I guess my point was Scott says his creativity is at it's best during the introductory phase to drugs as well as mania episodes. Clearly these drugs make him lethargic and I fear that hurts creativity. I agree with you that bi-polar meds will help his longevity and ultimately that's most important for both his music and his person, but I do wonder if it has a negative influence on his creativity. How much so remains to be seen.
Yeah I totally understand what you are saying here. To be honest I am not sure what those bi-polar drugs are doing to him creatively. Performance wise, he seemed as sharp as ever on this most recent solo tour, but you are correct that the bipolar meds seem to be affecting his speech. I do feel for the guy, but I am glad he is taking care of himself. I am also very curious what the next record he makes will sound like (be it STP or solo). Regardless, it will be a good window into his creative writing side. We'll get to see if he's being affected by the meds or not. I am cautiously optimistic and think we will be pleasantly surprised again. Plus I have great faith in Grean or the other 3 in STP to deliver top-notch material for him to lay down lyrics/music to. We'll see what happens!
Regarding Afrin - I must have missed that. That's good news. Where did you read that? Did he mention that in an interview or something? While I agree with you that Happy is a great album, I don't think you can attribute it's greatness entirely to the Scott Weiland of the last year. He's been working on that album for over 10 years, and lots of the recordings were probably done when he was at his peak in terms of songwriting/singing ability/creativity. My point is, I don't think you can take what you see on happy and assume from that that the next STP album will necessarily have the same creativity level. I definitely don't want another Purple/Core. I couldn't agree with you more on the desire for evolution... but as always there is good evolution and bad evolution. Anyway, Maybe you know more than I do about what was recorded when... but for all I know the songs you don't like on Happy were the ones recorded most recently.
About Afrin, as someone that suffers from chronic congestion (living in Austin doesnt help) that has been on nasal decongestants and nasal steroids most his life, i know a bit about that stuff. The Afrin insight comes from Scott's appearance on Howard Stern last year. Not to mention I have seen Scott use Afrin on stage in some of the videos circulating from last year. He usually had it sitting back there on the drum riser with his water/beer/gatorade, etc. Anyway, while he was on the Stern he was talking using the nasal spray and the group talked briefly about how that shit is evil. And believe me it is. It can provide temporary relief, but you build up a tolerance and a physical dependency on it so quickly. If not properly used, Afrin wreaks havoc on your nasal system. The drug is a decongestant so what it does is shrink the blood vessels in your nose to facilitate better breathing, etc. The problem is, the relief is temporary so even though you're only supposed to use it every 12 hours, it likely wont last that long, so people end up using it more and more. Eventually, (and this part doesnt take long, can be as short as days or weeks) your system starts to build a tolerance and Afrin actually makes your congestion WORSE. Because as your body adjusts to the drug, your body begins to require it for relief, so when you dont have it in your system your nose can actually pretty much close up.
As you can imagine this really messes with a singers voice. The causes of this are two fold:
1) The dependency means that there is actually less airflow, which will cause a person to actually sound more nasal-y. We observed this from Scott a bit on the STP reunion tour and more so on the first leg (the 2008 portion) of the solo tour.
2) The post nasal drip you get from this shit really goes further to destroy your voice. Because Afrin is a nasal decongestant spray after you use it, it partially drips down the back of your throat. Problem here, is it begins to numb some of those areas too, which means you can have some numbness in your vocal chords (which people may or may not be able to feel), however, it will make your voice weaker causing more horseness and pops/cracks/etc similar to a pubescent male. This is because your voice is being tasked, but the necessary parts are numb.
Anyway, while I definitely have no proof, all in all it seems pretty clear to me that Scott got off the Afrin crap during the Winter break before going back out on his solo tour this past January. He sounded so much better than he did on that previous leg of the solo tour and on the STP reunion. BY all accounts (including my own- I saw him in Austin in Jan) he was back to his usual voice. I highly contribute this to him getting off Afrin.
I associate that stupid Bowie cut with some of the worst times in my memory of Scott Weiland (like the Jersey show I'll refrain from talking about further), and to see him come back from an extended break back with that shit... it's like, ugh, come on! Obviously I know his hair has nothing to do with his performance.
Yeah, I am not a big fan of the bowie look either. I liked his post-No.4 black spikey hair look the best.
I do appreciate your take Aaron, and you've definitely given me some optimism because I respect your opinion as knowledgeable. I just fear these meds will turn his music ideas into a jumble messed and he'll be all over the place (like his current speech pattern). Again, better that than drug addiction or death...
Right back at ya bud. I think highly of your opinion as well. I think everything will work out okay with Scott. We'll never have the STP glory days again, but honestly, I'm not really sure deep down that a lot of us really want that either. I wish nothing but the best
for Scott and I hope he stays off illicit drugs, on the bipolar meds (hopefully they wont affect the creative side), and most importantly... OFF AFRIN!
