There are some pics here..
http://www.prickmag.net/scottweilandinterview.htmlSCOTT WEILAND
by Chuck B.
From the November 2006 issue of PRICK Magazine.
Scott Weiland is a name known world wide due to his success with multiple bands, including the Stone Temple Pilots and his current supergroup, Velvet Revolver. He has also been known to live the rock star lifestyle to its extremes. Free from Mr. Brownstone for more than three years now, Scott's focus is more intense than ever. With his current projects Velvet Revolver, Camp Freddy, and the recent launch of his own record label, his story is far from over. We were fortunate enough to be invited to a private tattoo session at Scott's recording studio by our old friend Todo, of ABT Productions.
Weiland was gracious and accommodating to PRICK. His recording studio/jam room was comforting, just like a lower level rock band's rehearsal space - instruments everywhere, empty beer cans, dirty ashtrays, posters, scattered show memorabilia, old rugs thrown around to absorb the sound, spilt beer, magazines, and finally, burnt matches laid all around the bathroom. The small office area consisted of a desk piled high with scraps of paper mixed with scribbled lyrics and set lists. Another room held an equally messy TV, stereo, and couch that would fit nicely in any teenager's garage apartment. It's always nice to see that even a super group can rock out and hang just like the rest of us.
Chuck B: So, tell me about a little of what's going on as far as Velvet Revolver and Camp Freddy, etc. What's the new news?
Scott Weiland: Well, right now on the Velvet Revolver front. We're in pre-production and writing sessions. We're gonna be making a record with Rick Rubin. We've got about a month and a half more pre-production, two more weeks on the road, and then a month with Rick. And that's where the songs sort of take shape. It allows us to continue writing and arrange new tunes. And then we head into the recording studio.
Camp Freddy's really just a fun band: a bunch of great musicians that like to get together and play. It's a no pressure situation, where a bunch of amazing, successful musicians get together and have jam sessions. Camp Freddy includes me, Matt Sorum, Donovan Leitch and his son, Dave Navarro, Chris Chaney from Jane's Addiction, and Billy Morrison from The Cult.
There's the basic core of us, but then what really makes the band a special thing is that it's not just a band. We look for musicians or singers that happen to be available or within town or happen to be coming to town. There's everyone from Steven Tyler to Lou Reed to DMC to Nelly to Nelly Furtado to others. It's a free-for-all.
Chuck B: So, tell me a little bit about how you met Todo and about your tattoos.
Weiland: I got my first tattoo when I was maybe nineteen or twenty. It was actually a cross with a rose going through it and it's been covered up now. It was a cover-up job done at Spotlight Tattoo. Todo I met when I was in Atlanta.
Todo: Chili Peppers, I think. Wasn't it?
Weiland: Yeah. STP was on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers; I'm not quite sure what your hook-up was with those guys, but you were kind of on the road with those guys for a few shows, right?
Todo: That was it.
Weiland: I've never heard of a better situation than that (a tattoo guy on the road with you). So everyone was booking time with this guy and I took a look at the work that he was doing...it's unreal. The thing I found interesting about Todo was his name. It's a very psychedelic sounding name. Like the dog from The Wizard of Oz, I thought it was very mystical.
Todo: It sticks in your head.
Weiland: And then you see this Southern Rock looking guy. Man of few words, but interesting, though. So that's how I met him. We started working on my arm on that tour and since he worked in Atlanta, we?ve only been able to get together a couple times. It's become this sort of obsession to finish it.
Todo: It's going to be some cherry blossoms going through water, connecting to the dragon piece that we've been working on for a while. I'm gonna run some of my new colors into the existing dragon today to bring it to life.
Chuck B: So, what do you think about the current state of affairs in the music business as far as all the emo/screamo stuff mixed with the new school resurgence of wannabe punk rock bands and such? What's your take on the industry right now?
Weiland: The thing is this: everything got fucked up when, in the late nineties, all those pop acts came out and all those Disney kids came out with big records and were mass-marketed. For instance, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and then there was the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync and all that. We all know this is not anything new, but what has happened is that there's been continuous fallout. It's been like one super volcano and it hasn't stopped erupting. And the reason for that is the major labels.
There are less record labels now because they started consolidating which makes things even worse. What happened was that they figured out how to market and sell a pop act, and they figured out that singles are the way to do that. It's much easier to control a piece of the marketplace with a single than it is with an album. A marketing strategy is easier to control than a personality. Unfortunately for rock bands, which are notorious for having personalities, they are labeled as problematic. Record labels think, are they going to have the hits, is it worth putting all that money into? So, then you had these bands that came out that appeared like they were the second wave of the punk/pop bands. They appeared as if they were Green Day or Blink-182, but they weren't. They were readily packaged and prefabricated-looking punk/pop bands, but they were really just cookie cutter-shaped, boy bands. Basically, they were just pop bands with spiky, dyed black hair, piercings, and tattoos and they were the Backstreet Boys all dressed up in Urban Outfitters' clothing.
In spite of that, the labels knew how to market it because they saw how to market Britney Spears, and they did it to the same demographic. It was the same marketing plan they used towards Limp Bizkit. So the real rock and roll bands weren't getting signed because with them, it was a roll of the dice. The labels didn't know what kind of hand they would get; they didn't know what was going to happen because they had signed a band. It's based on a lot of things; a lot of variables that you can't control. You don't hire outside writers for a rock band that you sign off the street. So there were less and less bands getting signed. As it went on, there were less and less labels, and that leads us to where we are today.
Now, here we are and there are some bands that are starting to happen, but it's really by doing things on their own within this sort of neo-indie label route. Even that is different because it's done more on the digital realm as opposed to the grassroots realm. Indie labels, back when my band first came out, were set up so you sent away for singles, and they were sent back via the mail. Now it's all instantaneous through MySpace and other internet programs. Is it good or is it bad?
I'm not so sure. I think it's great for new bands because this way their music can be heard immediately as opposed to maybe never having had a chance of being heard. At the same time, I think it possibly takes away some of the mystery because you have all this information so accessible right at your fingertips. It's a different world. I still romanticize with the older days. But then again, my favorite bands are still The Stones, The Beatles, and The Clash.
Chuck B: Thank you very much, that was very insightful. So, any final shout outs or any kind of future plans that you want to announce?
Weiland: Well, encapsulating the whole thing, I do have an independent record company that I just did with Red Distribution. It's called Soft Drive Records. It's hopefully going to help new artists. Artists of every genre that put out good music.
We have the whole thing. We have four artists that are signed, and we have four records coming out within the next twelve months and it's something that I've been working on doing, putting a label together, for a long time.
There?s a country artist out of Nashville named Tommy Joe Wilson, who's amazing. He's a real traditional sort of honky tonk artist; amazing voice, amazing performer and a kind of George Jones sort of influenced performer. There is a punk rock sort of punk/pop, real rock and roll band called the Actual. Their record will be out in early 2007. My next solo album is coming out through our label, which was a big to-do: the negotiation that we had to go through with RCA (the label that I'm actually on), to be able to put it out through my own label. There are other bands we are looking at as well.
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