VELVET REVOLVER

VELVET REVOLVER
Biography

Velvet Revolver are an American band formed in 2002. Three former members of Guns N' Roses, guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, teamed up with guitarist Dave Kushner from McKagan's band Loaded, and in 2003 they found their singer in Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots. Their debut album, Contraband, entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 in 2004 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA, and "Slither" won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2005. After a second album, Libertad, in 2007, the band parted ways with Weiland in April 2008 and never settled on a replacement. They played with Weiland once more, for one night in January 2012, and he died in December 2015. Slash and McKagan have been back in Guns N' Roses since 2016, and in 2026 Sorum said he would be open to reviving the band with a new singer.

The members and the formation (2002)

Slash and Duff McKagan had been in Guns N' Roses since 1985 (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016). Axl Rose confirmed on 31 October 1996 that Slash was out of the band, and McKagan left in August 1997 (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016 and 2012). Matt Sorum was drumming for the Cult on tour when Slash and McKagan spotted him and asked him to replace Steven Adler in Guns N' Roses. After he was fired in 1997 he worked as a producer and session drummer, and in 2001 he rejoined the Cult for the album Beyond Good and Evil. He had also played on It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, the 1995 album by Slash's Snakepit, the band Slash started while he was still in Guns N' Roses (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016). After leaving Guns N' Roses, McKagan formed Loaded (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016).

Dave Kushner had been friends with Slash since junior high and high school (Blabbermouth, 2007). He had played in Wasted Youth, the Electric Love Hogs and Dave Navarro's band, among others (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004), and more recently alongside McKagan in Loaded (Blabbermouth, 2003).

The band grew out of a tribute to the drummer Randy Castillo, who died in March 2002 after eleven years in Ozzy Osbourne's band. A benefit in his memory was held at the Key Club in Los Angeles on 29 April 2002 (antiMUSIC, 2002). Slash, McKagan and Sorum played it as a five-piece with singer Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson of Buckcherry, running through Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" and "Paradise City", the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen", Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" and Buckcherry's "Lit Up", before Aerosmith's Steven Tyler came on to sing "Mama Kin" (antiMUSIC, 2002; Blabbermouth, 2019).

Encouraged, the five spent about a month in a rehearsal room, five days a week, and wrote around ten songs, until Slash abruptly called it off (Blabbermouth, 2003, 2006 and 2019). Todd was angry when that month was later described as his audition (Blabbermouth, 2003). Slash, McKagan and Sorum decided to carry on together and brought in Kushner (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004). In September 2002, at San Diego's Street Scene festival, Slash said he was making an album with McKagan and Sorum and was looking for a singer, and he gave out an address for demos (Blabbermouth, 2002). A report that December said the band had been together since May and had formally taken Kushner on as its live guitarist (Blabbermouth, 2002).

Izzy Stradlin, their old Guns N' Roses bandmate, also came to rehearsals for several weeks during the early writing sessions and wrote about ten songs with them. He had no interest in the long haul, though, and once the band began auditioning singers he stopped coming (Blabbermouth, 2003; Variety, 2003).

The search for a singer (2002-2003)

The four advertised for a singer and were soon receiving 200 to 300 demo CDs a week. By February 2003 more than 500 singers had sent demos and about fifteen had been auditioned, among them Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, Travis Meeks of Days of the New, Kelly Shaefer, formerly of Neurotica and Atheist, Mike Matijevic of Steelheart, Pat Briggs of Psychotica and A. Jay Popoff of Lit (Blabbermouth, 2003). Some candidates, such as Cheyenne Goff of Bliss 66 and Todd Kerns of Age of Electric, were sent instrumental tracks to write lyrics for and sing over (Blabbermouth, 2002 and 2003). By then the band had written more than fifty songs (Blabbermouth, 2003).

VH1 cameras followed the search (Blabbermouth, 2003; RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004), and the footage became the 2004 program Inside Out: The Rise of Velvet Revolver (Time, 2010). Slash later recalled going through submissions six days a week for ten months (Blabbermouth, 2014).

Scott Weiland and the name (2003)

While the search went on, McKagan had been spending time with Scott Weiland, the singer of Stone Temple Pilots (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004), a band then on hiatus (Variety, 2003). Weiland already knew Kushner: back when Stone Temple Pilots were still called Mighty Joe Young, they had shared bills with Kushner's Electric Love Hogs. When Slash dropped off a CD of the band's recordings, Weiland found that about fifteen of the sixty or so songs on it really spoke to him (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004). Sorum said they knew he was their man the moment he walked into the studio (Blabbermouth, 2003).

In April 2003 the band, with Weiland, recorded a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" for the soundtrack of the film The Italian Job (Rolling Stone, 2003). The job came from Kathy Nelson, head of film music at Universal Music Group and Universal Pictures, after the band had played showcases for film and record executives at its rehearsal studio (Variety, 2003). Next came a new song, "Set Me Free", for Ang Lee's Hulk (Blabbermouth, 2003); it appeared on the soundtrack album released by Decca Records and reached No. 17 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart (Variety, 2003; Billboard).

In May 2003, at a Marilyn Manson show at the Key Club in Los Angeles, Weiland told Rolling Stone that he was in the band and that the contract had been signed. Until then the group had been working under the name "the Project", and Weiland said it would be called Reloaded (Rolling Stone, 2003). A few days later he was arrested in Burbank, California, after police stopped the car he was in and found drugs; the band's publicist said that no overall agreement between Weiland and the band had been reached yet (Blabbermouth, 2003). He was charged with possession of heroin and cocaine (Variety, 2003).

According to Slash's autobiography, the name was settled at a screening of Hulk at Universal Studios. Slash had taken the word "Revolver" from the name of the film company Revolution Studios and put it forward, Weiland countered with "Black Velvet Revolver", and they met in the middle (American Songwriter, 2023). Because the name was decided after the Hulk soundtrack had been printed, "Set Me Free" is credited there to the five members by name (Variety, 2003). Weiland later claimed that it was he who had officially named the band (Blabbermouth, 2008).

The first show was on 19 June 2003 at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, an invitation-only event presented by the radio station KROQ, Universal Pictures, Decca Records and the band's management, Immortal Entertainment (Variety, 2003). It was booked only days in advance and announced the day before (Billboard, 2003). The set opened with the Sex Pistols' "Bodies" and went on through "Set Me Free", Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing", Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" and the new "Slither", with Nirvana's "Negative Creep" as the encore. Dave Grohl and Ang Lee were in the crowd, and the band still had no record deal (Rolling Stone, 2003).

Contraband (2003-2004)

Over the summer and autumn of 2003 the band tried out producers: it recorded "Slither" with Bob Ezrin, also went into the studio with Nick Raskulinecz, and with Josh Abraham worked on a song then called "Loving the Aliens (Sometimes)" (Billboard, 2003). In September it was reported to have signed with RCA (Billboard, 2003); one reason was that the label's chairman, Clive Davis, flew out to watch the band rehearse and courted it himself (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004). Abraham produced the album with the band, Andy Wallace mixed it, and it was mastered in New York on 19 December 2003 (Blabbermouth, 2004). Weiland said the lyrics were largely about a toxic relationship and what his break-up and divorce had done to him (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004).

Weiland's legal troubles ran alongside the sessions. In August 2003 he pleaded no contest to possessing the heroin found in Burbank; on 27 October he drove into a parked car in Hollywood and was charged with driving under the influence; and in January 2004 he was ordered back into a live-in detox center after leaving it earlier than allowed (Fox News, 2004; Blabbermouth, 2008). He was let out for a few hours a day to finish recording Contraband (Rolling Stone, 2005), and a promotional tour planned for March 2004 was postponed (Blabbermouth, 2004). McKagan took Weiland up into the mountains of Washington State, where under a martial arts teacher he came off drugs; in 2026 McKagan recalled that they spent about two months by Lake Chelan (RCA's official biography, via Blabbermouth, 2004; Blabbermouth, 2026). Weiland went on to complete a drug program, and the 2003 drug charge was dismissed in July 2005 (CBS News, 2005; Rolling Stone, 2005).

The release date slipped from 27 April to 11 May and then to 18 May (Blabbermouth, 2004). "Slither", the first single, went on sale as a download on 20 April, and its video, directed by Kevin Kerslake, premiered on MTV2 on 27 April (Blabbermouth, 2004). The band's first tour began in St. Louis on 13 May (Pollstar, 2004).

Contraband was released by RCA in the United States on 8 June 2004 (RIAA; Pollstar, 2004), the night the band played the first of two shows at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles (Pollstar, 2004). It sold 256,000 copies in its first week and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 (Billboard, 2004), staying on the chart for 51 weeks (Billboard). The RIAA certified it gold on 12 July 2004, platinum on 4 August 2004 and double platinum on 26 July 2005 (RIAA). "Slither" spent nine weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and four weeks at No. 1 on its Alternative chart, and reached No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Fall to Pieces" topped the Mainstream Rock chart for eleven weeks and reached No. 2 on the Alternative chart and No. 67 on the Hot 100, and "Dirty Little Thing" made No. 8 on the Mainstream Rock chart (Billboard). "Slither" and "Fall to Pieces" were each certified gold as singles (RIAA). At the 2004 Kerrang! Awards the band was named Best International Newcomer (Blabbermouth, 2004).

The Grammy and the world tour (2005)

At the 47th Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on 13 February 2005, "Slither" won Best Hard Rock Performance. Contraband was also nominated for Best Rock Album, and "Fall to Pieces" for Best Rock Song, credited to the five as songwriters (Recording Academy; Billboard, 2005). During the ceremony Velvet Revolver backed an all-star version of the Beatles' "Across the Universe" in aid of the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with Weiland among the singers (Billboard, 2005; Recording Academy).

On 19 March the band began an arena tour in Phoenix (Billboard, 2005), and on 2 July it played Live 8 in London's Hyde Park (The Hollywood Reporter, 2005; Stereogum, 2005). "Come On, Come In", recorded in Raleigh and Cleveland between tour dates in May, appeared on the soundtrack of Fantastic Four, released by Wind-up Records on 5 July; the band co-produced it with Doug Grean and Nick Raskulinecz, and Wayne Isham directed the video (Blabbermouth, 2005; Billboard, 2005). In August Sorum broke his hand in a boating accident, and Brian Tichy took his place for six or seven shows from 11 August (Blabbermouth, 2005). From 23 August to 4 September the band was on the main stage of Ozzfest (Blabbermouth, 2005). It spent most of the year on the road, and by the end of 2005 Contraband had sold 1.8 million copies in the United States (Billboard, 2005).

Libertad (2006-2007)

At the end of 2005 Weiland said he had a clear concept in mind for the next album (Billboard, 2005). In August 2006 the band agreed over dinner to make it with Rick Rubin. It had thirty songs at that point, but Rubin kept asking for more, and once the count reached fifty the band chose another path; Brendan O'Brien produced the record instead (Billboard, 2007). Recording took place in Los Angeles from the beginning of 2007 (Blabbermouth, 2007).

On 12 March 2007, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, Velvet Revolver inducted Van Halen (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; Blabbermouth, 2007). David Lee Roth was meant to sing a song with them, but the plan fell apart in the two weeks before the ceremony and Roth did not attend (Blabbermouth, 2007 and 2011).

In April the band toured South America (Billboard, 2007; Blabbermouth, 2007), and in May it played twelve shows in the United States and Canada, mostly in small venues (RCA announcement, via Blabbermouth, 2007). The album's release was moved from 29 May to 3 July, with "She Builds Quick Machines" as the first single (Billboard, 2007). The title came about when McKagan arrived at a session in a T-shirt that read "Libertad", the Spanish word for freedom, and Slash found a coin stamped with the same word (RCA announcement, via Blabbermouth, 2007). In June an EP, Melody and the Tyranny, came out in Europe with "She Builds Quick Machines", "Just Sixteen", a cover of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" recorded during the album sessions, "Do It for the Kids" and a film about the making of the album (Blabbermouth, 2007).

Libertad was released by RCA in the United States on 3 July 2007 (Billboard, 2007; RCA announcement, via Blabbermouth, 2007), and on 5 July the band celebrated with a club show at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles (Blabbermouth, 2007). It sold 92,000 copies in its first week and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 5 (Billboard, 2007), less than half of Contraband's first-week figure (Blabbermouth, 2007), and by November 2008 it had sold 302,000 copies in the United States (Billboard, 2008). "She Builds Quick Machines" reached No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock chart and "The Last Fight" No. 16 (Billboard). "The Last Fight" was one of the songs that came out of the death of Weiland's brother, to whom Weiland dedicated the album (Blabbermouth, 2007).

From 5 August, starting at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the band toured North America with Alice in Chains into October (Blabbermouth, 2007). McKagan said later that listeners and critics had not given Libertad the chance they gave Contraband (Blabbermouth, 2011), and Sorum called it a good record that lacked the angst of the first one (Blabbermouth, 2022).

Weiland's departure (2007-2008)

On 21 November 2007 Weiland crashed his car on a Los Angeles freeway and was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs (Blabbermouth, 2008). An Australian tour booked for December was postponed (Blabbermouth, 2008). According to Slash, Weiland was supposed to go into rehab at that point and did not, and that was the final blow (Blabbermouth, 2008).

On 24 January 2008 the band set out from Chicago on a tour of North America, Australia and Europe, and Slash said he wanted to start a third album as soon as it was over (Billboard, 2008). But on 20 January Weiland had missed a show in Park City, Utah, during the Sundance Film Festival when bad weather diverted his flight, and after a show in Los Angeles on 6 February he checked himself into rehab. The five Australian dates from 15 to 20 February were cancelled, and the band went on to the Desert Rock festival in Dubai on 8 March and a British tour from 15 to 27 March (Blabbermouth, 2008).

At a show in Glasgow on 20 March, Weiland told the audience they were watching the last tour by Velvet Revolver, and a few songs later he threw down his microphone and walked off. Sorum acknowledged the turmoil online the next day, and Weiland hit back at him (Blabbermouth, 2008; Ultimate Classic Rock, 2023). Slash said afterwards that the band had already made up its mind about Weiland before the last leg of the tour and had barely spoken to him on it, and that Weiland had walked off convinced that the drum technician was singing along with him (Blabbermouth, 2008; Guitar World, 2008).

On 1 April 2008, the day the European tour ended at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Slash, McKagan, Sorum and Kushner announced that they had parted ways with Weiland, with Slash citing his "increasingly erratic onstage behavior and personal problems" (Blabbermouth, 2008; Ultimate Classic Rock, 2023). The next day Weiland answered in a statement to MTV News: he had given the band its name, he had already declared it finished in Glasgow, and nearly all of its members had been through rehab; he also suggested Sebastian Bach as his successor (Blabbermouth, 2008). Weiland was already on his way back to Stone Temple Pilots, who announced a reunion tour at a press conference on 7 April (Blabbermouth, 2008). He said later that he had told Slash in advance there would be a Stone Temple Pilots tour, and that he had meant what he said in Glasgow (Billboard, 2008). In 2015 he reflected that the band had held too many egos, his own included (Blabbermouth, 2015).

Looking for a new singer (2008-2011)

The four went straight to work on finding a replacement. In April 2008 they set up a website where singers could post video auditions, and they turned down an approach from Mark Burnett, the producer of Survivor, to turn the search into a reality show (Rolling Stone, 2009). Royston Langdon of Spacehog was among those who auditioned (Billboard, 2008). In November the band left RCA at its own request, to give itself a free hand in the search (Billboard, 2008). In February 2009 McKagan said that around 400 applicants had been narrowed down to a couple and that a new singer was only weeks away (Rolling Stone, 2009), but no announcement followed.

According to Kushner, the only singer the band actually hired was Franky Perez, who was let go before long because the longer they worked together the less it felt right; the band also tried the singers of Big Wreck and Spacehog, and there was talk of working with Lenny Kravitz (Blabbermouth, 2018). With Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour it recorded a number of songs (Blabbermouth, 2011), and Taylor himself said in 2009 that he had made demos with the band and that it had not worked out (Rolling Stone, 2009). Accounts of how many songs they recorded differ: nine or ten in Taylor's telling (Blabbermouth, 2015), eight in Kushner's (Blabbermouth, 2018). In 2011 Slash said that Taylor's voice had not fitted the band (Blabbermouth, 2011). Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge was offered the job around 2009 and turned it down (Blabbermouth, 2010).

Slash released a solo album in 2010 and toured with Kennedy as his singer (NME, 2011; Blabbermouth, 2010), and in April 2011 he said that nothing was likely to happen with Velvet Revolver for at least a couple of years while he concentrated on his own band (Blabbermouth, 2011). In 2010 Slash, McKagan and Sorum appeared as Velvet Revolver on "Kissed It", from Macy Gray's album The Sellout (Blabbermouth, 2010), and in November 2010 Eagle Vision released Live in Houston, a concert film shot in Houston, Texas, during the Contraband tour (Blabbermouth, 2010).

On 13 September 2011 Slash was honored at a benefit at the Best Buy Theater in New York for Road Recovery, a charity that works with young people facing addiction and other problems, and McKagan, Sorum, Kushner and the former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke joined him on stage (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2011; NME, 2011). Jimmy Gnecco of Ours sang "Slither", "It's So Easy" and Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" with them (Blabbermouth, 2011), and in December Sorum said the others were trying Gnecco out (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2011; Loudwire, 2011).

One night in 2012

On 20 August 2011 John O'Brien, a composer and music supervisor for film and television, was found dead in a Chicago hotel room at the age of 45 (Blabbermouth, 2011). Kushner, his childhood friend, decided to put on a benefit for O'Brien's family; at the Road Recovery show he got Slash, McKagan and Sorum to agree, and then he called Weiland, who said yes as well (Rolling Stone, 2012).

On 12 January 2012, at "Love You Madly: A Concert for John O'Brien" at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, the five played together for the first time in almost four years, on a bill that also included Adam Levine and James Valentine of Maroon 5, Sheryl Crow, Tom Morello and Stephen Stills (Blabbermouth, 2011; Rolling Stone, 2012; Spin, 2012). They played four songs: "Sucker Train Blues", "She Builds Quick Machines", "Slither" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (Rolling Stone, 2018; NME, 2012).

The hiatus and Weiland's death (2012-2015)

Afterwards Weiland said he would be happy to work with both Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver (Rolling Stone, 2012), and in May 2012 he told a radio interviewer that the band was already writing a third album. Slash denied it at once on the Minneapolis radio station 93X, saying he had no intention of going backwards (NME, 2012). Weiland insisted again in December 2012 that he was back in the band, and on 27 February 2013 Stone Temple Pilots announced that they had fired him (Loudwire, 2013).

In May 2014 Slash said an audition for a singer was coming up (Blabbermouth, 2014), but in August McKagan said he was not aware of any auditions and that the chance of Weiland returning had "played itself out"; Slash described the band as dormant, with some activity under the radar (Blabbermouth, 2014). Weiland said that same year that he had called the others to propose playing a few shows together (Rolling Stone, 2018).

On 3 December 2015 Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, while on tour with his band the Wildabouts. He was 48 (Rolling Stone, 2015; Billboard, 2015; NBC News, 2015). The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled his death an accidental overdose of cocaine, alcohol and MDA (Rolling Stone, 2015; NBC News, 2015). The members of Velvet Revolver posted a joint statement on McKagan's Facebook page saying that even in Weiland's darkest times they had never stopped hoping for him or loving him (Rolling Stone, 2015; Ultimate Classic Rock, 2015). Sorum said on satellite radio that he felt he had made his peace with Weiland (Billboard, 2015), and on New Year's Eve, at his own show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Slash dedicated "Sucker Train Blues" to him (Loudwire, 2016).

Back to Guns N' Roses, and talk of a reunion (2016-2026)

In January 2016 it was officially announced that Slash and McKagan would play Coachella with Axl Rose as Guns N' Roses (Billboard, 2016; NME, 2016), and the reunion got under way on 1 April 2016 with a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood (Blabbermouth, 2016; NME, 2016). Sorum was not part of it; in his 2022 memoir he wrote that he heard about the reunion through rumors and that McKagan told him Rose wanted to use his own drummer (Blabbermouth, 2026). In June 2018 Guns N' Roses played "Slither" at the Olympiastadion in Berlin (Rolling Stone, 2018).

On 13 September 2024 Contraband (20th Anniversary), a new remaster of the album with six more songs, came out as a double LP and as a download; the only CD edition was Japan's two-disc set of 25 September (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2024; BraveWords, 2024; Sony Music Japan).

The members have kept looking back. In 2022 Sorum said that after the success of the first album they all slipped back into bad habits and the band "imploded" (Blabbermouth, 2022). In January 2026 he said Velvet Revolver could have been as big as Guns N' Roses had it lasted longer, and recalled the band's three Grammy nominations and its one win as a big moment (Blabbermouth, 2026). In September 2026, asked on the Worcester, Massachusetts, radio station 100 FM The Pike about reviving the band with Lzzy Hale of Halestorm singing, he said he would do it (Blabbermouth, 2026; Loudwire, 2026). In October McKagan told the podcast Finding Your Summit that Weiland had stayed sober through the making of the first album and its first tour, and that things fell apart on the tour for the second (Blabbermouth, 2026).

The members

Slash has been back in Guns N' Roses since 2016; from 2010 he had led his own band, with Myles Kennedy as his singer (Blabbermouth, 2010; Loudwire, 2016). McKagan spent half of 2010 in Jane's Addiction and co-wrote three songs for their album The Great Escape Artist, although he does not play on it, and from 2013 he played in Kings of Chaos, which also included Sorum and Gilby Clarke (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016). As a solo artist he released Tenderness in 2019 and Lighthouse in 2023; on Lighthouse, Slash plays on "Hope" and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains on "I Just Don't Know" (Blabbermouth, 2019 and 2023).

McKagan and Sorum were also the rhythm section of Hollywood Vampires, the band led by Alice Cooper (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2016). In 2018 Sorum joined Deadland Ritual, the new band of Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, together with Billy Idol's guitarist Steve Stevens and Franky Perez, the singer Velvet Revolver had briefly hired (Rolling Stone, 2018). He published his memoir, Double Talkin' Jive, in 2022 (Blabbermouth, 2022). In 2012 he founded Adopt The Arts with the actress Jane Lynch to support music education in public elementary schools, and in 2026 he produced the live album Sound & Vision Live for it (Blabbermouth, 2026).

Kushner co-wrote the main title theme of the television series Sons of Anarchy, which began in 2008, with Bob Thiele Jr. (Blabbermouth, 2008), and the theme earned them a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music (Blabbermouth, 2009; Television Academy).

Discography

The two studio albums, the European EP, the two concert films and the 20th-anniversary edition of Contraband, in order of first release. The band also recorded songs for films: "Money" for The Italian Job and "Set Me Free" for Hulk in 2003, and "Come On, Come In" for Fantastic Four in 2005 (Rolling Stone, 2003; Variety, 2003; Billboard, 2005). "Set Me Free" was later included on Contraband.

Released	Title	Type	Label	Notes
2004	Contraband	Studio album	RCA Records	Entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1; certified double platinum by the RIAA; "Slither" won a Grammy
2007	Melody and the Tyranny	EP	RCA Records	Released in Europe; two songs from Libertad, a cover of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", "Do It for the Kids" and a making-of film
2007	Libertad	Studio album	RCA Records	Produced by Brendan O'Brien; entered the Billboard 200 at No. 5
2010	Live in Houston	Concert film (DVD)	Eagle Vision	Filmed in Houston during the Contraband tour
2012	Let It Roll – Live in Germany	Concert film (DVD)	Eagle Vision	Filmed in Cologne in March 2008 (Rockpalast)
2024	Contraband (20th Anniversary)	Anniversary edition of the studio album	Legacy Recordings / RCA Records	Deluxe edition adding six tracks to the original thirteen

Concerts in Japan

In Japan, Contraband came out on BMG Funhouse on 2 June 2004, ahead of its release in other countries. The Japanese edition added a Sex Pistols cover, "Bodies (Live)", as a bonus track and reached No. 6 on the Oricon albums chart (Sony Music Japan; Tower Records; Oricon). On 23 February 2005, timed to the band's visit, a two-disc Japan Tour Special Edition of Contraband followed for a two-month limited run; its second disc held covers of Cheap Trick's "Surrender", Aerosmith's "No More No More" and Nirvana's "Negative Creep", with music videos including "Slither" and "Fall to Pieces" (Sony Music Japan; Tower Records; BARKS). Libertad was released in Japan by BMG Japan on 27 June 2007 with one bonus track and reached No. 13 on Oricon (Sony Music Japan; Tower Records; Oricon); a deluxe edition with a DVD documentary of the band's South American tour followed on 25 July, and on 21 November a Super Deluxe Edition named for the band's planned visit to Japan (Sony Music Japan; Tower Records). Both albums were reissued on Blu-spec CD2 on 9 October 2013 (Sony Music Japan). On 25 September 2024 Sony Music Japan International released Contraband (20th Anniversary), the album and six bonus tracks on two Blu-spec CD2 discs in a paper sleeve, as a limited edition; elsewhere it came out on 13 September as a download and on vinyl, and the CD edition was Japan's alone (Sony Music Japan; Tower Records; HMV).

Velvet Revolver first came to Japan in February 2005, combining an appearance at SONICMANIA 05, Creativeman's winter festival, with shows of their own in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo (Creativeman). The visit opened at Club Diamond Hall in Nagoya on 2 February and went on to Zepp Osaka on the 3rd, the festival's Osaka leg at Intex Osaka on the 5th, its Tokyo leg at Makuhari Messe on the 6th, and Zepp Tokyo on the 8th and 9th. At both festival shows the band played before Marilyn Manson, and the second night at Zepp Tokyo sold out (Creativeman; SONICMANIA 05 official site; Zepp Tokyo; DIAMOND HALL). In 2007 a four-date tour was booked, running from Zepp Osaka on 26 November through Zepp Nagoya on the 27th and Yokohama BLITZ on the 29th to the Nippon Budokan on the 30th, which would have been the band's first show there; it was called off on 14 November after the members' visa applications were refused (Creativeman; BARKS). The band's management said the screening had been stricter than for the previous visit and that the members' histories, arrests included, had stood in the way (Creativeman; Blabbermouth). In October 2008 Duff McKagan brought his band Duff McKagan's Loaded to LOUD PARK 08 at Saitama Super Arena on the 19th and to Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO on the 20th; the Japanese press of the time introduced him as Velvet Revolver's bassist (Tower Records; BARKS). The six shows of February 2005 remained Velvet Revolver's only concerts in Japan.

Date	Venue	Show
2 February 2005	Club Diamond Hall (Aichi)	First date of the first visit; the band's own show
3 February 2005	Zepp Osaka (Osaka)	The band's own show, added after the first announcement
5 February 2005	Intex Osaka (Osaka)	SONICMANIA 05, Osaka; on before Marilyn Manson
6 February 2005	Makuhari Messe (Chiba)	SONICMANIA 05, Tokyo leg; Ocean Stage
8 February 2005	Zepp Tokyo (Tokyo)	The band's own show
9 February 2005	Zepp Tokyo (Tokyo)	Last date of the visit; sold out

About the sources

The sources are the official biography RCA Records issued for the band (2004, carried in full by Blabbermouth.net) and RCA's announcements; the RIAA's Gold & Platinum database; the Recording Academy's Grammy site; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; the Television Academy (the Emmy Awards); Billboard (its chart records and news); Rolling Stone; Variety; Blabbermouth.net; Ultimate Classic Rock; Loudwire; NME; Spin; Guitar World; Time; The Hollywood Reporter; Pollstar; Stereogum; American Songwriter; antiMUSIC; Fox News; CBS News; and NBC News. Some labels, release dates and running orders were checked against MusicBrainz.