The world could eventually be taken over by monkeys but a new Guns
N’ Roses album would still not have been released. The situation
has worsened with the latest news that Buckethead
has become the latest member to quit the band. While we wait in vain for Axl
Rose and his bunch of Marilyn
Manson wannabes to produce a new album, something has risen from
the ashes of one of the most popular rock bands of all-time.
Velvet Revolver is a “super” band whose members are legends in the rock music industry.
Former Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist, Slash
a.k.a. Saul Hudson, fronts the band together with the charismatic Scott
Weiland, ex lead singer of Stone
Temple Pilots. Other members of the band include Duff
McKagan and Matt
Sorum, former bass guitarist and drummer of Guns N’ Roses
respectively. Rhythm guitarist, Dave Kushner, is the only name that is not instantly
recognisable, but he has a very respectable repertoire which includes being
in ex-Wasted Youth and Electric Love Dogs among
other bands.
Velvet Revolver is not the first band in recent times to have formed out of members of two bands.
Rage against the Machine was one of the most influential rock bands of the 90s, with their lyrics based mainly on political issues. It was pure hardcore rock combined with the vicious rapping of de la Rocha blasting the government over various issues like the first war in Iraq, and America’s interest in the Middle East due to oil.
Chris Cornell on the other hand was considered to be one of the greatest lead vocalists of the 90s' alongside other greats such as Kurt Cobain and Scott Weiland. Soundgarden was in fact considered by some critics to be a Led Zeppelin in the making.
Their self titled debut album was an instant hit as it saw a combination of growing maturity for the former Rage members without comprising on their usual hardcore rock ways. Tom Morello’s extraordinary guitar abilities shone through once again with readers of Guitarworld magazine voting him to be the third best rock guitarist of 2003, while the album itself was second only to How The West Was Won, a compilation of Led Zeppelin’s greatest hits performed live.
"We're all looking for a rebirth here," said Scott Weiland in an
interview with VH1. "We're
looking to get back that same feeling we had when we all first started making
music--the sense of doing it for the pure joy of making music. Along the way
the whole idea that got us into this had been raped and sodomized. We were all
in mourning of that and wondering if we could somehow get it back. As it turns
out, the only way we could get it all back was to start it all new. Now we have
that opportunity and it's amazing. This music is just vicious, very aggressive
and it forces you to lace your boots up and sort of get ready for the fight."
Their first single, Slither, is an excellent example of this “vicious” and “aggressive” form of music. Fans of both Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N’ Roses will not be disappointed, with Scott’s vocals, still as haunting and ferocious
as it has ever been, while Slash’s signature fast paced guitar solos have
not slowed down with age.
In a world full of so-called rock “posers” such as Limp
Bizkit, Linkin Park
and worst of all, Avril Lavigne,
Velvet Revolver is almost like a Messiah drawing the line between
what is truly rock and what is pop. No offences to Linkin Park,
but while they used to have a mature audience listening to them during their
underground days, their fan base at the moment consist mainly of teeny-boppers
aged 16 and below. Even my 10-year-old cousin, who listens to the pop trash
of Stacie Orrico
and Blue,
listens to Linkin Park.
While we could continue on bashing those pop-rock bands, it is more important
to celebrate the arrival of what could be another legendary band.
As Slash puts it to VH1, “We set out to make music we
enjoy and can feel proud of playing--music that people we like will want to
listen to. As soon as you start thinking beyond that--about wanting to keep
up with the Joneses or about fitting in with somebody else's format--that's
when you lose the map. So we've just done what we do, and tried to have a cool
time doing it.”
Velvet Revolver’s first album, Contraband,
is now available at all good record stores.
Copyright 2002-2004 "The
UrbanWire.com" Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore