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Japan's probably feeling a little psychic right about now.
The week after Velvet Revolver announced the Japanese leg of its tour was off
because the Asian nation had "tak[en] exception with the backgrounds of various
band members," lead singer Scott Weiland was busted for DUI.
The Nov. 21 arrest, the latest for the oft-arrested, oft-rehabbed rocker, was
uncovered Monday by TMZ.com.
Weiland, 40, is due in a Los Angeles court Dec. 13 to answer to the
misdemeanor charge.
Velvet Revolver's management said Monday that Weiland denies driving under
the influence, and believes a Breathalyzer test will show his blood-alcohol
level was "well within the legal limit."
"He is anxious to get to court...and clear this matter up," the statement
said.
It was on Nov. 16 that Weiland's band announced it had been denied visas for
four scheduled Japan dates, Nov. 26-30.
"The increasingly tough Japanese immigration officials are taking exception
with the backgrounds of various band members, which have included arrests," the
band said on its Website.
Five days later, on the night before Thanksgiving, Weiland's 2006 Mercedes
CLS collided with a 2005 Chrysler Sebring on an offramp of the northbound 170
Freeway at 6:18 p.m. on Nov. 21, according to the California Highway Patrol.
There were no injuries; the cause of the crash is still under investigation, CHP
Officer Leon Hines said.
As authorities combed the scene, according to the CHP, Weiland "exhibited
signs of impairment."
"The investigating officer administered a series of field sobriety tests to
the driver [Weiland], which he was unable to satisfactorily perform," the CHP
arrest report said.
Weiland was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of an
unspecified drug about an hour and a half after the accident. He was booked
later that night at an L.A. County jail, where the CHP said he declined an
invite to provide a blood or urine sample.
With bail set at $40,000, Weiland was sprung at noon on Thanksgiving Day, Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department online records show.
Earlier, the band said it was appealing Japan's no-visas-for-you ruling.
Velvet Revolver hit the road in support of its hit album, Libertad,
in August in Baltimore. The overseas dates proved the hardest to keep. After
Japan ruled out a visit, Australia got shelved. The band announced last week
that its five Down Under dates, scheduled to get rolling Tuesday, were being
postponed until early next year. "Personal reasons"—unrelated to the Weiland
arrest—were cited by band management on Monday for the delayed Australia
concerts.
Weiland has an arrest record dating back to his days as frontman for the
Stone Temple Pilots. In 2003, he pleaded no contest to a DUI charge stemming
from an arrest on his 36th birthday. In March, wife Mary Weiland got into the
act when she was arrested for allegedly setting fire to her husband's clothes
outside their L.A. home.
Weiland presumably will have a lot to tell when he sits down to write his
tell-all. Like Slash, his Velvet Revolver bandmate, before him, the singer has
inked a deal to write his autobiography.
If he can't make it to Japan in person, maybe he can make it there in book
form.
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