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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!