Guns N’ Pilot

Fledgling riff-rock/post-grunge supergroup Velvet Revolver, featuring significant remants of Guns N’ Roses – guitar slinger Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum – along with guitarist David Kushner of Suicidal Tendencies and singer Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, will be touring starting next month.

The big question mark for a Velvet Revolver tour was Weiland’s drug rehab program, but the group just announced that he is cleared to perform:

The former Stone Temple Pilots frontman has spent the past several months in a court-ordered drug rehabilitation center after pleading no contest last year to heroin possession. But Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash says Weiland will be on board when the band hits the road next month in North America.

“Scott actually just got cleared to tour today,” the guitarist told Billboard.com. “We’ve been planning dates this whole time.”

The plan for the band, which has played just one live show to date, is to drop in on “medium-sized places” leading up to the June 8 release of its RCA debut, “Contraband.”

“The first thing we’re going to go out and do is establish ourselves as our own band in our own environment,” said Slash, a former member of Guns N’ Roses. “We’re trying to keep it as personal as possible but at the same time, expose ourselves as much as possible. We want to do this on our own terms, as opposed to going out, jumping on the road and opening for somebody, or playing a festival bill, but that is coming.”

….The 13-track “Contraband” is led by the single “Slither,” which will be sent to radio outlets on Monday, but can already be sampled on Velvet Revolver’s official Web site. And after hedging its bets on Weiland’s uncertain future, Velvet Revolver is finally primed to take its show on the road at full strength. “Everything is great,” Slash said. “It all seems to be happening for a reason.” [Billboard]

“Slither” is a good chunky medium-tempo riffer that sounds about half GNR and half STP – for some reason Weiland’s vocals are buried way down in the mix, but that may be a function of the Internet. Check out the front page of the site to catch a gander at some seriously hagged out rockers. I hope Weiland can finally hold it together – if so, this could be pretty good.