Velvet Revolver / Duff in Soundi (Finnish magazine)

[jarmo]

In the latest issue of Finnish music magazine, Soundi, they have an interview with Duff.

Here are the most interesting things mentioned in the article:

- According to the writer, "Contraband" does sound dangerous as the band has promised, or as dangerous as American 40 year old millionaires with families can sound.

- Falling To Pieces is hit material and will be released as a single in August (to coincide with a European tour).

- The writer doesn expect Contraband to sell millions of copies, but it proves that the guys love rock n' roll.

- The interview was done in Amsterdam, on the first day Duff, Susan, Slash and Perla were at some club playing the album for the journalists. Duff makes sure his glass has non-alcoholic beer in it.

Duff and Slash are in a good mood but Susan seems bored and after an hour she pulls Duff out of there. They leave the place while Slash and Perla stay a little longer until everybody has gotten a picture taken with him.

- The next day they're doing interviews at the nicest hotel in Amsterdam. The first interviews were scheduled for 9:30 and Duff had already done some kickboxing by then. During the interview he's smoking a cigar.

- Duff mentions that they're happy with the record, that the record company is behind them and that it's about time somebody releases this kind of record. He also mentions that they're not necessarily trying to to sell enormous amounts of records. They just want to play live. His last real tour was with Neurotic Outsiders.

- Most people will be surprised that Duff and Slash are playing in a band that sounds more like Stone Temple Pilots than Guns N' Roses. Contraband is a dark record and according to Duff, that's because of Scott's voice.

- Other than Queens Of The Stone Age, Duff doesn't know of any bands that have the rock n' roll spirit. After Nirvana there haven't been many of that kind of bands, or at least he can't think of one. Most bands aren't real and you can feel it. He says White Stripes are ok and The Strokes are nice guys, but they seem bored on stage. He likes their records though.

- Duff says GN'R's "Greatest Hits" record hasn't affected VR's plans, but a record company employee says it was the biggest reason for the postponement of the release of Contraband.

- Slither doesn't represent the album.

- Nick Rasculinecz was first tried as the producer, he wasn't experienced enough. Bob Ezrin was next and the band knew the record would be overproduced. Josh Abraham was chosen because he brought in a tape of a song he had recorded with Courtney Love. They wanted to get the live sound he had managed to capture on that track.

- The band recorded a studio version of Nirvana's "Negative Creep", which according to Duff, sounds almost like death metal and it kicks ass. It would've been one of the most dangerous tracks on the record, but they left it out.

- "It's So Easy" will probably be in their live sets. Maybe "Mr. Brownstone" too as well other tracks from "Appetite For Destruction". Duff has all of Stone Temple Pilots' records with him and he expects to find a couple of tracks on those.

- They'll play other covers too. Whatever they feel like. Not everything has to be planned out, it's a rock band not fucking.... Pink Floyd. Duff apologizes for that since it's a bad comparison. He says it was the first thing that came to mind and that it was probably due to them covering Money.

- Next, the release of the "Greatest Hits" record is discussed. Duff mentions how they tried to stop its release and that it's not really a greatest hits, but more like the record company's idea of their biggest hits. Because of the record, Duff and Slash were in contact with Axl's people for the first time in years.

- GN'R has thousands of hours of video footage from the "Use Your Illusion" tour that Duff thinks people would've been interested in seeing and hearing.

They could've compiled an interesting CD or DVD package if the record company just had asked. Instead they put out "Greatest Hits" which is so bad that it makes him sick.

They had no input on the cover art, track selection, release date or anything else. Duff thinks what Universal did is criminal even though the court says otherwise.

Universal were only thinking about making their stockholders happy, so they released something that would turn their figures into plus.

He mentions that this is a good example on how they don't give a shit about what they release.

- Sympathy For The Devil is the worst track they recorded and it broke up the band. Axl brought in a friend of his, Paul Huge, to record guitar parts without telling anybody else. Slash wasn't too happy, he was the first one to leave.

- Duff has no idea about what Axl is doing or if Chinese Democracy is going to be released. He thinks Axl's been buried in the project, has spent 7-8 years and $13 million on it. He says that's a lot of money and that there must be lots of  pressure on Axl, but that it has to come out some day.

- He says Velvet Revolver did their album in 2.5 weeks and yet it sounds like they wanted it to. It's rock n' roll, not brain surgery.

- When asked if it was easy to give up alcohol, he says he had no choice. The other choice was death. His only vice nowadays is Cuban cigars which are hard to get in the USA.

- The last thing he mentions is that his kids have a cat named Peperonipizza (or something similar). It was named by his kids and he has to take care of it because the kids are too young to do that. He says that if he spent more time at home, he'd probably have more pets.


Thanks to Tomi for the scan!



/jarmo

[F*ck Fear]

Thanks Jarmo!

[Doc Emmett Brown]

- According to the writer, "Contraband" does sound dangerous as the band has promised, or as dangerous as American 40 year old millionaires with families can sound.

Did the writer have the guts to say this to Duff, or was it printed afterwards?....  

They're not living on the streets so it doesnt make sense to expect that kind of an album.  

- GN'R has thousands of hours of video footage from the "Use Your Illusion" tour that Duff thinks people would've been interested in seeing and hearing.  They could've compiled an interesting CD or DVD package if the record company just had asked.

Too bad the record label didnt ask.     Wasnt there supposed to be a compilation called 'Perfect Crime' which followed the band around during the tour, but it never got released?

Thanks Jarmo

[jarmo]

No, the reviewer didn't mention it to Duff. It was more like an intro in the article.

Wasnt there supposed to be a compilation called 'Perfect Crime' which followed the band around during the tour, but it never got released?

Yeah, it was mentioned on one of MTV's GN'R specials....



/jarmo

[F*ck Fear]

"Sympathy For The Devil is the worst track they recorded and it broke up the band. Axl brought in a friend of his, Paul Huge, to record guitar parts without telling anybody else. Slash wasn't too happy, he was the first one to leave."


It was recorded in 1994(or released anyway)so if Slash was so upset why would he leave the band 2 years later?....These guys are the greatest but it gets to me when they talk out of their asses.

[Booker Floyd]

- Falling To Pieces is hit material and will be released as a single in August (to coincide with a European tour).

Good to hear  

- Bob Ezrin was next and the band knew the record would be overproduced.

Id like to hear some of the demos done with Ezrin...

- The band recorded a studio version of Nirvana's "Negative Creep", which according to Duff, sounds almost like death metal and it kicks ass. It would've been one of the most dangerous tracks on the record, but they left it out.

Hope to hear this as well...

- They'll play other covers too. Whatever they feel like.

Thats the way it should be...just play whatever they want to.

- He says Velvet Revolver did their album in 2.5 weeks and yet it sounds like they wanted it to. It's rock n' roll, not brain surgery.

Truth

Quote:
- GN'R has thousands of hours of video footage from the "Use Your Illusion" tour that Duff thinks people would've been interested in seeing and hearing.  They could've compiled an interesting CD or DVD package if the record company just had asked.
 
 

Too bad the record label didnt ask.    Wasnt there supposed to be a compilation called 'Perfect Crime' which followed the band around during the tour, but it never got released?

Chances of Axl complying with this - 2%, probably closer to zero.

It was recorded in 1994(or released anyway)so if Slash was so upset why would he leave the band 2 years later?....These guys are the greatest but it gets to me when they talk out of their asses.

Since the band was basically inactive the following year, you think its possible that the song did in fact break the band up.  Slashs role in GNR after '94 was in name only, so he was really done with the band long before he was officially out (sounds like Bucketheads situation).  The same goes for the other guys...they might have stuck around in some capacity a little longer, but the band could have very well been "over" way before they split.  And like its been said, Duff might be overplaying the songs role in breaking up the band because it was one of many reasons the band fell apart.    

[metallex78]

"Sympathy For The Devil is the worst track they recorded and it broke up the band. Axl brought in a friend of his, Paul Huge, to record guitar parts without telling anybody else. Slash wasn't too happy, he was the first one to leave."


It was recorded in 1994(or released anyway)so if Slash was so upset why would he leave the band 2 years later?....These guys are the greatest but it gets to me when they talk out of their asses.

Slash said that he wanted the recording session of SFTD to be a chance for the band to get together and reconnect with a view to a new album.
Since only Slash, Duff & Matt turned up togther at the studio and Axl turned up later along with Paul Huge to record their parts it wasnt exactly getting band on good terms again.
I guess you could say that was the start of the end for the rest of the original band members to leave.

[page]

- GN'R has thousands of hours of video footage from the "Use Your Illusion" tour that Duff thinks people would've been interested in seeing and hearing.

I just love to see that.

Great interview by the way.

[Rebecca Duff Rose]

  pepperonipizza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! Bless Duff N' his sweet, lovely kids!  

Awwwwwwww!
I had a slice of pepperoni pizza last night actually!  

awwwwwwwww bless!
good to know Duff is taking care of himself with kickboxing!
and that he loves his music!

  Congratulations Duff!  

[gypsy eyes]

"Sympathy For The Devil is the worst track they recorded and it broke up the band. Axl brought in a friend of his, Paul Huge, to record guitar parts without telling anybody else. Slash wasn't too happy, he was the first one to leave."


It was recorded in 1994(or released anyway)so if Slash was so upset why would he leave the band 2 years later?....These guys are the greatest but it gets to me when they talk out of their asses.

Slash said that he wanted the recording session of SFTD to be a chance for the band to get together and reconnect with a view to a new album.
Since only Slash, Duff & Matt turned up togther at the studio and Axl turned up later along with Paul Huge to record their parts it wasnt exactly getting band on good terms again.
I guess you could say that was the start of the end for the rest of the original band members to leave.

actually it was Pauly there that did it I guess... it was the last drop, Slash was furious that Axl went behind his back and brought in another guitarist without telling him about it and the band was already falling apart... A bit later Paul and Axl were hanging around somewhere with Matt and some other guys and Slash came in and Paul started hurling insults and Slash told Axl that was it; either he went or Paul went. Axl started about how Paul was from his hometown and such a friend to him and he should relax etc and Slash left and that was the last time (at least that's what Matt said, he was there at the time and after Slash left Paul said some stuff about Slash, bad stuff and laughing at him and Axl was laughing too and Matt said that noone could talk about Slash like that as long as he was in the room and they got into a fight, not much later Matt called it a quit too and said the infamous "Paul = Yoko Uno of GnR" thingy )

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Quote:
- GN'R has thousands of hours of video footage from the "Use Your Illusion" tour that Duff thinks people would've been interested in seeing and hearing.  They could've compiled an interesting CD or DVD package if the record company just had asked.
 
Too bad the record label didnt ask.    Wasnt there supposed to be a compilation called 'Perfect Crime' which followed the band around during the tour, but it never got released?

Chances of Axl complying with this - 2%, probably closer to zero.

Now you have me brewing conspiracy theories...  

Perhaps Geffen did ask for some input in creating a compilation CD/DVD (an edited version of Perfect Crime?), but Axl refused to comply.  And Slash & Duff weren't informed of this, so they joined Axl in the failed lawsuit.

It might explain why Geffen put out the release that they did (no bonus materials, apparent spelling mistakes, etc) because they were irritated at having to do the band's work for them, namely, put together a proper greatest hits album.

Despite its flaws, it is selling well.  Well, it helps to remind people of the original lineup, and showcases the talents of the Ex-Gunners.  All's well that ends well... I suppose.

[Aava]

I didn?t like the article. They wrote more about Axl, GNR and Greatest Hits, than they did about VR.

[Dave_Rose]

That was a good read cant wait for VR to rule the world.

[tomass74]

That was a good read cant wait for VR to rule the world.

I'm with you on that one brother..

[badgirl]

I think it's so sweet that Duff is a dad and a family man... it's uplifting to see that people can grow and mature.  
ANYWAY...
i was reading Rolling Stone today and saw that Greatest Hits is at #8, which is so interesting to me given what Duff (and everyone else) says about the album. Proves once again that there is just no accounting for the public's taste..