Dave Kushner (born November 16, 1966) is an American musician best known as the rhythm guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver.

Kushner has also been a member of Wasted Youth,[2] Electric Love Hogs,[2] Loaded,[2] Danzig,[2] Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro's solo band,[2] Sugartooth,[2] Zilch[3] while he has also recorded with Infectious Grooves,[2] Cyco Miko[2] and more recently collaborated with Scars on Broadway guitarist Franky Perez[4][5] releasing songs under the pseudonym of DKFXP, a combination of the initials of Perez and Kushner, as well as working with Indian singer and actress Shruti Haasan.

[14][15][16] He collaborated with composer John O'Brien on the music for the movies Four Christmases, Couples Retreat[9][10] and the ABC police drama series Detroit 1-8-7[17][18] while he was also asked to develop a spin-off of How I Met Your Mother entitled "The Bro Code" by Fox creative director Dave Warren and The Simpsons segment director Ralph Sosa.

[19] Kushner joined Wasted Youth as a guitarist but played bass on the group's second album Black Daze, released in 1988, with the exception of the Van Halen cover of "On Fire" where he performed rhythm and lead guitar duties.

[21] In 2001, Kushner became musical director for Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro's touring band following the released of his solo album Trust No One.

[30] After performing at a benefit gig for Randy Castillo in 2002, former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum decided to form a new band after recognizing that their musical relationship was still very much intact.

[20][31] Initially they began rehearsing with Buckcherry duo Josh Todd[31] and Keith Nelson, who performed with the trio at the benefit, but eventually decided against forming a group with them.

"[19] Former Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin also joined them for 2 weeks[34] eventually suggesting that "Duff and I will sing and we will just do a club tour in a van."

A number of lead singers auditioned, including Canadian Todd Kerns[36][37][38] (formerly of Age of Electric), Miljenko Matijevic (of Steelheart), Sebastian Bach (formerly of Skid Row), Shawn Albro (of U.P.O.

Scott Weiland had become friends with McKagan (via their respective wives) and had once played on the same bill as Kushner, when Electric Love Hogs supported Mighty Joe Young.

Contraband album tracks "Set Me Free"[31] and "Dirty Little Thing" appeared on the soundtracks to the movies Hulk and xXx: State of the Union while they recorded a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" and a new song entitled "Come On, Come In" for The Italian Job remake and Fantastic Four respectively.

At the time Slash hinted in an interview with Classic Rock magazine that, contrary to Weiland's assertions, Velvet Revolver will continue beyond its current tour.

However they remained optimistic about the future, with new songs written and planned to reconvene in 2011[42][43] while in September 2010, McKagan departed Jane's Addiction.

On June 20, 2009, Scars on Broadway guitarist and solo artist Franky Perez announced via his official MySpace that he was in the studio collaborating with Kushner.

In October 2009, Franky Perez said on his Twitter account that he and Kushner were jamming with Weezer bassist Scott Shriner and his Scars on Broadway bandmate, drummer John Dolmayan.

[47] In 2009, he played rhythm guitar with rock band Weezer[20] when they performed "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" on Spike TV's Video Game Awards.

[48] Alongside Bob Thiele Jr., Curtis Stigers[13] and Kurt Sutter, Kushner co-wrote the theme song for the 2008 FX television series Sons of Anarchy titled "This Life".

[16] In 2010, Kushner announced that he removed the vocals and "messed around" with the song "Beyond the Wire", which he released with Perez as DKFXP, giving it the new title of "Beyond the Snake".

[16] Kushner has also collaborated with friend and composer John O'Brien on numerous occasions providing music to films such as Four Christmases, Couples Retreat[9][10] and most recently, the upcoming ABC drama series Detroit 1-8-7 which will begin airing in the fall season of 2010.