SCOTT WEILAND Talks 'Blaster' Lyrical Inspiration (Video)

Former STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland and his band THE WILDABOUTS will release their first album ever on March 31. Titled "Blaster", the CD was produced by Rick Parker (BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB) and recorded throughout 2014 at Lavish Studios in Burbank and at The Sandbox in Beachwood Canyon.

"Blaster" features twelve tracks, all but one written by Weiland.

Speaking to Merrell's TrailScape at last month's Sundance Film Festival, Weiland stated about the inspiration for his lyrics on "Blaster" (see video below): "The lyrics, some of it's personal, some of it are just adventures, tales that are… they're stories that I came up with. If you look at some of the best lyrics in rock and roll, [like those of] Bob Dylan… Most of the stuff were stories that he wrote about — experiences of fictitious people. That's kind of what I did on a lot of these songs."

SCOTT WEILAND AND THE WILDABOUTS — Weiland, guitarist Jeremy Brown, bassist Tommy Black, and drummer Danny Thompson — will hit the road in February in support of the new project.

Weiland and THE WILDABOUTS have a camaraderie fostered by years of jamming and touring together. After spending several months on the road in 2013, they hunkered down in Weiland's Southern California studio and rehearsal space to write and record what would eventually become "Blaster".

"The album has its own distinctive sound," said Weiland, "but it also can entice those STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and VELVET REVOLVER fans who have stuck by me."

He continued: "Over the years, I've gone back and forth between art records and being in a band. This is a hybrid. What we've come up with is really heavy, slinky, and sexy. There's a lot of fuzz. The best way to describe it is 'furry.'"

Weiland added: "I knew I wanted to make a rock record. It all just came together."

Weiland's recent tour with his solo band THE WILDABOUTS featured him playing STP classics and select VELVET REVOLVER cuts alongside two songs from THE WILDABOUTS' forthcoming album,

THE WILDABOUTS originally began as a five-piece but recently decided to drop down to a four-piece. "The reason for doing that was, we started playing one time… like, there 's a couple of times Doug [Grean, guitar] was gone and we played, and we realized that it sounded a lot better as a four-piece; there was a lot more space between the beats, between the notes," Scott told MSN Canada.