Velvet Revolver Fired Their Frontman
Velvet Revolver bid farewell to Scott Weiland.
The mega-band is certainly parting ways with its lead singer, due to his “erratic onstage behavior” and other personal issues, most particularly a current time in rehab rooting from 2007’s DUI arrest.
While there was no announcement on the band member’s alteration on Revolver’s website, the group’s publicist at Sanctuary Management sent out the statement just hours after Revolver finished its European trip Tuesday night in Amsterdam.
“This band is all about its fans and its music, and Scott Weiland isn’t 100 percent committed to either,” guitarist Slash said in the statement. “Among other things, his increasingly erratic onstage behavior and personal problems have forced us to move on.”
The 40-year old frontman pleaded not guilty in March to DUI with a prior conviction when he was apprehended for colliding into another vehicle on a Hollywood interstate in November. If convicted, he could spend the rest of the year in prison.
Weiland’s outlook with Velvet Revolver had been uncertain for weeks, subsequent some disapproving comments from Slash in print and broadcast interviews and, lately, the proclamation that Weiland would join up with his original band, the Stone Temple Pilots, for a concert this summer.
Weiland responded to the inner-Revolver chaos in an email Wednesday to MTV News.
“In response to Slash’s comment regarding my commitment [to the band], I have to say it is a blatant and tired excuse to cover up the truth,” Weiland wrote.
“The truth of the matter is that the band had not gotten along on multiple levels for some time. On a musical level, there were moments of joy, inspiration, fun…at times. But let’s not forget the multiple trips to rehab every member of the band had taken (with the exception of one member—no need to mention his name).” Two weeks ago, Weiland told a sold-out audience at a Revolver concert in Glasgow, Scotland, “You are watching something special…the last tour by Velvet Revolver,” apparently catching the other members by surprise.
That initiated drummer Matt Sorum to write a reaction in his blog.
“[We] had a little band turmoil on stage, as you probably all could tell,” he wrote. “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, with the cancellations and all. It has been frustrating; I am not going to lie.â€
“Everybody could see who was unhappy [at the Glasgow concert], but all I can say is let’s keep the rock alive, people.”
Founded in 2003, Velvet Revolver are a joined force between Guns N’ Roses’ key members (Slash, Sorum and bassist Duff McKagan) with Weiland, whose deep-voiced wail and ostentatious performance style had made the Stone Temple Pilots one of the largest selling groups of the ’90s. In spite of a wobbly start—Weiland’s run with law postponed Revolver’s touring debut—the band’s two albums, Contraband and Libertad, were hits, they earned the 2005 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Slash has indicated in latest interviews that Velvet Revolver still scheduled to release a third album sometime later this year, notwithstanding the now-vacant singer spot.
Weiland signed up to perform with STP next month at the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, the band’s first concert ‘as one’ since 2001. A statement about a full-scale tour is anticipated sometime next week.
So who’s going to front Velvet Revolver?
“Good hunting, lads,” he wrote in his email to MTV. “I think Sebastian Bach would be a fantastic choice.”
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