Over time, his critical success grew as his personal life unraveled.
Weiland struggled to maintain relationships with band members, primarily because of his struggles with drugs and alcohol.
Below is that complete conversation.
Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Why form a new band at this point in your life?
Do you have any regrets about those solo projects?
Or were they necessary to get to where you are?
Oh yeah, I needed to make those kind of records.
Im totally happy with how those records came out.
Im really happy with how it came out.
Was there a formal collaboration process when it came to the songwriting?
We just came to the table with stuff we had written at home.
We brought pieces of songs to the table and collaborated and finished them all together.
It really was a seamless process.
I think Hotel Rio is among the best songs youve ever done.
How did that one come together in this new band situation?
Theres a lot more narrative storytelling on this album than weve heard from your lyrics in the past.
Lyrically, theres a lot of songs that are influenced by my wife.
Theyre about my wife and I.
As Ive gotten older and my life is a lot more stable, Ive gotten more into storytelling.
Ive listened to a lot of Dylan and listened to how he wrote stories.
Ive gotten more into storytelling.
Its been a long time.
So I am more into storytelling.
Being off of heroin for almost 15 years, it definitely changes things.
Its opened up my writing a lot.
Youve been playing STP songs on the road with the Wildabouts.
Is there a particular logic to which songs you pick?
I pick songs that would fit with this bands style of playing music, and with our own music.
Weve done little changes to modify them to make them our own style.
So I pick songs that would fit that mold the best.
Youre a huge fan of David Bowie, as am I.
Is there a particular thing about Bowie that resonates with you and you feel has influenced your work?
I think thats an important thing.
You get bored, and thats one thing I dont want to get is bored when making albums.
I always feel like I have to change styles and keep on evolving.
I would definitely become less inspired if I had to stay in one format.
That was always the approach, especially from my perspective.
What song of yours are you most proud out?
Probably Barbarella, thats one of them.
I think that song stands out as one of the best songs that Ive written.
When you talk to fans these days, what do you hear from them?
Usually theyll just say that my music has helped them through a certain period of their life.
That kind of thing.
Thats usually what I hear from fans.
