Alternative Rock World: What was your most memorable experience in the early years of STP?
Scott Weiland: Just getting signed. The whole Stone Temple Pilots adventure. Touring; playing Lake Castaic in Los Angeles; winning a Grammy; playing MTV Unplugged. It was all very cool.
ARW: In the early months of your addiction, when the press was coming down on you so hard, did this affect your performance on stage, or was the stage in a sense your release?
Scott Weiland: People, who I don't know, don't effect me. It was the people who I care about, that was what was so hard.
ARW: Your thoughts on another STP album?
Scott Weiland: Absolutely will happen.
ARW: With the different sounds and instrumentation throughout 12 Bar Blues, as far as musically, is this the record that you always wanted to make, but it just didn't fit into the STP scheme?
Scott Weiland: I always had this record in me, but it didn't fit into Stone Temple Pilots. STP is four guys with four different musical ideas. This is just me with a little help from my friends.
ARW: You have communicated 12 excellent songs lyrically regarding your thoughts about all that has happened to you. How has this helped you in the healing process?
Scott Weiland: It is all about the healing process both with my addiction and my relationships, but it's not all about me, there are some songs that are about other people that I know. To me a record is like a film with lots of different characters.
ARW: Explain to me your thought on the line in "Barbarella" - "Grab a scale and guess the weight of all the pain I have given with my name?"
Scott Weiland: It's a drug reference with the scale and how my name has become a celebrity name. It's really directed at my family.
ARW: Give me a few thought on the song "Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down?"
Scott Weiland: Lady is just a cool little song that I wrote for the Great Expectations soundtrack, cause it had that whole caberetish type vibe. It's about a woman ruling your world and not being able to control it.
ARW: What do you think of "Talk Show"(members of STP minus Weiland) and their album?
Scott Weiland: There are some songs I like on the Talk Show record like "Peeling an Orange."
ARW: How is Scott Weiland going to "Save Rock-n-Roll?"
Scott Weiland: I just want to explore musical territories that aren't being explored. Music is so boring right now.
ARW: How do you feel about the current alternative/rock scene and the music that is available today?
Scott Weiland: I like a lot of stuff. Going from jazz to Jonathan Richman. There is nothing current that I'm into right now.
ARW: What can fans expect musically from your live show?
Scott Weiland: Our live show is going to be us (Scott and the "Action Girls") playing the record with maybe some covers too. I want it to be an intimate setting, so we'll be playing theatres for the most part, I think.
ARW: What kind of lavish stage props can we expect to see?
Scott Weiland: Some blood red velvet curtains, Chinese lanterns, and probably some dancers. I really want to make the stage feel like my recording studio, which is like a Turkish den.
ARW: If you could hand pick your opening band, whom would you choose?
Scott Weiland: I don't really know. I would want someone I liked and fit into the vibe, but no one comes to mind. Any suggestions? (At press time, Atlantic still had no idea whom the opening act would be for Scott's tour.)
Email Alternative Rock World on who you would like to see as the opening band.
ARW: Will the fans hear any STP songs, or will this strictly be a 12 Bar Blues show?
Scott Weiland: We'll see. I played a STP song at the KROQ acoustic Christmas show, but we'll see.
ARW: Being the "fashion whore" that you are, will we see a suited Scott at every show or will you appear in feathers, platforms, etc.? What can the fans expect to see you wear?
Scott Weiland: Everything you can imagine, but shorts. No shorts. The things I look for in stage clothes are ones that move with you and breathe easily, since I dance around a lot. Richard Tyler is making me some suits for the tour, which fit me perfectly.
ARW: What new hobbies have you picked up?
Scott Weiland: I surf and fish.
ARW: Do you have any pets?
Scott Weiland: Two dogs (a golden retriever named Otis and a cocker spaniel mix named Kelsey) and they rule the house.
ARW: What is your favorite piece of furniture in your house?
Scott Weiland: My piano. (A beautiful black baby grand)
ARW: Name three things that make you Happy?
Scott Weiland: My family, my music, and that people care what makes me happy. No man living makes me happy.
ARW: If you could sit back and write anything to your dedicated fans (the fans of STP in the early days), what would you say to them?
Scott Weiland: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Additional Info:
In regards to the video for the song, "Barbarella,"Scott says, "It is based on David Bowie's movie, "The man who fell to earth" (1976).
His Touring band known as the "Action Girls," include the following members:
Porno For Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble, ex-Red Kross and Samiam drummer Victor Indrizzo, guitarist Daniel Lanois and Michael Weiland (Scott's stepbrother) on percussion. Are confirmed.
May also include Cory Hicock (a childhood friend who was in Scott's first band) on guitar.