The Obsessed’s Wino – ‘My Philosophy Is Create or Die’

As a musician, artist and documentary subject, The Obsessed‘s Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich is obsessed with the creative process, telling Full Metal Jackie his philosophy is “create or die.”

The singer was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show where he spoke about his multiple ventures. Wino speaks to how his environment as well as the band’s changing lineup impacted their latest album, Gilded Sorrow, which he says continues to raise the bar musically.

Wino also speaks on the state of metal, and says that you don’t necessarily have to be a metal band to be heavy. He also shares his thoughts on being the subject of a new documentary, addresses his growing passion for art and speaks to what 2024 has in store for him.

Check out more of the chat below.

It is Full Metal Jackie, I’ve got Wino from The Obsessed back on the show with us this week. There’s lots going on in your world with Wino: The Documentary, and a brand new Obsessed album, Gilded Sorrow. Wino, this new album is crushing not only musically, but it’s heavy lyrically as well. What was the mindset going into the album and what kind of kicked off this creative cycle for you?

Well, some of the songs are relatively new and a couple of the songs are actually pretty old. But it’s the environment, it’s our world we live in and it’s everything that we surround us kind of adds to the creative input there.

Also like adding two new members. We got Chris Angleberger playing bass and we got another guitarist, Jason Taylor. So this is the first time on record that The Obsessed has been a four-piece. I’m super happy with it. We set the bar pretty high. Basically every time we make a record, it has to be as good or better than the last one. And so we set the bar pretty high with Sacred, but we have pretty strong ideals and I’m happy with this record.

One of the stronger tracks on this album is “Stoned Back to the Bomb Age,” and it has its origins in the George W. Bush era, but serves as more of a commentary on modern day politics in a war. Why was now the right time to broach this subject matter for you?

Well we all have our little voice and I think that regardless what some people say I think it’s our duty in a way. So I feel like I have my little voice coming up in some things that are happening. I think the world’s upside down right now. My dad used to have a saying where he would say it’s going to hell in a hand basket. .

I love that one …

All I can see is you look around and it’s like there’s nothing but greed or divisiveness. So this is just our little comment. It’s a little bit tongue in cheek and I want it to be … I want it to hit hard, but I don’t want it to be like so melodramatic, you know? So I think it worked out good.

The Deputy Secretary of Defense, he said in the Bush era something about like, if Pakistan gets involved in this war, we’re gonna bomb them back to the Stone Age. And I thought that was so brutal, you know, I thought it was just so incredibly brutal that it stuck with me.

So here, a few months later, even years later, when I finally put a riff to that concept and then like, we’re in the studio, we’re like, “Wow, we should really just try to grab that. We should grab the actual soundbite of him saying that.” So we looked and looked for it and we didn’t find it, but we found another Secretary of Defense from like years back saying the same thing. So basically the modern dude ripped off the other guy. I don’t know, I thought that was pretty funny.

The Obsessed, “Stoned Back to the Bomb Age”

Wino, metal is not just a passion, it’s a calling. The Obsessed is not just the band name. At four decades in, what do you find has changed the most about metal since you first started, and what do you most love about where it is today?

A lot of people in the metal community showed their true colors not that long ago. That said, there was a few people that stood up for what they believed. I think that that’s really important. I think it’s really important to stand up for what you believe. I mean, I’ve never compromised because I don’t believe in compromise.

I’ve always thought that my music was strong. The Obsessed music was strong enough to stand on its own two feet. The music has gotta talk, and everything else is shit. I think that the state of the music today is pretty weird, actually. I mean, there’s a couple great bands out there, and you don’t have to have a huge wall of amps and and stuff like that to make you heavy. You can be heavy with your lyrics. For example, I think Joy Division is really heavy, man, you know, but that said I think that we’ve got our place. I think that we have our place right now. And, you know, I think that timing is right for The Obsessed.

Wino, of course, also the star of Wino: The Documentary. How is the experience for you opening up your life and making yourself even more open to the fans, and what do you most love about how it all turned out?

I liked the way it turned out because it’s a pretty accurate snapshot of my career. We got a chance to talk to a lot of really cool people, a lot of my rock and roll friends and brethren and so that was really cool.

We took it on tour recently, like it’s doing good in Europe, so basically we did a little mini tour where the Wino doc would play, and then I would play a hard acoustic set. Watching it every night is a little bit kinda like, “Oh, shucks, you know?” But bottom line is, I think Sharlee did a really good job.

It’s a really good snapshot of my career, and I think that it’s pretty, pretty cool. I’m glad it’s doing good. And I think she did an amazing job. And that’s pretty much all I got going on. I play acoustic guitar to supplement my time when The Obsessed is not playing. And yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m all about right now. Just The Obsessed.

Wino: The Documentary Trailer

Wino, we get to see your love of art, and you’re quite a talented artist. Music and art can be two different things, but how often does one intersect with the other in your world? Do you find your ideas for a painting ever spark something for your music?

Oh, absolutely. My philosophy pretty much is create or die, you know? Luckily we had the music audience during the lockdown and we had the arts side going, but it kinda really took off around then when people were just sitting around with nothing to do. I think that’s amazing.

The rock ‘n roll community supported me and helped support the art. A lot of times I’ve been doing some commissions and people are really tying the music into the art. For example, their favorite record, they’ll ask me to do something. They’ll have something in mind with like a couple songs from a record in mind or something. And then that’s really cool. It’s a challenge. It’s really a challenge for me to put something down on Canvas. It’s a musical idea. That’s pretty amazing.

I actually did my first record cover not that long ago, but that’s pretty cool. I just feel totally grateful that I have the opportunity to do that. Basically that’s what we do. We make music, we make art. That’s what we do. It’s what you do, it’s like you’re the messenger in a way of the art. So yeah, create or die,

Wino with a new album, it’s time to tour. What does your 2024 look like, and is there anything creatively you’d like to do that still remains beyond music and your artwork?

Well, we’re starting to fill the calendar pretty good. We got a full tour taking us from like Philadelphia’s our first show and Brooklyn’s our last show, so we’re gonna go all the way, all the way out to the West Coast and back. We got some stuff going on in Europe. Europe is really happening. And then also there’s some acoustic stuff slated on the horizon.

Basically what I wanna do is I want to make music all for the next several months and hopefully when the weather breaks and have a little bit of off time, get a chance to ride my motorcycle and hang out with my kids and stuff during the off time. But it’s all about touring right now. I know that right now it’s really important. This record is …. I’m really proud of this record and I wanna support it fully,

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By the way, what kind of bike do you have? You mentioned motorcycling.

I have a 1964 Harley Panhead chopper. It’s kind of an old school rigid frame with the high handlebars and I got 21 on the front, 16 on the back. It’s got the like cocktail shaker muffler tips. it is pretty cool. It’s definitely like what you would see in a ’60s style.

That is very cool. Wino from the Obsessed with us, the new record is Gilded Sorrow. Thank you so much. It was so great to catch up again. I’m so glad the Obsessed is back at it. And I love this new record and wish you the best of luck on, on the touring and this record cycle and, and everything to come in your world.

Thanks to Wino from The Obsessed for the interview. You can stay up to date on the band through their website, Facebook, X and Instagram, while ‘Wino: The Documentary’ is currently available here and the ‘Gilded Sorrow’ album is available here.