Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts
Scott Weiland & The Wildabouts perform at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. on March 11, 2013 as part of the Purple At The Core Tour. Photo by: Steve Castano Photography.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Genres	Hard rock
Years active	2012–2015
Labels	Softdrive
Associated acts	Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver
Website	www.scottweiland.com
Past members	Scott Weiland Tommy Black Jeremy Brown Doug Grean Danny Thompson Joey Castillo Nick Maybury

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts (sometimes billed simply as The Wildabouts) were a rock and roll band formed sometime around 2012 by former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver lead singer Scott Weiland, along with bassist Tommy Black, guitarist Jeremy Brown, multi-instrumentalist Doug Grean, and drummer Danny Thompson. The Wildabouts were marred with several roster changes (including the death of guitarist Jeremy Brown) and ultimately disbanded after Weiland's sudden death on a tour bus in late 2015.

History

The Wildabouts became Weiland's main project after his firing from Stone Temple Pilots in early 2013. The band embarked on a "Purple to the Core" tour to commemorate STP's first two studio albums, receiving mixed reviews. During this period, drummer Danny Thompson briefly quit the band, citing "the darkness", but rejoined soon after.

Doug Grean left the band in early 2014 due to undisclosed reasons before the band recorded its debut album, Blaster. The band performed material from the album over the summer of that year live. During the recording of the record, it was widely reported by various media outlets that Weiland was arrested in Beverly Hills for possession of crystal meth and attempted robbery, which Weiland vehemently denied, posting an update from the studio with his band. The Beverly Hills PD later put out a statement identifiying the perpetrator as Jason Hurley, the former singer of a Stone Temple Pilots tribute band who identified himself as Weiland to the police.^[1]

Drummer Danny Thompson again quit the band in February 2015, this time citing "self-worth". He was replaced by noted Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey Castillo. Mike Avaneim occasionally filled in on drums for Thompson and Castillo.^[2]

Guitarist Jeremy Brown died unexpectedly the day before the album came out, for reasons which were not made public at the time. He was 34 years old.^[3]

Guitarist Nick Maybury (Perry Farrell, Michelle Branch, Cherie Currie, The Madden Brothers, The Sayers Club, Dorothy) was quickly recruited to fill Brown's place, and the band toured somewhat sporadically throughout the summer of 2015, mostly at festivals or in relatively small venues. A performance in Texas went viral after numerous publications accused Weiland of "butchering" the Stone Temple Pilots classic, "Vasoline", which the band accredited to exhaustion and technical issues.^[4]

In response to the leaked video of the performance, Filter frontman Richard Patrick, an old friend of Weiland's, predicted Weiland's imminent death due in part to "enabler" fans.^[5]

The Wildabouts began touring again in late 2015, during which at least one journalist noted an improvement in Weiland's live performance;^[6] ultimately, the band's last show was in Toronto on December 1. Weiland died of a drug overdose on the band's tour bus two days later, on December 3, 2015, in a hotel parking lot in Bloomington, Minnesota. He was 48 years old. Black was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine but the charges were dropped.

Personnel

• Scott Weiland - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards (2012-2015; his death)
• Tommy Black - bass guitar, backing vocals (2012-2015)
• Jeremy Brown - lead guitar (2012-2015; his death)
• Doug Grean - rhythm guitar, keyboards (2012-2014)
• Danny Thompson - drums (2012-2013, 2013-2015)
• Joey Castillo - drums (2015)
• Nick Maybury - lead guitar (2015)

Discography

• Blaster (2015)

References