Velvet Revolver :

Scott Weiland - Vocals
Duff McKagan - Bass
Dave Kushner - Guitar
Slash - Guitar
Matt Sorum - Drums

2002

In April 29, 2002, former Guns'N'Roses bandmembers Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum played at a tribute for Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo with former Buckcherry singer Josh Todd. They were billed as Buck n' Roses and later changed the name to Cherry Roses. It was originally set up as a one-off gig, but everything went great and the guys decided to keep jamming together. They decided to form a new band, but in July, Duff announced that Josh Todd was out of the band, because he didn't fit the band's style. The new band is known under the working title 'The Project'.

In September 'The Project' placed ads looking for a singer in various magazines and papers: "Unnamed artist looking for singer-songwriter somewhere in the realm of early Alice Cooper/Steve Tyler, the harder-edged side of McCartney and Lennon."

Slash also announced that the new band would release an album in 2003. "We got the baddest fucking be-all, end-all rock & roll band," he told Rolling Stone. But he is already frustrated by the lack of singing prospects. "There are no rock & roll singers out there right now... except Billy Idol."

The band members got in touch with Scott Weiland --who they thought would be the perfect guy-- to ask him if he was interested in jamming with the band. After he got a tape, he thought the music was really cool. The night Slash gave him a tape with the songs, Scott played a show with STP and so Slash never pursued it after that, thinking Scott would be too busy with his band. At that point, there was no talking of 'joining' the band.

In October, former Neurotica singer Kelly Shaefer auditioned on new songs "Tomorrow and Today," "Eye for an Eye," "Room 169" and "End of the Line." The singer leaves with Slash's assurance that he was "the best guy they'd heard." Shaefer hasn't heard from him since.

On October 30, Slash sits in at the L.A. club Ivar with Camp Freddy, an all-star band featuring Matt Sorum and Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Singer Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row) joins for the Rocky Horror Picture Show classic "Time Warp" as well as a version of Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City," featuring the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood. "The place went nuts," says Bach. Later, Slash gives Bach a tape of five instrumentals and asks him to "do his thing" over them.

At the end of the year, in December, Days of the New vocalist Travis Meeks auditions for the singer spot. Lesser-known singers Beth Hart, Todd Kearns and Shawn Albro also take cuts.

2003

In January 2003, VH1 crews began following Slash and the boys around for a documentary. "I thought it would be fucking cool to show a band as it goes through all this bullshit," Slash told Rolling Stone. He also invited former Faith No More singer Mike Patton to audition, but Patton declined.

In April, Slash received word from his manager that Stone Temple Pilots were on hiatus and 'The Project' invited Scott Weiland again to jam with them. Scott said to Classic Rock Magazine about this time: "So there was this period of time before Velvet Revolver that I really didn't want to play in a rock band again. I was knee-deep in recording my solo record. I was in the process of putting together my record company and I was producing other bands. I co-produced two of the Limp Bizkit records. Not my favourite band by any stretch of the imagination, but it definitely put me on the map as a producer. I also had kids and didn't want to spend the rest of my life on the road." He continues: "But those guys were looking at a bunch of singers and doing a movie. They were sending me CDs of songs, and eventually I heard some stuff that I found intriguing and I started to get to know them a little bit. I felt a kinship with them in the beginning because they had gone through some shit with their previous band. [..] It was almost like coming together off a rebound. At first it was very exciting and we did jive. We had the same common interests. Duff and I shared a lot of the same musical interests with punk rock. Matt and I shared an interest in experimental music. Dave and I had known each other from back in the days of playing clubs in Hollywood. And then you had Slash and I who were - and I don't want to come over as self-serving - two iconic figures, which the media tried to turn into a Mick/Keef kind of thing. We did have that gang-type camaraderie at first. At the same time, I was in the worst period of my drug addiction I'd ever gone through."

They recorded a cover of Pink Floyd's 'Money' for the movie 'The Italian Job'. The band worked really smooth together and they decided to do another song, an original instrumental which they gave to Scott, that turned into 'Set Me Free' for the 'The Hulk' soundtrack. Originally the band was approached by director Ang Lee to record a song for his movie. The band viewed a screener of the Hulk to get inspiration, then finished 'Set Me Free' and performed it for Lee at their rehearsal studio in LA. Lee was very impressed and the song eventually made it to the movie and the accompanying soundtrack cd.

On May 12, Matt and Scott attended a Marilyn Manson show in Hollywood, where Scott announced that he was officially the singer for the band, which changed names from 'The Project' to 'Reloaded'. The next day, this was all denied by the band's publicist Arlett Vereecke. The name 'Reloaded' was supposedly still a working title. Not even a week later, on May 18, Scott was arrested and charged with heroin and cocaine possession in Burbank after police observe a car he was in with its headlights off. He was scheduled to be arraigned two weeks later and pleaded "not guilty" to charges of drug possession on June 2nd. He offered to put himself in rehab before his next court date on July 11.

On June 5, The group's spokesperson, Arlett Vereecke, announced that Scott was officially in the band. The band also finally got an official name: 'Velvet Revolver'. They played their first show for an audience at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on the 19th. They performed a six-song set which started off with the Sex Pistols cover 'Bodies'. The other songs were the original 'Set Me Free', STP's 'Sex Type Thing', GN'R's 'It's So Easy' and another original called 'Slither'. 'Negative Creep', a Nirvana cover, was played as an encore.

Later that month, on the 27th, Duff and Matt appeared on Riki Rachtman's radio show (Triple R) for an interview, in which they tell the story of the band so far, and also announced the release of an EP and DVD, featuring live recordings from the El Rey show, and one or two studio songs. The band also wanted to play some live shows around the release.

During the previous months, the band really put a lot of effort into getting Scott to kick his heroin habit. Scott remembers: "It felt like the most non-judgemental situation, because the first six months was like a process of me getting clean. The first thing to go was the heroin, then the cocaine and then the pills. Then I got into treatment and I got clean."

On August 22nd, Velvet Revolver signed a long-term deal with RCA records CEO Clive Davis, a friend of Slash's. At the time, the band were in the studio, doing pre-production for their debut album, and testing out different producers, like Bob Ezrin (who produced a version of 'Slither'), Douglas Grean ('Loving The Alien (Sometimes), 'Fall To Pieces') and Josh Abraham. They eventually picked Josh as the main producer for the full length album.

Three days later a full length version of the band's cover of Pink Floyd's 'Money' is posted on the internet. It had not been available in full length previously, but was featured in the movie 'The Italian Job', during the end credits. After 'Set Me Free', this was the second studio song by the band that the fans got to hear.

On October 9, the band finished recording of 14 basic tracks for their upcoming debut album with producer Josh Abraham and engineer Ryan Williams. Studio insiders said the mood was extremely upbeat and positive. "Believe it or not, we're actually ahead of schedule", said drummer Matt Sorum. The whole recording process was documented by a video crew and still photographer Chapman Baehler.

Another two days later, the recording process went on, way ahead of schedule with Slash and Scott adding their parts to the otherwise finished tracks. Engineer Douglas Grean reported that he started working on vocal tracks with Scott the day before, and that things were going extremely well. Dave Kushner spoke out on the official site, saying that he is very proud to be part of this band, contributing music that sounds better than he could possibly have imagined.

Then, in the early morning hours of his 36th birthday, Scott hit a parked car while driving on Santa Monica Blvd, on his way to visit his children in San Diego. He attemtpted to flee the scene but was later arrested by police, who charged him with DUI and hit-and-run. Later in the day, he was released on a $15,000 bail. A court date for this arrest was set for Nov. 17, but was later postponed to Dec. 3.

On October 30, Scott was ordered to report to a live-in detox program followed by six months in a residential drug rehab center. Pasadena Superior Court Commissioner Collette Serio said that she would allow Scott out of the residential facility for a 10-day period starting Nov. 7 for four hours a day so that he could finish recording his vocal tracks for the Velvet Revolver album. He was to be taken to the recording studio by a police officer and tested for drugs immediately on his return. In addition to that, he had to continue his ongoing councelling sessions that were put in place after his arrest in May of this year.

On the 31st, Velvet Revolver performed two songs at the Smashbox Fashion Week fashion show for Susan Holmes' 2004 Swimwear collection. First they played 'Angie,' the Rolling Stones classic, on which Scott changed the lyrics to 'Mary,' referring to his (then almost ex-)wife. The second song they performed was a brand new ballad called 'You Got No Right', which would end up on the band's debut album, according to drummer Matt Sorum. On this day also, Matt released his debut solo album 'Hollywood Zen.'

After almost two weeks of 'silence', Duff checked in on the band's fan forum on November 13 and leaves a post, thanking the fans there for their support and pictures. Here's what he had to say:

"hey guys...it has been a while since i have written in. We've spent the last couple of months doing pre-production and finally recording this amazing record that really profiles and highlights everyone's ability to shine while keeping to a real cohesive unit....a fucking real band! Scott has a few songs left to sing and then we start mixing with andy wallace at the beginning of December. i sincerely do appreciate you guys for keeping this forum quite active (yes i do read these posts). i find a lot of these photos pretty damn cool, as i rarely get a chance to see this kind of stuff...keep it coming. lots of love...duff"

Two days later, Duff, Slash and Matt performed with Camp Freddy and a lot of guest musicians, including Izzy Stradlin and former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry at the Vanity Fair benefit show "In Concert". Reports suggested that Scott finished the vocals for the VR debut album on December 2nd. The album was mixed by the band and Andy Wallace in New York. Also in early December, a lot of scheduled court dates for Scott got postponed, delayed and pushed back.

Guitarist Dave Kushner married his girlfriend Christine on December 6. Slash reportedly missed the ceremony because his son London's babysitter showed up too late... On the 19th, Velvet Revolver's debut album (as of yet untitled, working title 'Comrades'), mastered in New York, gets a release date of April 27 through RCA Records.

Over Christmas, Scott expressed his frustration with the media in a message he posted on the official site: "First of all let me say that Rolling Stone magazine's gossip columns exist only so rich college boys can wipe their fucking asses with the rag. As for the lad that interviewed me and then printed that I was drunk driving... get your facts straight you moron paparazzi fuck." After a few days, the message was taken down again. A day after posting the message, Scott completed his vocal work on the last song for VR's debut album. Engineer Douglas Grean posted on his website:

"Finished the last VR song yesterday with Scott at Lavish. He was singing great and is doing really well. We had a great time and then went to see the Lord of the Rings!! I have a couple of photos from yesterdays session that I will post later today. Hope you all had a nice Xmas."

After a few hours of speculation on December 29th, the title of VR's upcoming debut album was revealed. For a moment it was unclear whether it's name was going to be 'Controband' or 'Contraband,' but quickly we learned that it was the latter: 'Contraband' was the official release title of Velvet Revolver's debut album, still due out on RCA Records on April 27th 2004. Two days later, Blabbermouth.net reported that VR would go back into the studio to re-record one of the songs for their album, because Scott was not happy with the way it turned out from the original recording sessions. It's not known which song in question was re-recorded.

2004

In January Scott dealt with some legal problems and the band announced their first tour on the 20th. The promotional tour was set to start on March 12 in Toronto and run through March and April, hitting cities in North America, Japan and Europe. Though it was first assumed that the band would be performing on the scheduled dates, it turned out that they were a travel schedule for press meetings.

Throughout February and March, more and more information about the upcoming album 'Contraband' leaked to the internet. On March 22, the first audio snippets of the band's first single 'Slither' were posted online.

The band shot the video for their debut single on April 4 with director Kevin Kerslake. Additional conceptual footage was shot in the Czech Republic. Scott complained about being censored while editing the video for the song. According to Weiland, he was pushed to change the lyrics: "You know, I was told when I was editing our video that I couldn't say 'smells like poppies' in 'Slither' because it was a drug reference. 'Smells like poppies'? Poppies are a flower! But they said it was a drug reference, so I said, 'All right, I'll change the lyrics. I'll change it to 'Smells like Nazis. [..] In 10 or 11 active years with STP, I have not seen, or been censored, or filtered half as much as I have been in the last three months of setting up this album. That's by corporations that are distributing and selling my record, that's by massive media corporations that play videos — that's everywhere."

On the 8th of April, Scott was cleared to tour with the band. He was previously still in a court-ordered drug rehabilitation center after pleading no contest to possession of heroin the previous year.

The band performed for the first time in 2004 at the KRQO Morning Show with Kevin and Bean on April 30. They played acoustic renditions of 'Slither', 'Interstate Love Song' and 'Used To Love Her'. They made their first appearance on stage in 2004 at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood on May 9th. The concert was a warm-up show for the North American tour that ran from May 13 in Saint Louis to June 26 in Atlantic City.

The tour got a great response and along the way the band released the "Slither" single on April 24 and their debut album "Contraband" on June 8. Two days later, "Slither" topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts. On the 23rd, Slash's wife Perla gives birth to the couple's second child, son Cash Anthony.

The band took some time off after June 26 to rest and take care of family matters. By June 30, more and more tour dates in Europe were added and Matt Sorum announced that the band planned to release "Fall To Pieces" as the second single. They were about to shoot a music video for it before returning to the road in July. Hits Daily Double reported that 'Contraband' had reached Gold status. The disc sold more than 515,000 copies in the U.S. in the first four weeks after it's release.

Velvet Revolver played the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on July 16 and around this time some studio rarities related to the band popped up on the internet. Among them were "demo recordings" of "Slither", "Fall To Pieces" and "Big Machine" as well as an alternate recording of "Loving The Alien (Sometimes)", produced by Douglas Grean and various "Contraband Poetry" recordings made by Scott Weiland, his brother Michael and Douglas Grean. RCA Records initially used these "poetry" recordings to flood various p2p filesharing networks on the internet with fake songs under file names that corresponded to real Velvet Revolver songs. It was said that there were 9 "songs" recorded, six of them surfaced. A few days later, Douglas Grean posted a message explaining that the files labeled as "demo's" were in fact alternate recordings produced by him for album release. They were not intended as a demo.

The band finished shooting the video for "Fall To Pieces" on July 26 and headed off to the East Coast to play shows in Sayreville and Latrobe before returning to California to record some cover songs. Duff explained that before they flew to Europe, they recorded cover versions of Cheap Trick's "Surrender", Aerosmith's "No More, No More" and Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" for future use as b-sides.

On August 1, Scott posted a reply on the official VR website to a ridiculous news headline on MTV the other day. The article title suggested there was a warrant for Scott's arrest, while the article expressed that it was just a paper technicality due to a postponed court date. Interestingly, MTV changed the headline from 'Judge issues warrant for Weiland's arrest' to 'Warrant Issued For Weiland; Lawyer Calls It Technicality' after Scott posted his reply on the official site. Here's what Scott had to say about it: "They eat their young. Once again the media is scrambling, chomping at the bit to find a morsel of information on me that would signify my destruction. MTV News, now fodder for hungry maggot offspring of the fat executives who don't give a fuck that my wife and children are embarrassed and shamed by your continuous lies and lack of journalistic integrity. Are you so bored with my personal happiness that you hover like carrion lying in wait, meditating and concocting a headline that you only hope will happen? Feed off of your own fat fuckers!!! This goes for all media whores!!! - S.R.W."

The band headed to Western Europe in early August for a 5-week tour including festivals and club shows. After their return to the U.S., their second single "Fall To Pieces" was released on September 13. A week-and-a-half later, the song hit the #1 position on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts.

From October 12 until the end of the year, the band played shows throughout the U.S., with a notable Halloween show in Little Rock, for which the band dressed up. On November 23, RCA Records re-released "Contraband" as a 2-cd set, featuring a bonus disc with the cover songs "No More, No More" (Aerosmith), "Surrender" (Cheap Trick) and "Negative Creep" (Nirvana).

On December 15 it was revealed that production company Motion Theory would direct Velvet Revolver's next music video for the song "Dirty Little Thing". THe band video footage was shot on December 21st in Los Angeles. The conceptual footage was illustrated in a raw sexy style by famed illustrator Rockin' Jellybean.

2005

Starting the new year with a show in Las Vegas, the band quickly travelled to Europe for concerts in the U.K. and Ireland in January. They briefly returned to the U.S. to record an acoustic version of "Fall To Pieces" for a future release. From there, they went straight to Japan, Australia and New Zealand, playing shows throughout February.

RCA Records decided to go against the band's wishes ("Sucker Train Blues") and released "Dirty Little Thing" as the next single. Matt Sorum revealed to Launch that the group members didn't want to release it as a single. In fact, the song's video was conceived for "Sucker Train Blues", which was the quintet's choice for its next single. They ultimately decided to stick with the video concept even though the record company picked a different song. Matt: "The original concept for that video was written for "Sucker Train Blues". We all wanted to put out "Sucker Train Blues", but the label came back and said they wanted to do "Dirty Little Thing". Scott said 'Hey, why don't we use the same treatment, just use different song?'"

In March the band kicked off their North American tour with dates in the U.S. and Canada through May. Scott would have preferred to record a new album, saying: "We have one album worth of original material that we play, and to keep things fresh, we are constantly learning other people's material — covers of classic songs that we really admire, influences to us," he said. "But at some point, that's gonna get old. It's actually starting to get old. So we're really starting to get eager to put out a new record."

The band performed 'Dirty Little Thing' on the 'Tonight Show' with Jay Leno on April 7 and Scott also squeezed in a performance on 'Last Call' with Carson Daly, performing a new solo song called 'The Man I Didn't Know' on May 9th.

The whole month of June was spent touring Europe, with additional stops in the U.K. and Ireland again. The tour was not without controversy as Scott is first criticized by some media for wearing "Nazi SS-attire" on stage in Germany. Scott commented that he is "in no way, shape or form a Nazi" and that "The Nazi SS hat that I wear in fact symbolises the loss of democracy and the shift to totalitarianism," adding: "One could make an argument that indeed the Government of the US is evolving into, or is already, a fascist police state, hiding under the guise of a republic."

Later, the band cancelled some scheduled dates in July because of family obligations and plans to do pre-production for a new album. Media in Finland, a country where an appearance was scrapped, started speculating about a band breakup. Furthermore, Scott injured his ankle badly during the band's show in Denmark, but he finished the remaining concerts in Belgium at at the 2005 Live8 festival in London, England. The band released a new song, "Come On, Come In" on the soundtrack for the movie 'Fantastic 4'. The track entered the Billboard Mainstream Rock Singles Chart at number 17.

On July 27, "Contraband" was certified as double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments in excess of two million copies in the United States alone. The album had sold over 1,775,000 units in the U.S. according to Nielsen Soundscan.

The band scheduled dates in August and September for the Ozzfest 2005 tour. Their first show was set for August 11 and tragedy struck drummer Matt Sorum on August 4 when he injured his hand in a boating accident. The band quickly found a replacement drummer in Brian Tichy, who previously worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Slash's Snakepit and Billy Idol. Matt hoped to join the band again from August 23, the first date of VR's stretch on the Ozzfest tour, but didn't recover in time. Brian Tichy had to be replaced again because of previous commitments to a Billy Idol tour, so the band enlisted the help of drummer Mark Schulman. Mark sat in for the injured Matt Sorum from their show on August 20 at the Aladdin Resort & Casino in Las Vegas until the end of the Ozzfest tour.

Matt Sorum posted a message regarding his injury and absence from the tour:

Hello all you loyal Velvet Revolver fans,

Just wanted to say to all the fans that came to see VR on the last leg of the tour including Ozzfest, how sorry I am that I couldn't make it. It was very hard for me to sit on the sidelines while my band went out on the road without me. But it’s what they had to do and with my blessing. It was just a week before the tour when I went to my Mom’s house on Lake Havasu near the Colorado River. I was water skiing when I had a freak fall on the water skies by getting tangled in the ski rope and being dragged. Not even realizing anything was seriously wrong nor broken till the following morning when I awoke to my hand as swollen as a football; I went straight to a local clinic for x-rays. I was stunned when I heard the news. I had fractured my hand, breaking the smallest finger on my right hand.

Calling my managers I headed back to Los Angeles for an expert bone analysis. I went to a Hand Specialist, Dr. Miles Cohen, at the Cedars Sinai Hospital. Dr Cohen has been working with bones for 40 yrs. At first he thought I might be ready to perform by Ozzfest and only out for a few dates. Then after a week of wearing a cast and trying to heal naturally, it turns out it wasn't healing properly. So he decided I needed surgery. I was afraid, because I had never dealt with any trauma to my hands before. The drums are my life and this scared me. But I was in good hands - No pun intended. He inserted a pin from my pinky to my wrist. I am doing well and on the road to recovery. Nonetheless, I really missed all of you fans. I tried to kill time by just simply sitting and watching TV. Saw the family, which was nice after a YEAR and a half of touring, had some BBQ's in my backyard, and spent some time with my girlfriend, Ace in Las Vegas, who has been dancing with The Pussycat Dolls at The Caesar’s Palace. Thank you for your postings on VR.com and related fan sites. I do read that stuff sometimes. I am flying with the band to NY now to hang out for the opening of the New Hard Rock Hotel in Times Square… I won't be playing yet though. Maybe one song won't kill me, we'll see. And on Friday we will be receiving a double platinum award from all the good people at RCA Records.

Thank you for the support these last couple of years… it has been an amazing ride. Can't wait to start making the next album. It’s going to be awesome.

Take care and love to you all,

Matt

A cover of the Eric Clapton classic 'Tears In Heaven' was released on October 18 by Sharon Osbourne to raise funds for Save the Children's vital work with children affected by emergencies throughout the world, notably survivors of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Velvet Revolver recorded the music for this single, and featured vocalists include Elton John, Steven Tyler, Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne, Mary J. Blige, Rod Stewart, Gwen Stefani, Katie Melua, Andrea Bocelli, Phil Collins, Robert Downey Jr and Pink.

Scott performed with Cyndi Lauper for her VH1 Decades Rock Live show on November 11. He guests on 'Money Changes Everything' and 'Time After Time'. They also perform a rendition of Scott's 'Barbarella' together. The show aired on January 1, 2006.

Velvet Revolver reconvened after Christmas to play some end-of-year shows in New Jersey.

2006

In February, Matt Sorum was recording in his studio with a new project called 'Circus Diablo', then featuring Billy Morrison, Billy Duffy and Ricky Warwick. Matt was handling the drums and co-producing the recordings. According to a statement on Ricky Warwick's website, the group didn't have any record label or big plans, they just wanted to be creative and have fun. They eventually released an album in July 2007.

Duff spoke out about a "War of Words" that was started by Axl Rose. "I think, you know, a lot of it's really unfortunate, very difficult," he said in an interview on March 10. "I've always just wanted to make great music and that's what I plan on doing. As far as a rebuttal to what he said, or what Slash has said, I won't get involved in a war of words, you know. People say all kinds of stuff and I'm not going to be one of them."

In addition to the drama with Axl, rumours were going around that Slash was about to leave VR because of personal problems and that the band was looking to replace him with Dave Navarro. These rumours were strongly denied by the band's management.

The band eventually planned to release a live DVD of their show in Houston in 2004. Matt Sorum reveals: "We're working on it right now," he said. "We're cutting it up. Shot that down in Houston early on, and we did a lot of footage backstage and stuff, so it should be real interesting. We're gonna intercut a lot of backstage footage with a lot of stuff in our travels, you know, cross-country, which will be cool to kind of end the tour up with." The DVD was ultimately scrapped because it turned into a production that was too "polished".

In April 2006, Duff said that the band was planning to work with different producers on their new record. The band had started recording and was working with Pharrell Williams. Duff added that he also invited Lenny Kravitz to see what they can come up with together: "I've always been a huge fan of early Motown and soul and Prince, so to explore something like that with Pharrell would be amazing," he said, "There's nothing like that out there. It's uncharted territory. Dude, it's going to be way cool. It's going to be stinky. Pharrell's a genius." On the 25th, McKagan and Scott Weiland guest as judges on the tv talent hunt 'Nashville Star'. In May, VR play the MAP Fund benefit in Los Angeles.

Between July 21 and 30, the band played a handful of shows on the West Coast while still looking for a producer for their next album. "We've been talking to Rick Rubin," Matt Sorum revealed. "So hopefully he's gonna come on board, because I think he's just a great song guy. And his advice to us, which was great advice, was, 'Write as many songs as possible.' He's listened to a lot of our riffs and different parts that we have. He's a very honest guy, and even if he doesn't produce us, he's given us a good sense of what we need to go for, and that's just great songs."

The collaboration with Rick Rubin doesn't work out because of the famed producer's full schedule. Scott said: "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. 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."

In the meantime, all the band members spent time working on individual projects, such as guest appearances, solo material, Camp Freddy and personal vacations. They reconvened after a long break for two charity shows in October. The first was for the "City Of Hope Spirit Of Life Award" gala, the second was a fundraiser for deputy Jim Mulay, who was critically injured while on duty in Malibu, during the attempted apprehension of an armed bank robbery suspect on August 28th.

The band eventually got in touch with longtime Stone Temple Pilots producer Brendan O'Brien and started pre-production with him in November. They started tracking songs in December. Scott: "I worked with Brendan on every STP record, and we needed somebody who was more in the trenches with us. When Brendan works with a band, he becomes the fifth or sixth bandmember. He gets in there with you, and he's in the thick of it. Every song that we were working on previously had a different feel, and songs that I was completely uninspired by, within a short period of time, became inspiring. Songs that I had no ideas for, I suddenly had a lot of ideas for, and took to completely different places than I think I would have taken them."

Scott made a special Christmas appearance on December 18 at the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He performed the classic 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' with a band consisting of Douglas Grean on guitar, Frank Reina on drums and musicians on grand piano, upright bass, horn, cello and violins.

Substance abuse began to take its toll on the band again in late 2006. However, the band was good at keeping it from the public eye. Scott recalls: "I was clean and sober for two years and then I started drinking. And that all seemed cool for about a year, but then it started escalating. During that time is when the guys started falling off the wagon. Matt relapsed and went into treatment, then Duff relapsed and went into treatment, and then Slash had his situation. So everybody in the band ended up falling off, except for Dave, of course. At that time I was maintaining my problem in a sane way and I really didn't fall off intensely until my brother died."

2007

The band finished recording 'Libertad' on February 26 and the album's mixing was done on March 3rd.

On March 12, VR performed two songs at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony for Van Halen. They honored both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar by playing a song from their respective eras — 1978's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", and a shorter rendition of "Runaround" from 1991. It would be an understatement to say that some drama ensued when VR was asked to perform without David Lee Roth. Frontman Scott Weiland explained the ensuing controversy: "We were asked to perform. Kinda what happened was, he wanted to sing the song 'Jump.' We felt from an artistic standpoint, and I'm being totally honest with you, that it wasn't a song we felt comfortable with. We don't have keyboards. To bring a keyboard on stage wouldn't work for us. We said we'd do 'Jamie's Cryin'' or 'You Really Got Me,' and he was adamant that wasn't okay."

The band embarked on a week-long South American tour between April 10 and April 16, playing concerts in Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Slash comments that the band will keep parts of their set the same as on their last tour, because they have never played those songs in South America. He adds that Velvet Revolver will stop playing Guns'N'Roses and Stone Temple Pilots songs after this tour, because they have enough material of their own between the two albums.

VR also shot a video for their next single 'She Builds Quick Machines' on May 1 and 2. Matt Sorum commented: "Hey Everybody, Just gettin back out on the road. Had a great time in South America. Fans were amazing. Came home and made a video for our first single She Builds Quick Machines. Its going to be kick ass. I am playing a harley ridin Freedom Fighter. Dean Karr directed. Old friend and super talented guy. Anyway played LA, San Fran, Seattle And flyin now to Chicago. Fun to be out on the road again. The band is sounding tighter than ever. Playing a lot of new material on this small club and theater run. I hope everyone is enjoying it. Take care all and keep the Rock alive!!!! -Matt."

On the 25th of May, 'She Builds Quick Machines' was released as a digital download through iTunes. The single entered the FMQB Active Rock Charts as the highest new entry at spot #34. The song entered the Mainstream Rock charts at position 30.

Not even a week later the band started touring Europe, but the excitement about their concerts seemed to be dwindling, judging from comments posted on fan forums and the lack of concert reviews posted by fans. The number of fans caring enough to even go online and post a review went down rapidly. RCA records released the EP "Melody And The Tyranny" on June 1 to accompany the tour.

VR's second album 'Libertad' was released on July 4 and entered the top 10 at number 4, according to Hits Daily Double. The album sold 98,121 copies in the first week after its release. The band then played a special edition of MySpace "Hey Play This...!" on July 31 while Rolling Stone Magazine printed an article about the band, in which the members make negative comments towards eachother about drug relapses and previous bands.

The shooting of the video for 'The Last Fight' took place on August 3. According to a casting call for the video --which was directed by Rocco Guarino--, the production team was "seeking a lead girl (age 20-25, beautiful, Caucasian, model type, Eastern European appearance) and couples (all ethnicities) with 'interesting and unique faces' to be featured in the background".The video was released on August 30.

While on tour with Alice In Chains and Sparta in September, Slash said: "This has been one of the best tours I've ever been involved it. It’s cool because this band is really good friends with the Alice in Chains guys. We're from similar backgrounds, a similar period. We’ve all been through a lot, and it's all been really cool." The band also planned to tour Japan and Australia for a second time and they added shows in Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama, Tokyo, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

In mid-November, the band had to cancel their tour dates in Japan, after Japanese immigration authorities had denied Velvet Revolver's request for visas. "We want to apologize to our fans in Japan that we won't be able to perform our scheduled concerts," Velvet Revolver said in a group statement. "We don't understand why the authorities won't give us visas, when they granted them for us in 2005 for what was a successful tour and a great experience. We love Japan and look forward to our return there."

2008

Despite interpersonal relationships deteriorating at a rapid rate, Velvet Revolver embarked on their "Rock N' Roll As It Should Be"-tour in January, playing 10 dates before the tour halted. They play the Wiltern LG on February 6 and after that show, Scott decided it would be best for him to enter a rehab facility to detox. The band had to cancel their show on the 7th in San Diego because of this and released the following statement five days later: ""Velvet Revolver regret to announce they're unable to perform their five upcoming concert dates in Australia that were scheduled for February 15-20. The cancellation of these shows will allow lead singer Scott Weiland to continue treatment at a rehab facility which he voluntarily entered after the band's February 6 performance in Los Angeles. Velvet Revolver deeply apologize to their fans in Australia and thank them for sticking by the group when various members have relapsed during the last year and a half."

At this time, rumours of a Stone Temple Pilots reunion for the summer of 2008 wer getting stronger and stronger. Slash was one of the first people to mention a STP reunion and he announced that Velvet Revolver would go back into the studio to record a new album after Scott Weiland's summer 2008 tour with Stone Temple Pilots.

The final tour in Europe in March was a personal disaster for the band. Fan reviews were mixed. First time VR-concertgoers described the shows as amazing, while others --who had already seen the band perform before-- stated that the band kept a professional level but was lacking any form of interaction on stage. In addition to that, an increasing number of fan reviews mentioned that Scott's vocals were getting lost in the mix. Already on March 20 in Glasgow, Scott announced that this would be Velvet Revolver's last tour.

Matt Sorum stated about the Glasgow concert: "So last night was interesting. Had a little band turmoil on stage, as you probably all could tell. Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship. Sometimes you just don't get along. I guess there has been more turmoil lately, I guess, with the cancellations and all. It has been frustrating, I am not going to lie. My career and life in rock 'n' roll has come with its ups and downs. Unfortunately, some people in this business don't realize how great of a life they have. Touring the world, meeting great people and fans all over the world. And just playing music for a living. I feel truly blessed. But sometimes the road can be draining for some. Being away from home and family does grind on you sometimes. With all the travelling and different beds. Personally, I love this shit and sometimes can't believe I am so lucky to still be doing what I do for a living. Everybody could see who was unhappy last night, but all I can say is let's keep the rock alive, people!!!! In this life, you just pick up and keep moving. And don't ever let anybody stand in your way."

Scott replied to this with the following statement: "Responding to our drummer's rant about why the band is in a state of flux: Well, first of all, the state of my family affairs is really none of his business, since he is too immature to have a real relationship, let alone children. So don't attempt to stand in a man's shoes when you haven't walked his path. Secondly, 'keeping rock 'n' roll alive?' I've made many attempts to remain cordial with the members of VR, but mainly, the likes of you. Funny though; this is your FIRST band, as opposed to being a hired gun. I've been making records (now on my ninth), which have sold over 35 million copies worldwide and have maintained a level of professionalism regardless of how many drugs I've ingested into my system. I have only cancelled one tour during the entire course of my 16-year run and that was the 'make-up' Australia tour. Now, shall I open that can of worms, Matthew? Release the Kraken? Serve... Volley! You cancelled the Aussie tour in the fall because you went to rehab, but I won't say why; we'll just let Blabbermouth find out for themselves. As for our fans; I will sweat, bruise, and bleed for you. And will continue to do so until the end of this tour. However, you deserve to hear Velvet Revolver playing; not certain individuals singing along to get a muddied up sound. God forbid; could one imagine if I grabbed a guitar and started soloing along with Slash? That would never happen because I know my place. It's a shame; we were a gang. But ego and jealousy can get the better of anyone. I wish the best and plan to annihilate the stage in the last few shows. --On a separate note, we did an STP photo shoot before this tour and it was fun, inspiring and it gave me that thrill, that feeling that got my rocks off from the get-go."
Scott claimed the band's management took his passport away when they were touring the U.K., to prevent him from leaving. He said to Classic Rock Magazine: "I guess the problem at the moment is that I have some great things ahead of me and I'm in a band that I'm not getting along with who are junkies and fucking tramps and are trying to pretend they are fucking St. Francis!"

Right before the encore of their last show in Amsterdam on April 1, Slash, Duff, Matt and Dave had their management release a press statement in which they said they were parting ways with their singer Scott Weiland. Slash was quoted "This band is all about its fans and its music and Scott Weiland isn't 100% committed to either. Among other things, his increasingly erratic on-stage behavior and personal problems have forced us to move on."

Scott rather blamed personal and creative differences when talking to Classic Rock in March 2008. He said he felt like the other guys in the group no longer had his back. He also thought that there were differences in opinion on what to play in concert: "I think the emotional let-down was that we achieved something special. We pushed the envelope and created something unique and then blew it. The initial goal was to tour our albums and not fall back on our old catalogue from our respective past. What ended up happening was exactly the opposite. We ended up falling back on the old material because there's not enough confidence in what this band is about. It seemed to be more important to play the old rock stuff than build up a legacy with the new band. And it just became not fun. I think I have a lot more to say musically."