Velvet Revolver begins previewing Libertad

Velvet Revolver begins a 12-date North American tour in Los Angeles on Thursday night (May 3rd) to give fans a preview of songs from its upcoming second album, Libertad. The trek will include a stop at the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio on May 19th. Libertad arrives in stores on July 3rd, with a single called "She Builds Quick Machines" arriving at radio stations later this month. The band is reportedly playing at least four new songs in its current live set.

Velvet Revolver toured for more than a year and a half behind its 2004 debut, Contraband, and bassist Duff McKagan told us that such a long haul became an endurance test at times: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "We were ready to do it. I think I was better prepared mentally and physically than I've ever been in my life to do something like that. But it was, the album just took off. We didn't know how the record was gonna do. Booking agents didn't know how it was gonna do. So we just kept adding things on the tour. Like, we wouldn't get time off. There was never really a break."

Meanwhile, a tour pairing Velvet Revolver with Alice In Chains is possibly in the works for late summer and fall. There's been no official word on the team-up yet, but an August 18th date at the Jones Beach Theater on Long Island, New York has already been listed on that venue's summer schedule.