In a new interview with Get On The Bus, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS guitarist Dean DeLeo reflected on the December 2015 passing of the band’s lead singer, Scott Weiland, at the age of 48 from a toxic mix of drugs and alcohol. The vocalist was also dealing with self-medication, estrangement from his children, financial difficulties and a steadily increasing drinking problem. Dean said about his initial reaction to Scott‘s death (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was startled. I was shocked. I was rattled to my core like I don’t know that I’ve ever felt before. I was in the studio working with my dear friend Cal Campbell and we got the news. And, boy, it really felt like life left my body. I wasn’t surprised, ’cause I knew what his schedule was prior to that tour that he passed away on. They had him doing an ungodly amount of shows in a short period of time.”
Dean continued: “We were really separate at that point. He was out doing his — whatever that band was called, THE WILDABOUTS. And, yeah, I knew it wasn’t gonna bode well. But he was surrounded by ‘yes men’. And that’s one of the reasons he didn’t want to be around us, ’cause we were, like, ‘Dude, we have your best interest in our hearts here. This is probably not a good idea.’ And he wound up dying on that tour.”
Weiland was found dead on his tour bus. The singer was on tour with THE WILDABOUTS in Minnesota when he was found unresponsive on the group’s tour bus shortly before 9:00 p.m. on December 3, 2015. They had been scheduled to perform that night at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota. However, that concert was canceled more than a week earlier because of slow ticket sales, according to StarTribune.com. The group was set to perform in Rochester the following night (December 4) at the Wicked Moose.
A January 2016 report from Billboard revealed that Scott was dealing with hepatitis C, mental illness and the knowledge that both his parents had cancer in the final months of his life. The article featured interviews with Scott‘s widow Jamie Wachtel Weiland, his mother Sharon, his WILDABOUTS bandmates Tommy Black and Nick Maybury, tour manager Aaron Mohler and others.
Jamie said at the time that Scott had been experiencing episodes of paranoia and mania caused by bipolar disorder. She explained: “At one point, it was so bad I had to move out because he was unstable.” Eventually they found a medication that leveled him out, with Jamie adding “For the last couple of years, he was doing pretty great.”
During a June 2024 appearance on the “Appetite For Distortion” podcast, Jamie insisted that Scott “didn’t overdose” at the time of his death. “Because he had drugs in his system, the coroner had to rule it an overdose,” she explained. “But the truth is Scott died because the main artery in his left ventricle was 95 percent blocked. That came from 10 years of heroin use, that came from an entire adult life of chain smoking. His heart stopped. Did he have trace amounts of drugs in his system? He did. Did I know he was using? No, I didn’t, because he lied to me, because I had caught him before and it would always be this huge fight and I would be furious at him. And to be doing this stuff, but to also to lie to me about it… And I remember even talking to the coroner in Minnesota when everything happened and saying, like, ‘How could he lie to me about this again?’ And the coroner was so kind. And he said, ‘I think he just really didn’t wanna disappoint you.’ But, yeah, I really wanna clear up, that was not an overdose — it was not. He was not using heroin. He did not overdose on drugs. His heart stopped because his heart had been through so much abuse because of prior drug use in his life and smoking and heavy drinking.”
In addition to STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, Scott fronted VELVET REVOLVER from 2004 through 2008. He rejoined STP in 2008 after a six-year hiatus, but was dismissed from the group in 2013 due to his erratic behavior.
Mary Forsberg, Weiland‘s second wife and mother to his children, Noah and Lucy, posted a brutally candid letter about Scott at RollingStone.com following his death, writing that his children “lost their father years ago. What they truly lost on December 3rd [2015] was hope.”
In a 2018 interview with Yahoo! Music, Dean‘s brother, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS bassist Robert DeLeo, said that he saw Weiland‘s dark side early on. “There was something inside of him that he was always searching for,” Robert explained. “He was always searching for something that wasn’t really him. I don’t think he was generally happy with himself. I think when we went in to do [STONE TEMPLE PILOTS‘ debut album] ‘Core’, he really was getting in touch with that internal strife, which is a Catch-22, because it ultimately leads a singer to a key that unlocks a door to many different things. That makes people go, ‘Wow, that’s deep,’ but ultimately it leads to someone’s demise. It goes back to people like [THE DOORS‘] Jim Morrison, you know? I’ve talked with [THE DOORS‘] Robby [Krieger] and John [Densmore] about things like that, and it’s sad to see that someone ultimately goes to that place, somewhat not in control of the door they opened.”
Weiland‘s latest album and first with THE WILDABOUTS, “Blaster”, was released in March 2015.
Scott solo albums included 1998’s “12 Bar Blues”, 2008’s “‘Happy’ In Galoshes”, a 2011 collection of Christmas songs called “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”, and “Blaster”, which is his final released work.