Rockobit: Scott Weiland

One of the saddest things about music commentary are those deaths where you hear the news, and don't feel even a sliver of surprise. So it is with Scott Weiland, found dead on his tour bus, outside a motel, at the age of 48.

The BBC might need to think of a different way of describing how Twitter reacts in circumstances like these:

Tributes have been paid to US singer Scott Weiland, former frontman with Stone Temple Pilots, following his death while on tour in Minnesota.

Slash, with whom Weiland performed in rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, wrote on Twitter that it was "a sad day".

"RIP Scott Weiland," said Dave Kushner, another Velvet Revolver member.

Neither of those, strictly speaking, are tributes. Kushner's tweet is half a step away from being "Kushner marked a news story about Weiland as 'read'"; Slash's is an acknowledgement, but barely more than that.

Which isn't to criticise either of them - 140 characters to capture the scatterbug life of a person they know isn't going to work, so what can you do? But perhaps the question is whether the report is doing more than saying which of his friends had heard the news.

At times, Weiland could be refreshingly honest. Despite telling Rolling Stone this, in 2013:

As far as Velvet Revolver goes, I'd love it if it happened. But it's not something I can count on, and it's not something that I can control. If it happens, it'll happen. It would be a great thing. I know the fans would love to see it, but I respect that Slash has a solo career and he wants it to succeed the same way that I would like my solo career to succeed. Having said that, whether things work out in a timely fashion, and if it's quarterbacked right by the team and we all work together . . . it's all very sensitive right now, but I'd like to do it. It would be fun.

... his BBC obituary recalls a different story:

Set adrift, he recorded a well-received solo album, 12 Bar Blues, and joined the rock supergroup Velvet Revolver - later admitting he did it for the money. "I can't call it the music of my soul," he told Spin magazine.

Henry and Glenn sitting in a tree

There's somethings which, however intriguing they might sound, you really don't want to look directly at. A comic depicting a gay romance between Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig is probably one of them.

I mean, where would they even live, LA Weekly West Coast Sound blog?

Oh, their neighbors are Hall & Oates, who are just your average neighborhood Satanists with a penchant for D&D.

Actually, that makes sense.

RCA and Velvet Revolver split up

Normally, when a big-name brand leaves a major label, it's the label who comes off worse, but with Velvet Revolver quitting RCA, you suspect that RCA might be breathing a small puff of relief.

Slash insists that it's all friendly, like:

Slash told his official fan site that "while it is true that VR is no longer with RCA, the truth is not as negative as the rumor. The band owed RCA money for a third album which at this time they are unable to produce (no singer). The band and RCA parted amicably. When they are recording the new album, it most likely will be for a new label."

Yes, this is one of those splits where the label holds open the door and offers to phone for a taxi.

Slash better for equality than Elton John

With Elton John happy to support the LDS line, thank the lord for Slash. And Perla. Who've teamed up to fight Proposition 8:



The comments have, as you'd imagine, attracted a bunch of bigots, some patient posts explaining the rather obvious difference between paedophilia and gay marriage, and, right in the middle of this battle of the culture wars, this:

Slash still using his Chris Derrig copy here... :) that's his favourite guitar

Which is either a spectacular missing of the point, or else a wry comment.

Velvet Revolver want you

When Velvet Revolver proudly announced they'd move forward without Scott Weiland, they sounded like a band with a plan B.

And, indeed, they did: they're going to advertise online for a singer:

"The band is actually talking about actually building a website [and] doing some auditions via that, so that's been something that's developing at this point," guitarist Slash told Billboard.com.

They're actually talking about doing that.

Apparently, this could be happening, ooh, "in the next month or so."

Meanwhile, they've got a gig to get through, which they're going to do Have I Got News For You style:

"I'm not gonna name any names, but a bunch of well-known people will get up and sing some songs, and then also bring up a couple people that we think are pretty good and might sing a couple songs," Slash said. "So it'd just be for fun."

The not-naming-any-names gambit is, we're sure, because of contractual reasons and not because they haven't actually had anyone sign on. We're sure the people with tickets to the Vegas gig, though, will be delighted to hear it's "just for fun", which presumably means they'll have their ticket price refunded?

Yes, Slash: Long slow public suicides are so cool, aren't they?

Slash has woken up and decided to share his perspective on Amy Winehouse's career. He gets a little confused as to whether he thinks it's rock and roll, or tragic:

Amy's cool. She's carrying the torch for rock 'n' roll. I think she's great, not so much because of her personal choices, but because she's a great singer with a unique sound and style. And she doesn't take any shit.

"She's on the verge of greatness, but it would be regrettable if her talent was overshadowed by her extra-curricular activities. She's at a crossroads. I hope she makes the right decision."

Yeah! Rock and roll! But, erm, not rock and roll. Uh... um... shall we do Lily Allen now?

Slash jazzed; now he's itching

Slash, ooh, he can't wait to make a new Velvet Revolver album:

The guitarist admitted that he was “jazzed” at the prospect of recording the record after the band finish their American tour in April.

“I've been working on new ideas, and we've had a couple times where the guys all got together and worked on some stuff,” he told Billboard.

“I'm itching to see what this third record's gonna be, 'cause I think it's gonna be fuckin' awesome, and I think we don't necessarily need to spend two years on the road like we did last time."

He really needs to see what the record's going to be? He can't close his eyes and picture a bunch of tired old men honking like they're fifteen and still think Nazis and softcore porn are cool, then?

Oh, if Slash says it's important...

The curious attempt by the NME to put right what once went wrong - like a balding punk Sam Beckett, they're trying to fix the chart for the Sex Pistols - continues to run, despite the awkward truth that McClaren's men did anything other than fail to make the number one spot and then spent the next thirty years imagining a conspiracy orchestrated by the Palace and the BBC which even Al-Fayed would reject as a bit far-fetched.

They've discovered that Slash, the man who pulls off the surprising trick of being the cartooniest of the cartoons who make up Velvet Revolver, is supporting the 'campaign'. You or I, finding Slash supported out aims, would almost certainly recalibrate our desires. Not so the NME, who wave the endorsement around like a two-bit politician who's suddenly got a letter of support from Nelson Mandela:

"If you can pull that off, that will be fucking huge," he declared. "Of course I'd [buy a copy to help the cause]. I don't know how you buy a copy these days. You have to go online to buy one?"

Perhaps it would have been better to have left out the last couple of sentences, as they hardly do much to dispel the sense that this is some sort of old fogey's outing. ("Off the internetwork, you say? And where does one go to find a branch of this internetwork?").

And why would it be "fucking huge" anyway? Ooh, a record from thirty years ago at number one. Yes, that really would turn our sense inside out and use our synapses as scatter cushions. Just like when Elvis Presley was number one in 2005, you mean?

It's not that it's just irrelevant - in an age when BBC One will happily trail its autumn season with a pop at the Queen, and be castigated for inaccuracy rather than a lack of deference - but it's astonishingly irrelevant. It's as old now as 'I'd Like To Get You On A Slow Boat To China' was when 'God Save The Queen' was released; any impact it may have had in its context has long since been diminished and the song exists solely as a moment on the K-Tel soundtrack of old men's memories.

What is its role today? It's warm up of choice for Oasis tribute band Kasabian:

"We always have it on in the dressing room before gigs, we listen to it just before going onstage. I'm backing the campaign!"

The really sad thing is that we don't recall the NME getting this excited about any song made so far this decade. If we must have a campaign, how about sweeping Ting Tings to number one, rather than something from Simon Bates' Golden Hour?

Slash: I'm kind to Axl

Slash has written his autobiography, all by himself and everything. What's that? No, no, it isn't an attempt to gain revenge on Axl Rose:

"This is not a vehicle for me to vent. It's not to lambast Axl or to talk s**t about anybody else.

"It's just telling the story as I knew it."

Of course, if in the telling of the tale it emerges that Axl Rose is some sort of control-freak screw-up needledick, well, what can Slash do? He's just telling the story...

Slash: It doesn't come out

Slash is one of those people who are putting their foot down and refusing to pay any heed to the smoking ban.

He'll cough up and keep coughing:

I'll probably just take my chances, pay the £50 and smoke to my heart's content. I can't imagine being up there and playing for ninety minutes and not having a fag."

To be fair, he's had a fag in his gob for so long, he's probably worn a groove in the corner of his mouth and leaving it unplugged could lead to unpleasant drooling.

Slash faction

While the world waits - okay, while Axl's Mum waits - for a full sniff of Chinese Democracy, and rumours fly of a Guns N Roses reunion tour, another tantalising tease opens up: Slash is writing his autobiography.

He's got Anthony Bozza on board to do the actual writing bit. Bozza has some talent at turning a book from a man without any visible means of verifying his existence at certain points in his life, having done the tricky bits of turning Tommy Lee's "uh... there was, like, a dude... or maybe a bear" into Tommyland, which may not have been the greatest book but was more pleasant than actually having to talk to Lee to get the stories.

Yesterday, Idoaltor put something which may or may not turn out to be the first Chinese Democracy single, Better, onto their site. Guns n Roses management rushed to make them take it down - we suspect out of shame rather than copyright control - but not before it had been hoovered up for you to listen to at the HypeMachine. Approach with caution.

Is Amy Lee writing her own slash fic?

IS AMY LEE WRITING HER OWN SLASH FIC?: Leaving aside the issues raised by her whole wanting to kill Britney Spears thing, we're not sure that Amy Lee from Evanescencedidn't just turn herself on a little when she was describing how she'd do it...

"First I would take my corset off and strangle her around her big gymnast neck. Then I would poison her, the way Snow White was poisoned in the fairy tales. And then afterwards I would dye her hair back to the original colour."

Now, is it just us, or does that mean she's going to grappling with Britney with her breasts jiggling? And how exactly do you strangle someone with a corset?

And does she really mean she's going to poison Brit in the way Snow White was - Snow White being poisoned by an apple offered by an older woman jealous of the young girl's beauty, of course?