SCOTT WEILAND: 'I'm Not Quite So Sure That It Was All AXL's Fault'

[hbk]

May 01, 2008 
 
Evan Serpick of RollingStone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS/ex-VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland. An excerpt from the chat follows:

RollingStone.com: [STONE TEMPLE PILOTS guitarist] Dean [DeLeo] said that he has a ton of material that he has written over the last five years with you and the band in mind. Do you have any idea what direction a new album would take?

Weiland: I don't have any idea because Dean and Robert [DeLeo] played together consistently, and I haven't played with them in a long time. I played in VELVET REVOLVER, which is a raw, bombastic blues band with a punk rock edge to it. It's like everything is based around the blues, no matter what the groove is. And the melodies that I write, the lyrics that I write are inspired from a different place. I've also been writing my second solo album, and that's coming out in November, and that comes from a completely different place. That's sort of a no-holds barred experiment where I'm not afraid to use any sort of production, whether it's acoustic sounding, interesting sounding or bad sound. However I really don't have a great passion or a great desire in moving backwards or in staying stagnant. I'm 40 years old, and I feel like there are only a limited amount of years where you can wear those tight jeans. There comes a point where whether you can wear them or not, you shouldn't wear them. And at a certain point, bands that have the ability to mature musically should mature musically in a graceful manner, and I see the STONE TEMPLE PILOTS as being a band that has that capacity.

RollingStone.com: Did that call from Dean come at a time when things were already falling apart with VELVET REVOLVER?

Weiland: No, things at that time were working quite well with VELVET REVOLVER and I didn't want to mention it to them until there was a plan and a couple gigs that were actually booked. Slash and I were usually the ones who talked to each other first about things, then we'd go to the rest of the guys. And, unfortunately because of certain people's egos, it... I walked into a situation where there was a lot of baggage. I had a lot of baggage walking into my situation. I was in a band where at the end, it was pretty much three against one. And so I'm pretty sure that it felt that way to Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES singer] as well. I have to say this, and I'm not just saying this now because of my situation I went through, but I heard a lot of great GUNS N' ROSES stories you guys in the press will never hear. Everyone has made Axl out to be this horrendously crazy person, this bad guy, and I don't know him very well at all. He and I for whatever reason got almost tricked into this little media spat for a moment because one of our band members happened to run into him and said that he said something. So, my point being that having been in a band with VELVET REVOLVER now for five and a half years, I'm not quite so sure that it was all Axl's fault. It's like, why does it always have to be the lead singer. Matt Sorum in front of my face, he was the sweetest guy in the world. But there were some times, out of the blue, the guy just randomly hated me. We all carried our own baggage in that band. In a sense, that's why people were intrigued, you know, especially for the first couple of years. Because they were kind of waiting on the trainwreck to happen. They just thought it would happen a lot sooner.
 
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=96131


 

HBK *

[Tronx]

Surprise? no......Personally I always thought that Axl didnt have all the fault about the GNR split.  Those guys had a lot of blame there also.

[CaffeineDependency]

he's just sayin that cuz alot of people are comparing him to axl now

[Chicken-Feed]

It's never ONLY one persons fault, cause it takes two to tango .. so what's new about that?
What you are trying to say, is as redundant as trying to reinvent the wheel.

[dman1991]

After reading slashs book I started to lean toward axls side, slash was bitching about what axl did in post production, rather than appreciate the brilliance axl put into the songs, slash bitched about how he had no input and liked the raw uyi he had heard before axl(specifically november rain) put his mind to work.  Imho, whatever axl was doing was working, so why the fuck did the rest of the guys feel the need to gang up on axl, slash bitched about the process of uyi like he was getting his teeth pulled, but in the end it all worked out better than any other double album in history.  It seems he was bitter it wasnt his way that brought the attention and success to the band.

[StevieKeyz]

i think what he's really trying to say is he knows how axl feels after experiencing velvet revolver, but everyone knows its not one persons fault but if u ask the normal gnr fan they will all blame axl. I gotta read slash's book still i heard it was really good.

cool article though.

[Chicken-Feed]

After reading slashs book I started to lean toward axls side, slash was bitching about what axl did in post production, rather than appreciate the brilliance axl put into the songs, slash bitched about how he had no input and liked the raw uyi he had heard before axl(specifically november rain) put his mind to work.  Imho, whatever axl was doing was working, so why the fuck did the rest of the guys feel the need to gang up on axl, slash bitched about the process of uyi like he was getting his teeth pulled, but in the end it all worked out better than any other double album in history.  It seems he was bitter it wasnt his way that brought the attention and success to the band.

'Appetite for Destruction' as the longtime best-selling debut album of all times hasn't whether created attention in the whole world, nor has been the key to the success of an based onto this following 'Use your Illusion' world tour?

.. they have been big before that (UYI)! The hype mostly sold their albums after AFD; take a look at the sales of the mediocre 'Spaghetti Incident' ..

[zombux]

we all know Matt Sorum is a prick

[ShePoutsHerBest]

DO I smell a GNR/STP tour?






No

[wyldechild]

this is so true. . . but scott is still a fag...

'Appetite for Destruction' as the longtime best-selling debut album of all times hasn't whether created attention in the whole world, nor has been the key to the success of an based onto this following 'Use your Illusion' world tour?

.. they have been big before that (UYI)! The hype mostly sold their albums after AFD; take a look at the sales of the mediocre 'Spaghetti Incident' ..

if you're meaning that appetite is somehow Slashes baby and not so much Axls then I'd say you're totally wrong..
appetite wouldnt even have Sweet Child O'mine without Axl

[Chicken-Feed]

this is so true. . . but scott is still a fag...

if you're meaning that appetite is somehow Slashes baby and not so much Axls then I'd say you're totally wrong..
appetite wouldnt even have Sweet Child O'mine without Axl

I don't, cause it's their 'Baby': Axl - Izzy - Slash. - And being seperated it turned out to be, that they don't get much going until today.
So there's no need for anyone taking an EgoTrip .. that much is easy to see.

[GGS]

Hell yeah but like we all knew that anyway i think. Theres too many big ego's nowadays for a reunion imo as well.

[Dark Globe]

Am I the only one who thinks that the split of the "Live Era" line-up should be faulted to Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, Steven, Matt, Dizzy and Doug Goldstein?

Also, I think it is funny how the Axl-leaning folks read Slash's book and point toward his "bitching" while the Slash-leaning people read the book and point toward Axl's behavior.  To me, it is pretty obvious that both of these guys are pricks.  Musical geniuses absolutely, but pricks none the less.

[gaby]

I don't know who should be faulted and probably I'll never know.

But $lash bitching about Axl in his book shows what a snake he is.
It was his biography, he should have talked about himself not about Axl's behaviour.

I don't think $lash had an ego problem, I think it was envy...