Just For Fun

Velvet Revolver To Find New Singer on Rockstar: VR Show

Velevet Revolver, who has been searching for a new singer for months, has decided to sign a TV deal to do so via the new show, entitled “Rockstar: VR.” The “VR” is not just and abbreviation for the band's name, however, it's a play on words. In an interesting twist, the band and prospective singers will interact via a virtual reality program that's being developed by Activision, makers of the Guitar Hero series. The project's lead developer had this to say about it:

“This new technology is the future of online performances. Visionary Serj Tankian once spoke about his vision of performing from anywhere and 'holographic touring' of sorts, and now he's put his money where his mouth is and become an investor in Activision and part owner of this project in particular. It's not quite 'holographic,' but the virtual reality environment is the next best thing. We're all excited about this possibility to revolutionize touring and enable concerts to be broadcast in near life-like reality anywhere in the world. Judging from the number of people who love playing Guitar Hero and have commented on the characters, we think this will be a huge success.”

Back in March of 2008, the System of a Down frontman talked about this idea and was quoted as saying:

“For instance, I have a studio next to my house and a live performance room in the studio. I could broadcast a show in real time and could interact with the audience as if we were in the same room. After all, it's not like the audience can touch me, anyway. (laughs) It would open up a whole new world for touring -- shows wouldn't have to be limited to bars or clubs. There would be no travel costs, so bands with very little money could play shows, and tickets would cost less.”

Thanks to the Guitar Hero generation, it appears that day may not be too far off now.

While the technology sounds cool, the real reason for doing the show virtually seems to be the low ratings of the last show, Rockstar: Supernova, which produced a supergroup that was far exceeded by the sum of its parts and failed to even tour successfully as a whole. “Funding for the show was split between the TV studio and Activision, who gets a primetime showcase of their new product,” commented the show's publicist. “This way, we don't have the overhead of flying all the contestants in, feeding them and boarding them, or the entire studio crew. We're a lean, mean crew, which keeps costs very low.”

The deal reportedly stipulates that Velvet Revolver and Serj Tankian will be the first artists to hold virtual reality tours once the technology is compete and the season of Rockstar: VR is done filming. Expect both artists to announce performances in fall 2009.

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