If they were forced to choose, Slash and Duff McKagan would opt for Axl Rose over former frontman Scott Weiland as lead singer for Velvet Revolver.

“Some bad s**t happened at the end of the last Velvet Revolver tour,” McKagan told sleazeroxx.com. “It was brutal. There were late gigs … I just wanted it to be over.”

A full year has passed since Velvet Revolver split with Weiland, and still no suitable signer has been found VR drummer Matt Sorum said if the band doesn’t find “the right guy in six months … it might not matter.”

Sorum confirmed that the band recently came close to finding their man, but said that after a few sessions, it was clear the fit wasn’t right. The drummer declined to identify the singer who nearly nabbed the gig.

“There was something missing in the swagger department,” Sorum explained. “His vocals were great, but the attitude, it wasn’t really there, not all the way at least. Plus, I played his recordings for my girlfriend and a couple of friends and I didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for. Nobody went ‘Holy shit, that’s amazing!’ That really sent signals to me that something was wrong.”

Sorum went on to say he’s “shocked” that the group is still without a frontman, adding that in the end the singer must be “a guy who blows people away.”

“Otherwise,” he continued, “why bother? We can do other things. I’m not saying we want to do other things – we’d much rather be doing a Velvet Revolver album or tour right now – but if it’s not going to be awesome … “

Meanwhile, according to The Pulse of the Radio, Slash has indicated on his Twitter account that he’s been approached to mentor contestants during an upcoming “Rock Week” on American Idol. The guitarist said, however, that finding a new Velvet Revolver vocalist via an “Idol”-style tryout was out of the question.

“If we wanted to make a quick buck, that would be the way to go,” he said. “There’s such a huge lack of integrity in that process, be it putting a band together or finding a relationship or finding a new best friend, whatever the premise is. It’s just a cheap way of doing things and I don’t think that you can actually find the individual or the character or the quality or whatever it is that’s important.”