Scott "Wino" Weinrich | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Robert Scott Weinrich |
Born | 1961 (age 62–63) [1] |
Genres | |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1976–present |
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Formerly of |
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Website | scottweinrich |
Robert Scott Weinrich [3] (born 1961), better known as Wino, is an American singer and guitarist. He has been highly influential in helping develop and codify doom metal's trademark sound, [4] and is also considered an influential figure in the stoner rock and punk rock genre. [5]
Weinrich started his first band Warhorse in 1976, which would later become The Obsessed. In 1986 he joined doom metal band Saint Vitus, where he performed on four studio albums, including their most iconic effort Born Too Late . He has also released three solo albums since 2009.
Weinrich appreciated rock music at an early age. His early influences were the Monkees and the Beatles (the latter inspired him to play guitar), [6] and later Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath. He saw Black Sabbath during the Paranoid tour and described the gig as life-changing. [7] He also cited punk bands like the Stooges, the Dictators and the Saints as big influences. [8]
Weinrich's musical career began at Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland, when he started his first band Warhorse—the band that would become the Obsessed in the late 1970s. This version of the Obsessed would release a 7" titled Sodden Jackal in 1983 on Invictus Records and have a track featured on Metal Blade Records's Metal Massacre VI. They also recorded an album titled Live at the Wax Museum in 1982. In the mid-1980s, Weinrich disbanded the Obsessed and moved to California to sing for Saint Vitus. During this time, he also briefly played bass anonymously for the Mentors [9] and filled in on vocals for Los Angeles hard rock band Lost Breed.
In Saint Vitus, Weinrich covered vocal duties as well as additional guitar work on some tracks. The band released three studio albums with Weinrich: Born Too Late (1986), Mournful Cries (1988) and V (1990), the live album Live (1990), and the Thirsty and Miserable EP (1987). After Saint Vitus signed to Hellhound Records, Hellhound put out The Obsessed (1990), a collection of archived Obsessed recordings. This prompted Weinrich to leave Saint Vitus and reform the Obsessed (in between a stint with Maryland's Lost Breed), who now had a record deal with Hellhound Records.
This incarnation of the Obsessed released some 7"s and two more albums, Lunar Womb (1991) and The Church Within (1994) (the latter was picked up by Columbia Records), before calling it quits in 1994. They also released a documentary video that year, featuring several musicians of the punk and metal scenes such as Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Phil Anselmo, Pepper Keenan, Jennifer Finch, Dale Crover and Lee Dorrian. [10] Weinrich then formed Shine which released a single 7" with two songs. The band later became Spirit Caravan with ex-Wretched (another Hellhound act) vocalist Dave Sherman on bass. Spirit Caravan put out two albums, Jug Fulla Sun (1999) and Elusive Truth (2001), and the Dreamwheel EP (1999), before disbanding in 2002. Weinrich joined ex-Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin in his band Place of Skulls for one album, With Vision (2003), before leaving to start his most recent band, the Hidden Hand. The Hidden Hand released a 7", three studio albums, one DVD/CDEP, and a split 12" with Wooly Mammoth before Weinrich disbanded the group in August 2007.
Weinrich was a member of a project called Shrinebuilder featuring Al Cisneros (Om and Sleep), Scott Kelly of Neurosis, and Dale Crover (Melvins and Altamont), and recorded an album of solo material titled Punctuated Equilibrium featuring Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch (drums) and Jon Blank of Rezin (bass guitar), which was released in January 2009 on Southern Lord Records. [11] [12]
Weinrich contributed vocals and guitars on the track "The Emerald Law" for Dave Grohl's project Probot. He can be seen playing guitar in the Probot video for "Shake Your Blood", which features Lemmy on bass and vocals. He has also collaborated with ex-Death SS guitarist Paul Chain for some of his solo work. Weinrich was also the frontman for Lost Breed for a short time. A collection of recordings of this line-up has since been released, titled "Wino Daze".
Weinrich worked with Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward, Fight guitarist Brian Tilse, and Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford in the band Bullring Brummies, who are featured on the Nativity in Black tribute album. He also played guitar on a demo for the band "Gypsy Moth" and can be found singing and playing on the Mystick Krewe of Clearlight split CD with Acid King. Both the Obsessed and Spirit Caravan have released anthology-type albums featuring rare tracks, Incarnate (1999) and The Last Embrace (2004), respectively.
Weinrich has been touring with the reunited Saint Vitus since 2009. It was confirmed that the band would go on to record a new album in early 2011 for a release that year. [13] It would have been Saint Vitus's first since 1995's Die Healing and its first release with Weinrich since 1990's V . However, this plan fell through, but the band planned to regroup to make the album sometime in summer 2011 after the band's tour with Helmet and Crowbar. [14]
Weinrich also formed Premonition 13 with guitarist Jim "Sparky" Karow in 2010. Premonition 13 released their first LP in July 2011.
In a Guitar World interview, Weinrich stated that his signature sound comes from a Gibson Les Paul guitar with DiMarzio Super Distortion Pickups plugged into a Sunn model T amp. He also changes the pre and power tubes of his amps with EH and JJ ones because "it's like a fuzz box built into the amp".
Weinrich released his first solo album via Southern Lord Records under the name Punctuated Equilibrium in 2009. From 2010 onwards, his solo material consists exclusively of acoustic material, having released two acoustic albums so far: Adrift in 2010 and Heavy Kingdom (a collaboration with Conny Ochs) in 2012. Weinrich toured Europe and North America extensively as a solo artist. In 2016, he reformed the Obsessed and released Sacred (2017) and Gilded Sorrow (2024).
The Obsessed is an American doom metal band from Potomac, Maryland, led by Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Formed in 1979, they recorded a few demos and played a handful of live shows until they first split up in 1986 when Weinrich joined as lead vocalist for Saint Vitus. About two years before his departure from Saint Vitus, Weinrich reformed The Obsessed in 1989, and three studio albums − The Obsessed (1990), Lunar Womb (1991) and The Church Within (1994) − were released before disbanding for the second time in 1995. After reuniting for occasional live shows between 2011 and 2013, the band announced a permanent reunion in March 2016, and has since released two more studio albums: Sacred (2017) and Gilded Sorrow (2024).
Probot was a heavy metal side project of former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. Described by Grohl as "a death metal Supernatural", the album mixes instrumentals recorded by Grohl himself with various metal singers whom the musician admired. The album was released in February 2004 by Southern Lord Records. It featured one single entitled "Centuries of Sin"/"The Emerald Law".
Spirit Caravan was an American doom metal / stoner rock band featuring guitarist and vocalist Scott "Wino" Weinrich.
Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to include artists from black metal, hardcore punk and crust punk bands.
Saint Vitus is an American doom metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. They are considered to be one of the first doom metal bands, and have been labeled as one of the "big four" of that genre, along with Candlemass, Pentagram and Trouble. Having released nine studio albums to date, Saint Vitus never achieved a popular breakthrough, but have exerted great influence on the development of doom metal, sludge metal, and stoner rock.
The Hidden Hand was an American stoner rock and doom metal band from Maryland, formed in 2002 and dissolved in 2007.
Clearlight is an American instrumental rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana. They are also known as the Mystick Krewe of Clearlight due to other bands using the same original name.
Hellhound Records was a German record label during the late 1980s and 1990s, self-described as "the heaviest label on earth". They became known for putting out doom metal, with artists such as Saint Vitus and The Obsessed. In the early 1990s Hellhound signed a number of Maryland doom bands such as Internal Void, Iron Man, Revelation, Wretched and Unorthodox. They quickly became a prominent label in the doom metal genre. Some of the Hellhound releases were distributed in the US by Noise Records and Noise began pressing some of the later releases after Hellhound's demise. Noise released a compilation entitled Pure Noise which featured a number of Hellhound bands along with many Noise bands as well. Only a few Hellhound releases were re-released by current labels, such as Southern Lord Records and Japan's Leaf Hound Records.
Born Too Late is the third studio album by American doom metal band Saint Vitus, released in 1986. It was the first Saint Vitus album featuring The Obsessed singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich. It is generally cited as their greatest effort.
Mournful Cries is the fourth studio album by American doom metal band Saint Vitus, released in 1988. It was the band's last release on SST Records. The cover art features a painting of a hydra.
V is the fifth studio album by American doom metal band Saint Vitus, released in 1990. Its title is a reference to the Roman numeral five, not the letter "V" from the English alphabet. The album was the band's first release not on SST Records and the last one to feature singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich.
Place of Skulls is an American doom metal band from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Live is the first live album by the American doom metal band Saint Vitus, recorded on November 10, 1989, at Germany's Circus Gammelsdorf. The album was released in 1990 on Hellhound Records. It was re-released by Southern Lord Records (SUNN43) in 2005. This was the final release to feature singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich until he rejoined Saint Vitus some years later, performing on their 2012 album Lillie: F-65.
The Obsessed is the debut album by American metal band the Obsessed, released in 1990 by Hellhound Records. All songs were recorded in 1985 for an intended album for Metal Blade Records, which had never been released. The release of this album prompted singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich to leave Saint Vitus and reform the Obsessed with a new rhythm section.
The Church Within is the third studio album by American metal band The Obsessed. It was released in 1994 by Columbia Records and Hellhound Records, and was their final album before their 16-year breakup from 1995 to 2011. Columbia Records released two promo singles to support the album, "Streetside"/"Blind Lightning" and "To Protect and to Serve"/"Mental Kingdom".
Tolotta Records was a record label run by Joe Lally of Fugazi. It was based in Arlington, Virginia, and distributed through Dischord Records. The label has released bands from Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area, such as Dead Meadow and Spirit Caravan. The label was founded in 1994 and came to an end in 2002 when Spirit Caravan broke up and Dead Meadow moved to Matador Records. Shortly after Lally set-up the label, the German label Hellhound Records disbanded, leaving Tolotta to pick up some of the slack. Tolotta re-released The Obsessed's first album and picked up Scott Weinrich's new band, Shine, who later changed their name to Spirit Caravan.
Shrinebuilder was an American stoner/doom metal supergroup consisting of various established musicians, particularly of the doom metal subgenre. Their first and only album, Shrinebuilder, was released in October 2009.
With Vision is the second studio album release by Place of Skulls. It was released in 2003 on the Southern Lord Records label. The recording of this album was marked by numerous personnel changes before the final staff was assembled. This is the only Place of Skulls album to feature Scott Weinrich on vocals and second guitar. He left to concentrate on The Hidden Hand. Writing credits are far more widely distributed among the band members than on their previous album.
Eddie Solis is a Los Angeles music industry professional, musician, and show promoter. He has worked in sales, marketing and artist promotion at labels such as Century Media, Priority Records, Macey Lipman Marketing, and SST Records, where he worked with Black Flag. He is no longer the general manager at Southern Lord Records. Until 2010 he was booking manager of the Hollywood heavy rock venue The Relax Bar. He is also the manager of Club My War, a facilitator of underground metal hardcore and avant-garde music in Hollywood proper.
Lillie: F-65 is the eighth studio album by American doom metal band Saint Vitus, released on April 27, 2012. This is the first Saint Vitus studio album since Die Healing (1995) and the only one to feature Scott "Wino" Weinrich on vocals in 22 years, since V (1990). It also marks their first album with Henry Vasquez on drums, and their final release with bassist Mark Adams, who left the band in 2016 due to Parkinson's disease, which he died from in 2023.