Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash discussed discovering his late Velvet Revolver bandmate Scott Weiland had died in a new Guardian interview.
“Velvet Revolver was a really difficult time. It never felt as good as it looked from the outside. It was a cool combination – but I didn’t help, and we all fell off the wagon after a while.” Did the news of Weiland’s death in December 2015, of an accidental overdose, come as any surprise? “When you get that phone call … it was a shock and at the same time it was, ‘Why should it be a shock?’”
He said about recruiting Myles Kennedy for his solo band, “What really appealed to me was that he wasn’t another one of these guys trying to do the raspy rock’n’roll voice with all that attitude. You have already had too many guys who have done it and are so great at it. So I was trying to find somebody who’s coming from a different place.”
Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, Velvet Revolver and Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, and singer Franky Perez discussed their new supergroup Deadland Ritual on Eddie Trunk’s SiriusXM show last week.
Perez said about the formation of the band, “Matt, myself and Steve have been friends with years. And we’ve been talking about doing a project. And we had an opportunity to play with Geezer at the Adopt The Arts benefit, and I remember turning to Matt and saying, ‘This is it, man. This is unreal.’ And when it came time to put the band together, it just made sense.”
Sorum said, “Slash actually called me one time and said, ‘Hey, man. I found this singer [Franky]. And would you check him out with Camp Freddy? And I’m gonna come down and watch.’ We were looking for a singer for Velvet Revolver. And then, long story short, we kind of worked on that for a while. That didn’t come to fruition. And then I remained friends with Franky. I loved his voice and I kept playing with him in different situations.”
Appetite for Distortion recently had a major episode. Big show, 2 interviews. First up, special co-host Geoff from GNR Central helps interview Freekbass. Freek tells us all about the Cincinnati funk scene and his work with Buckethead. Also he details how his new band, Headtronics, formed. One of his Headtronics bandmates is our second guest…Richard Fortus.
Guns N’ Roses’ Richard Fortus joins us later in the episode to talk about this new band, answers your fan-submitted questions, and if he likes knowing that his interviews go viral!
Listen to “Ep. 104 – Richard Fortus and Freekbass talk Headtronics” on Spreaker.
