It's Us Against Everybody..."

Scott Weiland Sets The Record Straight

Metal Edge magazine recently conducted an interview with Scott Weiland. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Scott Weiland is calling us from Budapest, where Velvet Revolver are winding through a serious of overseas festival dates, as well as opening sets for Black Sabbath, all leading to the band's summer-ending run on this summer's OZZfest. After several hours on a bus, he gets to the ancient city ripe with history, checks into his hotel, is greeted by his wife, and sets up on his balcony for a late-night interview-It's 3:30 am, and you know there are things he'd rather be doing. Yet, despite the hour, as well as the fact that he's only days removed from one of his recent rants against the media, he's in a surprisingly good mood. It's his first trip to Budapest, and even in the early morning hours, he's able to put everything-from his life, to his band, to the world he's traversing-into crystal clear perspective.

"I've never been this far East," Weiland says from the other end of the phone line. "I'm sitting, right now, on a balcony in a beautiful old building that's been refurbished. It's a balcony where princes probably once sat, and I'm looking straight across the skyline to a beautifully lit bridge across a river. There's a full moon, there's a clear sky, and the cityscape is adorned with structures that have been untouched by the spoils of either World War I or World War II. That's a special thing for my eyes to see, since I am a student of history... Traveling everywhere in the world, you really get a different view of how things are, because there's different perspectives in the news. Even with CNN, there's CNN World News, as opposed to the American version. Then there's Sky News, then there's the British news, and there's news all over the world. You hear different perspectives, as opposed to what we hear in the States. There's always a different spin on public relations, and that's the way the world works, though, and that's kind of what keeps things going. But traveling around the world, you get to see why the world is so beautiful, and why it keeps going."

The irony is, sometimes even the richest history and greatest beauty is hardly enough to quell a savage storm, and as soon as we break the Velvet Revolver frontman's reflective state, he snaps back to the reality that has engulfed his recent past. Scott Weiland is an artist, and one of the most exceptional ones of our modern culture. But inside every great artist, there's a fire burning, and it doesn't take long to find the flames...

Metal Edge: It struck me as odd when I heard VELVET REVOLVER confirmed for Ozzfest. You're not a typical Ozzfest band. Why did you decide to do it?
Scott Weiland: "When we first came out and we were doing all of our touring, we picked a lot of bands that were more underground to open up for us — except for a couple of… [talking quieter] exceptions on the last tour . . . With STP, we had our own following that we always had, and I think we always did a good job of catering to our alternative audience, and our hard rock audience. We had songs like 'Down', and we had songs like 'Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart'. So, I think the basic thought process was that, when the offer came to us, after doing the rest of our touring for the rest of the year, it would be a good idea to play for a basic, real, hard rock audience that we haven't played to yet. We're playing to that right now, overseas, playing some of the BLACK SABBATH shows this summer."

Metal Edge: What do you expect the reaction to VELVET REVOLVER to be on Ozzfest?
Scott Weiland: "I don't know. I just don't have the same willingness to, as they say, bend like a willow in the wind, like I may have when I was younger. I'm kind of set in my ways, and I am what I am. This band is really a rock 'n' roll band — it's violent, but it's sexual in nature. It's really harbored in its punk rock, sexual roots. It's definitely not metal. Kids that are going there to expect a lot of dropped C-sharp, A-flat tuning will probably be disappointed. But any kids going there to see some serious guys going onstage who are willing to throw their bodies out there to be bloodied and abused for the sake of the audience, will be really pleased."

Metal Edge: I'm curious to see your reception between MUDVAYNE and BLACK SABBATH on Ozzfest. I can almost see you working with SABBATH, as opposed to most of the other bands on that bill. I really like MUDVAYNE, but if their audience wasn't receptive to LIFE OF AGONY on their last tour, I can't imagine them being receptive to something as sexually driven as VELVET REVOLVER.
Scott Weiland: "I haven't given that a lot of thought. I don't really invest much time thinking about that. We kind of go out there like a gang — it's us against everybody, and we go out there in a gang fight. We slay, no matter what happens, and that's it. By the time we're halfway through the set, we're winning them over. Let's put it this way: We just played Donington [Download festival in England], and that's a metal crowd, and that was a great gig for us. That whole thing was filmed and recorded, and the song they filmed and recorded was 'Fall to Pieces', nonetheless. It looked great, and it sounded great, so if that's any indication…"

Metal Edge: So you're not going to steer clear of a song like "Fall to Pieces" on Ozzfest?
Scott Weiland: "Man, I won't steer clear of shit. Are you kidding me? If I won't steer clear of wearing a fucking Nazi uniform coming into Europe, you think I'm going to steer clear of 'Fall to Pieces' at Ozzfest?"