Another split in the Velvet

Following the firing of singer and songwriter Scott Weiland earlier this year from Velvet Revolver, remaining members Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner have opted out of their recording contract with RCA Records so they can continue searching for a replacement for Weiland.

“Their sole focus has been, and continues to be, finding the singer-songwriter who will stand alongside them,” band manager Carl Stubner said in a statement issued Tuesday, the same day Weiland’s solo album, “ ‘Happy’ in Galoshes,” was released.

Slash and his bandmates announced in April that Weiland was being dismissed because of “increasingly erratic onstage behavior and personal problems.” Weiland responded the following day with a statement of his own, downplaying the news because he had “already claimed the group dead in the water March 20 in Glasgow.”

Weiland’s solo tour will include a Dec. 14 stop at Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre.

-- Randy Lewis