Classic Rock Magazine - Revolver Re-Load

[Grouse]

Looks like slash was the one who was in rehab, good to see he's back on the right pad again...


Classic Rock Magazine - Revolver Re-Load

New album and tour beats Chinese Democracy. Again.

Velvet Revolver return to Europe this summer for an appearance at the Download Festival and a brief headline tour. Coinciding with the arrival of their second album, Libertad, in early june - predicted to be ahead of any release by G'NR - they can be seen at: London Hammersmith Apollo June 5, Cardiff Arena 7, Download Festival 8, Glasgow SECC 10, Blackpool Empress Ballroom 11. VR join Motley Crue, DragonForce, Evanescence, Machine Head, Slayer, Wolfmother and Marilyn Manson at Download, headlined by Iron Maiden, Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance.

Although the band had intended to work with Rick Rubin on Libertad, the ubiquitous producer's schedule forced them to bring in Brendan O'Brien instead. Bassist Duff McKagan has no regrets, insisting the new album is a vast improvement over 2004's Contraband.

"If we'd waited arounc for Rick, I don't even know if we'd be in the studio yet," the bassist told us. "Contraband was a great first record, but a three-and-a-half years on we've toured for 18 months. Slash and I have played together for 20 years off and on, but a whole new dynamic has developed."

Velvet Revolver prepared 50 songs for the album. The best 18 of those were recorded, including Talking Heads' Psycho Killer and Can't Get It Out Of My Head by ELO. However, only 13 or 14 songs will make the final listing. "Those that don't make it will get used for something else," says McKagan. "It's hard to envisage us doing those songs, but they came out really fucking amazingly."

This year, VR (who played Download in 2005) appear on a day headlines by My Chemical Romance. "I'm cool with that," insists McKagan. "We wanted to take them out with us on the Contraband tour, so I really like them as a band."

Slash, who recently got out of rehab, has also signed a deal to collaborate with writer Anthony Bozza on an autobiography for Harper Collins Books. "He's probably too embarrassed to tell us about that, but I'll read it," chuckles Duff. "Slash is in the best mindspace I've know him since we were 19 years old. It's great to see. The few months before [he went into rehab] were pretty scary. But he's sought help and done the hard work. He's faced some shit and dealt with it."

By the time you read this, Velvet Revolver will also have inducted Van Halen to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. With the organisers doubtful that Edward and Alex Van Halen would attend the ceremony - rightly, as it turned out only Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar showed up - Velvet Revolver agreed to perform two Van Halen songs on the band's behalf.

"Our involvement changes on a daily basis," sighs McKagan, talking during a break in rehearsals. "We're inducting the Roth and Hagar line-ups, so we'll play Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, plus Runaround from the Hagar years. We're happy to do that, but I admit the Roth version of Van Halen is the only one for me."

Meanwhile, Van Halen's reunion plans have descended into farce. It was claimed that their summer shows were never formally announced, then that they'd been placed on "indefinite hold". As this issue went to press, Edward Van Halen admitted himself to rehab.

[jarmo]

Looks like slash was the one who was in rehab, good to see he's back on the right pad again...

Slash said so himself in a Swedish interview and people assumed he was joking......


Didn't Matt also mention on the Camp Freddy show that he was in rehab?



/jarmo

[Fingers]

Duff mentioned it too-I think Slash will always be battling this-it might be more for booze, not sure-Scott always got more headlines because of run-ins with the law through the years, but I think Slash's problems for some reason aren't really mentioned a lot. I think he had problems in 2000 also (2nd snakepit).

[jarmo]

I think he had problems in 2000 also (2nd snakepit).

When they called his alcohol poisoning "pneumonia"?


From Q magazine:

When Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) signed up for the project last summer, it seemed like they'd been thrown a lifeline, but the in-demand producer failed to give them the guidance they needed.

"He came to our studio a few times and just told us to write more songs," says bassist Duff McKagan. "By November we had 50 songs, but we'd lost direction."

Although the band had intended to work with Rick Rubin on Libertad, the ubiquitous producer's schedule forced them to bring in Brendan O'Brien instead. Bassist Duff McKagan has no regrets, insisting the new album is a vast improvement over 2004's Contraband.

"If we'd waited around for Rick, I don't even know if we'd be in the studio yet," the bassist told us.

Is that the same thing?

So now Duff's saying the reason they didn't work with Rick Rubin was because of Rubin's schedule and not because he thought their material wasn't good enough?


I thought Rick waited for them to write songs that he thought should be recorded.....

Maybe I'm just a stupid hater who fails to see that Duff is saying the same thing in two different ways here. 





/jarmo

[Grouse]

^^ I think he's actually trying to say the same thing just in slightly different wording...

[Fingers]

I think he had problems in 2000 also (2nd snakepit).

When they called his alcohol poisoning "pneumonia"?


From Q magazine:

When Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) signed up for the project last summer, it seemed like they'd been thrown a lifeline, but the in-demand producer failed to give them the guidance they needed.

"He came to our studio a few times and just told us to write more songs," says bassist Duff McKagan. "By November we had 50 songs, but we'd lost direction."

Although the band had intended to work with Rick Rubin on Libertad, the ubiquitous producer's schedule forced them to bring in Brendan O'Brien instead. Bassist Duff McKagan has no regrets, insisting the new album is a vast improvement over 2004's Contraband.

"If we'd waited around for Rick, I don't even know if we'd be in the studio yet," the bassist told us.

Is that the same thing?

So now Duff's saying the reason they didn't work with Rick Rubin was because of Rubin's schedule and not because he thought their material wasn't good enough?


I thought Rick waited for them to write songs that he thought should be recorded.....

Maybe I'm just a stupid hater who fails to see that Duff is saying the same thing in two different ways here.?





/jarmo

Jarmo,
         I understand what you are saying, but I think alclohol and drug abuse are a different area-I know they called it "pneomnia", but it may not have even been Slash who stated that-maybe they were trying to protect family, kids, I don't know-I think we all know what Slash's problems have been-as far as the quotes by Duff, I don't know,  maybe he's lying, but we're overanalyzing-it didn't work out with Rick Rubin-that happens with producers, and I'm sure Axl would tell you the same thing-sometimes rock stars bullshit for ego purposes, and as much as I love Slash, Duff, and VR, they are no different.

[jarmo]

It's nicer to say "his schedule didn't allow us to work with him" than to say "he thought we needed more songs and we didn't agree with him".

The article makes it seem like it was Rick's schedule. Which I don't think is the whole truth....

He probably didn't believe in their material, and they didn't wanna write more. So they switched to Brendan.



Regarding the rehab rumors/stories. VR has had plenty of drug related rumors during their four year history.


The only one who hasn't been in, or rumored to have been in rehab these past four years, is Dave.



/jarmo

[Fingers]

I understand-I'm sure Rick would have a different version, he's in demand as a producer, and it would be a blow to anyone's ego to hear that you material isn't that good-I'll reserve my judgement until the album comes out-as far as the drug rumors go, I guess there have been a lot of rumors, and there always will be-if Duff did enter rehab a few years ago, that was a pretty good run for 10 years-Slash may always have drug/alclohol problems, but I remember one time in an interview a few years ago, the it was brought up in the interview about GNR's drug past, and I remember Slash pointed out right away, that it was Duff with booze problems, and Steven, Izzy and himself with heroin problems, and he was quick to point out the only thing Axl was addicted to was cigarettes-I thought that was a stand up thing to say.

[slashisvr]

I think he had problems in 2000 also (2nd snakepit).

When they called his alcohol poisoning "pneumonia"?


From Q magazine:

When Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) signed up for the project last summer, it seemed like they'd been thrown a lifeline, but the in-demand producer failed to give them the guidance they needed.

"He came to our studio a few times and just told us to write more songs," says bassist Duff McKagan. "By November we had 50 songs, but we'd lost direction."

Although the band had intended to work with Rick Rubin on Libertad, the ubiquitous producer's schedule forced them to bring in Brendan O'Brien instead. Bassist Duff McKagan has no regrets, insisting the new album is a vast improvement over 2004's Contraband.

"If we'd waited around for Rick, I don't even know if we'd be in the studio yet," the bassist told us.

Is that the same thing?

So now Duff's saying the reason they didn't work with Rick Rubin was because of Rubin's schedule and not because he thought their material wasn't good enough?


I thought Rick waited for them to write songs that he thought should be recorded.....

Maybe I'm just a stupid hater who fails to see that Duff is saying the same thing in two different ways here.?





/jarmo

ahahaha sometyhing comes to mind

"i know what slash is thinking, i know what matt is thinking" (DVD Illusion tours

same again on the don't cry or estranged vids i think lmao 

[vietnow138]

here's what Dave and Scott said about the Rick Rubin thing:

Dave:"It was originally Rick who I was excited about because I had known for years but never worked with him. I think it had a lot to do with what the band needed at the time. I think we didn't realize that we needed -- because we kind of had been meandering for a year writing songs -- I think we needed someone to corral us and say, 'OK, guys come on let's go. Let's do this,' and that's not really Rick's style of working."


Scott:"If you're gonna work with a producer, unless you're gonna produce something yourselves, if you're gonna pay a producer, get in the trenches with us and work with us," he said. "The Rick thing didn't work out, and, you know, he was working on a couple of other things, Metallica and U2, and so we kind of became very uninspired."

Hopefully that brought a better insight to what happened, there's a few more of these on velvet-revolver.com, which is where i found the ones above.

[Mikkamakka]

I think that since Rubin didn't show up for months and when he came to the studio he only said that 'write more songs' wasn't what the band needed from a producer. As it seems Brendan O'Brien is like the 6th member of the band. Guess they needed someone to control the egos and help to find a direction everyone agrees with.

[Grouse]

I think that since Rubin didn't show up for months and when he came to the studio he only said that 'write more songs' wasn't what the band needed from a producer. As it seems Brendan O'Brien is like the 6th member of the band. Guess they needed someone to control the egos and help to find a direction everyone agrees with.

I think that's exactly what duff was trying to say...

[estrangedpaul]

I think he had problems in 2000 also (2nd snakepit).

When they called his alcohol poisoning "pneumonia"?


From Q magazine:

When Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) signed up for the project last summer, it seemed like they'd been thrown a lifeline, but the in-demand producer failed to give them the guidance they needed.

"He came to our studio a few times and just told us to write more songs," says bassist Duff McKagan. "By November we had 50 songs, but we'd lost direction."

Although the band had intended to work with Rick Rubin on Libertad, the ubiquitous producer's schedule forced them to bring in Brendan O'Brien instead. Bassist Duff McKagan has no regrets, insisting the new album is a vast improvement over 2004's Contraband.

"If we'd waited around for Rick, I don't even know if we'd be in the studio yet," the bassist told us.

Is that the same thing?

So now Duff's saying the reason they didn't work with Rick Rubin was because of Rubin's schedule and not because he thought their material wasn't good enough?


I thought Rick waited for them to write songs that he thought should be recorded.....

Maybe I'm just a stupid hater who fails to see that Duff is saying the same thing in two different ways here.?





/jarmo

It seems the same thing to me. They wrote loads of songs that they thought worthwhile, but Rick didn't have time to work on them because of his schedule, so he just told 'em: write more! Maybe, like you said, there was two different reasons, but very few breakups or disagreements happen for only one reason, but a mixture. Having said that the different members have been fairly consistent with their reasons.

[estrangedpaul]

It's nicer to say "his schedule didn't allow us to work with him" than to say "he thought we needed more songs and we didn't agree with him".

The article makes it seem like it was Rick's schedule. Which I don't think is the whole truth....

He probably didn't believe in their material, and they didn't wanna write more. So they switched to Brendan.



Regarding the rehab rumors/stories. VR has had plenty of drug related rumors during their four year history.


The only one who hasn't been in, or rumored to have been in rehab these past four years, is Dave.



/jarmo

Yeah, that's true! They've done well to make two albums in that time and also tour for a year and a half, considering all their personal problems. No excuses, just get on with it. Very professional.

But then again as someone said, if you disagree with drugs, you disagree with 90% of all rock music made in the last 40 years. Interesting point.

[GnR-NOW]

I don't like this article and I'll tell you why. 

New album and tour beats Chinese Democracy. Again.

Yeah there's no GNR album out, but was any expecting there to be.  This article fails to mention how GNR toured all of Europe last summer and did most of the major festivals and concerts and sold out all their shows in the UK.  Now under normal circumstances GNR would have put out CD but it's GNR not every other band. 
VR is doing things right by putting out the album and touring, but lets compare the two if CD is ever released. 

[Naupis]

I don't like this article and I'll tell you why. 

New album and tour beats Chinese Democracy. Again.

Yeah there's no GNR album out, but was any expecting there to be.  This article fails to mention how GNR toured all of Europe last summer and did most of the major festivals and concerts and sold out all their shows in the UK.  Now under normal circumstances GNR would have put out CD but it's GNR not every other band. 
VR is doing things right by putting out the album and touring, but lets compare the two if CD is ever released. 

They are just poking fun, it's harmless. CD is a punchline for every article ever written about any gunner/ex-gunner. They weren't making some malicious attack on Axl. They weren't comparing music, just poking fun at the debacle that is CD.

[novrain91]

Regarding the rehab rumors/stories. VR has had plenty of drug related rumors during their four year history.


The only one who hasn't been in, or rumored to have been in rehab these past four years, is Dave.



/jarmo

Isn't Duff supposed to die if he drinks even 1 drink again? Seems to go against him having to go to rehab, unless it's for harder drugs, but it seems like he's been clean from that stuff for years.

[D]

Rubin is doing Metallica,U2 so I believe the schedule thing.  I think VR wanted someone who could devote more time to their project.  Maybe at first Rubin didnt think they had strong enough material, but that doesnt mean they dont now.

With Slash being in rehab and Duff talkin of how bad off Slash was months before he went, it kind of makes u wonder if the Axl story about Slash coming to his house may have been true.

I dont want to start that debate here, just an observation I made.


I think Libertad will be great, I still love Contraband personally, so if its better than that, I will be thrilled.

At this point I dont compare VR to New GNR cause I think the style of music is vastly different.

[KIKO2K6]

''With Slash being in rehab and Duff talkin of how bad off Slash was months before he went, it kind of makes u wonder if the Axl story about Slash coming to his house may have been true.''

I woudering that too.

I think has some true behind of AXL said.
It is so crazy,Slash drunk at AXL house gate saying all that shit about Scoot.


Five days for me,to see VR here at Rio...Duffy said they will play some new songs .

[GnR-NOW]

"At this point I dont compare VR to New GNR cause I think the style of music is vastly different."

That's the truth right there.