BIG WRECK Frontman Talks About His VELVET REVOLVER Audition

March 6, 2012

Canadian musician Ian Thornley (BIG WRECK) tells Jam! Music that he was approached by VELVET REVOLVER to audition for the vacant vocalist position in the band a short time after their split with Scott Weiland.

"I got a phone call from Slash — how fucking weird is that?" said Thornley. "And they had sent me a few tunes and I went down into my basement studio and just sang over one and just tried to build hooks and I was like, 'This is killer,' and just as soon as you hit play, 'It's fucking Slash!' There's such an iconic sound, just his swagger with his hands. I just love his guitar playing so it was a joy to do."

He added, "Their manager had an issue with the fact that I was playing guitar. He was like, 'It sounds great. It sounds unbelievable. Is there any chance you can do a couple without the guitar?' And I was like, 'Not really, no, 'cause I don't know what I'm going to do. Like, I've never learned those moves.' Weiland's great with all the Mick Jagger-slash-David Bowie stuff that he does. Some guys are more comfortable with that. Honestly, when Slash goes off on some kick ass solo, I'm not going to grab a fucking tambourine, it's not my bag. And so it was just a thrill to play with those guys. They were just super-cool, sweethearts. I was kind of disappointed, but you're not going to go into a situation like that and go, 'Look, boys, here's what you need to do. Three guitar attack, alright, harmony solos, I was thinking maybe more SKYNYRD.'... It was kind of a like a square peg in a round hole kind of thing."

BIG WRECK's first studio album in 11 years, "Albatross", is being released today (Tuesday, March 6).

Weiland reunited with his original band, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, just as his run with VELVET REVOLVER was coming to a close. STP has toured constantly since and recorded a new album in 2010.

VELVET REVOLVER has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was revealed that the group recorded an album's worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

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