The Audio Perv

Everyone knows that you have to kiss a lot of ass to get what you want. Rick Florino from Artist Direct got Scott Weiland to talk about Stone Temple Pilots’s new album, Scott’s solo album “Happy in Galoshes” and STP’s upcoming St. Jude Rock N Roll Show. He also kissed Scott’s ass big time (ok ok, we probably would’ve done it too but not to this extreme) by praising his solo album, the “beauty” and “darkness” of STP songs and Scott’s creativity with his label Softdrive Records and their webisodes (fun). Read an excerpt below and go here to read the whole interview.

Where in the world are you right now?

I’m in the studio working on new STP music. It’s coming along really, really well! We have about 18 songs written, and vocals are written on about ten of them.

Your most recent solo record, Happy (In Galoshes) truly felt boundless. Was there something especially liberating about the process behind that album?

Definitely! I’ve played in bands for most of my life, ever since being a teenager. At the age of 16, I formed my first band. Being in a band, you write songs and you make decisions based on a democratic process. I guess not every band does, but for the bands that I’ve been in, it was that way. I find it tends to work like that as long as the actual members are talented and they have something to say—whether it’s musically or socially. This record, in the same sense of 12 Bar Blues, my first solo album, gave me the opportunity—whenever I was feeling that desire—to create in that arena which was not a rock band. It gave me the chance to do whatever I wanted to do with my partner Doug because we have our own studio. We could get as sonically “out there” as we wanted to and tap into all of our different musical influences. We also got to use all of the various forms of instrumentation that we have here in the studio. It’s a fun place to hang out, write and work without a lot of pressure.

The Beatles could have the most beautiful melodies, but there was always a hint of uneasiness or darkness thinly veiled. When listening to one of STP’s songs like “Seven Caged Tigers,” you see the beauty, but you feel that darkness. You capture that too.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

When you can be in the middle of those two extremes and say something, that’s the mark of a true artist.

You’re getting what we’re about and what we set out to do. That’s the best compliment that you can get really.

How did everything come together with the St. Jude Rock N’ Roll Hope Show?

We were approached and asked if we would be interested in doing it. Of course, we were! More than that, we’re grateful to have the opportunity. My mother survived cancer. I know what a debilitating disease it is. She actually was a survivor. Forms of cancer that attack young people, like Leukemia, doctors don’t seem to have had as much headway in finding a cure as they’ve had with the fight against breast cancer. You don’t know why that is. It’s just one of those things that doesn’t seem fair. None of it seems fair. For the first time, I had my cancer check-up because now I know that it runs in the family. It’s a scary thought. To think that kids at a such a young age have to deal with that and the idea of death is horrible. Yet, they’re courageous to do it and be able to get through it.

You’ve always had a great sense of style—almost like the Sinatra of alt rock. How intertwined are style and performing on stage?

I see style and rock n’ roll as hand-in-hand. If you look at The Beatles, The Stones, those guys knew how to dress. Bowie is my ultimate fashion icon. It was all part of the same thing. It’s just something that feels like a natural thing for me. It’s a natural part of rock n’ roll.


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