On December 3rd 2015, Scott Weiland — the embattled founding frontman of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver — died after a long struggle with drug addiction. He was 48. Three years later, Revolver interviewed STP guitarist Dean DeLeo about what was at the time the group's first new album in nearly a decade. Over the course of a mostly upbeat interview, we touched inevitably upon Weiland's death; DeLeo paid respects to his fallen friend and deplored his tragic passing.
"Scott and I lived together when we were pursuing a recording contract and playing everywhere we could. He was so electric and so full of life, so full of art, so expressive. I really looked up to him in a lot of different ways, man. I have just the greatest memories of us going out in the very early days of STP and how wonderful that was — and how wonderful he was before things really started stepping into his life. He was very pure.
"Other things took over and Scott was no longer in control for many years. No matter how you slice it, the ending like that is just tragic. And these are just the publicized ones, man. Thousands of people do this on a daily basis. When you think about all the moms and dads and aunts and uncles — anyone who suffers a loss of that magnitude, man — it's so heartbreaking and it just leaves you puzzled. You're inundated with unanswered questions. I just hate it, man."
