DUFF MCKAGAN Says VELVET REVOLVER Will Audition New Singer In December

During a brand new interview with the Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed blog, Duff McKagan's (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES, DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED) was asked about how the search for a new VELVET REVOLVER lead singer is going more than three years since the band parted ways with Scott Weiland. "I think we may be looking at somebody in December, which is fun to think about," he said. "I believe in my heart of hearts it'll happen."

Duff told OC Weekly, last month that he "played in New York [in September as part of the Road Recovery benefit concert] and Matt Sorum [VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES drummer] was there. There was a singer there [possibly referring to Jimmy Gnecco of OURS. Ed.] we might write some songs with."

He continued, "None of us have really tried [to find anyone] in the last few years. We've all been busy with other things.

"I think once that whole thing went down with Scott, we thought we'd find a guy right away. Once a few months went by, it was like, 'Oh fuck.'"

He added, "We didn't give up on the band but you can't force a singer into a situation. It's got to just kind of happen. So playing a few weeks ago with that singer, it seemed really natural. So we'll see. I'll come back to you on that."

Jimmy Gnecco of OURS sang lead vocals on three songs ("Slither" by VELVET REVOLVER, "It's So Easy" by GUNS N' ROSES and "Hey Joe" by JIMI HENDRIX) during the Road Recovery concert with Slash, McKagan, Sorum, Gilby Clarke (ex-GUNS N' ROSES) and Dave Kushner (VELVET REVOLVER). Fan-filmed video footage of his performance can be seen below.

VELVET REVOLVER has been more or less on hiatus since its split with Weiland, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album's worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

In a recent interview with Brazil's "Lokaos Rock Show", VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum said about the band's current status, "After [we parted ways with] Scott Weiland [in 2008] We had such a great first record, especially. The second album is still a good album, but It's hard to replace Scott for that particular band, I think.

"When we did VELVET REVOLVER, we wanted to make a modern rock album, and we had to figure out a way to make that work. We didn't wanna be like GUNS N' ROSES. We knew we had that in us anyway, especially the Slash and Duff sound was the initial sound of [GN'R's classic debut album] 'Appetite For Destruction', the way they played together and everything. Part of that chemistry was there, and when we added Scott, it brought it into a more modern rock element. He came more from grunge the Seattle [sound like] SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM and bands like that. So it took it sort of forward. We became more of a modern rock band and we were on modern rock radio."