Scott Weiland Bandmate Details ‘Slow Motion’ Suicide: ‘Drugs Turned Him Into Gollum’

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Late Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland’s former solo band guitarist Doug Grean gave his first interview since Weiland’s December 2015 death on the AlternativeNation.net affiliated podcast Appetite for Distortion, hosted by Brando. AlternativeNation.net reporter and freelance writer Doug McCausland co-hosted the episode. Grean worked with Weiland for 15 years, including recording Happy in Galoshes and The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Their working relationship ended a few years before Weiland’s death.

Grean has a new web series called ‘Starman’, loosely based off his experiences working with Weiland, with the character being a drug addicted British rocker in his 60’s who believes aliens are after him.

Grean discussed how prescription drugs changed Weiland in his final years, comparing him to the Lord of the Rings character Gollum near the end. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“There were lots of bad times, but also lots of good times and lot of hilarious times. The bad times were more frequent as time went by. He got less fun to be around in the last 5 years, but the guy I met in 1996 was a really nice guy, and funny, and not the way he was at all when he died. The analogy I use is Gollum. He was a nice fuzzy hobbit when I met him, and the prescription drugs turned him into Gollum, all skinny and pale. He wasn’t losing his hair like Gollum did, but you know what I mean. ‘Precious, give me the precious.’”

Host Brando brought up Weiland’s death being compared to a slow motion suicide, and Grean agreed.

“It was a slow motion suicide, absolutely. Everything he did, he smoked cigarettes as hard as I’ve ever seen a human smoke them. He drank booze as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen drink booze. He was very committed to everything he did. I was sure, and everyone was sure, that it was going to end with an overdose. I was surprised many times that he wasn’t dead, when I went in to wake him up. It was always my worst fear, to be the guy who found him with no heartbeat. I didn’t get that, I was able to dodge that one.”

You can contact Doug McCausland at dmccausland1@gmail.com.

Listen to “Ep. 96 – Doug Grean talks Scott Weiland, Drugs, and SciFi” on Spreaker.