The Ups & Downs of Being a Music Journalist
My Interview with Garret K. Woodward
Article & Interview by Adriana Rubio
Photographs: Courtesy of Garrett K. Woodward
I contacted Garret K. Woodward on December 9th,
2015 via e-mail after reading his interview with former frontman for “Stone Temple
Pilots”, “Velvet Revolver” and “The Wildabouts”: Scott Weiland.
I got a nice reply from Garrett and we set up day and time for
the interview immediately. It was a very nice talk and I really enjoyed it, but
things in my desk-camp became chaotic for quite some time, so I apologize for
making this interview available to the public almost a year and a half later!
As you all know, a list
of deceased musicians knocked on the music world’s door. It felt like a bomb angrily
exploding into the music industry; tragically taking a number of artists as a
result. It is unbelievable how many of them passed away in the last couple of
years.
I followed Scott’s
musical career from the early stages of STP. I was devastated by the news of
his passing, honestly, plus all the crap and speculations surrounding his death
- escalating at full speed all over the internet made the whole picture look
worse.
Although the artist never
dies because he/she keeps alive through his art, he is not physically here with
us anymore. So when that happens, the music journalist usually experiences that
particular flashback on how everything started…
“After I saw Scott
perform in Montreal in 2000, I was so blown away by his performance that I just
felt that I wanted to be somewhere in the music industry”.
“I started going to
shows every weekend all through high-school and college, every single weekend I
had a concert or two to attend.”
“When I entered college,
I wasn’t pretty sure what to do, but I knew that I wanted to interact with
people in the music industry. Additionally, I had wanted to go into a
Television-Radio Station internship, but I couldn’t find any work in college
with TV Radio Station”.
“I was at this music
festival with a friend of mine who said: ‘I know it’s not a TV Radio Station
job, but there’s a friend who runs a music magazine, I’d talk to him and he
could probably give you an internship’, so I went to see that person and
started with all the albums reviews, stuff like that, nothing big but I was in
a good level”.
“I knew what I wanted to
do and I was into the music industry. But at that entire time, Scott Weiland
was out of my list. I figured it out if I had to interview him; meaning if I
had the opportunity to meet him, I knew that I was going to do what I’m
supposed to do, the right thing”.
“The opportunity with
Scott popped up, you know every rock’n’roll journalist has to go through five
doors to get to these people. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about
(Laughs!). Originally we were going to do the interview in early November, but
he cancels, and then he cancels again. And the third time the management said
well he will talk to you this time…” (Laughs!)
“Hello? Smoky Mountain News.”
“Is this Garret?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Scott Weiland.”
“Where the River Goes: A
final conversation with Scott Weiland”
reads the title of a very well written article by Garret K. Woodward, a journalist for the Smoky Mountain News.
A Must Read!
To read the
entire article by Garrett K. Woodward, click on the link below:
Thank you Garrett!
R.I.P Scott Weiland
You’re greatly missed!
