Scott Weiland’s son says people want to see him “be a statistic so bad”

Noah Weiland, ex-singer of Suspect208 and son of late Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland, has opened up about his struggle with drug addiction and the public’s expectations.

Weiland was kicked out of Suspect 208 in January last year due to alleged drug use. The band was made up of some very famous offspring. Noah Weiland was on vocals, Ty Trujillo, son of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo took on bass, and Hudson, whose dad is Slash, was on drums. They were joined by guitarist Niko Tsangaris. Four months after Weiland was dropped, Suspect 208 disbanded.

“I have a sponsor, I go to meetings, I’m better with family,” he said in an iHeartRadio interview. “For a long time… I just didn’t want to show my face because I felt so ashamed and I felt like I just wanted to disappear. I finally feel like I have my confidence back and it’s good.”

“People want to see me be a statistic so bad, I feel like,” Noah Weiland added.  “There were so many posts when the band ended and all the comments were, ‘Oh, just like his dad, just like his dad.’” But Noah said he found “a little drive that makes me want to do better and say, ‘Even if you’re born into a family with addiction you don’t have to fall to the statistics.’ You can be great.”

Scott Weiland died of a drug overdose in 2015, when Noah Weiland was 14 years old. In the same interview Weiland explained that although the general public drew comparisons between him and his father – because of their musical careers and drug use – they actually didn’t have a close relationship.

“I remember my mom would get upset a lot, because she’d see him in interviews saying that we’d always be spending time with him… The last year my dad was alive I think we saw him once and it was for maybe like an hour… The energy I could remember, because I was 14, was he just felt so off and so drained. All I can remember is him seeming in so much pain. Looking back, it felt like it was the last time I was going to see him.”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine