So when I heard about the death of Scott Weiland, former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver and currently the singer of the band The Wildabouts, I was really, really sad, but not surprised. Like several of my colleagues in the Metal/Rock sphere, we always thought “It would only be a matter of time” before something like this might happen.
For years Weiland would be in the news for all sorts of drug busts and drug related mishaps. My thinking was always “Man, it’s terrible that this most talented of musicians is going through this horrible drug battle. What demons can this one individual have inside him to be throwing away an amazing career… all for a drug hit”? Anyone that knows anything about addiction knows that this is a scourge on our planet, and we can go into a debate about this being an issue of criminal activity or treatment (I pick the latter by the way), but that would be a whole other article upon itself, for another day. I write this piece with a heavy heart in knowing that one of the greatest musicians, singers and frontmen of my generation will no longer be with us to contribute to that artistic space. So, I wanted to write about the first time I got to see Scott performing with his first, and what I consider his main band, Stone Temple Pilots.
The year was 2000; we (The Metal Machine Crew) were spending the day covering that years K-Rock Dysfunctional Family Picnic. For those not in the know, in the days before the inter-webs and satellite radio, there was this thing called radio (laughter). One of the most popular rock radio stations in the country was K-Rock, home to King of All Media Howard Stern and the premier radio station for all things rock/metal. Every year, K-Rock would host a yearly concert for the fans called The Dysfunctional Family Picnic. That year’s show, at the PNC Arts Center had a monster line up. Sevendust, Godsmack, Creed, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Black Sabbath and STP. This was a particular show as there was a beef brewing between Creed frontman Scott Stapp and Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. Durst was upset that Creed and not his band were set to close out the show that night. Durst, as only Durst can, delayed the show and sets of all the other bands playing after by throwing a temper tantrum backstage. After an hour, Durst decides to go on with the show and blab to the crowd while on stage misgivings and F- Bombs towards Stapp. So when STP steps on the stage, Weiland gets on the mic, and tries to broker a peace between the warring parties, saying things to the effect of “Let’s All Get Along” and so forth and so on. He then went on to address the crowd…
“You guys are the ones that take the day off from work. You guys are the ones who spend the money on the tickets. You guys are the ones who drive around here from all these states from within the vicinity and you know what? It ain’t fuckin’ cool to keep people waiting an hour for a fucking show no matter what!”
It’s enough to say the crowd went crazy. The band then went into “Plush” and the rest, as they would say, is music history. It was an amazing live version of the song as the band continued the chorus for over 10 minutes. The rest of the set went off with out a hitch. Weiland’s control as a frontman was on point, one of the best I have seen in over twenty years of concert going. His vocal range was amazing as he held the crowd in the palm of his hand. Only a few people in the world know what that feels like, which makes the events of December 3rd so much more a tragedy. It seems every year; the musical landscape looses another talented individual to the vast wasteland of drugs and alcohol. Let’s hope Scott Weiland is finally at peace, rocking the shit out of the largest arena the Pearly Gates have to offer.
