Scott Weiland was frustrated with touring, music industry

Prior to his death, Scott Weiland had opened up about the pressures of touring and his frustration with the music industry, providing a glimpse into his life amidst a new business landscape with sluggish album sales.

In a candid interview with SiriusXM host Howard Stern in 2011, Weiland, who died Dec. 3 at age 48, revealed that the touring scene had started to take a toll on him: "Touring, now, has become -- it used to be that there were only a few nights where you felt like you were punching the time clock. But touring has kind of become a punch-the-time-clock kinda gig ... "

Weiland also spoke about about changes in the album sales industry, noting how different it was from when he formed Stone Temple Pilots in 1989 and even later with Velvet Revolver: "We were selling, 40 million records, between all my bands. Ya know, it's like. Aaagh ... and then, so that meant multi-million dollar advances, and publishing ... and record advances."

He said how in the past there was time to "chill out" and spend time with family, but in 2011 -- it was all about being on the road, four nights a week.

"The only way to make money is touring ... You can't do that to your voice every night, when you're playing an hour-and-a-half, to an hour and forty-five minutes," said Weiland, who added how being on the road is far from glamorous. "I go straight from the stage to the bus," he said.

Weiland had visited Stern's show to talk about his 2011 memoir, "Not Dead & Not For Sale," in which he chronicled the story of his life.

In it, he wrote about wanting to succeed with Velvet Revolver -- the "super group" formed in 2002 with Weiland, Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner.

"I liked our first record but can't call it the music of my soul," Weiland wrote. "There was a certain commercial calculation behind it. We wanted hits; we wanted to prove that, independent of Guns N' Roses and STP, we could make a big splash. And we did. My fellow STPers -- Robert, Dean and Eric -- tried a number of musical configurations without me, but none of them were successful. I wished them well, but I have to confess that, as a competitive guy, I wasn't displeased to be in a new band that fans were flocking to see."

Weiland died in his sleep last week while on a tour stop in suburban Minneapolis. Police said investigators found small amounts of cocaine on Weiland's tour bus. He had battled addiction for years.

After his death, tributes poured in for the singer on social media. His ex-wife wrote an essay this week for Rolling Stone in which she asked fans not to "glorify" his death.