2010.11.23 - Artisan News - Duff McKagan Gives Insight Into Velvet Revolver Singer Search Hold-Up

Voice-over: As Slash continues on promoting his debut solo album, Velvet Revolver still wait in limbo, as the band is finding it difficult trying to replace former lead vocalist Scott Weiland. Weiland, who parted ways with the band in 2008 after a bitter feud following an onstage meltdown, left the band to return to his former Stone Temple Pilots, thus leaving Velvet Revolver without a frontman and lead vocalist. While the search has gone on for over two years, Slash did recently announce the band was once again holding auditions in October of 2010, with the hopes of making an announcement sometime in 2011. So what has been the reason the band has had such a hard time finding a replacement for the unpredictable yet talented Scott Weiland? Duff McKagan recently sat down with Artisan News to share his thoughts on the difficulty in finding a vocalist all four members can agree on.

Duff: Velvet Revolver is not done, we're not finished, and I don't think we've made our best record yet. We’ll tour again, we'll find the guy. It's one of those things, if you concern yourself with it and the singer, it starts to… because there's not a lot to pull from out there – for our particular band. There’s some great talent, we've heard some really, really good guys. But to get all four of us to agree on what that guy – I don't know if the guy that all four of us want is ever going to exist, but we gotta get close.

Voice-over: Duff also talked about Velvet Revolver having to be better than they were with Scott.

Duff: You know, it's got to be better than it was - it's got to be as good, at least. And for us it's got to be better. Scott is an amazing vocalist and frontman, so it's got to be as good or better than that. We can't step down a notch.

Voice-over: Rumors were swirling that Myles Kennedy, who also sings in Slash’s solo band, would be named vocalist of Velvet Revolver, but Kennedy has obligations with his band, Alter Bridge, so auditions were held in October of 2010. As of press time, the band has not made any announcements as to who's taking part in the audition process. In the meantime, Matt Sorum, Dave Kushner, Duff McKagan and Slash continue to write and record new music that Slash has described as some of the heaviest music by the band yet. Fans shouldn't hold out hope for an announcement of a vocalist in 2010, as it seems certain the band will not make any decision until 2011.