The Obsessed | Photo by Susie Constantino

Are You Obsessed? – Scott “Wino” Weinrich of The Obsessed

Music Interviews

SLUG: One last question that I can’t get through his interview without asking about, and that’s Shrinebuilder. How did that come about, and is there anything milling about for a return of Shrinebuidler?

I’ll tell you what: In 2010, when The Obsessed did a reunion at Roadburn in Holland, Al Cisneros was there and asked me if I would [make] another Shrinebuilder record. At that point in time, I told him yes. I really never wavered from that. There has been a bit of turbulence as far from issues, unfortunately over money. My philosophy on Shrinebuilder is really not up to me, but I have always loved Shirnebuilder. I think it was a killer band. It was cool to do it, [and it] was pretty much the brainchild of Al. Al had approached me before, right around when High on Fire got going. I get a call from Al saying, “Man, I’ve got a backpack and I’ve got riffs.” At that time, I was super, super busy, [and] I couldn’t take him up on his vision. We agreed [to put it on] the back burner because I was doing the Place of Skulls record, Spirit Caravan was burning up … We agreed to put it on the back burner when OM started going again, with Chris Hakius and Al.

We met up in D.C. over at my house at the time, and we had a jam. That’s when we agreed to do Shrinebuidler, then Chris left. Right around that time Al said to me, “I’d really like to bring a second guitar player,” and he was like, “I’m bringing Scott Kelly from Neurosis.” I was like wow. I had talked to Scott a couple times through his Combat [Music] Radio. I thought that was pretty cool. With Chris gone, I think somebody said, “Hey, if you could have your favorite drummer, your pick of drummers for this band, who would it be?” I think somebody said Dale Crover, and Scott called him. It was an experiment that actually worked. The studio sound was amazing, and everything was cool. My take on the whole Shrinebuilder thing: I really thought it was the pedigree that we had, that we should have been carrying some gear, had a little bit of production, and hired the people we needed to help us to do it right, and maybe even broke even or maybe lost money the first time. Because I knew it was a snowball.

I’m the black sheep—nobody ever listens to me, even though they respect my input as far as the musical thing. As far as my little say, I pretty much got walked on. It ended up as kind of a disaster. We did a European [tour] with no trailer and everyone crammed in the tour van, and we got pulled over for weight and kept getting fined. It’s kind of like the story, in a way. The financial considerations were weighed too heavily, as opposed to the artistic ones. That’s just my opinion, but I respect all those dudes. I love all those dudes, and all the bad, negative stuff we’ve had in the past I would gladly put to bed. It’s all about commitment. Like I said, when Al asked me to do a Shrinebuilder record, I said yeah, and I haven’t changed. It would really be up to them, but of course, right now, I don’t have any time to do anything but The Obsessed. This is really our time that I really want to embrace it.

When a band reunites, there’s always that nostalgia factor to go see the band and watch them play the old tunes. The strength from the reunion of The Obsessed is not just in getting to hear those classic, old cuts but some amazing, brand-new songs that Sacred offers. If you’re just a riff monger or you enjoy the whole package, Sacred has it. Witness what the experience of Wino and The Obsessed can deliver live on April 24 when The Obsessed play Salt Lake City at the Metro with Fatos Jetson, Karma To Burn and Muckraker.

The Obsessed
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