Jamie Weiland / Submitted photoScott Weiland and The Wildabouts is, from left, Joey Castillo, Tommy Black, Nick Maybury and Scott Weiland. The band plays Century Center Sunday.

He sounded lucid.

Wait. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, and it’s not intended that way.

It’s just that we are talking about talking to Scott Weiland, who comes to Bend this weekend with his band, The Wildabouts (see “If you go”).

From his early days in popular 1990s alt-rock act Stone Temple Pilots (STP) to the Velvet Revolver era of the early 2000s, Weiland has long made headlines for reasons including his music, but also substance abuse issues, internecine band strife, slurred words, concert tardiness.

In late April, video footage surfaced on TMZ of Weiland basically slaughtering the old STP hit “Vasoline” on stage.

The Internet’s memory is long, and it’s all out there should you want to wade through it.

Though he’s not exactly a critical darling, Weiland, 47, is the embodiment of a rock star — including the somewhat dated, destructive sense of the term “rock star” — and you don’t always know what you’re going to get with rock stars.

On Tuesday, when GO! was originally scheduled to speak to him, Weiland’s publicist reported he’d woken up feeling sick, and asked to postpone the interview a day.

By Wednesday, he sounded fit as a fiddle.

He also, however, sounded somber when talk turned to the March 31 death of Wildabouts guitarist Jeremy Brown, just one day before the release of Weiland and The Wildabouts’ debut, “Blaster.” (The cause of Brown’s death has not been announced, according to Weiland and The Wildabouts’ publicist.)

“It was beyond a tragedy. It was just earth-shattering,” Weiland said. “He was my best friend and main writing compatriot.”

Weiland goes back several years with the Wildabouts, most of whom were in his supporting band when he released and promoted his second solo studio record, 2008’s “‘Happy’ in Galoshes.”

Weiland said that after Brown’s death, it was important to The Wildabouts to get “Blaster,” his third solo disc (sixth if you count his live, Christmas and covers albums), out in the world, and supported by touring.

“Definitely, and to have (Brown’s) parts be played, and all that stuff,” Weiland said. “He would’ve — just like I would’ve, just like anyone in the band would’ve — wanted us to soldier on. We had a soldier down, but we have to keep on soldiering on.”

Weiland said that the fallen guitarist’s role was crucial to the songwritig process. Brown would create drum, bass and guitar demos of potential songs at home, “and then bring the riffs to rehearsal, and then we would complete the songs there, all of us as a band. I’d write the lyrics and the melodies.”

Australian-born guitarist Nick Maybury, who’s been on stage and in the studio with folks including Debbie Harry, Alice Cooper, The Veronicas and Dave Navarro, has stepped into fill the void left by Brown’s death.

If you’re heading to Sunday’s concert, you can expect to hear a good portion of the album. Weiland has described its sound in press materials as “furry”: “It’s got a distinctive sound, but it also can entice those Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver fans who have stuck by me. Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth. I’ve made art records, and then I’ve returned to being in a band. This is a hybrid. You might say there’s an indie alternative feeling, but it’s not too precious. These are vintage sounds done in a new way. What we’ve come up with is really heavy, slinky and sexy. There’s a lot of fuzz. The best way to describe it is ‘furry.’”

The driving, crunching guitar sound that’s long been associated with Weiland emerges on tunes such as “Modzilla,” but there’s also some pop gems, such as “Hotel Rio.” The tune “Amethyst” opens like something The Who might have written before it hits full throttle.

Weiland said the show will give a significant nod to the band that made him famous — but not Velvet Revolver.

“We play most of the (new) album, live, and then we play five STP songs,” he said. “We’ve been getting a great response from the fans with the new material.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com