ROCK N ROLL EXPERIENCE - Scott Weiland 1/27/09

In the rock n roll dictionary, under the definition of Scott Weiland you will read, "90's Rock icon, multi-faceted singer/song writer who dances like a madman on stage, charismatic, yet somewhat shy off stage, career rock star." I know, there's no real rock n roll dictionary (yet!) but if there was one, that's an accurate description for Mr. Weiland.

Ok, so let me set the mood for you...it's a Tuesday evening, the past few days they have been calling for crappy weather in the Maryland area...snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain...it's a wintry mix that usually scares the hell out of most East Coast people...incase you're not familiar with how it goes in these parts...as soon as the weather forecast predicts snow, the local's immediately run to the stores to stock up on bread, milk & toilet paper...I wish I was joking here, but that's an actual fact, so on the particular night that Scott Weiland was playing Ram's Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland, the weather forecast was calling for the stuff that makes people in this area cringe...it had snowed earlier in the day & it actually looked more like Christmas time in the middle of January to be honest with you...then when the evening time came, the sloppy weather started...again! This time around it was a nice down pouring of snow & to be honest with you, it looked pretty, & it wasn't bad driving in it, I think you either freak out in that kinda weather or keep it together....the worst part was trying to keep the salt on the road off my windshield!

So I was originally scheduled to interview Doug Grean, the guy who was responsible for the bulk of the music writing on "Happy in...", Scott's new solo record, at 6:30 PM, but the sad thing about bad weather is, even if you leave in plenty of time, you still can't control how fast other people drive & I found myself in a bit of a stand still at times, so I got to the venue about 20 minutes later than expected & I called Doug...Doug had forgotten we were doing the interview & had a radio thing to do, but being the trooper he is, he apologized for the double booking, asked me to meet him at a restaurant around the corner, & we ended up doing the interview in this plush steak house while sipping some expensive wine & midway through the interview Weiland himself was actually setting there next to us..it was probably the most casual interview I've ever done...very high class, nice, ritzy, & the interview was, in all honesty, more like 2 people just talking about music & life, than it was an interview...the entire situation was totally surreal....I saw some kids outside waiting for Weiland to come out so they could get his autograph & there I was, setting at a table with Doug, Weiland & the entire band!

So after a very lengthy interview, we took pics in the restaurant, then headed over to the venue for the show...I will tell you this, the ENTIRE Scott Weiland band...they are a total class act & I got a vibe that they were all sincere, honest, nice people...that's a rare quality in rock n roll today! So when I got into the venue, there was a local opener & I recognized the one guitar player as a buddy, Matt, who used to play in another local band or 2...musically, they played straight up New York style rock n roll & what I saw sounded good, but there was no denying it....the crowd was feeling the same way I was...we all wanted to see Scott Weiland & co. on that stage & what I might add is, for a night that featured probably the sloppiest weather this area has had all year, there was a nice big crowd to see Weiland's show!

One interesting thing I will note is, one the set lists that were taped to the stage, the set lists listed the venue & show date...the show date was listed as the 26th when infact it was the 27th! I know, minor detail, but for those who might care, there's a random factoid! The stage set up was rather simple...there was a large video screen in the back that showed video of the bands drummer playing in a few songs...basically, what happened was, the drums were pre-taped & the drummer played keyboards & they showed a video of him playing drums while the pre-taped drums were played & he would play live keyboards....it was an interesting visual that I've never seen another rock band do before!

When the show initially started, Doug & the boys came out basically jamming & after a minute of jamming started, Scott shimmied out dressed in a fancy suit & the show started at that point! There were 4 STP covers played, & I felt bad for Scott at times because he had people yelling "Velvet Revolver" & at one point the crowd started chanting "STP" extremely loud & Scott looked at the crowd & his band & his smile turned into a laugh, because this is Scott Weiland solo, it's NOT STP, so in a way, I understand why the fans might want STP songs played, BUT, he did 4..this is a Weiland solo tour, so the focus was his solo music more than anything!

During "Beautiful Day" they cranked up 2 bubble machines & had the entire stage area & the entire front of the crowd dodging floating bubbles in the air...it was actually a pretty cool look & as you can see by the pic I posted with this review, it was something I'd never seen at any other rock shows...soI give it to Scott, he put together a solo tour that's main focus is on the music, but there was also some eye candy for the audience as well! Probably the biggest surprise of the night for me was to see Scott perform his cover of the Bowie classic "Fame" which was funky, rhythmic & rocked! "Cleveland" was the nights closer & when I talked to people after the show, everyone basically echoed the same thing I was thinking...Scott's solo band rocked, it was a nice long show, you got a good selection of STP covers & Scott originals, so all in all, the show was good, Scott sang his ass off, Doug & the boys played their asses off & I the crowd left the show satisfied!

One interesting thing I will say is, personally, I love the new solo record Scott put out, "Happy In..." is eclectic, artistic, it's definitely got a strong Bowie influence, & overall, it's just a good musical journey from beginning till end...the interesting thing though is that I talked to alot of the audience at the show & I was bummed when I heard alot of people saying they didn't "get" the new solo record, that it was too far out there at times & they enjoyed Scott's first solo record more...the thing about the new solo record is, it's artistic, expressive & it's something you will either love or hate...there's not alot of middle ground there...for me personally, I love it, but I just thought it was interesting to hear the overall opinion that the crowd wasn't that into the new material...the unanimous statement was that STP & the first solo record was his best stuff.

Ok, so as I stated earlier, I had the chance to set down in person & chat with Doug Grean, who is Scott's musical collaborator on the new cd, not to mention they both own a studio together. Doug's done alot of behind the scenes with with artist's like STP, Velvet Revolver, Sheryl Crowe, etc., & the man has alot to say, is very interesting, very articulate, & very passionate about music. He made my jaw drop when he told me he paid over $1,000 for the glasses he wears....basically, he wanted to get a pair of kick ass glasses & he went to Beverly Hills to get them & he admitted that his jaw dropped too when he heard the actual price for them...no, he doesn't have a back-up pair either, so my immediate statement was, "You better guard them with your life!" because that's crazy to pay that much for glasses, but that's rock n roll for you! Ok, so here's what Doug Grean had to say:

Rock N Roll Experience: How has the tour been so far?

Doug: The tour so far has been great, really great! We did a little tour in December where we were just kinda feeling things out & then some radio promotion stuff & we've never really toured the Weiland band, not this Weiland band...there was another Weiland band like 10 years ago, completely different players, this is a new incarnation, new guys, so the first couple of weeks were good, they were good shows, but we were still trying to feel our way, we were still trying to become a band & now, after that first 2 weeks in December, we came back & did a bunch of rehearsal & now the set is completely different & we've actually found our identity as a band that's really become something interesting & special

Rock N Roll Experience: I read the posting you put online too asking fans to not yell out for STP songs...is that happening alot on this tour?

Doug: Not anymore...the post worked. In December we were only playing one STP song, we were playing "Interstate Love Song" which is a good song & everything, but we were playing it at the very end of the set & it probably wasn't a great idea & Scott really wants to forge his own identity as a solo...& I understand that, but it's really difficult after like 5 years of STP, so we were getting alot of people that would come to the show & it's weird to me, because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that there are these people that would come to a Scott Weiland show & it would naturally be an STP show? It doesn't quite make sense, but there were..there were alot of them! I guess they weren't quite getting it, but anyways, it never really offended me that they were doing that, it was just kind of perplexing to me. So, we came home & decided we would learn some more STP songs because we don't want to bum people out, we do wanna honor...I love STP, Scott Loves STP, we all love STP, we're all friends with STP, we don't want to be snotty or anything, but on the first leg Scott didn't wanna do any STP, so as a band, we all got together & said, listen, we really should think of some stuff that we can do that's STP stuff, so we are doing songs now that they didn't do last...like we are doing "Atlanta" which is a song I don't think they've ever played live & we're doing "Unglued" which is a song they didn't play last Summer, & then we are doing 2 others..."Interstate Love Song" & "Vaseline", so anyways, we wanted to give the people what they wanted, but I'll tell you what, we intersperse it, like every 4th song we'll play an STP song but in between there, you never know, it's all different, crazy art song, totally improvisational jam, some kinda like Scott rocker off of the first record, then an STP song, so anyways, the pacing is working alot better so we are not getting as many "STP, STP, STP" because they are getting what they want & they are also getting a generous helping of new Scott & hopefully some day we won't have to do that.

Rock N Roll Experience: On the new solo record, was it heavily influenced by David Bowie?

Doug: I think Scott's very influenced by Bowie.

Rock N Roll Experience: As far as the recording of the new record, did any of the demo material make the record?

Doug: Tons of the stuff from our demos made it onto the record because alot of people get demo madness where...I heard the band Jellyfish used to do this where they would come in with this weird, complicated demo that was recorded in their little crap studio at home, & they would go into like a 24 track studio with all these session players & I heard this story actually from Jason Faulkner, but they would try to get these really amazing player guys to repeat these kinda little mistakes & they didn't get it...it would take them probably hours hours & hours & days of time trying to recreate these mistakes & now, luckily with computers, you don't have to recreate the mistakes, so we kept alot of the (demo) stuff, we edited a little bit, & we'll overdub stuff & that's it, that becomes the song.

Rock N Roll Experience: Will "Blind Confusion" be a single?

Doug: I agree with you, (at this point Doug starts talking to Danny Bush who's a huge player in radio about the possibility of "Blind Confusion" being the next single & Danny agrees with Doug & I that should be the next single!)...the only problem is that Scott actually thinks that "Paralysis" is a stronger song, so it's his record, but we're gonna have a big conversation about it & try to talk him out of it...one of the other things that we are up against is just budget, they did a video for "Paralysis" already.

Rock N Roll Experience: So how did you meet Scott?

Doug: I met him 13 years ago, I had to take my brother to rehab because my brother was drinking too much & I had already been to rehab like a year before...my whole family is full of alcoholics, so I had gone to this place called Exodus in Marina Del Ray, LA & it's not a fancy place, back then they didn't have the fancy, fancy places like they have now, & I couldn't afford a fancy place anyways, I worked for a company back then called Aleesis, Aleesis makes keyboards & Studio equipment, so I was a working stiff & I went, then a year later my brother needed to go so I took him in the middle of the night & dropped him off at this place & I knew everybody there because I had just been through there, & like a day later I came back to check on him to make sure A., that he was still there, & B., that he was doing alright, & I walk in & go, "How Are You Doing?" & he goes, "It's going good." & I asked if he had a roommate & he said, "Yeah, I just got a new roommate a couple of hours ago." & I got, "Who is it?" & he goes, "I don't know who it is, but it's this weird guy" ..he had a big beard back then, & he had just finished "Tiny Music" & my brother was like a Dead-Head back then, he was not like a hard rock fan, but he said to me, "I think he's somebody special because they are treating him kinda different & he's acting really weird." & sure enough, there he was, my brother was in rehab with Scott, so I met him then, & then about a year later my brother was working at this other rehab on the other side of town & he was running the kitchen at this place in Pasadena & who walks in but Scott, Scott checked into this rehab & now Scott & my brother are together at this other rehab & that's how I met him, like I would go up there to visit my brother & eventually I got to know him & we got to talking & I had my own studio at the time & Scott had his own studio, but his studio was kinda falling apart & it was mostly because of the stuff that was going on with his drugs..it's hard to keep your studio together, his gear was walking away & shit was happening & everything, & eventually he said, "Do you want to come to my place in Burbank & we'll work a little bit, I need someone that is reliable & he really liked my brother for some reason, & I said, yeah, so we went up there. I went up there, it was right after "12 Bar Blues" had come out, right after he had gotten arrested & within like the first month we wrote that song "Big Black Monster" within the first month & so that was it...from then on we kept writing songs, I started to produce more & I started to play more with him & write more with him, & so "Big Black Monster" was written in December of 1999.

Rock N Roll Experience: Is your studio open for other musicians to use or is it strictly for you & your projects?

Doug: We use it mostly for his (Scott) stuff & my stuff & Softdrive stuff, we have a little label with 5 bands on it, but I do occasionally do other bands, it's not like I have ads out in Billboard magazine or anything, it's not like a commercial studio, but I'll do friends bands & friends of friends bands.

Rock N Roll Experience: How did working with STP differ from working with Velvet Revolver?

Doug: You know what, they are all really nice guys....I have to say that, Slash & Duff, when I first met them, I was a little nervous because they are so bigger than life, but they are super nice guys...really, really nice, never, never like a cross word with either of those guys & I'm sure they had their moments where they do their rockstar thing, but we never had any moments & so working with them was really a pleasure, I mean the difference really is the level of musicality or the type of music...The Velvet Revolver guys are alot more like 4 chords & an attitude or 2 riffs & a chord & attitude & STP, I worked alot with the STP guys on alot of different things, like I worked on some of Robert DeLeo's solo record that never came out & then me & Robert & Dean did like this Glen Campbell project that never came out...so I'm friends with those guys & they are great guys too, I've never had any words with them either, I'm sure as rockstars they have their moments too, but the level of musicality is different, like the DeLeo's are actually, I hate to say it, I wouldn't want to offend Slash or Duff or anything like that, but musically, those guys (Robert & Dean DeLeo) write alot more complicated stuff...the are highly musical & I think that Duff comes from a punk rock background, Slash comes from a classic rock background & Dean has alot of classic rock-ism in him, but like Robert, he studies music from the 60's, 50's & the 40's, so there's alot of changes in those big STP songs that you might have found in Tin Pan Alley songs, if you listen to the changes, the portal harmony on the STP songs, it's alot more complicated than most Velvet Revolver songs & to me, I like there to be some key changes, I like there to be some interesting stuff & I'm kinda a closet jazzer...I'm not so much a jazzer as I am an avante guard-ist, & I don't want everything to just be a major, major, major, major, minor, minor, I want there to be something complicated going on there.

Rock N Roll Experience: What artist made you want to start playing guitar?

Doug: Well, this is embarrassing, but when I was a kid, I was a Dead-Head, just like my brother, we grew up Dead-Heads, so Jerry Garcia was my idol when I was like 12 & then what happened was I moved to New Orleans when I was 17 & I started to just study Blues & Jazz & just the cultural music of New Orleans & that's a great education & I would listen to people like Gatemouth Brown, Walter "Wolf Man" Washington, & Snooks Egland, & all these guys who were....Gatemouth was from Texas, but Snooks & Walter were from New Orleans & one other guy, Earl King, & these guys were like older dudes that had worldwide reputations, but they lived in New Orleans & you could go find them & hang out with them easy, like Earl King was always @ The Tasty Doughnuts on the corner of Bertan street & everyday, like from noon till 2, he'd be there eating doughnuts & drinking coffee & if you wanted to, you could go, hang out & talk to Earl...I don't know how to explain it, but it was just a different level of..they were not snotty & I got to hang out with ALL of my favorite legends!

Rock N Roll Experience: What's been the craziest thing that's happened on this tour so far?

Doug: Well, no one's got arrested or anything like that, which is good news, I don't know, I can't really give you any dish or anything like that, nothing really that wild has happened, like Scott has a girlfriend so it's not like he's out catting around every night, I'm married so I'm not catting around every night, Jeremy the guitar player, Tommy the bass player & Danny the drummer, they are the ones that go out catting every night & Danny lost his pants the night before...we've had some fights, Jeremy, who is like the nicest guy in the world has been fighting with the production manager like crazy, he wanted to bring a girl on the bus the other night, like we were in Philly & he wanted to bring this girl, she said, "Let me ride with you on the bus or in other words I want to sleep with you on the bus up to Boston & then I'll take the train back & there was a huge fight about that & they ended up not letting him take the girl, so then we had like at 2 in the morning, a big, & Scott wasn't even involved at all, because he had already left!, but we had a big huge band brawl in the parking lot outside the bus because of that girl & then the other thing that's been just interesting is that we've started doing alot more improvising so now at every show we do 2 or 3 like just 10 minute jams where we never know what's going to happen, like it could go anywhere & Scott just runs around the stage & plays different instruments, like sometimes he does Bowie stuff, other times he'll do Jim Morrison stuff.

Rock N Roll Experience: How long will this tour run for?

Doug: Only another week & 1/2 then we are taking a break & we're gonna do another month in like April/May. It's all about the budget, & it's all about Scott's commitment with STP because they want to make another record & Scott's trying to decide when that's going to happen & they need to write the record, so what I think is going to happen is that the DeLeo's are at home writing & they will be writing for a couple of months & while they write we will probably tour of f& on for the next 6 months but then at some point like the middle of the Summer, well have to go, Ok, time to go into the STP studio because there is no holding that back, because financially they are larger.

Rock N Roll Experience: Did you actually produce stuff on STP records?

Doug: For the last record I did Alot of Ghost producing & I should have gotten credit. Ghost producing means that for 2 months, we were alone together in a house & we recorded all these tracks, & then the real producer, Brendan O'Brien came in, & we took a bunch of the tracks that I recorded, & we recorded them over because we were all using pro-tools, & he ended up using 60% of the tracks I recorded in their masters, just like me & Scott did (on "Happy In..") & he would not give me producing credit. You know what, me & that guy (Brendan O'Brien) don't get along & I get along with everybody.

I'd like to personally thank Doug for being a very nice, kind person, & this was definitely one of my more memorable interviews ever...if you haven't checked it out yet, go buy the new Scott Weiland solo record, "Happy In.." & check out Scott's solo tour! Oh yeah...btw, there's one juicy little tidbit that I want to point out...ALL bars & clubs in the state of Maryland are smoke free invironments, BUT, if you look closely at some of my pics I posted here, you'll notice that Weiland was smoking on & off all night at this show!