Ron Asheton: "My younger brother, Scotty, and our neighbor Dave Alexander were stone punks. I was just the weird guy...We just didn't fit in. I remember one year we all tried to go back to high school on the first day. Scott wanted to get thrown out, so he went up to some kid at his locker , grabbed him by the back of the arms, and squeezed and twisted him with a pair of needle-nose pliers. So the kid runs down to the office, and we here over the PA, "Scott Asheton, come down to the office!". So he went down and got thrown out."
From "Please Kill Me."

Scott Asheton 1949 - 2014

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM IGGY:

My dear friend Scott Asheton passed away last night.

Scott was a great artist, I have never heard anyone play the drums with more meaning than Scott Asheton. He was like my brother. He and Ron have left a huge legacy to the world. The Ashetons have always been and continue to be a second family to me.

My thoughts are with his sister Kathy, his wife Liz and his daughter Leanna, who was the light of his life.

Iggy Pop

MESSAGE FROM JAMES WILLIAMSON:

To all my friends.

Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts around the passing of our friend and bandmate Scott Asheton last night. My only comfort is that he reached out to me in an email about a week or two ago saying that he was thinking of me and the good times we had together and that he would like to make some music with me. I responded but he never got back to me again. I guess that was his way of saying goodbye for now….

Anyway, my heart goes out to his immediate family Liz, Leanna Raquel Asheton and Kathleen Asheton. He was one of the good guys and a friend of mine.

Scott Asheton, Drummer in the Stooges, Is Dead at 64
New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/arts/music/scott-asheton-drummer-in-the-stooges-dies-at-64.html?_r=1

Rolling Stone: Iggy Pop Remembers Scott Asheton: 'He Played With A Boxer's Authority' http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/iggy-pop-remembers-scott-asheton-he-played-with-a-boxers-authority-20140319

Billboard: Iggy Pop Reflects on Stooges Drummer Scott Asheton, Future of Band http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5937706/iggy-pop-reflects-on-stooges-drummer-scott-asheton-future-of-band

Henry Rollins Remembers Stooges' Drummer Scott Asheton
read more at LA Times Weekly:
http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2014/03/20/henry-rollins-remembers-stooges-drummer-scott-asheton

Scott Asheton: 'Rock Action' was the pulse of the Stooges
Read more at Sydney Times Herald:http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/scott-asheton-rock-action-was-the-pulse-of-the-stooges-20140321-357ey.html#ixzz2wbLQ9WeC

Stooges Drummer Scott Asheton Dead
MTV: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1724230/scott-asheton-stooges-drummer-dead.jhtml

"

I saw Scott Asheton in November '99 when he played "Gutterfest" at the Magic Stick in Detroit, Michigan, as part of The Sonic's Rendezvous Band, with Deniz Tek replacing the late Fred Smith as lead vocalist -- believe me he was as strong as when he played in the old days with the Stooges. He has has property in MI, has been spending most of his time between MI and Florida, and enjoys being a father.

6.20.09: Read fasterlouder.co.au 's lengthy 2006 article "A Real Cool Time With The Stooges' Scott Asheton here.

The Stooges in stages
Drummer Scott Asheton on the wreckage and resurrection of the prototypical punk band

STILL YOUR DOGS:
By CHRIS BARRY, the Montreal Mirror, July 31, 2008  

It only took three decades or so after they split up for the world at large to recognize how thoroughly brilliant they were, but Ann Arbor, Michigan band the Stooges, widely considered little more than a sick joke by the time they finally called it a day in 1974, are now right up there alongside Chuck Berry, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones when people start talking about rock ’n’ roll greatness. The Mirror spoke with drummer Scott Asheton this week, a man who doesn’t generate quite the attention his bandmate Iggy Pop does, but whose contribution to the still unique sound of the Stooges is only underestimated by fools.

Mirror: It’s been awhile now since the Stooges started playing again. Does it still feel fresh?

Scott Asheton: Oh yeah, definitely. We’ve added some more songs. We’re still playing a lot from the first two albums, but also stuff from Raw Power, Skull Ring, The Weirdness.

M: Really, Raw Power?

SA: Yeah, “Search and Destroy” and “I’ve Got a Right”—which isn’t exactly on Raw Power but from the same period.

M: Was it an issue, getting your brother [original guitarist Ron] to play James Williamson’s riffs?

SA: Yeah, but he got over it.

M: Had you personally made any money from the Stooges prior to the reunion?

SA: To tell you the truth, I never really thought that much about money. I just wanted to be in a rock ’n’ roll band. To me, that was like my family, my life. In the ’80s, we started seeing some royalties for the first two albums.

Dark days

M: When you look back at that period, 1967 to ’74, do you remember it fondly or with reservations? Things got pretty dark for the Stooges for a while there.

SA: Nah, nah, I had a great time. When the band broke up it was, like, “Ah, the family is gone,” and I continued playing in bands, but never really felt like I belonged. I wasn’t with the band I should be in, the Stooges. It was mostly just a sad feeling. I had no resentments towards anybody personally. All the time we’d spent loafing and partying had kind of caught up with us. People among us were sick, we weren’t doing very well health-wise.

M: When did you get off smack?

SA: After the band broke up. I was in pretty bad shape. All I had was a drum set. So I sold it and bought a one-way ticket to Detroit, deciding I didn’t want to live that lifestyle anymore. I wanted to get healthier, get back into the swing of things. So I spent a couple years just letting myself recuperate and eventually started playing again, with Fred Smith from the MC5 in Sonic’s Rendezvous.

M: What was the vibe like in that band? Were you guys optimistic about the future or still bummed about how badly everything turned out for your former outfits—the Stooges, MC5, Rationals, etc.?

SA: I was just glad to be in a band. Fred was the leader, he made the decisions. We had enough material for three good albums, he was just waiting for the band to get a little tighter. But then Fred met Patti Smith and they started up their family thing and, uh, that’s how that band ended. That was it, over.

Pop the poet

M: Is it possible, down in your Mom’s basement or something, that there’s still some as-yet-unheard Stooges material hiding somewhere?

SA: Leni Sinclair, [MC5 manager/White Panther Party leader] John Sinclair’s wife, used to do a lot of filming and actually recorded some shows. I think John Sinclair had possession of them, but lost everything in a house fire. All his old materials, photos, films, everything he had, he lost. So unless Leni still has something, John probably would have been the only person to have any recordings.

M: You don’t have any vintage rehearsal tapes lying around or anything?

SA: No, we never taped rehearsals. But things do pop up. Just last week, this guy sent us a copy of a live show in Atlanta from the Raw Power period. Turns out it sounds pretty good. He had it digitally re-mastered and put Pro Tools to it and I think we’re going to buy and release it. It’s rockin’, it’s got Iggy reading some poetry—well, not reading, actually, but just making it up as he goes along, improvising poetry. [starts laughing] Aw man, you’ve got to hear it. I don’t want to give it away, but you have to hear it. You’ll be rolling on the floor—it’s pretty far-out stuff. So yeah, that’ll probably be out soon.

With the Killers, Sebastien Tellier,
the National Parcs and more at Osheaga,
at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Sunday,
Aug. 3, 1 p.m., $67.50, all ages

11.18.07:

Scott Asheton's website http://www.rockactioninc.com/ seems to be MIA!
Modern Drummers Dec. 2007 artist update on Rock.
AOL Biography here.
January 2006: fasterlouder.com's interview with Scott Asheton.
What other artists have covered songs Scott had a hand in writing? List here.
Pix of Rock in jr. highschool!

2003 - 2005: THE STOOGES REUNITE! Read all about their first reunion show at Coachella here!
Go here for current Stooges dates.

11.14.02: Asheton, Asheton, Mascis & Watt: See more info about this band at Ron Asheton's page here.
Asheton, Asheton, Mascis & Watt – A tribute to the Stooges at Pukkelpop 2002, Belgium, August 24th.
Article and pix in Spanish.

SETLIST

Fun House
Real Cool
Loose
Not Right
Down on the street
No Fun
Dog
1969
Little Doll
1970 (niet gespeeld)
TV Eye

Thanks Mr. Watt.

The Ashetons, Watt and Mascis played at UCLA's Ackerman Grand Ballroom,
Friday, March 15. 2002. PIX here. Thanks Peter!

Some of Scott's appearances with Mascis, Ron and Watt available for trade only at Dirt's Iggy Pop Tradelist.