here's an article from the san francisco gate. The interviewer tells slash it sounds like snakepit. Slash also takes a little dig at axl.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2004/06/06/PKGMJ6HP911.DTL&type=music--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POP QUIZ: SLASH
Aidin Vaziri
Sunday, June 6, 2004
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Because the world is so desperate for new material from the Guns N' Roses camp -- in any form -- the premiere album from rock super-group Velvet Revolver arrives under such intense security that journalists are allowed to hear the appropriately titled "Contraband" only over the phone before it hits stores this week. Made up of walking pharmaceutical miracle and former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland and original GNR bassist Duff McKagan and guitar god Slash, the band plays Monday at the Warfield. We spoke to Slash.
Q: So I heard the album over the phone. It sounds just like Nickelback.
A: Oh, come on. I was in a bar in a hotel in London recently and the DJ played our song right after Nickelback and it's definitely nothing like that.
Q: Maybe you should have flown me out to London to hear it for myself.
A: I just wonder if they put the handset right up to the speaker or they have some way of hooking the phone up to the stereo.
Q: I think they take the phone, dip it in the toilet, scotch-tape it to an intern's forehead and then play it through his nose.
A: I have to talk to someone about that.
Q: Definitely. You don't want to see those reviews.
A: So far the feedback has been that it sounds like its own band. That's important. Obviously there's signature stuff from each guy that you could pick out, but as a collective record or product or whatever you call it, it should have its own sound.
Q: It mostly sounds like your old band. You know, Slash's Snakepit?
A: That's the first time I heard that one.
Q: Hey, have you been arrested recently?
A: Not quite. Almost. But not that I remember.
Q: What about Scott Weiland?
A: No. Out of everybody, I heard he was the most genuine rock 'n' roll singer around. This was just based on his voice alone.
Q: This is before something like his 847th drug bust.
A: That's not that big a deal. Everyone in this band has been strung out. We've all managed to function one way or another, although it's been difficult. He's an amazing singer, an amazing lyricist. He shows up every day and wants to work.
Q: Were you ready to bolt when Buckethead quit Guns N' Roses?
A: No. This whole thing with Buckethead just happened. I was amazed that anybody has hung in there with that band this long anyway.
Q: Don't you miss your old friend Axl Rose?
A: When you're dedicated and committed and tight with these other guys (in Velvet Revolver), this is not something that would be blown apart by something like (Buckethead leaving GNR). But before that ever started there were multimillion-dollar deals thrown at us original members of Guns N' Roses like there was no tomorrow to get back together. But it will never happen.
Q: Is that why you retired the top hat?
A: I didn't retire it. I just don't wear it in the context of this group. I still have it. We shot a video last week and I just took it with me for security, I guess. I had a desperate case of inhibition. That's where the whole top hat came from -- sort of, you can't see me and I can't see you. So I brought it with me. It's around. But in the context of this band, it just feels a little bit too predictable.
Aidin Vaziri is a freelance writer.
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