Interesting news from the Velvet Revolver camp this morning in that they’ve parted ways with RCA Records. In a seemingly amicable split, the band’s manager Carl Stubner has said:

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?