Scott Weinrich
Robert Scott Weinrich (born 1961), better known as Wino, is an American rock singer, guitarist and songwriter. He has been highly influential in helping develop and codify doom metal's trademark sound, and is also considered an influential figure in the stoner rock and punk rock genres. Weinrich started his first band Warhorse in 1976, which would later become The Obsessed. He joined doom metal band Saint Vitus in 1986. He has also released three solo albums since 2009. Biography. Early years. Weinrich appreciated rock music at an early age. His early influences were the Monkees and the  Beatles (the latter inspired him to play guitar), and later Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath. He saw Black Sabbath during the "Paranoid" tour and described the gig as life-changing. He also cited punk bands like the Stooges, the Dictators and the Saints as big influences. Early career. 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 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. Mid-career. 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 and Lee Dorrian. 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. 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. Recent activities. 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. 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. 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" the following  year.