Lenny Kravitz to Front Velvet Revolver

You heard it here first.

Lenny Kravitz is joining Velvet Revolver.

It's not a "done deal," but it looks like Lenny will front VR for their 3rd (and possibly final) album.

Yesterday Duff McKagan told Billboard "that although Velvet Revolver did play with [Royston] Langdon" and that "he's fucking awesome, at this point I'd have to say no" on him becoming the new singer.

"We just have to make sure it's the right guy," he says, adding that Weiland's angry departure from the band this spring has brought him closer to group members Slash, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner. "Karmically, we deserve the right guy. It's a tough thing, man. We make a pretty big noise."

Velvet Revolver isn't so much auditioning vocalists as "just seeing how it feels," McKagan says, adding with a laugh, "We wouldn't know how to do an audition. We wouldn't have somebody come in and go, 'Okay, play 'Slither!' Play 'Fall To Pieces!'"

For now, the band is taking inspiration from its recent personnel drama and channeling it into new material. "We have a bunch of stuff finished. It's great. It's killer," McKagan says. "We started getting really productive when a ton of drama started happening on the road. It was like our safe place to go to. Sometimes that's how you get some feelings out."


One thing McKagan hasn't done is listen to any of the online leaks from his former band Guns N' Roses' long-awaited Chinese Democracy. "I wouldn't even know where to look," he says, chuckling. "Slash said he heard a couple of tunes. I wish [Axl Rose] all the best."

Billboard