Like the Timex Social Club, I spend a lot of time lamenting the rumors that surround me every day. How do they get started? And where do they get crazy? In Truthmongerer, I’ll try to suss out the kernels of truth in the rumors that are taking up airspace in gossip columns, blogs, and our tips inbox.
THE RUMOR: The new lead singer of Velvet Revolver is none other than Lenny Kravitz.
TRUTH THRESHOLD: 38%.
The truth quotient of the rumor that Lenny Kravitz would be replacing Weiland as the lead singer of Velvet Revolver has plummeted from 38% to zero, if Kravitz’s just-issued statement to Rolling Stone is to be believed. “I know and love the Velvet Revolver guys but there is no truth to the story about me joining their band,” he told the magazine. Looks like bloggers everywhere will have this story to kick around for a little longer! But where will it go next?
Velvet Revolver-related factoids that you can slip into your happy-hour chatter. 1. Ex-Spacehog vocalist Royston Langdon will probably not be the band’s new lead singer, despite the guys getting along famously. 2. More »
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.
The Los Angeles Times‘ Chris Lee has provided a little bit of gross context for his Stone Temple Pilots profile on the paper’s blog. At the same time Weiland was giving the writer quotes like “I live my life the way I live my life. I don’t have to make any apologies,” he was also launching “huge green” loogies at the wall behind the DeLeo brothers, who did not seem ruffled by the sudden appearance of expectorate. While I admire Weiland’s indignation (“hey, how does it feel to be going to jail for six hours?” is indeed a douche move), Lou Reed knows that while loogies may not be forgotten by those who witness their deployment, retorts along the lines of “What are you, a fucking asshole?” read better in print.
The latest person not singing for Velvet Revolver: Panic Channel frontman and former MTV VJ Steve Isaacs. “I got an odd email congratulating me about singing for the Velvet Revolver guys, which took me by surprise cause, well… I’m not.” Um, duly noted? More »
The latest person not singing for Velvet Revolver: Panic Channel frontman and former MTV VJ Steve Isaacs. “I got an odd email congratulating me about singing for the Velvet Revolver guys, which took me by surprise cause, well… I’m not.” Um, duly noted? More »
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.
He’s been talking about it for a while, but Slash sounds gung ho to drop a solo album. “I’m working on it pretty aggressively right now while I have the time cause as soon as Velvet finds its singer, then it’s going to be off the races with that,” he told Spinner. More »
A tipster has very important innuendo regarding the new singer of Velvet Revolver, which will not be picked by reality-TV committee: “I have some new information coming from fans/family close to the hard rock Australian band Rose Tattoo to which Slash & Duff are HUGE fans of and shared the stage with many times, that Duff has been in communications with an Australian singer currently living in the USA. This guy can apparently sing up a storm and of course is a bloody Aussie, so that in itself along with the great voice will be a good choice for the band from all marketing angles.” Well, if there’s one thing Velvet Revolver needs after Libertad, it’s a better marketing angle. So, we have but one question for all of you: Who can it be, now? (We’re pretty sure the candidate in question is not Rose Tattoo singer Angry Anderson, since he’s apparently living in Sydney these days.) Poll after the jump!
