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Velvet Revolver.
 "My wife came [to Australia] and she's never been here. She's been waking up super-early so she wakes me up, we go out and do stuff and then get back by two. It's not very rock'n'roll... but I'm not very rock'n'roll."
Not very rock'n'roll? Dave Kushner, guitarist with Velvet Revolver, claims he's not very rock'n'roll? The man has played with Mike Muir (Suicidal Tendencies), Robert Trujillo (ST, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction, Chili Peppers) and now shares the stage with ex-members of Guns N'Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. If he's not very rock'n'roll then the rest of us have no hope.
Kushner is enjoying his time in Australia, even if it's not exactly what he was expecting. "I had this image driving in Jeeps over desert land with kangaroos hopping by. It's not really like that," he says sounding almost relieved. "But it's a lot of beaches and water, it's nice."
These are exciting times for the band as they begin to forge their own identity, rather than trading on the member's pasts. They even won a Grammy the other week. Do they care?
"I think there's a part of you that tries to pretend it's not that big a deal before it happens, but once you've held the statue you're like 'oh, this is pretty cool'. They take a while [to receive] because they've got to make the little plaque that goes on it. My understanding is that it takes a couple of months." No way! I thought they had someone out the back, inscribing the awards as the night goes on. "I was hoping! I could do it myself, just pull out a pocket-knife..." he offers.
Velvet Revolver's live set currently includes songs by both Guns and STP. It's surprising to learn that rather than scaling that back, there's a chance it will actually increase.
"We've talked about it off and on but I don't know if we're gonna phase it out, or if we need to phase it out, or if we want to... it's still fun for us. Last night we played [Guns N' Roses'] Used To Love Her. We usually play an acoustic version of it and we played a more electric version because Scott [Weiland, singer] heard the version that's on the live record and he just liked the way it sounded. So he's like 'hey, let's try and play it like this!' and we didn't rehearse it. We just showed up and did it and it was cool. We still like playing those songs. I'm trying to talk Scott into doing that song Down off 'No. 4' STP record just cause I like that song."
And the band's second album may be with us sooner rather than later. "It's starting to get to that point. We still love playing live, and we're still on an upward climb with the sized places we're playing and everything else: production-wise, musically, but we've been writing songs as we go along and we're actually gonna try and do a little pre-production when we get home in a few days, before we go back out in the States. We'll start getting in that mode and hopefully start recording as soon as we're done touring in August."
Weiland's been quoted as saying he wants it out by Christmas. "Who knows if it really can happen that quick? You never know with the record company, they need set up time and all that kind of stuff. We're gonna try."
As an LA native, Kushner wasn't overly worried about auditioning for the then-unnamed group. He'd known Slash since school and felt comfortable enough.
"It was a little intimidating when I first played with all three of those guys [Slash, bassist Duff and drummer Matt Sorum]; because they're all so good and I respect them as musicians. And they have so much experience, they're so natural together and they did it for so many years, and I'm over here just trying to do my thing...but it worked out. But yeah, I probably had an advantage over most guitar players that would come into that situation and be a lot more intimidated."
Dave Kushner, ladies and gentlemen. Nice guy, and not very rock'n'roll at all. Obviously.
Wade Howland
 | 'Velvet Revolver' is out now through Sony/BMG. |
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