By Nicolas Henderson
Staff Writer
@happenstance98
Have you ever found a product with a name so fitting that it sticks with you? For Scott Weiland, Blaster could not have been a more appropriate title.
At 47, Weiland’s life is not really the type that you can summarize, but I will give it a shot (if you’re really interested, buy his book, Not Dead and Not For Sale).
After a 10-year run with Stone Temple Pilots, who are the creators of 90s classics like “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song”, it disbanded in 2002. Weiland spent his post-STP life as the frontman of the highly successful supergroup, Velvet Revolver, which featured former members of Guns’ N Roses.
After Weiland received an offer to reunite with STP in 2008, he was fired from Velvet Revolver. In 2010, STP released its sixth and final album with Weiland. After 20th anniversary tour plans became botched, Weiland was fired from STP in early 2013, being replaced by Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington.
Not the type to remain inactive, the notorious frontman quickly assembled his solo band musicians and became Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts. After a busy 2014 touring and recording, Weiland’s first album with the Wildabouts drops on March 31.
In many interviews Weiland has claimed that he wanted this to not be an art project like his solo albums, but a band album more in the vein of STP. Upon listening to Blaster this attitude is apparent, with Weiland’s unique vocal harmonies accompanied by a strong backing band capable of bringing back nostalgia from the original STP days while also creating a modern sounding rock record capable of capturing a new generation of fans with the right promotion (which isn’t Weiland’s strong suit).
Blaster begins with the blasting track “Modzilla”, a great rock track that fits perfectly as the opener. Following “Modzilla” is “Way She Moves”, the current
single and one of the easy listeners on the album. It’s after these two tracks that you really get into the good stuff.
“Hotel Rio” (which should have been the first single) and “Amethyst” are tracks that should prove to even the harshest of Weiland’s skeptics the man has still got it.
One of the recurring lyrical themes of the album is moonshining in the Appalachian Mountains, which gritty single “White Lightning” centers itself around. As strong as the first half of the album is, it’s the second half that really helps this album have its place amongst the rest of his career’s work (STP always had strong second halfs as well).
“Youth Quake”, which was initially my least favorite track on the album, is actually one of the strongest tracks, with its catchy indie rock vibe worthy of radio airplay.
“Parachute”, the 10th track, is my favorite on the album and it ranks amongst some of Weiland’s best deep album tracks from his STP days. The lyrics once again mention moonshining in the Appalachians, and best of all for STP fans, the return of his odd imagery of dogs, alligators, and monkees, all mentioned within the same phrase – “walking the dog with my monkees alligator.”
After a nicely executed cover of the T-Rex classic “20th Century Boy”, Blaster closes with the beautiful love tale, “Circles”, a song with a bit of a folk vibe that would also do well on the radio.
While Weiland is known to be unpredictable as a person, very few musicians have a catalog as strong as his, and Blaster belongs right alongside all of his other great work. Weiland calls his new career with The Wildabouts a “rebirth”, and with the energy felt on this album, I’d say he might be right.
