/2)
7/13/2006 (**** )
4/10/2008 EV Solo (****1/2)
6/25/2008 MSG II (*****)
10/1/2009 LA II (****)
10/6/2009 LA III (***** Cornell!!!)
no, we can agree that drugs have whacked them out
they write great music, they just fuck it up as far as touring and releasing it.
no more shows
Really, for Libertad, they didn't write anything that could be considered "great". Contraband had its share of wonderful music, I'll grant you, but that was their last worthy contribution, in my opinion.
still havent heard that yet, I like contraband, i like guns, i liked snakepit, stp, weiland solo.
so you got me.
Ill have to check it out, I believe you though.
no more shows
8/08 - Ed solo in DC, 6/09 Ed in B'more,
10/10 - Brad in B'more
Where did you hear that? Was always a Fuel fan and think this might not be a bad idea.
Finally got that "One for the Thumb"!!! Got the "Six Pack". Now we're on a "Stairway to Seven"
Some words when spoken...can't be taken back.
"Seeing a brick wall straight ahead and stepping on the gas." Eddie...Pittsburgh 6/23/06
I reckon he could probably pull it off, he has a decent voice - not a million miles from Weiland's sound.
I think a fan asked brett on his myspace. so I don't know the fan's source.
maybe he was hoping?
8/08 - Ed solo in DC, 6/09 Ed in B'more,
10/10 - Brad in B'more
I'm betting whatever they come up with will pretty much be a joke. I can't see them getting anyone that will bring their music up to the level it needs to be besides Weiland.
no more shows
"Velvet Revolver are a band full of junkies and fucking tramps who are
trying to pretend they're fucking St. Francis!"
At least that's what Scott Weiland says. In a world exclusive the former
Velvet Revolver singer gives Classic Rock his side of the story, just
days before he was sacked from the band.
"I guess the problem at the moment is that I have some great things
ahead of me and I'm in a band that I'm not getting along with who are
junkies and fucking tramps and are trying to pretend that they are St.
fucking Francis!"
Scott Weiland is, to use an American colloquialism, pissed. It's Easter
Monday, the day before Velvet Revolver's first night in London's Brixton
Academy ((4 days after the Glasgow gig when he announced the split)) and
Weiland's relationship with the band is in meltdown. Right now he's
aggrieved because he claims the management have confiscated his passport
to prevent him absconding before the end of the tour. But he is also
very optimistic about future prospects including a reunited Stone Temple
Pilots tour; a solo double album and a biography - all happening this year.
Wearing a skinny black suit and Wayfarer shades, he looks like a hybrid
of Bob Dylan and John Cooper Clarke - the epitome of grunge chic. Still
very raw from a recent and much publicised stint in rehab, in this
interview - a week before his sacking from the band - he speaks openly
and uncensored about his grievances with Velvet Revolver, the tragic
death of his brother Michael, his on-going battles with addiction and
the re-formation of Stone Temple Pilots.
*What's your take on the Velvet Revolver situation?*
Theres a lot of baggage that comes with the band, and a lot of displaced
anger. Y'know when I first joined Velvet Revolver I already had issues
regarding the politics of a rock'n'roll band. When you're the frontman
and the person who writes the majority of the music - all the melodies,
all the lyrics - the person who comes up with all the creative ideas -
video ideas, concepts for covers, that sort of thing - eventually other
band members start looking at you.
Initially you're the asset, especially in the first couple of years.
You're the one who has to give all the interviews, when times are great
and when times are not so great. So suddenly people are saying "Why is
he getting all the attention?" Well sometimes none of the other guys
want the attention. Well, they want the attention but they don't want
the responsibility that comes with it. Which is one of the issues I
brought with me from STP. The problem with STP - which leads into the VR
problem - was that we were best friends for a long time. We grew up
together as kids. I was 19 when I formed the band together with Robert
(DeLeo, bass) and I knew him from when I was 16. It started out as every
band does as a gang and it really never was a case of me trying to jump
out and sieze the spotlight; because I was really conflicted about the
whole thing.
I don't mind doing photo shoots and I don't mind doing an interview if
it's an important interview. Talking to Classic Rock - that's an
important thing. It's a respected, legendary magazine. I'm not one of
those people who are into saturating the media. if you have an important
thing to say then say it.
But along the way with STP our communication broke down. it was this
great band with great chemistry. We were not only great songwriters
together, it was based on camaraderie, experience, the friendship I had
with Robert. All of this ended up breaking down because of resentment we
never spoke about. It ended up with Dead (DeLeo, guitar) and I having
fist fights.
So there was this period of time before Velvet Revolver that I really
didn't want to play in a rock band again. I was knee-deep in recording
my solo record, I was in the process of putting together my record
company and I was producing other bands. I produced two of the Limp
Bizkit records. Not my favourite band by any stretch of the imagination,
but it definitely put me on the map as a producer. I also had kids and
didn't want to spend the rest of my life on the road.
But those guys (the rest of VR) were looking at a bunch of singers and
doing a movie. They were sending me Cd's of songs and eventually I heard
some stuff that I found intriguing and I started to get to know them a
little bit. I felt a kinship with them in the beginning because they had
gone through some shit with their previous band.
*
From the outside you and those guys getting together looked like two
people comming out of horrendous divorces; relating to each others
appearance but also having the baggage that comes with that experience.*
Definitely but it was almost like comming off a rebound. At first it was
very exciting and we did jive. We had a lot of common interests; Duff
and I shared a lot of the same musical interests with punk rock; Matt
and I shared an interest in experimental music. Dave and I had known
each other from back in the days of playing clubs in Hollywood. And then
you had Slash and I who were - and I don't want to come over as
lifesaving - two iconic figures, which the media tried to turn into a
Mick/Keef kind of thing. We did have that gang type camaraderie at
first. At the same time I was going through the worst period of my drug
addiction that I'd ever gone through.
*Was Slash messed up too?*
Not at that time, he was just drinking a lot, he hadn't done drugs in a
few years. He seemed pretty cool at the time. Duff had been sober for a
long time and Matt had been sober for five and a half years. Dave, of
course, was solid as a rock.
So VR was a musical thing that looked like it could be promising, but it
also looked like it could be a life-raft. These were guys that had
walked the same streets that I'd walked and in the same shoes. They were
totally supportive and non-judgemental.
In the last couple of years in STP the guys had become very judgemental
and, to jump ahead a little, ironically Dean ended up comming to me a
couple of years later and said "Listen man I need to make amends to you.
I was a horrible hypocrite, I was strung out too."
*
You told me in our last interview that you were getting the brunt of
STP's criticism while Dean was getting wasted at home.*
Yeah. There were some tours where we would be smoking crack and heroin
together. And then the next tour I would say "Alright! Let's get on with
it." And he'd say "What are you talking about man? Get your shit
together!" But he made amends to me and I was shocked because he had
gone to rehab and he's been clean for some time now.
But going back to VR, at the time it seemed like a completely different
situation to STP. It felt like the most non-judgemental situation
because the first six months was like the process of me getting clean.
The first thing to go was the heroin and then the cocaine and then the
pills. Then I got into treatment and I got clean. I was clean and sober
for two years and then I started drinking. And all that seemed cool for
about a year, but then it started escalating. During that time is when
the guys started falling off the wagon. Matt relapsed and went into
treatment and then Duff relapsed and went into treatment and then Slash
had his situation. So everybody in the band ended up falling off except
for Dave of course. At that time I was maintaining my problem in a sane
way and I didn't really fall off intensely until my brother died.
time we spoke as you had just been to his funeral a week before.*
He was a great guy. Very smart, very well read, a great writer. He was
very loving, a great dad. Unfortunately he didn't love himself as much
as he loved other people. There were years when we were just ripping and
roaring together and then unfortunately we were never clean at the same
time. I was loaded, he was clean; he was clean I was loaded. We could
never be on the same page, on the same schedule, to support each other.
*
Did you write the song For A Brother before or after he died?*
I wrote it for him when...it's the most fucked up story. He had a
custody date in court. There was a restraining order against him and he
was going to be able to see his kids and have visitation again which
would lead up to partial custody. We'd been getting along the best we
had in years, he spent Christmas with me. Two days before the court date
he did the same thing he always does: whenever something good is going
to happen he shot himself in the foot. And he went out and got loaded
and got arrested for possession. So that completely fucked up his
situation. He turned up at court and told his wife what had happened and
that he wouldn't be able to see his girls for a while and to tell them
that he loved them. She told me afterwards that she had a feeling that
she wasn't going to see him again.
I was so angry when I heard about it that I never called him. I felt I
had to wait a week before I called him, to let it sink in. So I never
had a chance to talk to him again. I got a call when they found him, I
had to go over and identify the body. Nobody knows for sure if it was
intentional. When I got to his place he was lying on the bed with the
sheets pulled up to his chest. There weren't any works nearby. I felt he
just sort of gave up, died of a broken heart. There were drugs in his
system but not enough to kill a junkie. There was a notice on his fridge
door that said "Live for Sophia and Claudette' - his daughters.
So that's when things started going downhill for me. The family came out
and we kind of had a wake for a week. I started drinking non-stop.
*It's strange that you responded to your brothers relapse and tragic
death by relapsing yourself.*
Exactly! It was a bad year, my mother got cancer, they got the cancer
but she had to go through radiation therapy. My grandfather got really
sick with heartdisease and emphysema. A lot of bad stuff happened that year.
*
You also split up with your wife. How do you deal with all that? Where
does that stress go?*
How did I deal with it? It was even more confusing because in the band I
was playing with until then we'd all had each others backs and then
suddenly it all started evaporating. Suddenly these guys who had all
fallen appart themselves all became very judgemental. When they went
through their shit I was the last person who would be judgemental after
what I had gone through in my life.
The relationship I had with Matt became horrendous, he and I came close
to fist-fights so many times it became ridiculous. He has an attitude
with lead singers - it's a problem he had before Velvet Revolver, in
Guns and The Cult and who knows, maybe even before that. Slash and I
have always been able to maintain, except on a few occasions, a
professional relationship. Duff and I have usually been close. Then
everything started to erode. I couldn't believe I was in this situation
where I was getting ostracised by these people who had been in the same
fucking situation I was in.
So while all this was going on I had been talking to the guys in STP and
we said: "Let's get back together. This story's not over." I feel like
we had the best shit ahead of us. I definitely didn't want to put VR to
bed. I also don't believe in outstaying your welcome when you're touring
a dead album.
We toured Contraband for a long time because it sold 3.5 million copies.
But when you have an album that didn't do that well you don't tour it
for over a year. You take a break, you wait for the songs to happen.
Like Keith Richards said: "Don't fucking labour over songs."
So the whole thing with STP doing a tour and some festivals was a
perfect window of opportunity while the rest of the band could have been
taking some time off, working on some songs of their own. And then when
I was done VR could get back together.
Right now it's like a relationship that's dead in the water where you
need some space to figure out if it's important enough to last. The band
need time out to sit back and let the creative juices flow and also to
realise what everyone's part is in why things have reached the point
they have. Now I'm not saying I'm innocent in all of this but
everybody's at this place where the fucking finger is getting pointed
and they're all pointing the finger at me. When you think about it isn't
it ironic that they did with Axl Rose in the last band where the lead
singer was deamonised? Originally I thought: "What a troll he must have
been. What an evil man." But you know what? I have to say that I have an
entirely different opinion of him today.
*That's a turnaround. Last year you verbally laid into him in a very
public manner.*
But you know what? That was a long time ago and I'd heard a lot of
stories. But there are two sides to every story and having been in this
band I actually feel for the guy and understand him a whole lot more.
*Is it true that VR's Australian tour was cancelled because you relapsed
and the band and management insisted you went back into rehab before
going back on the road?*
Oh that's a bunch of bullshit! There's absolutely zero truth in that.
The band had nothing to do with me going to rehab at all. I never even
had a conversation with them about it. I wasn't even speaking to them at
the time, as a matter of fact they didn't even know I was going until
the night of the show.
*Did you do that impulsively?*
I was talking to my manager - who is not their manager - and trying to
get a bed at this place. The only person who had an idea I was going was
Matt because he went when the original tour got cancelled. What happened
then was I went to dry out for three days at a place my shrink has,
because I was drinking a lot. We were supposed to leave for Australia
but Matt came to rehearsals and was so fucked up the band sent him back
to rehab. That's why the first tour of Australia got cancelled. A tour
gets cancelled and regardless of what Matt's offences were no one pays
attention to that because quite honestly no one gives a shit.
A couple of months later I was saying to my manager "I can't believe I'm
saying this but I think I need to go back to rehab again." I was looking
for a place by my house but prices had changed from five years ago. So
Matt directed me to a place in Orange County. It's fucking ironic that
the band says they asked me to go because I tried to stop the tour
earlier and go. So eventually I said "fuck it! Book me a bed and after
the gig I'm going." So I packed a bag, did the gig and split off without
them even knowing. So the last couple of dates (in the US) we didn't do.
But y'know what? It was more important that I went because I was in a
really miserable place. It was the first time in years that I went to a
rehab place because I wanted to.
*
Comming out of rehab this time and going straight on tour must have been
quite a shock to the system. You must be in quite a raw and vulnerable
place.*
Yeah but it's not like it's the first time I've done it. It's what my
life is really. But it has changed my philosophy to the concept of what
VR is about. With this band everything is about touring. I think by this
time we should have made three albums but we've spent almost the entire
life of the band on the road and I've missed a lot of things in my
children's lives because of it. At this point I prefere recording. At
least it gives you something a little more thrilling to do when you are
touring. Something more challenging than playing 'It's So Easy/Sex Type
Thing' every night.
I think the emotional let-down that we achieved was something special.
We pushed the envelope and created something special and then blew it.
The initial goal was to tour our albums and not fall back on our old
catalogue from our respective past. What ended up happening was exactly
the opposite. We needed up falling back on the old material because
there's not enough confidence in what this band is about. It seemed to
be more important to play the old rock stuff than to build a legacy with
the new band and it just became not fun. I think I have a lot more to
say musically.
*There have been rumors on the net that during the last shows you're
going to destroy the stage or just split prematurely.*
Oh I can't do that because the management have threatened to arrest me.
How do you figure that one? What is this a fucking Mormon Tabernacle choir?
*Wouldn't an alternative to this heated situation be that you all cool
off, do your respectively projects and then regroup and see how the land
lies?*
I think they should get Guns N' Roses back together to tell you the
truth. I think that would be the greatest thing they could do. I think
the world would be very happy. If they could stop talking trash about
Axl in the press. It almost happened, the pens were ready to sign. With
the Greatest Hits there was the possibility but there was too much stuff
being said but it was a close call. As A GNR fan I would love to see that.
In the same article, VELVET REVOLVER bassist Duff McKagan was asked
about Weiland's statement that Duff, guitarist Slash and drummer Matt
Sorum should reunite with Axl Rose in GUNS N' ROSES, as well as Scott's
claim that "the pens were ready to sign" at one point for a GN'R reunion
and that the contracts were on the table. "I know he [Weiland] was
really paranoid about that and we had to allay his fears at one point,
when we were writing for [VELVET REVOLVER's second album] 'Libertad',"
McKagan responded. "He got wind that our manager at that point had been
talking to Axl about bringing Axl over to what was our management
company back then. And Scott freaked out that we were getting GN'R back
together and we weren't going to make the second record. I don't know
where it came from — there was no contract on the table or pens ready to
sign. Maybe now he's convinced himself that's what happened."
Blabbermouth.net
Yes! They will be touring with Danger Danger, Cinderella, and Geraldo.
no more shows
...............'and they were smite to the ground'.
8/08 - Ed solo in DC, 6/09 Ed in B'more,
10/10 - Brad in B'more
AMEN!