Contraband Song Information

[Booker Floyd]

For those interested, or those who might have missed some articles, heres information on the songs that make up Contraband...

"Suckertrain Blues"

'Contraband' kicks off with muscle-bound promise on the 'Mr Brownstone' vibed opener 'Suckertrain Blues' suggesting fire in the belly and gas in the tank.

At first Weiland clearly struggles to keep up ("Sucker Train Blues"), but he finds his groove over the brash guitars and brawny drums.

Songs like the opener, ?Sucker Train Blues? announce the band?s arrival with a vengeance, featuring ripping Slash guitar tracks and strong playing by Sorum, loaded with a barrage of fast fills.

Other memorable tracks include the driving, 'Mr Brownstone'-flavoured 'Suckertrain Blues'

The not entirely-unmelodic chorus of ?Sucker Train Blues? juxtaposes a lingering chorus with staccato verses, crafting an aural speed chase and atmospheric outro that could, should last longer.

When that song slams to a close, Weiland relinquishes the mic and perches himself on a nearby road case, listening intently while the other four work their way through something with the provisional title of "Rock Song." The number begins with a jangly, atmospheric buildup that leads into fiery, Zeppelin-esque riffing. "I don't normally say things like this," Weiland pipes up during one pause in the action, "but you guys should extend that intro. I think I can definitely do something with that." [?]

"On the intro to "Sucker Train Blues" there's some guitar licks that are [Kushner's]. That was the very last new song that we wrote for the album." - Slash

"Usually, in a perfect world, it's the first take. Sometimes it takes more. On that particular song, that was the first take. Pulled a Strat out and just did it. I attempted to go and do it with a Les Paul, which is completely different, and it was like, why bother?" - Slash

"'Sucker Train Blues' has a one-take whammy bar solo." - Slash

All the heavy stuff, with the exception of 'Sucker Train Blues', is basically my Les Paul copy, a Marshall and maybe the AC30." - Slash

"There?s a song called ?Sucker Train Blues? where all the rhythms are done on a ?56 Tele." - Slash

"Slither"

Weiland describes "Slither," a rocker that twists and turns its way through the underbelly of the pre-dawn world, as a "dark, prodding heavy one that definitely has an old STP vibe to it."

And though Kushner?s playing colors the seedy, grinding rocker ?Slither? and the arena-rock ballad ?Fall to Pieces,? it?s no surprise that Slash?s burning lines anchor each song.

"Slither," with a menacing McKagan bass line...

"Slither" is an ominous midtempo track featuring a classic G n' R groove, touches of Rhodes piano, and Weiland sounding more like a rock god than ever.

Meanwhile, Velvet Revolver are meeting with producer Bob Ezrin to have him produce their moody and grooving track "Slither," which they previewed at their live debut in Los Angeles last month.

The standout tunes are ?Slither,? a song that Weiland describes as having that "STP vibe,"...

First single 'Slither' is an obvious standout, with ominous verses and lingering, harmony-drenched choruses.

The first single, "Slither," opens with brooding bass and gurgling guitar before erupting into a head-bobbing rocker that could be Soundgarden covering STP. Then the chorus kicks in, and Slash picks a familiar distorted guitar lick while Weiland croons an infectious line that'll make for an obvious concert sing-along.

Forthcoming single ?Slither? is what ?Cochise? was to Audioslave. It?s a pretty simple recipe, take an imposing riff, add some phlegm soaked vocals, mix it with years of experience and you have the perfect comeback single. ?Slither? is perfect in the sense it indicates everything you would expect of the band.

First single, 'Slither', really is a world class offering, perhaps the one occasion where VR combine into something more than the sum of their legendary parts.

The band next laid into another original track ? the moody, grooving and understandably STP-like "Slither," before exiting the stage...

The set ended with a second new song, "Slither," which drew raves from comedian David Spade. "When you can hear his voice, it's good," Spade quipped. "He nailed some shit in there like he does on Plush."

Of the material... single ?Slither? boasts grappling guitar, drilling steadily behind Weiland?s sensual drawl, and when the vocals end, the hair-metal guitar solo begins, and listeners either raise an almighty fist to the air, or gag.

"I think Slither is a good choice for the first single. It's certainly a "hit". I think it was hard for the band and the label to pick a first single because there was so many good songs to pick from. But Slither was picked because it's an obvious hit and it's uptempo and hard with a great chorus. Usually the record label picks a fast, hard, hook laden song for first single and this was the obvious choice.." - Douglas Grean

"When I went in the studio, Slash'd already done his rhythm parts, his solos, which was great because I could then go my own way with it, fill up the holes. In the intro, there's this wall of wah-wah and delay, I used the Line 6 Delay and right where it stops before the verse there's this trail-off and that's the Line 6 Delay. Halfway through the verses you can hear it thicken up. I used a Hyper Fuzz pedal straight into the board, not through an amp, to double my rhythms and in the breakdowns it's like a wah and delay." - Dave Kushner

"We're all playing the same riff in that, the verse riff. That's three fat instruments playing the same thing." - Duff McKagan

"...That's one of a few tracks where everybody has a de-tuned E string [low E string lowered to D]. We also did that on "Slither" and "Headspace." - Duff McKagan

"There's a track called "Slither." It rocks. And I'm not gonna give any more information out." - Scott Weiland

[Booker Floyd]

"Set Me Free"

On "Set Me Free," which was also featured in the soundtrack to "The Hulk," an angular lick segues into a blazing, decadent guitar line, creating images of a speeding, swerving car on a slick, windy road. The excitement of heightened reality hangs thick, but disaster could lurk around the next bend.

Would "Set Me Free," the hard-driving song they wrote for the Hulk soundtrack CD, be both the first and last recorded example of original Velvet Revolver material?

[Duff's] grinding pick tone on "Set Me Free"...

The bulk of the disc is as aggressive as the band's single, "Set Me Free," which was first heard on the Hulk and Italian Job soundtracks.

...The band decided to try an original for the movie The Hulk and gave the singer another CD of instrumentals to listen to. One of them, a track written mostly by Sorum, would become "Set Me Free."

The band had a hit almost immediately after they formed, recording the single ?Set Me Free? for The Hulk soundtrack. The strength of the song, a 162 bpm barn-burner, started another bidding war, and this time the winner of the Sorum lottery was the legendary Clive Davis, now heading RCA Records.

"The first CD that Slash gave me had a lot of music that Izzy had written with them, and it was a lot more classic-based.  I wasn't as excited about that stuff, you know? But when I got the next batch of songs, it was like, `Okay, there's a handful of songs in here that I definitely feel I can wrap my head around.' And one of the riffs was the 'Set Me Free' riff. It reminded me of a cross between a classic STP thing and a classic GN'R track. I think it was a good song for us to start with - not pushing the envelope too much. You couldn't come out with something too 'out there' or people would be like, 'This doesn't make sense!'" - Scott Weiland

And [Matts] doubtly pleased the US radio has taken such a liking to Velvet Revolver's debut single 'Set Me Free', because he co-wrote it, coming up with the main riff and melody.

"I could be blowin smoke up your ass but I?m telling the truth?then when I heard the song I?m telling you straight out that song is, from the guitar, from the very starting of the guitar to the very end of Weiland singing, the song - it?s just better than I had expected and I talked to everybody that went to the show and they said that is was great and I?m one of those guys who?its like, there?s no replacing the old, you know, I love Guns and Roses, that was?my whole life was Guns and Roses, so I was like its not gonna work and I?m coming clean saying the song does work, were gonna play the song if any of you haven?t heard it its from The Hulk Soundtrack, the song is awesome." - Riki Rachtman

"I mean seriously, we don?t think about "Oh this is going to sound like something from that," it?s just like Matt has become a strong songwriter in Velvet Revolver - the riff from "Set Me Free," its Matt?s." - Duff McKagan

"I love the riff, it?s a good riff, from the very start it sounds awesome." - Riki Rachtman

"We did the "Hulk" recording and then a gig right after that, which is kind of what cemented us." - Slash

"When Scott took a microphone in his hand and played ?Set Me Free,? I thought that it was a band then.  Scott also felt the same." - Duff McKagan

"Headspace"

Weiland, looking healthier than he has in ages, wraps his angular frame around the microphone stand and leads the band through "Headspace," a song that seems to combine the freight- train velocity of GN'R's "Paradise City' with the effervescent vocal hooks of STP's "Big Bang Baby'- a radio hit in a perfect world, and maybe this one as well.

"The record is pretty live. We tracked everything live ? the only track where we did bass and drums separately was ?Headspace.?" - Matt Sorum

And in "Headspace," Weiland half-boasts, "Through a minefield, build to blast/ Will I make it will I last? ... Free my mind, don't let any of those f***ers in my headspace."

"Also that's one of a few tracks where everybody has a de-tuned E string [low E string lowered to D]. We also
did that on "Slither" and "Headspace"" - Duff McKagan

"Do It For The Kids"

?Do It for the Kids? is thick rock featuring great punch on the snare and juicy hi-hat work.

"Loving The Alien (Sometimes)"

[Duff's] grinding pick tone on ?Set Me Free? and his sensitive work on ?Loving the Alien? make you wish the guitars sat out a little more often...

"It is a ballad so its mid tempo and is very beautifully arranged with lots of cool parts coming in and out. It's kind of an art rock piece. Scott really loves the art rock thing. It has a big John Bonham drum sound that drives the song. Very cool!" - Douglas Grean

"For ?Loving the Alien,? I did a two-mike setup on the drum kit with some baffles." - Matt Sorum

"Loving the Alien (sometimes)" is an art-rock ballad that was produced by Douglas Grean.  This is a sad song. This is a true song. So far it's been the hardest to sing. Hope you like it." - Scott Weiland

"You Got No Right"

More of the tunes address his marital woes. "I broke through the ice, she won't be coming back again," he laments on "You Got No Right."

Allegedly the completion of the recording of the album was halted when Scott Weiland requested this song to be re-recorded by the band. Re-recorded with straight acoustic guitars to lose the "synthetic" electro-acoustic sound.

"And then we did the one track that?s called ?You Got No Right,? which is like a mid-tempo ballad that was recorded in more of a ?70s room. I wanted a really in-you-face drum sound, and they?re really punchy." - Matt Sorum

""You Got No Right" was one bass piece" - Duff McKagan

"There is a bridge in "You Got No Right" where I went for a Paul McCartney type of deal. I almost used a Hofner in there. We rented one for the day." - Duff McKagan

"I also have a couple of other re-issues, but I didn't pull out any vintage guitars except a 1954 Les Paul. I used it for the beginning of 'Fall To Pieces,' that clean guitar sound, and for the bridge in 'You Got No Right'. I also used a Strat and a Telecaster for a couple sections." - Slash

"There's an interesting chord change on the song 'You Got No Right', and it sounded really simplistic but really interesting when I first wrote it. Then we gave it to Scott to play with - and he wrote this amazing vocal for it. I wouldn't have come up with anything like that." - Slash

"We re-recorded one of the songs ["You Got No Right"] with my live head, which I'd never recorded with before.  It's the Slash Model [Signature] Marshall." - Slash

"Yeah, the tune 'You Got No Right' is played on a Takamine [it's actually a Taylor cutaway, says guitar tech Adam Day] recorded via microphone and pickup. Just to make it sound more electric. That was the only song I wrote on acoustic. The demo we did, I cut with a Les Paul which has a Piezo pickup [see above] and it sounded really interesting. The one thing about electro-acoustics is they tend to have a very synthetic sound, so we mixed it up and made it sound more pure." - Slash

[Booker Floyd]

"Superhuman"

"There's a song called Superhuman where I actually doubled the bass, I played it twice. I put it through this fuzz pedal and it made it almost like an [Roland] 808. It's almost inaudible but it'll rattle your nuts. [Note: we think he really means the Roland TB-303, a sampler and bass synthesizer that gave dance music it's sub-bass frequencies.] Also that's one of a few tracks where everybody has a de-tuned E string [low E string lowered to D]." - Duff McKagan

What about 'Superhuman'? That opening riff sounds similar to your phrase on 'Sweet Child O' Mine', but twisted on acid. - Total Guitar

"That's cool, it just came out of nowhere, I think the 'Sweet Child O' Mine' influence pops up because it's a single-note style of mine, especially when I do this octave thing around a melody." - Slash

"On another song, "Superhuman," there's two guitars going on at the same time, and I played both of them on the record. When we play it live, Dave's going to play one part, so that will be cool." - Slash

"Big Machine"

Some songs deal directly with Weiland's addiction. On "Big Machine," he sings, "He's a junkie piece of sh[it]because you say so/ All that first-class tough sh** brings me down, down, down."

Other memorable tracks include the driving, ?Mr Brownstone?-flavoured ?Suckertrain Blues? and ?Big Machine?, with a verse hinting at Alice In Chains? menace and an irreverent chorus recalling 70's titans Marc Bolan and The Sweet.

Later, ?Big Machine? gives Sorum the space he?s been craving...

The track Big Machine has this tremendous drum and bass groove. How did that song develop? - Total Guitar

"We just got into rehearsal and I started playing the intro and Matt starts doing his thing, Slash starts playing and one thing led to another and we had kind of this monstrous thing. We gave it to Scott and he put it through ProTools and chopped the shit out of it and all of a sudden it's this whole different song. But to him this is how it made sense and now its one of my favourite songs on the record. And Matt used a couple different drum sets on that song so it wasn't a full take [live performance]. So we got a little bit more creative on that one..." - Duff McKagan

"Illegal"

In "Illegal," a staccato guitar punctuates the main verse, then drops out for the Beatles-y chorus.

There?s even an older punk track, ?Illegal Eye?.

Later, ?Big Machine? gives Sorum the space he?s been craving, while ?Illegal? features a hyper-fast snare intro and a breathtaking, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants feel.

"Illegal Eye,"...McKagan compares to "a Refused song, like an older punk rock song."

"Dirty Little Thing"

Velvet Revolver?s debut is packed with Duff?s songwriting and bass contributions, from the nasty, distorted riff on ?Big Machine? to the chaotic "Dirty Little Thing"...

On "Dirty Little Thing," he knowlingly sings, "Get away from the man who's stealing your life/Get away from the drugs you're taking." He sounds like a man ready to slow down, yet he's as reinvigorated as his new mates.

"On a ballad where I want something deeper, like the nice pocket on ?Dirty Little Thing,? which sounds like an old STP song, I used the bell brass, just to make it sound honking." - Matt Sorum

""Dirty Lil? Thing" is about Paris Hilton and a lot of songs are about Scott's marriage and his drug problems." - Duff McKagan

[Booker Floyd]

"Falling To Pieces"

The intensity of the music on Contraband is a selling point, but it's Weiland's personal, heartbroken lyrics that fill the songs with lingering emotion. The guy has had it rough over the past year. He was arrested for drugs, busted for driving under the influence, ordered into rehab and his wife left him. These traumatic experiences resonate in his verse. "I keep a journal of memories, feeling lonely can't leave/ Fall to pieces, I'm falling/ Fell to pieces and I'm still falling," he sings in "Fall to Pieces."

The heavy ballad "Fall to Pieces,"...features Slash's signature guitar sound and invokes the Gn'R classic "November Rain.

And though Kushner?s playing colors the seedy, grinding rocker ?Slither? and the arena-rock ballad ?Fall to Pieces,? it?s no surprise that Slash?s burning lines anchor each song.

On the down side 'Falling To Pieces' is also tipped as a single and it's a wistful, acoustic guitar centred weepy in the epic tradition of Bon Jovi's overly sincere ballads.

...On the victorious arena rocker ?Fall to Pieces,? Duff, true to character, rises from the mix at just the right time.

Later, try not to get your head crushed by the big toms of ?Fall to Pieces.?

"Fall to Pieces" is an epic ballad with monster hooks...

?The standout tunes are ?Slither,? a song that Weiland describes as having that ?STP vibe,? and ?Falling To Pieces,? a show-stopping ballad in the manner of GN?R?s ?November Rain?.  

"Fall to Pieces," which revisits the multilayered texture of Gn'R's "November Rain"...

Otherwise 'Contraband' is more solid than spectacular, it's one black sheep being proposed second single 'Falling To Pieces', an epic, acoustic flavoured Zippo-raiser that's more Bon Jovi than Bon Scott and stinks of cynical filler.

And ballads are not forgotten. ?Fall To Pieces? has a touch of a recycled ?Sweet Child of Mine? in the chord-structure, and while not unpleasant, bears not the precious fruits of VR?s emotive angst.

"It is another ballad but it's different as its a power ballad with lots of loud guitars!" - Douglas Grean

"On "Fall To Pieces," that was one piece bass-wise..." - Duff McKagan

"Yeah. I played it with the idea of putting cello in there. I could just play the root note but me being me I wanted to find the riff that goes around that thing. It just came to me, it just happened. It wasn't like I went home and worked on it, it just happened. We thought it would be great to have a cello with that line but everybody liked the bass just being the bass and it's more of a sparse song." - Duff McKagan

"I also have a couple of other re-issues, but I didn't pull out any vintage guitars except a 1954 Les Paul. I used it for the beginning of 'Fall To Pieces,' that clean guitar sound..." - Slash

"Falling to Pieces" is going to be a cool song to play live because it's such an arena rocker.  You can already envision the corny video for it, on the mountaintop, playing a guitar solo." - Duff McKagan

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Thanks to Velvet-Revolver.net for the articles library and Slach for a few quotes...Sorry theres no sources for the magazine quotes; if anybody has anything else to contribute, feel free...

[AxlsPiano]

Thanks for posting all that Booker. I reallllly can't wait to hear Suckertrain Blues. Sounds like it'll be my favorite song right now. Of course that's just by reading the articles heh. Im so excited about this new album man. Kind of interesting that theres a song about Paris Hilton on the record, didnt know Scott had anything to do with her?

[John Daniels]

cheers..can't wait to hear the actual songs.

[thegoat77]

All the tracks sound like the are gonna be awesome, especially Superhuman and Big Machine, they sound like they could be like YCBM with the rythym section driving the song

Wonder what the Slither B side will be?

Only 7 and a bit weeks to go!