Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Velvet Revolver
SCOTT WEILAND AND FRIENDS PREP " A REAL MEAN ROCK-AND-ROLL RECORD"

TO HELP ENSURE THAT THEIR second album lives up to their double platinum debut, 2004's Contraband, Velvet Revolver hired legendary producer Rick Rubin, whose most recent credits include the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Grammy-nominated disc Stadium Arcadium. But After three months of preproduction and little input from Rubin, the bandmates were bickering and banging their heads against the wall- and not in a good way. So they severed ties whit Rubin and brought in Brendan O' Brien, who had worked whit Weiland in his Stone Temple Pilots days. The switch was just what Velver Revolver needed. "We've gotten more done in the first two weeks whit him than we had whit Rick in the past two months". says Weiland, who filled us in on the latest.

What Happened whit Rick Rubin?
He's got a great resume, but he wasn't jibing whit us. After we started working whit him, he was never around. We saw him maybe one or two times, and all of a sudden it's two and a half months later and we're stuck in the mud. We're showing up to practice every day and working, but we're going over the same things over and over and running into the same problems because there's a lot of strong personalities in the band and we need someone to come in and kick our asses a little bit.


Why was Brendan O' Brien the man for the job?
He rocks things forward at a crazy pace. There's a whole new vibe, and it's been contagius.

How much material do you have for the record?
We wrote 40 songs, and we've whittled it down to 25, We'll probably cut that down to 13 or 14. I think we'll be here whit Brendan for another month, and then we'll have about two weeks of recording. So the record should be out in spring.


How will this album differ from Contraband?
When the band first got together, we were sort of like shipwreck victims reaching for a life raft. We were so excited to be making a record that we laid down a lot of tracks because we didn't want to let go. Now we've known each other a long time and done hundreds of shows, so this one will be more simple and display the band as it sounds right now whitout lots of layers.


Are there any different influences at play?
I don't like much new stuff. I've been listening to a lot of the Who and Pink Floyd, and you might be able to hear some of that. But also you're gonna hear other people's influences. Like, I know Duff favorite artist is Iggy Pop, and I always hear the Stooges in his writing.

You've said this would be a concept record. Is that still the case?
I had been working on a concept that I had put a lot of time into, but i shot that all to hell because in the last 12 months there have been innumerous alleged concept albums that have been released by innumerous schlock rock bands that i despise. And to put out a concept album in a marketplace that is alredy littered ehit trite bullshit would be a disservice to rock fans. So instead we decided to write a real mean rock and roll record.

FROM REVOLVER MAGAZINE  MARCH 2007

so no more concept record....crappy i was hoping to get one from them...still the energy in VR seems awesome right now...i cant wait :drool:

"After we started working whit him, he was never around."

That's definitely been the wrap on Rick for a while now, he hasn't been a "hands on" guy for years.

Me too Scott.. I listened to the Who and Pink Floyd a ton when i was growing up. They are good influences when making a record. Its too bad his concept record isnt coming out after he put work into it. I didnt know anyone else has concept records, thats how little i listen to newer music. Green Day i heard of, but i never listened to the record.

Sweet man, thanks for posting. Its cool to see how things are going with all the updates form the vr camp, sounds like we'll be getting a new vr record soon! :beer:

I like the sounds of that!!! :beer:

i think scott may be reffering to fags such as my chemical romance with the concept thing.

Have there been any others besides Green Day?  Maybe MCR (I think).  I guess he hates both those bands.

I am waiting for two great albums this year, VR and GNR (maybe not in that order).  ;)
I also can't get into the new stuff too much. Too generic, it all sounds the same. I would say to the bands: try learning some new chords or  arrange the notes  in a new way.

I think this album needs to more than "live up" to Contraband.  Contraband was good, but hardly spectactular.  A "real mean record" would fit the bill perfectly, and I hope that's what they deliver.

Um, I believe he said too many crappy concept records in 2006 or the past twelve months something like that, Green Day's came out in 2004 a little over two years, so the only one i can think of that came out is MCR's well and Fergie's which was the concept of sounding like crap.

Pretty pointless, but why does everything say "whit"?

agreed, Contraband was solid and fun. but c'mon i am a (obviously) huge Guns N' Roses fan and also a big Stone Temple Pilots fan, and i know that Scott, Slash, and the boys? are capable of so much more.? i'm sure that they will prove that on this new record.