Filter’s Richard Patrick: ‘Biggest Enabler for Scott Weiland Is the Audience’
Scott Weiland's issues with drugs and concert tardiness have been well documented over the years, and Filter frontman Richard Patrick has weighed in on the topic in a recent interview with Music Frenzy.
Speaking about Weiland's issues, Patrick offered an interesting perspective that the fans have become one of the singer's biggest enablers when it comes to his poor behavior. He told Music Frenzy (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), "We all want Scott to be Scott, but Scott's not even really Scott. I love him, but he's transformed into a very different person. Bless his heart, and I hope he gets sober and everything, but I was in Army of Anyone for years (with Stone Temple Pilots' DeLeo brothers) working on that record and producing it and I heard a lot of stuff [about what it was like being in a band with Scott]. When someone shows up an hour and a half late to a show in New Jersey and makes an audience [wait] … all these people wanna go home."
Patrick adds, "It's sad that three guys have to sit around and wait for someone to show up to a rehearsal. And they've been there for two weeks working and the singer hasn't even shown up. And you get onstage and the guy doesn't even know how to sing his own songs, and it's pathetic. It's sad for everybody."
As for his comments about the fans enabling Weiland's behavior, Patrick states, "[The fans are] just sticking up for Scott, and they have no idea of [what is going on] behind the scenes. And it's actually … they're pushing him into his death, because they're making him believe that, 'Whatever I did is acceptable, and I can be as high as I want and I can do as much drugs as I want.'"
The vocalist says, "[Some STP fans say], 'He's a badass rock and roll star. You can't have STP without Scott Weiland.' Okay, well, you're gonna get what you want -- he'll be a rock star legend that died in a hotel room with a needle sticking out of his arm, and it will not be a cool thing and it will be sad and his kids will be traumatized. It's bizarre that the biggest enabler for Scott is the audience … at least [as] of a couple of years ago. I don't know what it's like now."
As stated, Patrick is basing some of his opinion on what he knew of Weiland a few years back. He went in-depth on his concerns about Weiland in a 2013 posting that can be viewed here.
Meanwhille, Alternative Nation reports that Scott Weiland's fans have lashed out at Richard Patrick after seeing his aforementioned comments. Read some of their reactions here.
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