Tommy Black interview

[andrew]

https://www.yahoo.com/music/exclusive-tommy-black-recalls-his-bond-with-late-friend-and-bandmate-scott-weiland-081128671.html


Says there's unreleased Wildabouts music.

[mrmojorisin]

Was about to post this. Sorta weird Black claims Blaster was Scotts favorite album since Core. I thought Tiny Music was Scotts favorite?

[StoneTempleBrett]

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

[mrmojorisin]

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

thats tommys conscience making him feel better about it. He probably looks back and realizes just how much he was enabling Scott and feels so guilty that he sugarcoates all that shit

[mrmojorisin]

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

and I agree with you about if it wasn't Tommy it would have been someone else.

[andrew]

Was about to post this. Sorta weird Black claims Blaster was Scotts favorite album since Core. I thought Tiny Music was Scotts favorite?

I think that was part of the hype machine. Gotta tell people it's the best album ever because why would they want to check it out if it wasn't?

It is a great album though, probably one of my top 3 Weiland releases.

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

I think even if he was sober he would have been kinda "spaced" since those bipolar meds can really put people, especially older ones, into a fog. But I agree he definitely was not in a good place. At the end he seemed as deep into drinking as is possible to be into drinking.

[mrmojorisin]

Was about to post this. Sorta weird Black claims Blaster was Scotts favorite album since Core. I thought Tiny Music was Scotts favorite?

I think that was part of the hype machine. Gotta tell people it's the best album ever because why would they want to check it out if it wasn't?

It is a great album though, probably one of my top 3 Weiland releases.

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

I think even if he was sober he would have been kinda "spaced" since those bipolar meds can really put people, especially older ones, into a fog. But I agree he definitely was not in a good place. At the end he seemed as deep into drinking as is possible to be into drinking.

blaster was great. Was really stoked for another album

[StoneTempleBrett]

Was about to post this. Sorta weird Black claims Blaster was Scotts favorite album since Core. I thought Tiny Music was Scotts favorite?

I think that was part of the hype machine. Gotta tell people it's the best album ever because why would they want to check it out if it wasn't?

It is a great album though, probably one of my top 3 Weiland releases.

I recently had an e-mail exchange with Tommy and have nothing against him because like I've said, if he wasn't Scott's running buddy, it would have been somebody else.  But his claim about Scott being in a great place near the end is absolute bullshit.  The guy was 48 years old and abusing hard drugs like cocaine, and it killed him.

I think even if he was sober he would have been kinda "spaced" since those bipolar meds can really put people, especially older ones, into a fog. But I agree he definitely was not in a good place. At the end he seemed as deep into drinking as is possible to be into drinking.

Scott himself in his book talked about drinking alcohol being like 'pouring a lead blanket over my heart.'

[mrmojorisin]

And ultimately I know it was Scotts choice to make the decisions he did. But anybody that was around him needed to put their foot down and not have ANYTHING to do with him until he kicked his bad habits. That's why I respect even more so now than ever Rob, Dean, and Eric's decision to cut ties with him this last time around. But hindsight is 20/20

[andrew]

And ultimately I know it was Scotts choice to make the decisions he did. But anybody that was around him needed to put their foot down and not have ANYTHING to do with him until he kicked his bad habits. That's why I respect even more so now than ever Rob, Dean, and Eric's decision to cut ties with him this last time around. But hindsight is 20/20

Eh, if that were the case, the DeLeos and Kretz would have cut ties in 2008, when the reunion started off on the wrong foot, rather than touring with Scott until they were playing the afternoon slots at music festivals.

I'm sure they tested the waters with Chester and then jumped ship as soon as he committed.

I respect Nick Maybury and Joey Castillo more than what's left of STP because those 2 guys stuck it out until the end and would have been more than happy to do what needed to be done to get Scott help. There's multiple public accounts of Nick offering to help Scott with hs sobriety. Unfortunately, Scott didn't want help and his heart gave out before he did....

But yeah, hindsight.

[Lazy Divey]

And ultimately I know it was Scotts choice to make the decisions he did. But anybody that was around him needed to put their foot down and not have ANYTHING to do with him until he kicked his bad habits. That's why I respect even more so now than ever Rob, Dean, and Eric's decision to cut ties with him this last time around. But hindsight is 20/20

Eh, if that were the case, the DeLeos and Kretz would have cut ties in 2008, when the reunion started off on the wrong foot, rather than touring with Scott until they were playing the afternoon slots at music festivals.

I'm sure they tested the waters with Chester and then jumped ship as soon as he committed.

I respect Nick Maybury and Joey Castillo more than what's left of STP because those 2 guys stuck it out until the end and would have been more than happy to do what needed to be done to get Scott help. There's multiple public accounts of Nick offering to help Scott with hs sobriety. Unfortunately, Scott didn't want help and his heart gave out before he did....

But yeah, hindsight.

Nick even went to AA meetings to see how he could deal with Scott's addictions.  Though I do remember having a conversation with Nick on facebook after Scott's horrible show that went viral imploring to him that Scott needed help and that he seemed to be in a bad place but he brushed it off.  In the end the only person that could have helped Scott was Scott but burning bridges and people cutting ties with him just dug his grave quicker.

[Aaron]

Was about to post this. Sorta weird Black claims Blaster was Scotts favorite album since Core. I thought Tiny Music was Scotts favorite?

Scott said this about many albums.   I recall hear similar statements around SLDD and Libertad.  Who knows what his actual favorite was, I always viewed this statement as clear "promoting the album". 

Totally agreed with what has been said above.  Tommy might be a nice/kind person, but he made some terrible decisions and was a clear enabler for Scott.  He didnt kill Scott, but he certainly contributed to his demise.  Anyone that has had a family member or close friend battling addiction knows that while the addict is ultimately the responsible one, you have a personal responsibility not to enable or contribute.  I wouldnt give a bottle of gin to my alcoholic friend.  Thats EXACTLY what Tommy was doing though. Jeremy should have been a wakeup call to this band, but it wasnt.

Of course someone else may have stepped into that enabler/drug-runner role, but a responsible friend WOULD NEVER have shared drugs or alcohol with Scott or even brought them into the room.  An addict like Scott is always an addict. They're always a recovering addict and need to be 100% sober to survive. Scott was delusional that he could drink and be fine.  Look what happened?  Drinking led to back to pills, which led to hard drugs.  Its a textbook case of denial.  I'm willing to bet Tommy has a substance problem too.

[Sklashboombash]

I don't want to put a blanket of denial over my head and blindly come to the aid of Tommy, but the guy was a part of Scott's solo band for years As we know, some of those years, Scott was in a pretty dark place (brother's death, divorce, etc).
Maybe his marriage to Jamie and the making of Blaster had moments of "good place" and new beginnings.
Maybe he was starting to heal from losing Jeremy...and getting over the ugly STP split.
The band was hitting its stride, sound-wise, with Joey & Nick...new music was supposedly on the horizon...with Chester leaving STP, perhaps Scott had hopes of reconciling with the band.

I don't know...maybe that's what he means by he was doing better.

Drug addict, enabler or not, I think you still feel pretty awful when you lose two band-mates in less than a year.

[CoconutBackwards]

I don't want to put a blanket of denial over my head and blindly come to the aid of Tommy, but the guy was a part of Scott's solo band for years As we know, some of those years, Scott was in a pretty dark place (brother's death, divorce, etc).
Maybe his marriage to Jamie and the making of Blaster had moments of "good place" and new beginnings.
Maybe he was starting to heal from losing Jeremy...and getting over the ugly STP split.
The band was hitting its stride, sound-wise, with Joey & Nick...new music was supposedly on the horizon...with Chester leaving STP, perhaps Scott had hopes of reconciling with the band.

I don't know...maybe that's what he means by he was doing better.

Drug addict, enabler or not, I think you still feel pretty awful when you lose two band-mates in less than a year.

You aren't putting on a "blanket of denial over your head and blindly coming to the aid of Tommy".  It was not his fault.  None of it. 

[Sklashboombash]

I don't want to put a blanket of denial over my head and blindly come to the aid of Tommy, but the guy was a part of Scott's solo band for years As we know, some of those years, Scott was in a pretty dark place (brother's death, divorce, etc).
Maybe his marriage to Jamie and the making of Blaster had moments of "good place" and new beginnings.
Maybe he was starting to heal from losing Jeremy...and getting over the ugly STP split.
The band was hitting its stride, sound-wise, with Joey & Nick...new music was supposedly on the horizon...with Chester leaving STP, perhaps Scott had hopes of reconciling with the band.

I don't know...maybe that's what he means by he was doing better.

Drug addict, enabler or not, I think you still feel pretty awful when you lose two band-mates in less than a year.

You aren't putting on a "blanket of denial over your head and blindly coming to the aid of Tommy".  It was not his fault.  None of it. 

I was referring more to the statement of Scott being in  the "best place" he had seen him in.