VELVET REVOLVER To Kick Off Two-Month U.S. Tour On May 13

VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash has told Launch Radio Networks that the band will kick off their first nationwide tour on May 13 in St. Louis, Missouri. Dates and venues for the trek, which will run through July 22, could be announced as early as Tuesday (April 13).

As previously reported, VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland got the green light last week from California authorities to tour with the band after completing a six-month stay in rehab following last October's drug arrest.

Slash told Launch Radio Networks that Weiland will have few restrictions on him once the group hits the road. "I know that there's gonna be somebody with him, as there is probably for the whole lot of us," he laughed. "Scott's not the only troubled guy in the band when it comes down to it — but all things considered, he's free to do whatever he wants to do."

VELVET REVOLVER's debut album, the 13-track "Contraband", is led by the single "Slither", which is being sent to radio outlets today (April 12). Slash told Launch Radio Networks how Weiland added the finishing touch to a song that was written before the singer was even in the band. "I went into the studio and had this idea, this riff, and so we jammed on it, and I taped it, and then we revisited it probably a couple of weeks later and realized, 'Hey, that's a fuckin' cool piece of music,' " Slash explained. "So we had this arrangement going, and when Scott came into it, he took the music home and he came back with this really dark sort of relationship-driven song, sort of a failed relationship kind of thing, and it just fit perfectly."

VELVET REVOLVER is rounded out by two of Slash's former GUNS N' ROSES colleagues, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, and guitarist David Kushner of LOADED/SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. "Contraband" arrives in stores on June 8.