VELVET REVOLVER Guitarists Discuss 'Libertad'

Claire Davies of the U.K.'s Total Guitar magazine (web site) recently conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER's Slash and Dave Kushner. A couple of excerpts follow:

Total Guitar: Your debut album "Contraband" was huge, so how does "Libertad" compare in sound and style – does it live up to your expectations?

Slash: "We all had a lot to do with the sound of this album, but I wouldn't know how to describe 'Libertad'. It's easier to take it at face value than to analyze it or dictate an essay about what's going on. It's a great record that I'm very proud of. It's got a lot of diversity, has some great songs and it's pretty loose. You can tell we had a great time making it. It's very different to 'Contraband'. There's been a lot of growth since that album in the collection of experiences we've had together, which makes for a natural progression in the writing and recording stages, but the only way in which this was a difficult second album was because it was so hard to get us in the studio.

"Everyone wanted to start work on the album but each of us had built up a personal agenda, although when we got in the studio things moved along quickly. I wouldn't change anything about this album because I enjoyed the time I spent with the band and we became such good friends. It was a very inspiring, very creative experience and one of the most fulfilling things I've ever been a part of."

Dave: "We recorded 20 songs for this record compared to the last record where we used every song bar one we had written, so there was a lot more creativity on this album. 'Libertad' is much more individualistic in the sense of who each member is; it's deeper than 'Contraband' and stylistically it spins off in more directions. As for changing any of it… When you work on a project for that long and there's certain aspects that aren't in your control, such as mixing or songwriting, then there will be a part of you that wishes some things had been done differently. But 'Libertad' is an amazing record that pushed us to our limits and as a guitar player it has taken me places I've never been before."

Total Guitar: Was there anything you did differently on this album compared to your last album?

Slash: "'Libertad' has a real spontaneous feel because for the first time we were all in the studio recording live together, so there was a great camaraderie. A lot of stuff I hadn't done before was used on this record, such as my scratch tracks being kept. I'm used to going into the studio and laying down the basic tracks with the band and then going back into the control room to re-do the guitars, just because I hate headphones so much (I play like shit when I'm using them),but I ended up keeping a lot of the stuff that I did with the headphones on, which was a first for me. On top of that I didn't go back in to re-record rhythm parts underneath my solos like I usually do, instead I left that to Dave."

Dave: "Yeah, I now understand what bands mean when they talk about growth and maturity on their second record. We're still a new band, but on this album everyone was a lot more involved with writing and recording. 'Libertad' is a record where everyone's individual contributions are more exaggerated compared to our first album. We spent more time writing individually and you can really hear everyone's style and personality coming through. It's definitely more organic sounding than 'Contraband' and, for me personally, I went for guitars that were less processed sounding and that were just about the steel and wood of a guitar."

Total Guitar: What are your favourite tracks from "Libertad" and which are you most proud of for your guitar playing?

Slash: "When you make a record you get up close and personal with each song, and for a song to make it onto the record you have to like it in the first place, so it's hard to pick a favorite. We wrote 20 tracks for this album and 18 of them made it. We're releasing five of those tracks as an EP [released June 4, including a cover of 'Psycho Killer' by TALKING HEADS], but there's also a cover of 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head' by ELO on the album. The cover was our producer Brendan O'Brien's idea, but I wasn't into it at first. It's a great song but I just couldn't hear the band doing it, so I refused to do it at that time. After we'd laid down an acoustic track with bass and drums I went back in and put a bunch of heavier guitars on there with Dave, and when Scott put his vocals down it sounded great. When we were mixing the record in Atlanta I bought Brendan a 1960 Les Paul reissue, which I used along with this killer new Marshall Vintage to play the solo on that track. I did it in one take."

Dave: "I'm most proud of 'Get Out The Door' because I wrote the entire thing at home on ProTools. I love the weird melody line that Slash put over the chorus and what Scott did vocally on the track. I also used some SMASHING PUMPKINS type ideas in the chorus of 'Mary Mary', so that was pretty cool too. Did I want to play more lead guitar? Sure there was a point where I said, 'Hey Slash, if there are any solos you don't wanna play…' but I never heard about it again! I guess I would like to have played the solo on 'Get Out The Door' because it was my baby, but the original version had no solo, it didn't even have that section — after the bridge on the original track it went straight into the last chorus. The solo was a suggestion made by Clive Davis [RCA Records] at the time when we were considering releasing 'Get Out' as the first single from the album. Clive wanted a trademark Slash solo on there, so we did it."

Total Guitar: But you eventually chose "She Builds Quick Machines" as the first single. Why did you pick that track?

Slash: "'Quick Machines' was my first pick, but there were so many songs with single potential that it took a while before we all agreed on what the first single from the album should be. It was decided that 'She Builds Quick Machines' was most indicative of the band that everyone was familiar with."

Dave: "That track was brought to our attention as a potential first single from the record company. I can only speak for myself, but I didn't see it as a first single. I would have gone for 'Get Out The Door' or 'She Mine' because, as a band, we were talking about one of those songs as the first single. It wasn't as though we were forced by the record company; that song just struck a chord with them so they ran listener tests with all three songs and 'Quick Machines' supposedly tested the best. Maybe it reminded them of 'Slither' [taken from first album 'Contraband']? Anyway, we kept listening to the song but we still disagreed. The record company did more tests and in the end we had to concede because of the response it was getting."

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