The band is thankful that RCA understood the task at hand and has allowed the band to continue on their own.

Apparently the move was precipitated by a need to focus on replacing Scott Weiland, who left the band in a not-so amicable split back in April. In the intervening time, the band hasn’t really be that hard at work finding a replacement. Slash has been off working on a solo record, and Duff McKagan has been out on tour with his other band, Loaded.

Is it fair to say that if Velvet Revolver don’t get their act together, and soon, they’re in danger of losing a lot of momentum. If Slash releases a solo record, will he have to spend time touring a and promoting it?

And I can appreciate the difficulty in finding a new frontman. They arguably need a famous face. As a they started out as a ‘supergroup’, they probably need a big name rather than an unknown. But then again, an unknown singer would give them a clean slate and an opportunity to reinvent the band.

On the difficulty of finding a new singer, Slash has said:

If you sit down and listen to 10 guys, you’re not giving the tenth guy the same listen you are the first guy. So we’ve gotta figure out how to go about this. I don’t think any of the guys we’ve heard so far are ‘THE’ guy, and I don’t think we can go out with a guy who’s just good — we have to have somebody that’s amazing. Scott was an amazing singer. I don’t think people would really buy it if we went out with somebody who’s just, sort of, good.

Isn’t it funny though that the fortunes of Velvet Revolver should be on the wane while Guns N Roses are having an amazing revival?

I can’t keep up with this guy! No sooner that being kicked out of Velvet Revolver and rejoining Stone Temple Pilots for a reunion tour, Scott Weiland has plans in the pipeline to release a new solo album.

Apparently alt-rock producer Steve Albini is signed on to twiddle the knobs for the project and No Doubt drummer Adrian Young (fed up with waiting for Stefani to get her act together) is said to be collaborating on the album as well.

This solo venture has been a long time in the making – Weiland claimed it was 3/4 completed back in 2006 while still with Velvet Revolver. It’s my guess that with all the controversy surrounding his departure from Velvet Revolver, Scott’s pushing the solo album forward to capitalise on this.

As for what to expect, Weiland claims that his music is different to the stuff he recorded with VR, saying “It’s a little bit more on the esoteric side.”

I’m hearing reports that Velvet Revolver have fired frontman Scott Weiland after a few weeks of turmoil which began when Weiland told fans at a gig that they were watching the last ever Velvet Revolver concert.

Fired? That’s a funny way of describing it. In case Slash & Co didn’t notice, Weiland had resumed his role as frontman for the recently reformed Stone Temple Pilots. And STP are heading out on the road for a summer tour.

Er, didn’t they think there might be a small scheduling conflict in there somewhere? What with Slash planning a new Velvet Revolver album and all?

You can’t help but wonder if firing Weiland is shutting the stable door after the drug-addicted horse has bolted and gone running back to his old band stable. Pardon the crappy analogy. I mean, this scenario has been on my mind since the news broke about the STP reunion. What’s going on underneath that big top hat if Slash didn’t see this one coming?

Anyway, the cool thing is that this raises a lot of interesting questions! With a headless Velvet Revolver and a certain Mr Rose looking pretty stupid right now, might we see a sniff of a GNR reunion? Could Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N Roses resurrect the titanic battle between grunge and rock?

Or, more realistically, will Velvet Revolver disband or will they seek out a replacement?

Update: Oooh, the handbags are all drawn now that Weiland has shot back at the band – basically saying what I said above, that it was obvious weeks ago that Velvet Revolver couldn’t continue as they were. You can always rely on the cast and crew of GNR/STP to kick up a shitstorm every now and again.

Top-hatted rock god Slash and the guys from Velvet Revolver are rumoured to be working on material for their third album. Apparently the band could begin work on the new album as early as April of this year, just after they complete their tour (which starts tomorrow, by the way).

“That’s the big thing right now,” Slash says. “I’m really jazzed about doing it. I’ve been working on new ideas, and we’ve had a couple times where the guys all got together and worked on some stuff. I’m itching to see what this third record’s gonna be, ’cause I think it’s gonna be fuckin’ awesome, and I think we don’t necessarily need to spend two years on the road like we did last time.”

According to Slash, the band have had plenty of freedom to experiment, and the forthcoming album will show the evolution of Velvet Revolver. Libertad producer Brendan O’Brien is highly likely to produce this effort as well.

In addition to the new VR project, Slash is also planning to release a solo album which will feature a host of guest vocalists. No doubt he’ll be calling up a few showbiz chums to appear on that album. I wonder if he’ll be using long-term bandmates like Duff McKagan or Matt Sorum as the band for this album? Maybe bring back Izzy for a song?

Presumably he won’t resurrect the ‘Snakepit’ moniker for this one…