Sandfrog

Anaheim's Scott Spiezio is something of a Renaissance man — with an edge. A free spirit with tattoos and slicked-back, jet-black hair, he is also a first baseman who can play second and third, and has just nine errors in a little more than 400 games since he joined the Angels in 2000.

He's also pretty good with the bat, having already achieved career highs in most offensive categories.

He's not too bad as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, either. As the lead vocalist of Sandfrog, a heavy metal garage/grunge band he started with four friends from high school and college in 1996, Spiezio is finding success on the stage and the diamond. He recently sat down with Sports Weekly's Steve DiMeglio after a tour of a guitar plant in Baltimore and discussed his love of music and his chances of winning a Gold Glove.

Sports Weekly: Gold Glove or Gold Record?

Scott Spiezio: Gold Glove, for sure. Baseball is my life, and this is what I grew up wanting to do. Music is fun. If it goes somewhere, great. If not, I still have fun doing it.

SW: Would you rather play the guitar like Eric Clapton or hit like Barry Bonds?

SS: Can I say both to any of these? Definitely I'd like to hit like Barry Bonds. The stuff he has done has been totally amazing. He's the best player in baseball, by far.

SW: Where did the name Sandfrog come from?

SS: Want the real story or the fake story? The fake story is that we named it after an Australian story about a frog that drank all the water and all the other animals banished him to the desert where he buried himself in the desert. We once were named Spastic Dysphonia, and that was kind of a long name so we changed it. The real story on the name is that the last names of the guys in the band are Spiezio, Anderson, Froilan and Garry, so we just took the first or few letters from each of the names and came up with Sandfrog.

SW: One of the band's songs — Delusions of Autonomy — used to be closer Troy Percival's entry music. Now he doesn't use it anymore. Was it something you said?

SS: Yeah, I'm bummed a little bit. He played it for one whole year and that was pretty cool. That's one we're still working on today. We've made a lot of changes to that song. It has a classic metal feel to it.

SW: Your music has been described as modern Black Sabbath, power grunge, and even a few have said it's a triad of metal, grunge, and prog rock. Describe Sandfrog's music.

SS: Our older stuff is kind of like a mix between Alice in Chains and Black Sabbath, although my vocals are nowhere near as good as either Ozzy Osbourne or Layne Staley. I'd say our newer stuff is more up-tempo, more in the new metal type of genre, and the bands we sort of sound like now are Disturbed and Sevendust.

SW: You've improved as a baseball player. Do bands get better?

SS: We've gotten tons better. We started out as a band where none of us even played instruments. But we just decided to go out and buy instruments and start a band. Then I took a guitar out on the road my rookie year and just started writing songs. Every aspect of the band has gotten better. Talentwise, writing songs, producing songs, recording songs ... we've gotten better in everything. We're getting to know people in the industry who can help us out and make us better, and I really think that by next spring we should have something out that sounds pretty good.

SW: Best band of all time?

SS: I would say Led Zeppelin has to be up there. I think everyone has been influenced by Zeppelin. Alice in Chains is one of my favorites. I think Guns & Roses, especially their first album, was unbelievable. Sevendust is probably my new favorite.

SW: Best song of all time?

SS: For Alice in Chains, I couldn't pick just one song. For Zeppelin, that's a hard one, too. Stairway to Heaven is their classic, and even though you've heard it so many times you get sick of it, that's the one that really hit me when I was younger. There are so many good songs. I like a song called Black from Sevendust a lot. I know the band members don't like that anymore because they're tired of playing it, but it's a great song. And One from Metallica.

SW: Have you ever smashed a guitar onstage?

SS: I haven't. I love guitars too much. I just went to PRS (Paul Reed Smith) Guitars today and toured the plant and ended up getting a custom-made one built for me. It's going to take six months. I know the guys at Fender guitars, guys at Schecter guitars. I have a Gibson. I kind of collect guitars. I'm not the greatest guitar player, but I absolutely love guitars. I probably have 10 right now and will end up with 30 or so before I'm done.

SW: Put together the best band from major league players.

SS: Bernie Williams would be on lead guitar. He's classically trained, and he can play anything. For drummer, maybe we can get Paul O'Neill out of retirement. Omar Vizquel drums, too. Jack McDowell is a singer, so we can pull him out of retirement. For bass, man, I don't know. So many guys play guitar. Richie Sexson plays guitar so maybe we can get him to play bass. I know I'm forgetting some guys. Hey, Barry Zito can be in the band. He's a lot better guitar player than I'll ever be.

SW: We have to ask about baseball. People are mentioning you as a Gold Glove candidate. How does it feel to hear that?

SS: A lot of people didn't know if I could play first, and I knew there would be a lot of things that would come up at first that I had never done before. But I worked hard and made a lot of adjustments and have gotten very comfortable. It's pretty cool to hear some recognition. If I win the Gold Glove, that would be awesome. If I don't, I won't worry about it too much. In my rookie year, I had a great year defensively. I had never played second base in my life, and I made seven errors, was second in chances, second in double plays, first in fielding percentage, and I don't think I even got mentioned for the Gold Glove.

{SCOTT EDWARD SPIEZIO

Height: 6-2

Weight: 225

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

Born: Sept. 21, 1972, in Joliet, Ill.

His dad, Ed, played nine seasons in the majors for St. Louis, San Diego and the Chicago White Sox, and retired from baseball the week Spiezio was born. "So I was never a clubhouse rat. It was awesome to have my dad play in the majors, because he'd been to the show, he knew what it took to get there. He's always been my coach, no doubt — still, to this day."
- By John Hayes, AP