VELVET REVOLVER To Kick Off Tour With Benefit For SCOTT WEILAND's Late Brother

[FunkyMonkey]

VELVET REVOLVER will kick off its "Re-Evolution" tour tonight (Thursday, May 3) at The Avalon in Hollywood, California. Tonight's performance will also be the first concert to benefit VR frontman Scott Weiland's newly formed charity foundation, aimed at helping families of loved ones lost to the disease of addiction. Proceeds from tonight's inaugural show will go towards supporting Scott's late brother Michael's widow and two surviving daughters.

In a recent interview with Q magazine, Weiland said that the lyrics on the group's forthcoming album, "Libertad", will be a major departure from "Contraband", which largely dealt with Weiland's ongoing battle with heroin. Though he's clean now, the effects of drugs still cast a shadow over the album ? Weiland's brother Michael died of an overdose during its production, and one song, "Pills, Demons, Etc.", deals with the subject explicitly. "Michael's death played a big part in the writing of this record," the singer told Q magazine. "But the way I see it, he's finally free from pain. He's achieved final liberty."

"Libertad" (artwork) will be released on July 3 via RCA. The band has European festival dates on tap through early July.

An audio snippet of VELVET REVOLVER's new single, "She Builds Quick Machines", is available for download at this location. The song, which is scheduled to go for radio adds mid-May, is one of the four new tracks the group has been playing of late during shows in South America.

VELVET REVOLVER is rumored to be planning a late summer U.S. tour with ALICE IN CHAINS.

Source: Blabbermouth.net

[Jimmy?]

Where is this from?

EDIT: Q Magazine! Sorry 

[Grouse]

And this is from velvetrevolver.com looks like blabbermouth just copied and pasted...

May 3rd, 2007
VR Kicks Off Tour With Benefit For Michael Weiland
Velvet Revolver plays tonight at The Avalon, in Hollywood, CA. The show starts their Re-Evolution tour of US theaters, in support of their upcoming sophomore album ?Libertad?.

Tonight?s show will also be the first concert to benefit Scott Weiland?s newly-formed charity foundation, aimed at helping families of loved ones lost to the disease of addiction. Proceeds from tonight?s inaugural show will go towards supporting Scott?s late brother Michael?s widow and two surviving daughters.

[FunkyMonkey]

A write-up from last nights show....looks like Izzy attended.


Velvet Revolver singer honors dead brother in L.A.

Fri May 4, 2007 5:38AM EDT

 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland paid tribute to his recently deceased brother on Thursday, during the first show of a brief North American tour to promote the band's upcoming second album.

Michael Weiland died of a drug overdose during the recording of "Libertad," and a brother of drummer Matt Sorum died about the same time in similar circumstances, the singer told the crowd at the Avalon Hollywood club.

"It literally crushed us," said Weiland, who has long struggled with drugs himself. "It made this record happen for both of us."

He then turned his back to the crowd to sing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," with Sorum singing harmony, as he looked up at a video screen playing home video footage of Michael, his wife and two young daughters. The concert was a benefit for Michael Weiland's family.

Velvet Revolver also unveiled a handful of tunes from "Libertad," which comes out July 3 via RCA Records. It marks the follow-up to 2004's "Contraband," which yielded the Grammy-winning hit single "Slither," the final tune of Thursday's 90-minute gig.

The band formed in 2003, Weiland previously having been in Stone Temple Pilots, while Sorum, guitarist Slash and bass player Duff McKagan were in Guns N' Roses. The lineup is rounded out by Dave Kushner.

New material previewed included the first single "She Builds Quick Machines," for which the band had shot a video the day before, "The Last Fight," "Get Out the Door" and "Just Sixteen," according to a set list.

The abundance of unfamiliar songs, combined with the show's late start -- 50 minutes behind schedule at 10:50 -- was a drain on the crowd. The floor emptied steadily throughout the performance. 

 The band also dusted off an extended version of the Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline" and Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her." The penultimate song was another cover, Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer."

The audience included former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin, and Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell.

The band has 11 more club shows scheduled through May 22 in New York, and will then spend June playing throughout Europe. A big American tour is scheduled for the end of summer.

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSN0425587720070504?pageNumber=1


 

[Grouse]

damn you beat me to it funkymonkey? ?

Here's the setlist looks like pretty awesome setlist to me :

Let It Roll
Do It For The Kids
Sucker Train Blues
Superhuman
The Last Fight
She Mine
Fall To Pieces
just sixteen or Spay(mixed reports on that one)
Vasoline
Get Out The Door
She Builds Quick Machines
Set Me Free
Wish You Were Here
Used To Love Her
Psycho Killer
Slither

A write-up from last nights show....looks like Izzy attended.

The abundance of unfamiliar songs, combined with the show's late start -- 50 minutes behind schedule at 10:50 -- was a drain on the crowd. The floor emptied steadily throughout the performance.? ?

I guess that's a risk you'll have to take when you have the balls to play alot of new songs in your set...

[Booker Floyd]

The Last Fight
She Mine

Putting new songs back-to-back isnt the best way to keep the crowd.

[estrangedpaul]

The audience included former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin

I wonder if this will be considered news like his visit to the Heaven and Hell concert was? Had to be said.

[Grouse]

The audience included former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin

I wonder if this will be considered news like his visit to the Heaven and Hell concert was? Had to be said.

  You should try to submit it and see if it makes the frontpage...

[Booker Floyd]

I wonder if this will be considered news like his visit to the Heaven and Hell concert was? Had to be said.

Apparently thats more newsworthy than VR putting out a new album. 

[Grouse]

A load of pics from the show:

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====271828&nbc1=1

[CheapJon]

have we gotten a tracklist of libertad yet?

there were some talking on putting that psycho killer on the labum yes? i guess it's on libertad then if they played it...

[Grouse]

have we gotten a tracklist of libertad yet?

there were some talking on putting that psycho killer on the labum yes? i guess it's on libertad then if they played it...

Yeah we got one awhile back but I'm guessing that can be dismissed as a rumor since "Last fight" wasn't on it and they are playing it live now...

[Booker Floyd]

have we gotten a tracklist of libertad yet?

there were some talking on putting that psycho killer on the labum yes? i guess it's on libertad then if they played it...

They also played "Negative Creep" before their first album.  I wouldnt assume its on the album.

[CheapJon]

have we gotten a tracklist of libertad yet?

there were some talking on putting that psycho killer on the labum yes? i guess it's on libertad then if they played it...

They also played "Negative Creep" before their first album.? I wouldnt assume its on the album.

yeah but that wasn't what i was talking about.. i think it was sorum who said on maybe camp freddy radio while the guys was mixing in atlanta (or something i think) that they recorded 2 covers one was psycho killer and one other song from hmm i don't remember the bands name or what song but yeah.. look it up

EDIT: i looked it up 4 ya.. http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=43643.0

they never talked about negative creep like that or did they?

[Grouse]

have we gotten a tracklist of libertad yet?

there were some talking on putting that psycho killer on the labum yes? i guess it's on libertad then if they played it...

They also played "Negative Creep" before their first album.? I wouldnt assume its on the album.

yeah but that wasn't what i was talking about.. i think it was sorum who said on maybe camp freddy radio while the guys was mixing in atlanta (or something i think) that they recorded 2 covers one was psycho killer and one other song from hmm i don't remember the bands name or what song but yeah.. look it up

EDIT: i looked it up 4 ya.. http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=43643.0

they never talked about negative creep like that or did they?

Nope you're right it was my impression that those two songs were going to be on the album...

[Booker Floyd]

yeah but that wasn't what i was talking about.. i think it was sorum who said on maybe camp freddy radio while the guys was mixing in atlanta (or something i think) that they recorded 2 covers one was psycho killer and one other song from hmm i don't remember the bands name or what song but yeah.. look it up

EDIT: i looked it up 4 ya.. http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=43643.0

they never talked about negative creep like that or did they?

Yes, they recorded "Pyscho Killer."  They recorded "Negative Creep," as well as "No More, No More" and "Surrender."  Its more likely that "Psycho Killer," like those songs, will be a B-Side than an album track.

[estrangedpaul]

yeah but that wasn't what i was talking about.. i think it was sorum who said on maybe camp freddy radio while the guys was mixing in atlanta (or something i think) that they recorded 2 covers one was psycho killer and one other song from hmm i don't remember the bands name or what song but yeah.. look it up

EDIT: i looked it up 4 ya.. http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=43643.0

they never talked about negative creep like that or did they?

Yes, they recorded "Pyscho Killer."? They recorded "Negative Creep," as well as "No More, No More" and "Surrender."? Its more likely that "Psycho Killer," like those songs, will be a B-Side than an album track.

I'm pretty sure there it was revealed they won't be on the album. They won't put covers on the album, they'll be b-sides, for sure.

[w.axl.rose]

i uploaded wish you were here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzgL5-_sIEs

[Grouse]

Another review from the show:


POP MUSIC REVIEW
Velvet Revolver's back with a fresh, fierce sound
It wasn't supposed to last this long, but Velvet Revolver is back ? sounding strong and armed with new songs.

By Greg Burk, Special to The Times


Velvet Revolver looked like a train rolling toward a rickety bridge when it loaded up four years ago. Supergroups aren't built to last, and fate offered few promises to the combination: three burnouts from a destructive/destroyed rock band (Guns N' Roses), plus the lead stoner of Stone Temple Pilots.

At the Avalon on Thursday, though, V.R. warmed up for a tour promoting an imminent second album, "Libertad," and the omens were favorable. Emotionally bruised singer Scott Weiland didn't look like he was doing us a favor anymore. The new songs sounded different and good. And the band rocked.


When Slash drags his top hat and guitar to any band, it burns. Not only do the dude's riffs pack more crunch than a truck full of pretzels, but he's also an old-school showman who will stick his ax into the floorboards, into the air, behind his neck or anywhere but where the sun doesn't shine to get some sweat popping.

Bolstered by the leathery resiliency of old GNR bandmates Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums), plus old pal Dave Kushner (second guitar), Slash stabbed like a knifepoint, delivering minimum notes for maximum damage.

The emaciated Weiland, meanwhile, sporting his customary Nazi officer's cap and new teeth, was quickly out of his shirt and into his sexy-prisoner belly dance. Weiland's rangy but foggy voice, which in 2003 seemed a bad fit for this noisy gang, cut through pretty well thanks to practiced diction and judicious soundboard equalization.

Though he posed with a star's un-self-conscious naturalness, there was something newly haunted about him, which he explained in a rambling tribute to his addict brother, who died during the making of "Libertad." (Weiland also nodded to Sorum, whose brother died during the same period. This night's proceeds benefited an addiction charity.)

The five new songs were a major draw. "She Builds Quick Machines," the introductory single from "Libertad," was a straight rocker with a gripping, half-tempo bridge, in the mode of Velvet Revolver's first album, "Contraband." The main ear-opener was "The Last Fight," which mixed a Creedence-like country sway with nasty midrange jangle and a soaring chorus.

The set leaned, of course, on "Contraband" material ? the big ballad "Fall to Pieces"; the chiming "Superhuman"; the sleazy, dynamic hit "Slither" ? and the band tore through it with fierce authority and a Sex Pistols-like groove. It also pulled out a rocked-up version of Guns N' Roses' acoustic "Used to Love Her (But I Had to Kill Her)," a shrouded take on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (in brotherly memorial), and an overtly evil revision of Talking Heads' nerdy "Psycho Killer," with Slash on smoking slide. The mostly 30-ish audience, though attentive, remained surprisingly unfrenzied except when booing the hourlong delay between sets. (Learn that from Axl, gents?)

The Actual, four nice young men signed to Weiland's label, opened with a springy set of pop-punk that recalled a grungier Green Day or a preppier Replacements. The few devil horns the public offered were of the sarcastic variety.

[FunkyMonkey]

This is the review from VARIETY...

Velvet Revolver has always seemed like something created in a marketing meeting rather than an organically conceived band, as the former members of Guns N' Roses turned to Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland. "Contraband," the band's 2004 debut, and the tour that followed were too obviously the result of a shotgun marriage. At the Avalon, Velvet Revolver performed songs from the band's upcoming album, "Libertad" (due this summer on RCA); with that material they made a concerted effort to reconcile the two camps but were only partially successful.

Live, the problem is manifested by the lack of chemistry between Weiland and the rest of the band. He may drape his arm around Slash or bassist Duff McKagen's shoulders, but they don't really acknowledge his presence. (It's hard to take him seriously when, wearing a peaked military-style cap and aviator glasses, he looked like he was auditioning for a road production of "The Producers.") The band bashes along, with Slash providing his corroded, Johnny Thunders-styled guitar solos and Matt Sorum bashing away at the drums while Weiland pirouettes around the stage. He's a potent frontman, but just not for this band.

And the songs that favor Weiland don't play to the band's strengths. "She Builds Quick Machines," the album's first single, strikes an uneasy balance -- it's grungy on the verses, crunchy on the chorus. The aud greets the new material politely, throws up the requisite devil's horns and fists for songs from "Contraband" but saves its biggest cheers for the Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots covers. The evening's oldest song, a heartfelt but leaden cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" -- performed in memory of Weiland's brother Michael, who died during the recording of "Libertad," and sung by an obviously emotional Weiland with his back to the crowd as he watched home movies projected on a screen behind the band -- found the crowd getting restless.

But with this style of hard rock no longer a driving cultural force, the genre's fans may be willing to get their fix wherever they can. Velvet Revolver plays New York's Nokia Theater on May 22.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933548.html?categoryid=34&cs=1