Happy Birthday today (Nov. 16) to Dave Kushner. The guitarist best known for his work with the band Velvet Revolver is 52.
In addition to playing guitar in Velevt Revolver Dave Kushner has also written and composed music for film and television, most notable the theme song from FX series Sons of Anarchy called “This Life”. He was a member of Los Angeles punk band Wasted Youth in the 80’s. He has also been in Duff McKagan’s band Loaded, Danzig, and Janes Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro’s band Sugartooth just to name a few.
Velvet Revolver featured Dave Kushner along with former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum along with frontman Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots). The band achieved success with their debut album Contraband and won a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the single “Slither”. The band released the album Libertad in 2007 featuring the single “She Builds Quick Machines” and embarked on a tour with Alice in Chains. Weiland left the band in April of 2008 and the band went on indefinite hiatus. I was a big fan of Velvet Revolver and caught them on New Year's Eve in 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. It was an incredible show. Really miss this band and of course Scott Weiland. Check out footage from the 2008 New Years show below. Happy Birthday to Dave Kushner on his birthday today!
Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Image