Scott Reeder found his early days with Kyuss to be a mixed blessing. “I toured with those guys before Blues for the Red Sun was released; I was on that first tour through the States,” he tells Bass Player.
“There were some good shows,” he continues, “but you’d be playing at a sports bar next to the cut-out of some football player! It was depressing after touring Europe with The Obsessed – but I believed in the band. I knew that if we kept at it, we were going to do something.”
It took time for Kyuss to catch on, but Reeder was proved right. He built a strong reputation that led to auditions with Tool and Metallica, although he accepts he took home “the silver medal” in those situations.
These days he works in production while lending his mighty bass licks to select projects. “I don’t look too far ahead,” he says. “I don’t bum out if things are slow because something always falls into my lap. At 60 I’m not anxious to be doing something all the time. When something special pops up, I enjoy every bit of it.”
You’ve participated in a Spinal Tap tribute album.
“Yeah, this guy, Mark Shea, called me a couple of years ago. He was putting together a tribute album to be released in conjunction with the new Spinal Tap film. It’s for Teen Cancer America. The album is called The Majesty of Rock.
“We’ve got Kellii Scott from Failure on drums and Justin Chancellor from Tool on another bass. We’ve got Abby Travis, who’s played with everybody. Rami Jaffee from Foo Fighters is on keys, and Troy Sanders from Mastodon did the vocals, and he tore it up.”
What gear did you use?
“I like to have an amp next to me when I’m tracking so I can get some feedback. I’ve got a micro-SVT in the control room, right next to the console, and I have that thing cranked. I recording through a direct box into the computer or onto tape and then I re-amp that, going through to one of my old SVTs or a custom Bison head.”
What inspired you to play bass?
“I started playing drums when I was five and I was in a punk band in high school. Our bass player’s parents weren’t too happy about him going out and playing gigs, so he quit. We couldn’t find another bass player but we had this guy, Alfredo, in mind for drums. So I bought the guy’s bass, and Alfredo started playing drums.”
What led to your joining The Obsessed in 1990?
“I got a call from Wino [Scott Weinrich]; he had a tour of Germany coming up and a new album to record, so I jumped on that. It was such a huge turning point – it took me away from my punk rock roots towards more a hard rock side.”
What are your memories of The Obsessed’s Lunar Womb?
“When I joined, the German tour was about a month away. Wino had another bass player who’d got in a motorcycle accident and actually died. That’s why I got the gig, and why we were so pressed for time.
“When we flew out to Germany the Desert Storm war was going on, and security was crazy at the airport. A goon in the walkway stopped me and kept asking, ‘Are you carrying more than $10,000 in US currency?’ I was like, ‘Bro, I’ve got five bucks in my pocket!’
“We toured Germany for three weeks. We had a couple of days off, and then we went into the studio and just blasted through everything. We got the whole thing done in less than five days – it might even be three days. It was a lot of first takes because we were well-tuned coming off the road.”
In 1992, you joined Kyuss after Nick Oliveri left the band. Did you know the guys pretty well?
“We did a West Coast tour together when I was in The Obsessed. When it was time to come home, the guys asked me if I wanted to ride with them; so Nick went to the Obsessed van.
I didn’t give a shit about Nick’s tone! I already had my thing
“The first night, we’re driving down Highway One and they said, ‘Things are getting a little crazy with Nick. We’re thinking about letting him go – what do you think about joining?’ I turned them down. I said, ‘We’ve got Columbia Records looking at us. I’ve worked too hard for this.’
“About three months later, Brant Bjork called and said, ‘Dude, we’ve kicked out Nick. I know you don’t want to join the band, but we’ve got some crazy shows coming up.’ So I said, ‘I can fill in for these shows.’
“The first day of rehearsal in Josh Homme’s bedroom was just so exciting. Those guys were inspired, hungry and creative. That night I asked my wife, ‘What do you think about moving back to the desert?’ She said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, let’s fucking do it.’ That was it.
“We rehearsed for three days. The first day, me and Josh wrote Space Cadet, that ended up on Welcome to Sky Valley. The day I got back to LA, I went to rehearsal with The Obsessed; we had a couple of shows coming up.
“Right off the bat, Wino was all, ‘So, what are you gonna do, man?’ I said, ‘Dude, I gotta do this thing with Kyuss – but I’ll fulfill my commitment.’ He said, ‘No, it’s cool; we’ll get somebody. It’s all good.’”
What gear did you use once you joined Kyuss, and did you take into account Nick’s tone?
“I didn’t give a shit about Nick’s tone! I already had my thing – Ampeg SVT. And instead of resetting the knobs in the dark before I played, I just cranked the tone controls all the way up. You’re supposed to have them at 12 o’clock then cut or boost a little. I just turned them all the way up! That’s where the overdrive comes from.
“I didn’t use pedals – just straight in, tone controls all the way up. Volume was only around three or four. That’s been my sound forever. Everybody asked, ‘What kind of pedals do you use for that?’ Nothing; just straight in.”
You made two albums with Kyuss –Welcome to Sky Valley and …And the Circus Leaves Town – which are highly regarded. Did you realize they were special right away?
“No, no way! But Sky Valley was us just doing our thing. I didn’t think too far into the future. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, man, people are going to fucking trip on this.’ I thought we’d be lucky to tour for six months or a year, then maybe get an opportunity to do another album and just slogging away.
“I certainly didn’t think that anybody was going to give a shit 30 years doen the road. It blows my mind, especially when younger people are into it. It’s so weird!”
When Kyuss broke up, did Josh ask you to join Queens of the Stone Age, or was it always going to be Nick?
“Josh was recording with [drummer] Alfredo Hernandez, for what I believe became the Queens record. He called and said, ‘Hey, Scotty, we’re recording. Do you want to come over and put some stuff down?’ I was like, ‘So, basically, you want to do Kyuss, but no John Garcia?’
“I said, ‘I’m good,’ because I was really loyal to John. I was bitter, I guess, that there was a breakup. Things were going great, then whatever happened between Josh and John destroyed the whole thing. So at the time, I didn’t want anything to do with Queens.”
Given the success of Queens, do you regret that?
“No regrets! I actually told Josh, after Dave Grohl was gonna leave, ‘It would be trippy if I played drums for you guys!’ But I think they already had the next guy. It’s all good. It took me a few years to go check Queens out; but, it’s water under the bridge with me and Josh now. Good vibes.”
Not long after Kyuss broke up, you auditioned for Tool as a potential replacement for Paul D’Amour.
“Two crazy things came up at the same time. Right after Kyuss, Jason Newstead called me. He said, ‘Dude, you got to get out there and have some fun!’ He flew me and my wife up to the Bay Area and put us up at his house for a few days.
Jason had a lot of pressure from Metallica not to put stuff out. It was pretty rusty stuff, but it was super fun
“We recorded some stuff with Devin Townsend on guitar and Dale Crover on drums. And just before I left, I got a call from Tool’s A&R guy, Matt Marshall, who said, ‘Hey, the guys would love to jam with you for a couple of days.’ I had just a couple of days to learn some Tool songs.”
Were you familiar with their music?
“I’d never seen them or met them before; but I loved Undertow. We jammed for three days, ran through a few songs; but mostly just jammed, recorded and vibed. I hit it off with Adam Jones especially.
“The first day, they gave me a cassette of some songs for Ænima that they’d recorded with Paul D’Amour. They were like, ‘Learn whatever you want for tomorrow.’ It had my favorite song, Eulogy. And they invited me to a party that night at Timothy Leary’s house.
“I was torn – I was like, ‘Is this a test to see if I’m into partying, or doing my homework?’ I chose to do the right thing. I went to the studio and worked half the night on Eulogy and some other stuff. And it was fun!”
Did it come down to you and Justin Chancellor in the end?
“Yeah, it was a trip. They said, ‘We’ll give you a call on Halloween, and let you know which way it goes.’ And I got a call from everybody, and they said, ‘Man, we’ve been listening to everything back and forth, but Justin just oozes Tool, and he’s going to be the guy.’ But I made some friendships that still last.”
Circling back to the short-lived group with Jason Newstead, Devin Townsend and Dale Crover, there are unreleased recordings from that session, right? Will we ever hear those?
“Come over to my house – I’ll play them for you! I think Jason had a lot of pressure from the Metallica guys at the time not to put stuff out. And it was pretty rusty stuff, but it was super fun working with those guys.
“It was the party that got my mind off the Kyuss breakup, and got me into a better frame of mind. I will forever be grateful to Jason for hosting that weekend.”
You auditioned for Metallica after he left.
“Somebody from their organization asked me if I was interested, probably right after Jason was out. I was in making a record with Unida; I was like, ‘Thanks, but I’ve got to follow through with this thing.’
“Then I got another call, at least a year later, from Lars Ulrich. I was at our ranch, shoveling moldy hay into a wheelbarrow, and my wife comes out holding the phone. She thought it was a prank call.
“We used to get prank phone calls from Maynard from Tool when we had our pet store. She’s all, ‘Says it’s Lars Ulrich,’ and she’s rolling her eyes. I grabbed the phone, and it was fucking Lars Ulrich! He said, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got to pick a bass player, and would love it if you could come and jam.’
James Hetfleid called me later: ‘You sure you’re alright?’ I said, ‘Dude, if there were the Metal Olympics, to get the silver medal is not too shabby!’
“I was like, ‘Fuck, yeah!’ I said, ‘Let me hold off for a week and I’ll learn some stuff.’ I probably learned 20 songs, then I went to their headquarters, and we had a meeting around the table. It’s all in the film. They had their life-coach guy, Phil, that was part of everything.
“Then we got to go in and jam, and it was so fun playing some of the classics. Next day they were in recording mode from Some Kind of Monster, and I was sitting on the couch next to James Hetfield while he's cutting vocals. I’m like, ‘Is it okay if I’m here?’ He’s all, ‘If it wasn’t, I’d let you know, man. It’s cool.’
“So, I’m sitting next to fucking Hetfield recording vocals for an album – that was pretty crazy! And there was one point for one of the songs, James asked everybody to write down their thoughts on a certain subject. I think it was specifically around the Napster issue.
“Everybody sequestered themselves for half an hour, then we all met back in the control room and read our lines to James. He sat there, stewing on it for a few minutes, then said, ‘Okay, let’s roll tape,’ and he just started laying down stuff. That was pretty amazing to be a part of.”
How did you find out you hadn’t got the Metallica gig?
“We said our goodbyes, and the vibe was that I was going to come back at some point. Kirk Hammett said, ‘We haven’t seen the last of you, Reeder.’ And then, they called me, probably about a month later, a conference call with all the guys.
“They said, ‘Hey, man, we want to let you know we have our guy. But you’re family for life. You’re going to be a part of anything you want to be a part of. Let us know.’ That was it. James called me half an hour later: ‘You sure you’re alright, man?’ I told him, ‘Dude, if there were like the Metal Olympics or something, to get the silver medal is not too shabby!’”
What are you proudest of when you look back?
If I had one record to say, ‘This is me,’ it’s Sovereign Eagle
“That’s tough! I’ve been lucky to work on so many projects; I never got locked into one thing. During Covid we put together this project called Sovereign Eagle. It’s the best my playing has ever been. If I had one record to say, ‘This is me,’ it’s Sovereign Eagle.
Where do you go from here?
“I’m working on a song with Fireball Ministry for an Iron Maiden tribute album. It’s a blessing that I’m not familiar with Iron Maiden – this is like taking the guy from the punk scene and immersing him in the metal scene.
“I had no idea what Steve Harris did on the song. When they gave it to me, I didn’t want to hear it, like, ‘I’m gonna do my thing!’ And it’s ended up great. I don’t think people would even recognize the song. I don’t!”
- The Majesty of Rock: A Spinal Tap Tribute is on sale now.
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