Friend Says Scott Weiland ‘Was A Very Frustrated Dad’

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Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Joe Howard, a friend of Wildabouts bassist Tommy Black and Scott Weiland, had lunch with Weiland and Black just a couple of weeks ago when they played at Penn’s Peak in Pennsylvania shortly before Weiland’s death. Howard responded to Mary Weiland’s open letter to Rolling Stone by stating that Weiland had told him he was upset that ‘his ex moved the kids out of state and shut him out from them.’ Howard has shared further comments regarding his lunch with Weiland with Alternative Nation.

I’d like to note that Alternative Nation isn’t seeking to back up the views of any party involved with this tragedy, nor discredit Mary Weiland’s letter.  Scott’s fatherhood has simply become part of the news with the Rolling Stone article, and the responses of people who had talked to Weiland about the issue are part of the news.

Read Howard’s latest comments to Alternative Nation below.

“I posted word for word what he said during our conversation. That’s all. She didn’t make it easy for him and he wasn’t happy about it.”

He later said, “She made it tough for him. Her way or no way.”

“We were cool, we talked about the kids and he was getting upset… I didn’t dig I just listened to a very frustrated Dad. Scott was totally fine, not high at all. We had a great conversation. Not sure of what the situation with his ex or kids. Not my business, I just posted what he said that totally changed his mood. That was a cool lunch with rock n roll royalty!”

Howard originally stated yesterday, “Wow! It’s pretty funny that I sat at a lunch last week with Scott and Tommy Black and Scott was very upset at the fact that his ex moved the kids out if state and shut him out from them. He was upset and frustrated about it. We got into a ‘I miss my kids’ conversation and he was visually upset by this. So much that I had to change the topic. I felt reading this that there were a bunch of cheap shots written and some untruths. Scott loved his kids and was totally upset by the situation between his ex and kids. The last thing he said was I haven’t seen my kids in over a year and I love and miss them very much. Glasses came off and his eyes were red. Remember, there are three sides to every story. Scott is not here to defend himself so I had to at least share this. My heart goes out to his children.”

Mary Weiland released an open letter last night criticizing her now late ex-husband for being absent from their children’s lives over the last few years.

Mary said, “I spent countless hours trying to calm his paranoid fits, pushing him into the shower and filling him with coffee, just so that I could drop him into the audience at Noah’s talent show, or Lucy’s musical. Those short encounters were my attempts at giving the kids a feeling of normalcy with their dad. But anything longer would often turn into something scary and uncomfortable for them.”

She later added, “When Scott did move on to another relationship, I hoped it would inspire him to grow. I had often encouraged him to date a ‘normal’ girl, a woman who was also a mother, someone who had the energy that I no longer had to love him. Instead, when he remarried, the children were replaced. They were not invited to his wedding; child support checks often never arrived. Our once sweet Catholic boy refused to watch the kids participate in Christmas Eve plays because he was now an atheist. They have never set foot into his house, and they can’t remember the last time they saw him on a Father’s Day.”

Below is a photo of Joe Howard having lunch with Scott Weiland and Tommy Black.

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