Weiland Stays Clean for STP Tour
Aug. 5 -- As the Stone Temple Pilots soar through their tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, frontman Scott Weiland — who’s happily clean and sober since being released from jail Dec. 30 — says he’s having a better time onstage than he’s ever had before.
“I love it,” Weiland says, “because performing loaded is sort of a disjointed thing. Opiates are anesthetics; not only do they numb you physically, but they sort of numb you emotionally and spiritually, too. So it’s hard to connect with the music and what’s going on onstage. I have a much easier time now becoming intoxicated by the energy that’s happening from the audience and the energy that’s being created from the four members of the band. I’m able to enjoy it.
“I’m able to be present for it, where in the past, a lot of times I was hoping I could get through the two-hour set so I could get back in the hotel room and fix.”
Singing New Tune The recently re-married Weiland, who has slid back into his heroin addiction several times in the past, says he’s instituted measures to make sure he stays clean. He’s working out and attending support-group meetings daily, and his bandmates are supporting his need to do that even above and beyond promotional duties for STP.
But mostly, Weiland explains, he’s accepted the idea that he can’t manage or control an addiction and that he has no choice but to stay off drugs.
“Really what I do is what’s in front of me on a daily basis,” he says. “People that tend to be addicts don’t really appreciate the moment for the moment; they tend to either become obsessed with bad choices made in the past or are constantly looking toward the future for something that will validate you as an individual. Once you surrender to the idea that, no matter what, trying to control an addiction in anyway whatsoever always results in the same outcome, it’s always negative.
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