“Velvet Revolver was born at a time when there just wasn’t much rock n’ roll happening out in the world. To the point, that it was even being bandied about here and there, that “rock n roll is dead!”. We thought otherwise.” Duff McKagan
Down the long and convoluted road of rock history, the term ‘supergroup’ has been used to describe collaborations put together by musicians already renowned for having established themselves with other popular bands. Many of these projects tend to be short lived and rarely capture the collective or individual greatness that these musicians achieved in prior bands. However, every so often, one of these so-called ‘supergroups’ actually delivers on the theoretical sum of its parts and writes, records, and performs music that stands up on its own merits and strengths and cements its place in the hearts and minds of rock fans across the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, one such band was Velvet Revolver.
Having utterly dominated the early and mid 1990’s in Guns N Roses – one of the only truly bonafide bands to ever adopt the slogan of ‘biggest band in the world’ – founding members Slash and Duff McKagen found themselves somewhat adrift by the early 2000’s, both having long left behind the machine of Guns N Roses. Under fairly similar circumstances, another 1990’s Rock giant – Stone Temple Pilots – had publicly imploded as a result of their own internal politics. Despite all the drama and the cultural zeitgeist of the time not particularly calling out for such a group, Velvet Revolver formed, and perhaps in spite of such adversity delivered their stunning debut album ‘Contraband’ on June 8th 2004. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and went on to sell over two million copies in the United States alone – a truly remarkable achievement by anyone’s standards and serves as a reminder of the undeniable quality of the songs and performances that make up the track listing. A second album ‘Libertad’ followed three years later after countless concerts around the globe, and even if it didn’t quite live up to the quality of its predecessor (frankly, few records could) – it still landed at number 5 on the Billboard top 200 and would be certified Gold in Canada and New Zealand.
History would ultimately repeat itself and the same forces that led to the bands inception would reappear to derail Velvet Revolver once and for all in 2008 – however photographer Ross Halfin was there every step of the way to capture the band in the good times and the bad, and this photo book represents the total journey of Velvet Revolver and serves as a timely reminder that sometimes, rare as it might be, ‘supergroups’ can be genuinely super. The new coffee table book from Rufus celebrates the short lived brilliance of Velvet Revolver in a single limited edition book of just 500 numbered copies worldwide with an introduction by Duff McKagan. Coming in at 340 high quality art pages, with a printed, foiled and embossed cover, a unique Carbon X slipcase plus a Ross Halfin signed print and poster this book is a unique visual documentary of the band.
The book is available to order from www.rufuspublications.com/rufusbooks/velvetrevolver/. The book will ship at the end of November 2023.
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