Suddenly life revolves around great success

What do you get when a bunch of hard-rock veterans get together? Answer: a deadly new weapon. Neil McKay talks to Velvet Revolver about the thrill of going another round

Life can't get much better right now for Dave Kushner, the 'anonymous' member of Velvet Revolver, the world's hottest hard rock group.

After years of barely making ends meet in a succession of no-hope bands, Kushner hit the jackpot when he joined ex-Guns N'Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum in a fledgling Velvet Revolver a couple of years ago.

And it was very much a case of 'Dave who?' when former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland joined to complete the line-up of a hard rock super-group.

Kushner's feet have barely touched the ground over the past 18 months as he recorded their debut album Contraband - a subsequent worldwide smash - toured the world (they land at the Odyssey in Belfast on Wednesday), wrestled with his new-found fame and fortune ... oh, and he got married as well.

As he is the first to admit, Kushner is living the dream and loving every minute of it.

"We haven't been off the treadmill for the past year or so," he said. "We started playing in May, last year, when the album came out, and we haven't had a break since. It wears you down physically but it's a great way to make a living.

"It's not like it's a huge surprise, because of the pedigree of the band, but it's definitely nice when you don't expect it.

"It's been great for me, they've been the best two years of my life. It's been everything I've expected it to be and more, both good and bad. I don't think I ever imagined being able to buy a house - I was definitely a musician who had lived, off and on, from cheque to cheque."

As very much an equal member Kushner has enjoyed the rewards of being in a multi-million selling band, while also having had to adjust to the very new responsibilities that brings.

"I'm one of the five owners of a multi-million dollar company that's in charge of and responsible for other people.

"Although you have production managers, tour managers and management, booking agents and lawyers, all these people working for you, at the end of the day I'm one fifth of the final say.

"It's a whole business side to it that is very involved and that you never think about when you're playing guitar in your bedroom.

"It can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you appreciate that you are the head of the company, and, even if you don't show it, you feel a sense of empowerment from the fact that you're responsible for taking this travelling circus everywhere.

"In another way you are responsible for people's livelihoods and if you let people go because you're cutting down on your production then people are going to be out of work and you feel bad. I've been the guy who is on salary, or day rate, and I know what it is like to get laid off."

Kushner's earlier bands included the unknown Electric Love Hogs and Wasted Youth, but he is an old high-school friend of Slash's and had been playing with McKagan before Velvet Revolver crystallised.

The money, he admits, is very nice, and he has been able to sustain his anonymity - "everyone knows who Slash is, but it's great because I can still go to the market and do everyday things and I barely get recognised".

But his biggest kicks have come on a purely musical level.

"We're an amazing rock'n'roll band. I guess it would be a little egotistical to say that we have filled a vacancy that existed for a band of our type, but we hear it from other people. Everywhere we play people come up to me and say 'you guys have brought rock'n'roll back, there are just no rock'n'roll bands like you guys anymore'. I've heard it in the press, it's something people tell us ... I'm not going to say if I buy into it, but we definitely are affecting people in that way.

"And we did two different songs for tsunami relief, one with Sharon Osbourne, where we played the music from Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven, and Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and Rod Stewart all sang on it.

"Then we played at the Grammys, where we did the Beatles' Across The Universe with Stevie Wonder, Tim McGraw, Stephen Tyler, and Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys.

"To have met and played with the likes of Elton John and Stevie Wonder, and to have been able to meet Ray Charles, before he passed away, I never thought that that would happen. Those are big milestones, almost more meaningful to a musician than having a No 1 record."