Scott Helland

Scott Helland is an American alternative rock musician, acoustic guitarist, bassist and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Outpatients, and Frenchy and the Punk. He also performs instrumental music as Guitarmy of One. Helland was born in Centralia, Illinois and raised in Westfield, Massachusetts.

Career Helland attended high school in Westfield, where he met Lou Barlow. The two formed the Massachusetts-based hardcore punk band Deep Wound in 1982. J Mascis joined the band after answering their ad for a "drummer wanted to play really fast". While playing bass guitar in Deep Wound, Helland formed Outpatients with brother Vis Helland in 1982 and released The Basement Tape in 1983. The Outpatients were also part of the Western Mass hardcore scene and shared the stage with bands like Hüsker Dü, Battalion of Saints, Crucifix, The FU's and GBH. Deep Wound broke up in 1984 and "Scott... went in the Outpatients full time." The Outpatients toured the East Coast of the US, Canada and Argentina throughout their 13-year career and disbanded in 1995.

Helland released seven albums under his own name beginning with the experimental Hellbox Mood Rings CD in 1996. In 2000, he released an ambient/instrumental/new age CD called Space Age Tranceology "and made the striking transition to atmospheric soundtracks." In the same year he composed music for the film Riders. Songs from his 2002 CD release, Earthbound, were played on the syndicated radio program Echoes. In 2006, he released the all acoustic 12 song Catapult album with his tribute to the BBC series of the same name Monarch of the Glen. He formed Scott Helland and the Traveling Band of Gypsy Nomads in 2005 with French-born singer and percussionist Samantha Stephenson, which later became Frenchy and the Punk.

In 2004, Helland reunited with his old Deep Wound bandmates for a song at the John M Greene Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts. In June 2013 they reunited, to perform the song "Training Ground" at the Governor's Ball in New York City. More recently Helland and his bandmates played together in 2018 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts when the other half of Deep Wound, J Mascis and Lou Barlow's band Dinosaur Jr. were opening for the Foo Fighters.

In 2014 his duo Frenchy and the Punk performed at Scotland's prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Fest. In 2016 he released a book of his pen and ink drawings titled Feast. "Helland’s pagan-organic lines recall the gothic style of Aubrey Beardsley, as well as those of punk pen wielders like Savage Pencil, Nick Blinko, and Raymond Pettibon."

Helland returned to the instrumental rock world with his Never End the Rocket Century record in 2017. Intended as a multicultural mashup of the classic Ramones albums Rocket to Russia and End of the Century, his acoustic (guitar) has the propulsive drive of punk rock, but his riffs resonate with sounds ranging from Krautrock to flamenco and spaghetti western pastiche. Helland has released 6 videos from the album including the title track, 'Never End the Rocket Century', in which he donned a space suit and walked around Los Angeles.

In January 2019 Helland and Stephenson's cabaret rock duo Frenchy and the Punk released a video for the song Lanky Bell Bottoms from their forth-coming album Hooray Beret.

Helland released the all instrumental spy themed album 'The Spy Detective Collective' in 2021. The music journalist Justin Vellucci from Pop Matters says "Helland has tapped into something interesting and, dare we say magical on The Spy Detective Collective."

Discography See also Deep Wound

Albums YearTitleNameLabel 1982 American Style(demo) Deep Wound Self Released 1983 The Basement Tape Outpatients Free Association 1983 Deep Wound(7") Deep Wound Radiobeat Records 1985 Committed Outpatients Free Association 1987 Free Association Outpatients Incas Records 1989 Insomnia School of Violence Self 1991 Life on the Outside Outpatients EA Recordings 1993 Test of Time Outpatients EA Recordings 1995 Hardcore Outcast's '82-'84 Outpatients EA Recordings 1996 Hellbox Mood Rings Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 1997 Anthology Compilation Deep Wound Damaged Goods 1998 Outcasts II '85-'95 Outpatients EA Recordings 1998 Ambitions Make Way for Dread Darkside NYC indie release 1998 Deep in It Scott Helland Hellectrifly Records 1999 Motion Sickness Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2000 Space Age Tranceology Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2000 The Blushing Bachelor Stephen Rand and the Magic Ponies Wormco Records 2002 Earthbound Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2004 Brocade Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2004 Cathedral Ware River Club Spirit House Records 2005 In Pursuit of Your Happiness Mark Mulcahy Mezzotint 2006 Almost Complete Deep Wound Baked Goods Records 2006 Catapult Scott Helland Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2007 Thread & Stone The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2008 Eternal Summer The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2008 At the Carnivale Eclectique The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2010 Happy Madness Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2011 Live at Bube's Brewery Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2012 Hey Hey Cabaret Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2013 Elephant Uproar Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2014 Cartwheels EP Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2014 Bonjour Batfrog Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2015 Feast Art Book Scott Helland Paris Punk Press 2016 Compilation Scott Helland Guitarmy of One EA Recordings 2016 Batfrog Tracks - Lyric/Photo Book Frenchy and the Punk Paris Punk Press 2017 Never End the Rocket Century Scott Helland Guitarmy of One EA Recordings 2019 Hooray Beret Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2019 Rock Lobster (Scott Guest Vocals)(Single) Boom Boom Shake Independent 2019 Chupando (Scott Guest Guitar)(Single) Voltaire Voltaire Recordings 2020 The Storm is a Call for Rebuilding(Single) Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2021 The Spy Detective Collective Guitarmy of One EA Recordings 2021 Readmitted Outpatients Painkiller Records 2022 Zen Ghost Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2023 The Wave Files Guitarmy of One EA Recordings 2024 Midnight Garden Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2025 Silver Screen Spy Scene Guitarmy of One EA Recordings 2025 Not Under Your Spell(Single) Frenchy and the Punk Distortion Productions

Featured in compilations Bands That Could Be God LP (1984 – Deep Wound and Outpatients) Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Vol 2 LP (1985 – Outpatients) Guillotined at the Hangar: Shielded by Death, Vol. 2 (2002 – Outpatients)