The lead Pussycat Doll is apparently the latest person to attach herself to Slash’s forthcoming solo album, which comes out next year and is set to feature a Love Boat-worthy cavalcade of cameos by the likes of Iggy Pop, Flea, Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson, Adam “Maroon 5” Levine, and Jason Bonham. But why not just go all the way and re-record La Scherz’s forever-in-turnaround solo effort Her Name Is Nicole as a collaborative effort between the Pussycat Dolls’ chief vocalizer and the still-in-search-of-a-frontperson semi-supergroup Velvet Revolver? Let’s face it—both projects need a big shot in the arm, buzz-wise, and this could maybe almost do it in a “so crazy, you have to check out the MySpace page at least once” sort of way… [AceShowbiz / Photo: Getty] More »
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler is scheduled to lay down some tracks for the solo record by his ex-bandmate Slash today, joining Izzy Stradlin in the group of Former Guns N’ Roses Members Who Will Be On This Album Alongside Fergie. [Twitter via GNRDaily] More »
Izzy Stradlin has been laying down tracks on the forthcoming solo album by his ex-bandmate Slash. “There is an unmistakable sound that me & Izzy’s guitars make when performed together,” the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist noted last night from the studio. Guys… what if Izzy became the new Velvet Revolver singer? That would be a way to actually make the project kind of interesting, you have to admit. [Twitter] More »
Last night’s American Idol was Rock And Roll (All) Night, with the contestants muscling through songs that are older than all of them in the hopes of riding the Guitar Hero train, or at least giving Adam a chance to shine. It was preceded by no dress rehearsal, thanks to a crazy on-set accident in which one of the globes onstage exploded–which itself was preceded by the show’s stage manager falling down a 20-foot staircase and exiting the Idol studio via stretcher. And then there were the on-stage disasters! After the jump, Danny Gokey wails, Kris Allen gets pissed, Allison Iraheta gets sassy, and Adam Lambert starts the show on a lot of high notes. More »
We can blame Fergie, or Lenny Kravitz, or Weiland, or the longstanding feud with Axl Rose. Or the fact that the people who aren’t primarily musicians have proven to be much more interesting mentors than people who are. I still think turning next week into a surprise Velvet Revolver audition would be an interesting idea–and one that, if Matt Sorum is to be believed, is very necessary–but the practical side of me knows that I should probably just expect Danny Gokey to sing “Magic Carpet Ride.” [Twitter via thisisareallybadidea] More »
Slash let it slip on his Twitter that he’s been approached about serving as mentor for an upcoming episode of American Idol–it’ll be “Rock Week,” which means that the show may actually have the potential to feature songs that were first written during Allison Iraheta’s lifetime. (Maybe.) But the possibility of Slash helping out this year’s Idol contestants got me thinking: What if the person who performed best that evening was rewarded, as a bonus, with the lead singer slot in the top-hatted guitarist’s notoriously frontman-bereft outfit Velvet Revolver? After the jump, odds on which of Idol‘s remaining five contestants can best fill Weiland’s shoes. More »
I was never much of a Star Wars fan, so the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments that accompanied the forever-awaited release of The Phantom Menace passed by me at the time. But when I finally sat down with Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy—a long-awaited follow-up to a cultural moment that, for better or worse, defined my adolescence—I finally got what my Star Wars friends were all up in arms about, namely the casting of a newer, harsher, and daresay aged light on a once-cherished talisman.
If only as many people cared about Velvet Revolver’s music as they did about the machinations behind the sorta-supergroup, which sort of imploded back in April when Scott Weiland was pushed out of the band by former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum/jumped to cash in on a Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour. In the ensuing months, while Weiland was falling into drum risers and making porny videos, pretty much every male hard-rock singer between the ages of 31 and 49 was rumored to have been a favorite for the vocalist gig. A look back on the top contenders after the jump.
What with the heat and the humidity, you probably forgot all about Velvet Revolver’s search for a new singer–which means that the time is right to note that Spacehog’s Royston Langston is now in the mix for the gig, with Entertainment Weekly reporting that jam sessions between the former Guns N’ Roses members and the former husband of Liv Tyler were “successful.” (Now there is a rock and roll adjective.) “They all got along great,” a tipster told EW. “It was really a refreshing change for the band.” And given that Matt Sorum hasn’t irritably blogged about Langston’s rock and roll attitude, I’d have to think that at the very least, all the guys had fun. But do you think that Duff can do those falsetto backing vocals on “In The Meantime”? Because that would maybe drag me out to a show… if I could get discounted, or at least service-charge-free, tickets. Video of that track after the jump.
All you gossiping fools saying that Chester Bennington is going to leave Linkin Park and join Velvet Revolver? He wants it to be made very clear that those rumors are just that, rumors. So stop spreading rumors about Chester Bennington, unknown people who were spreading those rumors. “It would be very uncomfortable for me to join that band because I’m friends with all of them, including Scott,” he told Kerrang! “If I was even going to do just one show, or record just one song with them, I’d have to know it was okay with my band, all those guys and Scott [Weiland] too.” It does seem odd that people would (allegedly, as I can’t find these rumors anywhere) think Chester would leave his cash cow to play with a past-its-prime act like Velvet Revolver, but then again, watching Slash work on a solo is probably a lot more fun than watching Mike Shinoda work on a rap.
