On March 6, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose released a statement to the media regarding the lawsuit he'd filed days before against his onetime creative cohort Slash. In the missive, Rose took several shots at the guitarist and his Velvet Revolver bandmates: former GN'R members Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum and former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland.

The Velvet Revolver camp hasn't taken Rose's verbal salvo lying down -- but Weiland, not Slash, has been the first to respond.

In the statement issued through his management team, Sanctuary Group, Axl Rose claimed that Slash had told him, " 'Duff was spineless,' '[Weiland] was a fraud,' [and] that he 'hates Matt Sorum.' " Rose admonished Slash and Duff for making "negative and malicious statements about [him in the press] in order to garner publicity" as part of "a vindictive attempt to aggrandize their own stature, [and] rewrite history through false statements" (see [article id="1525498"]"Axl Files Suit Against Slash, Lashes Out At Ex-Bandmates"[/article]).

On Friday, in a posting to the band's Web site entitled "Quid Pro Quo" and endorsed "Yours truly, Scott Weiland," the Velvet Revolver frontman advised Rose to "get a new wig" before calling him a "fat, Botox-faced, wig-wearin' f---." Weiland continued the written assault, claiming that Rose has an "unoriginal, uncreative little mind, the same mind that had to rely on its bandmates to write melodies and lyrics -- who's the fraud now?"

"How many albums have you put out, man, and how long did it take the current configuration of this so-called 'band' to make [the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy]?" Weiland continued. "How long? And without the only guys that validated the name. ... How dare you call our bass player 'spineless?' We toured our album over a year and a half. How many shows have you played over the last 10 years? Oh, that's right -- you bailed out on your long-awaited [2002] comeback tour, leaving your remaining fans feeling, shall we say, a trifle miffed?" (see [article id="1459114"]"It's Extra Official: Promoter Says GN'R Tour Totally Off"[/article]).

Weiland closed the letter calling Axl "a frightened little man who once thought he was king -- but unfortunately, this king without his court is nothing but a memory ..."

Last week, in the hours following Rose's statement, a spokesperson for Velvet Revolver said that an official response would be coming from Slash within days. In the absence of Slash's reply, Weiland issued his own statement. Rose has yet to issue a response.

Velvet Revolver will head into the studio in April to start recording the band's as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2004's Contraband. Tracks from Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy have been leaked in recent weeks, but an official release date for the album has not been revealed (see [article id="1524776"]"Are Guns N' Roses Finally Coming Back? The Signs Are There ..."[/article]).