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> Login to your account > RegisterDuff to join Alice In Chains?
From page 6 of Classic Rock Magazine June 2006
Cover of June 2006 issue.
And Velvet Revolver hire hip-hop producer for second album.
Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan is
remaining tight-lipped about rumours that he has will be playing as second guitarist with Alice In Chains on their summer European tour – but he also refuses to rule it out. Duff performed with the reunited Alice In Chains (without the late Layne Staley) in New Jersey recently for the recording of a VH1 Classic series called Decades Rock Live! .
A management representative told Classic Rock : “Anything is possible, although nothing is confirmed. Duff has played with Alice in Chains in the past and I am sure he will play with them in the future. Right now, Duff is about to start work on the new Velvet Revolver record and that is his priority.” The internet has been buzzing with rumours of changes within Velvet Revolver, who are continuing to work on material for the follow-up to 2004’s double-platinum debut album Contraband . Indeed the band – completed by vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarists Slash and Dave Kushner and drummer Matt Sorum – recently told Billboard that they have engaged noted hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams to assist in an as yet unspecified capacity on the new record, which has a working title of Libertad .
Of the new album, Sorum recently said: “We want to groove a little harder, [make it] a little more danceable. It’s not rock’n’roll, but it might be different. Who knows?”
Williams has tested the water by producing a song called Happy for Weiland ’s forthcoming solo album. He has also previously worked with long list of artists including Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake and Busta Rhymes.
Williams does have rock credentials of sorts, having remixed The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil for a single release a couple of years ago as part of the Neptunes. He also
played drums on a version of The Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There at 2004’s Grammy Awards, with a band that included Sting and Dave Matthews, and was a part of the rock band N.E.R.D. who had a minor hit in 2002 with a song called Rock Star .
In related news, Guns N’ Roses play 19 European dates an May and June, including Dublin RDS June 9 and Download Festival 11, and former GN’R guitarist Gilbey Clarke has confirmed that he is joining Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, former Chili Peppers/ Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro and ex-Metallica/current Voivod bassist Jason Newsted in the next series of Rock Star , a televised quest to find a find a frontman for a band that will be known as Supernova.
Clarke plays the following UK dates this month: Glasgow Cathouse May 1, Milton Keynes Woughton Centre 3, Bradford Rio’s 4, Dudley JB’s 8, London Camden Underworld 9.
