Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk band Wasted Youth, and Scott Weiland (lead vocalist) formerly of Stone Temple Pilots. The band formed in 2002 and was active until 2008, when Weiland was fired from the band and subsequently rejoined Stone Temple Pilots.
In 2004, the band achieved commercial success with their debut album, Contraband. Despite positive reviews, some critics initially described Velvet Revolver as a mere combination of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses, and criticized them for a "disconnection" between Weiland and the rest of the band. With their single "Slither", they won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band released Libertad in 2007, driven by the release of the single "She Builds Quick Machines", and embarked on a tour with Alice in Chains.
In April 2008, Weiland was fired from Velvet Revolver and reunited with Stone Temple Pilots. Velvet Revolver was put on indefinite hiatus and in November of that year, requested to be released by their record label RCA Records to allow themselves "complete freedom to go through whatever process it would take to accomplish" replacing Weiland.
Although Velvet Revolver worked on new material and auditioned new singers following Scott Weiland's departure, the band has not released any new material and only performed publicly once since 2008, when they reunited with Weiland for a one-off reunion show on January 12, 2012, at a benefit concert. This proved to be their last performance together before Weiland's death on December 3, 2015. Slash and McKagan rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016.
In 2025, Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker included the band in his list of "the greatest metal acts that formed in the 2000s".
History
Foundations (2001–2002) Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum were members of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. However, disagreements with singer Axl Rose resulted in Slash leaving the band in 1996 and McKagan departing in 1997 shortly before Sorum was fired. Following their departures the trio focused on separate projects, with Slash reforming Slash's Snakepit and McKagan reforming 10 Minute Warning as well as recording his second solo album, while Sorum rejoined the Cult.
By 2001, Slash's Snakepit had disbanded for the second time. Slash began working with the Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and an unnamed bassist on a new project: writing the music for what would become "Fall to Pieces". McKagan reformed Loaded, previously his band for the tour in support of Beautiful Disease, with Geoff Reading. McKagan also added both Mike Squires and Jeff Rouse to the lineup. Following a tour of Japan in 2002, former Zilch, Wasted Youth, Electric Love Hogs, and Dave Navarro guitarist Dave Kushner joined Loaded in place of Mike Squires.
Formation (2002–2003) When musician Randy Castillo died from cancer in 2002, Slash, McKagan, and Sorum performed at a benefit concert to raise money and commemorate Castillo, with Josh Todd and Keith Nelson of Buckcherry as well as B-Real and Sen Dog of Cypress Hill. Recognizing that their musical relationship was still intact, the trio began rehearsing with Todd and Nelson, working on material that would become "Dirty Little Thing", but eventually decided against forming a group with them. During a Loaded show at West Hollywood's Viper Room, McKagan re-introduced Dave Kushner to Slash, who had been friends in junior high and high school. Kushner was invited to jam with the group and was soon invited to join with Slash, stating that "Dave brought a cool vibe to what [they] were doing. There was no deliberation; that was it, it was a perfect fit." Their former Guns N' Roses bandmate Izzy Stradlin also joined them for two weeks, eventually suggesting that "Duff and [Stradlin] will sing and [they] will just do a club tour in a van." Slash states in his autobiography that it was hard to tell if Stradlin was serious or kidding. After auditioning Kelly Shaefer of Atheist and Neurotica, Stradlin left the group.
While Shaefer's audition was unsuccessful, the quartet continued auditioning for a lead singer. VH1 filmed the recruitment process, which was referred to as the temporary name "The Project". The resulting documentary was aired as VH1 Inside Out: The Rise of Velvet Revolver. A number of lead singers auditioned for the band, including Stephen Shareaux of Kik Tracee, Steve Ludwin of Carrie and Little Hell, Todd Kerns, formerly of Age of Electric, Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, Shawn Albro of U.P.O., Travis Meeks of Days of the New, and Ian Thornley of Big Wreck. Myles Kennedy, formerly of the Mayfield Four, declined an invitation from Sorum to audition. Ian Astbury of the Cult and Mike Patton of Faith No More also declined audition offers. The band were also interested in auditioning Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, who had become friends with McKagan after attending the same gym. Weiland once played on the same bill as Kushner, and was in rehab at the same time as Sorum. Weiland was sent two discs of material, and felt that the first disc "sounded like Bad Company gone wrong." When he was sent the second disc, Weiland was more positive, comparing it to Core-era Stone Temple Pilots, though he turned them down because Stone Temple Pilots were still together.
When Stone Temple Pilots disbanded in 2003, the band sent Weiland new music, which he took into his studio and added vocals. This music eventually became the song "Set Me Free". Weiland was still unsure whether or not he wanted to join, despite delivering the music to the band himself and performing at an industry showcase at Mates. They recorded two songs with producer Nick Raskulinecz, a recorded version of "Set Me Free" and a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money", for the soundtracks to the movies Hulk and The Italian Job, respectively. Weiland joined the band soon after. "Set Me Free" managed to peak at number 17 on the Mainstream Rock Chart without any radio promotion or a record label.
It was prior to a screening of The Hulk at Universal Studios that the band chose a name. After seeing a movie by Revolution Studios, Slash liked the beginning of the word, eventually thinking of Revolver because of its multiple meanings; the name of a gun, subtext of a revolving door which suited the band as well as the name of a Beatles album. When he suggested Revolver to the band, Weiland suggested back Black Velvet Revolver, liking the idea of "something intimate like velvet juxtaposed with something deadly like a gun." They eventually arrived at Velvet Revolver, announcing it at a press conference and performance showcase at the El Rey Theatre while also performing the songs "Set Me Free" and "Slither" as well as covers of Nirvana's "Negative Creep", Sex Pistols' "Bodies", and Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy".
Contraband and mainstream success (2003–2005)
Prior to the recording of their debut album, Weiland took material that the band had previously written to his studio, Lavish, in Toluca Lake. With engineer Doug Grean, Weiland rearranged the music to fit his vocals, eventually coming out with the songs "Big Machine" and "Dirty Little Thing". The band worked on new material for songs such as "You Got No Right", "Slither", "Sucker Train Blues", and "Do It for the Kids", among others. During this time Weiland was arrested at the parking lot of his studio for drug possession. Upon release from jail, he wrote lyrics to material he was given previously, writing the lyrics to the song "Fall to Pieces". Velvet Revolver soon began recording their debut album. Initially, they recorded "Slither" with producer Bob Ezrin at Henson Studios, but were dissatisfied with the result. After recording "Headspace" with Josh Abraham, the band liked the track enough to do the rest of the album with him.
Velvet Revolver soon gained major-label attention with Warner Bros. and Chrysalis. RCA and Elektra were also interested in signing the band. They eventually signed with RCA Records. They recorded their album at NRG Recording Studios, while Slash recorded his guitar parts at a smaller studio on the southern corner between Highland Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. During recording, Weiland could only work for three hours a day due to a court order mandating that he stay in a halfway house. The marketing campaign for Velvet Revolver in the run-up to the release of the first album was profiled as part of the Frontline program The Way the Music Died, which included interviews with the band members and producers.
The resulting album, Contraband, was released on June 8, 2004. Helped by the success of the single "Slither", it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 250,000 copies in the first week. Contraband went on to sell four million copies worldwide, 2.9 million of which were sold in the United States, and was certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. Both "Slither" and "Fall to Pieces" peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 56 and 67 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. "Slither" also peaked at number one on the Modern Rock Chart and number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. The album's third single, "Dirty Little Thing", peaked at number eight on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Critically, the album was generally well received. Despite being praised for its hedonism and maturity, critics noted a disconnection between "singer and band". Velvet Revolver won the Kerrang! Award for Best International Newcomer in 2004, and the following year they won the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy Award for "Slither". They were also nominated for Rock Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards while "Fall to Pieces" was nominated for a Song of the Year/Rock Radio Radio Music Award. They recorded a new song, "Come On, Come In", for the 2005 movie Fantastic Four, which peaked at number 14 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. "Fall to Pieces" then re-entered the charts, peaking at number twenty-five on the Adult Top 40 the same year.
Velvet Revolver toured extensively for nineteen months in support of Contraband. They toured both the US and Europe twice, while also performing in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. They performed at Live 8 and various festivals including Download Festival, as well as Ozzfest. During the tour, the band members, with the exception of Kushner, began to relapse on alcohol and drugs. Though they got clean in time for the recording of their new album, Slash felt that "[the band] lost [Weiland]" and "thought the overall spirit of everything was declining at that point."
Libertad and departure of Scott Weiland (2005–2008)
Weiland announced in 2005 that Velvet Revolver's next album would be titled Libertad and would be a concept album. When they started writing material, they decided against the concept idea. Initially, the band started working with producer Rick Rubin on the album. However, due to his methods, such as having a crew to do the work and engineering while only popping in occasionally, and because he was also working with other bands at the same time, they decided against continuing with Rubin. At the suggestion of Weiland, Velvet Revolver began working with Brendan O'Brien. Slash stated that O' Brien "brought more than just discipline to the equation, he brought a musicality that stems from the fact that he plays guitar, bass and drums. At any given moment he could play along [with the band] and it really helped the process." While writing for the album, Weiland believed that his bandmates were going to reunite with Guns N' Roses when the band's manager was talking to Axl Rose about switching management companies, and were not going to record their second album. He was later convinced by the band that this was not the case.