Stone Temple Pilots In 1985, Scott Weiland and his friends in their band Soi Disant – guitarist Corey Hicock and drummer David Allin – first encountered Robert DeLeo playing live at various gigs, deciding to track him down after witnessing his shows. Hicock and Allin would soon be replaced by Eric Kretz and DeLeo's brother Dean. They took the name Stone Temple Pilots because of their fondness for the initials "STP". Robert DeLeo said that, while he was working at Mesa Boogie, in Sunset Boulevard, Scott was working "across catty-corner" from him and would come to show musical ideas. In one of the band's first opening performances under the name Mighty Joe Young, they opened for
Electric Love Hogs, whose guitarist
Dave Kushner would one day co-found Weiland's later band
Velvet Revolver. In 1992, they released their first album,
Core, spawning four hits ("
Sex Type Thing", "
Wicked Garden", "
Creep", and "
Plush".) In 1994, STP released their second record,
Purple, which saw the development of a more distinctive identity for the band. Like
Core,
Purple was a big success for the band, spawning three hit singles ("
Big Empty", "
Vasoline", and "
Interstate Love Song") and selling more than six million copies. The critical response to
Purple was more favorable, with
Spin calling it a "quantum leap" from the band's previous album. In 1995, Weiland formed the
alternative rock band the Magnificent Bastards with session drummer
Victor Indrizzo in
San Diego. appeared in the film
Tank Girl and on its
soundtrack, and a cover of
John Lennon's "
How Do You Sleep?" was recorded for the tribute album,
Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon. Weiland rejoined Stone Temple Pilots in the fall of 1995, but STP was forced to cancel most of their 1996–1997 tour in support of their third release,
Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, which sold about two million albums. Weiland encountered problems with drug addiction at this time as well, which inspired some of his songs in the late-1990s and resulted in prison time. In 1999, STP regrouped once again and released
No. 4. The album contained the hit single "
Sour Girl", promoted by a surreal music video with
Sarah Michelle Gellar. That same year, Weiland also recorded two songs with the short-lived supergroup
the Wondergirls. During this time period, Weiland spent five months in jail for drug possession. In November 2000, Weiland was invited to perform on the show
VH1 Storytellers with the surviving members of
the Doors. Weiland performed vocals on two Doors songs, "
Break On Through (To the Other Side)" and "
Five to One". That same month Stone Temple Pilots appeared on the Doors tribute CD,
Stoned Immaculate with their own rendition of "Break on Through" as the lead track. On June 19, 2001, STP released its fifth album,
Shangri-La Dee Da. That same year the band headlined the
Family Values Tour along with
Linkin Park,
Staind and
Static-X. In late 2002, significant backstage altercations between the DeLeo brothers and Weiland precipitated the band's break-up. In 2008, Stone Temple Pilots announced a
73-date U.S. tour on April 7 and performed together for the first time since 2002. The reunion tour kicked off at the
Rock on the Range festival on May 17, 2008. According to
Dean DeLeo, steps toward a Stone Temple Pilots reunion started with a simple phone call from Weiland's wife. She invited the DeLeo brothers to play at a private beach party, which led to the reconciliation of Weiland and the DeLeo brothers. STP's reunion tour was a success, and the band continued to tour throughout 2009 and began recording its sixth studio album. STP's first album since 2001,
Stone Temple Pilots, was released on May 25, 2010. STP toured Southeast Asia for the first time in 2011, playing in
Philippines (
Manila),
Singapore and
Indonesia (
Jakarta). Following this, the band played successful shows in Australia, including sell-out performances in
Sydney and
Melbourne. The band expressed interest in a 20th anniversary tour to celebrate the release of
Core with Scott commenting on January 2, 2012, "Well, we're doing a lot of special things. [There's] a lot of archival footage that we're putting together, a coffee table book, hopefully a brand new album – so many ideas. A box set and then a tour, of course."STP began to experience problems in 2012 that were said to have been caused by tensions between Weiland and the rest of the band. Despite the band's claims that their fall tour would be celebrating the 20th anniversary of
Core, this did not happen. On February 27, 2013, shortly before his solo tour was set to commence, Stone Temple Pilots announced Weiland's termination from the band on their website. Weiland criticized the band after they hired
Linkin Park singer
Chester Bennington as his replacement, claiming he was still a member and they shouldn't be calling themselves Stone Temple Pilots without him.
Velvet Revolver In 2002, former
Guns N' Roses members – guitarist
Slash, bassist
Duff McKagan and drummer
Matt Sorum – as well as former
Wasted Youth guitarist
Dave Kushner were looking for a singer to help form a new band. Throughout his career, Weiland had become acquainted with the four musicians; he became friends with McKagan after attending the same gym, was in rehab at the same time as Sorum and once played on the same bill as Kushner. the band sent Weiland new music, which he took into his studio and added vocals. This music eventually became the song "
Set Me Free". Although he delivered the music to the band himself, Weiland was still unsure whether or not he wanted to join them, They recorded two songs with producer
Nick Raskulinecz, a recorded version of "Set Me Free" and a cover of
Pink Floyd's "
Money", for the soundtracks to the movies
The Hulk and
The Italian Job, respectively. without any radio promotion or a record label. It was prior to a screening of
The Hulk at
Universal Studios that the band chose a name. After seeing a movie by
Revolution Studios, Slash liked the beginning of the word, eventually thinking of Revolver because of its multiple meanings: the name of a gun, subtext of a revolving door, which suited the band, as well as the name of a
Beatles album. When he suggested Revolver to the band, Weiland suggested 'Black Velvet' Revolver, liking the idea of "something intimate like velvet juxtaposed with something deadly like a gun." They eventually arrived at Velvet Revolver, announcing it at a press conference and performance showcase at the
El Rey Theatre while also performing the songs "Set Me Free" and "Slither" as well as covers of
Nirvana's "
Negative Creep",
Sex Pistols' "
Bodies", and Guns N' Roses' "
It's So Easy". On July 2, 2005, Weiland and Velvet Revolver performed at
Live 8 in London, in which Weiland was condemned for using strong language before the UK watershed during the performance. Velvet Revolver released their second album,
Libertad, on July 3, 2007, peaking at number five on the
Billboard 200. The album's first single "
She Builds Quick Machines" peaked at 74 on the
Hot Canadian Digital Singles. Critical reception to the album was mixed. Though some critics praised the album and felt that
Libertad gave the band an identity of their own, outside of the Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots comparisons, others described the album as "bland" and noted that the band seem to be "play[ing] to their strengths instead of finding a collective sound." it was announced on April 1, 2008 that Weiland would no longer be a member of Velvet Revolver. Velvet Revolver reunited for a one-off performance with Weiland at a benefit concert for the late John O'Brien, on January 12, 2012.
Art of Anarchy The project started in 2011, with guitarist
Bumblefoot recording parts for the debut album in between touring with
Guns N' Roses. Weiland wrote and recorded the vocals after sharing the song files back and forth with Bumblefoot from 2012 to 2013. Weiland also took part in promotional photo shoots and music videos in October 2014. Their
self-titled debut album was released in June 2015. On January 21, 2015, they released a 2:06 teaser of the new album. Bumblefoot is the producer and engineer on the album. The first single to be released from the album was "'Til the Dust Is Gone". The album contains 11 tracks. However, Weiland distanced himself from the project, stating "It was a project I did where I was just supposed to have written the lyrics and melodies, and I was paid to do it. I did some production work on it, and the next thing I knew there were press releases that I was in the band. ... I'm not in the band." In a January 2015
Rolling Stone interview, both Weiland and the Votta brothers from Anarchy stated it was a studio project that Weiland was never meant to tour with and that Anarchy would have to find a lead singer outside of the tracks Weiland had already contributed. Following Weiland's death, the lead vocalist position in Art of Anarchy was filled by former
Creed vocalist
Scott Stapp.
Solo career and the Wildabouts While STP went on hiatus after the release of
Tiny Music ..., Weiland released a solo album called
12 Bar Blues (1998). Weiland wrote most of the songs on the album and collaborated with several artists, notably
Daniel Lanois,
Sheryl Crow,
Brad Mehldau, and Jeff Nolan. On November 25, 2008, Weiland released his second solo album,
"Happy" in Galoshes, produced by Weiland and songwriting-producing partner
Doug Grean. Weiland went on tour in early 2009 to promote the album. in Washington, D.C., on March 11, 2013, as part of the Purple at the Core Tour On August 30, 2011, Weiland released a covers album,
A Compilation of Scott Weiland Cover Songs, exclusively through his website. The album was originally to be released along with Weiland's autobiography until he decided to release it separately, stating, "[It] actually turned out so well that we're going to release a single and put it out on its own, 'cause I think it's ... it's sort of my
Pin Ups, I guess you'd say." On October 4, 2011, Weiland released
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, an album consisting entirely of
Christmas music. Weiland supported the album with a US club tour. Two
promotional recordings were taken from the album, cover versions of "
Winter Wonderland" and "
I'll Be Home for Christmas" with their respective music videos. Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts' Purple at the Core tour commenced in March 2013 with pop/rock band
MIGGS as the opening act. In an interview with San Diego radio station
KBZT in June 2014, Weiland stated that his debut album with the Wildabouts, titled
Blaster, would be released in November that year. However, it was pushed back and eventually released on March 31, 2015. Guitarist Jeremy Brown died the day before the album's release. The cause of death was determined to be multiple drug intoxication, with coronary atherosclerosis and cardiomegaly being significant contributing factors. Nick Maybury replaced Brown in April 2015. == Business ventures ==