I don't know how well known Russell Brand is in the US (or at least the reputation he used to have) but I don't think anyone in the UK actually expected him to even get married at all - so this came as no surprise when I heard it. They must hardly ever even be in the same country.

I actually quite liked Boyce Avenue doing Teenage Dream and Brand used to have a great radio show on Radio 2 about 5 years ago but aside from that I could hardly give a shit about either of them.

Give me Zooey Deschanel any day. She might be an actress but her music is better too.

I said the Izzy song. If I were only selecting one song to hear it would be that or a new Oh My God as I would rather hear the rest collectively on a new release (wishful thinking I am sure).

I am curious about the Izzy track though for two reasons, one, it would likely have the most recently recorded Axl vocals which would be interesting to hear; and two, I would be curious as to whether it would be a more stripped down laid back tune for New GNR or whether they have piled a million guitar tracks on top of the thing.

Hello!

I still recognise a bunch of names on here. I used to post on the old RoV board as JAC long ago, and had always been aware of this place but don't think I ever registered. Something led me here the other day and I was glad to see it was as cool a place as I hoped. I have needed a new online home for a while.

I also think that initially, in the build up to and release of Contraband, there was a lot of hype, a lot of excitement and they all had a point to prove. This probably allowed them to paper over any cracks in the band.

I don't think its a coincidence that as VR became less relevant commercially the band began to fall apart. As mentioned above, Slash has his band where he can do as he pleases and Duff has Loaded and seems similarly happy. I have seen them both in the last year and the vibe is totally different to a VR show, less menacing, less on the attack, more a celebration. At this point this is probably what they are interested in. Less hassle, more fun.

Aside from STP, I don't think VR is really how Scott wants to be expressing himself these days. Didn't he always say something about not wanting to go into his old age shaking his ass in leather pants? I vaguely recall something along those lines, and whilst the rest of the VR guys have been looking at something harder (Taylor etc) that would be the opposite way I can imagine Weiland wanting to go. We saw that begin to happen with Libertad and it did not even pay off commercially.

The fact of the matter is that they have got nowhere with finding a new singer, nor is the world clamouring after a VR + Scott reunion, so I can not see this going anywhere long term, simply because the payoff would not be worth the inevitable bumpy ride.

Still, it is nice to know they are all on good enough terms to get together for a good cause like this.