Duff McKagan Talks Velvet Revolver Future + Walking Papers Present

Duff McKagan told Billboard recently that Velvet Revolver may rise again once they have found a replacement for frontman Scott Weiland.

"We talk about it every now and again,” said McKagan, who rose to prominence as the bassist Guns N’ Roses and then joined two of his former bandmates in Velvet Revolver. “Slash and Matt (Sorum) and Dave (Kushner) and I played in South Africa at the beginning of June ... and, of course, we talked about it. We've tried out a bunch of singers, but I think we're just waiting for the right person to come along. It'll just happen. But the chemistry of Matt and Slash and Dave and I is really good, so you don't want to let that just go away."

Earlier this year, Slash told Classic Rock magazine, “The door’s shut on this side,” pertaining to having Weiland rejoining Velvet Revolver. He also added, “Even if I didn’t have my solo thing going on, I still wouldn’t work with him.”

Billboard asked McKagan for comment on the estrangement. "You could kind of see it coming, I suppose,” he said. “It's a sad situation any way you look at it. That guy ... You hope (Weiland) pulls it together; I shared enough good times with that guy that I wish him nothing but the best."

Right now, McKagan, who plays guitar in Loaded is also working with a new band as well. Seattle's Walking Papers finds McKagan playing alongside Missionary Position singer Jeff Angell and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin.

"Jeff is a guy I've known since about '99,” McKagan — who was born in Seattle — told Billboard. “He's a guy that everybody in Seattle knows about and has thought should be the next big whatever. He came and tried out for Velvet Revolver before Scott (Weiland) so I've been close to him for awhile."

McKagan continued, "When Jeff and Barrett started putting some of these songs together, Jeff called me and said, 'Would you come up and play bass on some songs' and one thing led to another after that. It happened in kind of a right way; it wasn't like a pre-planned, 'We're gonna put a group together' thing."

Three Walking Papers songs can be heard on Soundcloud. The band, rounded out by Missionary Position guitarist Benjamin Anderson, drops its self-titled debut on Aug. 6 and heads out on the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival three days later in Scranton, Pa.