Noah Weiland, the son of late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott, sparked fears this month by saying he would “rather be dead” than live like his father.
On December 3, Noah played a show at the Garden Amp outdoor amphitheatre in Orange County to mark the 10th anniversary of his father’s passing at the age of 48. He played songs from across Scott’s career, including classics such as ‘Sex Type Thing’ and Velvet Revolver’s ‘Slither’.
In the days following the show, Noah shared a series of posts on his Instagram Stories that left some followers worried. On December 11, he posted, “Thank you everybody. Til next time,” set to Green Day’s ‘Last Night On Earth’, while another questioned the money that he made from the tribute show.
Another read: “I’d rather be dead…then live the same way my father did. Regardless of all this, it’s been a long journey. Can’t wait to see him again, and thank you for all the support along the way. Won’t ever forget this.”
A week later (December 18), Noah posted a more reassuring message, which referenced the concerns that his earlier posts had prompted. “Well I wasn’t exactly expecting tmz to post about me wanting to [kill] myself,” he said. “I guess im just new to this attention.”
He continued that in honour of his “final crashout of the year”, he was sharing his new mixtape ‘CRASHOUT JUNKIE’ as a SoundCloud-only exclusive, which you can listen to here.
“I would say it’s a compilation of versatile / different genre songs about fkery, mental battles, cheap motels & bum vodka,” he said about the 8-track release.
Scott Weiland died in 2015, and it has been reported that the cause of death was an accidental overdose due to the singer taking a “toxic mix of drugs”, although those claims have been contested by Weiland’s widow, Jamie Wachtel Weiland.
At the start of the month, one of Weiland’s previously unreleased tracks, ‘If I Could Fly’ was released for the first time.
Penned by the singer back in 2000 after the birth of Noah, the song captured the same distinctive sound that put Weiland on the map, and arrived on streaming exactly a decade to the day since Weiland passed away.
In a tribute from NME, Weiland was hailed as a “flawed rock ‘n’ roll genius”, listed five of his most iconic moments, and shared: “it is sad to see yet another flawed musician passing away in such sad circumstances”.
