Velvet Revolver boots lead singer Scott Weiland

Erratic on-stage behavior, personal problems led to decision, guitarist says







Four founding members of the rock band Velvet
Revolver said on Tuesday they were splitting with the group’s troubled
singer, Scott Weiland, citing his ”increasingly erratic” behavior.

The
announcement came in a terse statement from the group’s management
company as Weiland, 40, and his recently reunited original band, Stone
Temple Pilots, were set next week to announce plans for a highly
anticipated summer tour.
The
Stone Temple Pilots, also known by their acronym, STP, already have
confirmed a handful of upcoming dates, beginning with the Rock on the
Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, on May 17-18.

For Weiland, whose career has long been
overshadowed by heroin addiction, Rock on the Range will mark his first
show with STP since the band played 13 concerts to promote its last
album of new material, 2001’s “Shangri-La Dee Da.”

Following
the breakup of STP, Weiland was welcomed as lead singer for Velvet
Revolver, the newly formed grunge rock band founded by three former
members of Guns N’ Roses — guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and
drummer Matt Sorum — along with second guitarist Dave Kushner.

Velvet Revolver was confronted from the start
with Weiland’s drug and legal problems as it juggled performance
schedules, recording sessions and promotional work to accommodate his
court dates and rehab.

Last
month, Weiland pleaded innocent to a charge of driving under the
influence of drugs stemming from his arrest on a Los Angeles freeway
ramp in November. He is free on $40,000 bail and is due back in court
for a pretrial hearing on Friday.

A public feud between Weiland and Velvet
Revolver’s drummer already had cast doubt on the band’s future when the
statement on behalf of Sorum, Slash, McKagan and Kushner was issued
under the headline “Velvet Revolver to Part Ways with Singer.”

“This
band is all about its fans and its music, and Scott Weiland isn’t 100
percent committed to either,” Slash was quoted as saying. “Among other
things, his increasingly erratic on-stage behavior and personal
problems have forced us to move on.”
There was no immediate comment from Weiland, Stone Temple Pilots or their representatives.