Alternative Nation recently caught up with Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner to pick his brain on a number of subjects including his relationship with ex-vocalist Scott Weiland, Velvet Revolver’s one off reunion with Weiland in 2012, his fears of Izzy Stradlin replacing him before Velvet Revolver even got off the ground, and unreleased VR material. An excerpt is available below:

Q: I know you can’t reveal everything about it, but what’s going on with the singer situation? You guys are rumored to have tried out a lot of guys like Corey Taylor, Franky Perez, and Royston Langston. A lot of names have been floated out there over the last 6 years, so what is the situation right now when it comes to a singer for Velvet Revolver?

Kushner: "I think it’s one of those things that no one wants to close the door on it, but I also agree that replacing Scott is a hugely arduous task for anybody. I don’t know if we actively look all at the same time. Everyone has stuff going on: Matt has his solo record and is involved in a lot of different things, Slash obviously has his solo thing, Duff has other bands like Loaded and Walking Papers, I’ve been doing a lot of work as a composer and doing my other project Pusher Jones. We all have kids and busy lives, so it just depends on, for a lack of a better term, when the stars align and we all start a conversation for some reason. Because we’re always playing together in some different iteration."

Oh, and that thing at the house was at my wife’s birthday party. I don’t know if Scott was there, but me, Gilby Clarke, Franky Perez, Duff, Matt, and Joey from Queens of the Stone Age all played in my backyard for my wife’s birthday party, which was cool, it was also like a housewarming party. So we always play together, whether it’s a party, or a benefit, or some kind of tour. Then inevitably we talk, and everyone’s kind of lives are on autopilot. We just talk about it then someone throws a name in a hat and everyone goes: ‘Okay cool.’ If we uniformly agree to try that person or to give them some blank songs to put vocals on, that’s what we do. Then we’ll listen to it and kind of weigh in on it.

Unfortunately so far it has not been a unanimous decision on whoever gets thrown in a hat. But there’s always someone. Someone has a friend that says, ‘Yeah I know this guy that might be right.’ Or some producer or record industry person or A&R; guy says: ‘Hey you guys still looking for a singer?’ And maybe we’ll hear something that piques everyone’s interest. Now with the internet, it’s so easy to just obviously send MP3?s and say: ‘Hey check out this guy, here’s his site, here’s what he looks like, here’s what he sounds like.’ We get to move forward that way without having to get too physically or emotionally involved. It’s like a dating service, you can look at the pictures online and talk to the people online, and see an interview with them, before you even set up a date with them. That’s what the internet affords you for trying out singers."

Go to this location for the complete interview.