[artistdirect.com] A classic album will resonate with just about anyone—young and old.
"Hang on, my son's here with me," says Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo over the phone. "He just said, 'Can I be in the magazine?' I'm going to put him on speaker…This is Rocco. He's seven-years-old. What do you think about our record, Rocco?"
Rocco goes on, "It's really cool and I'm a big fan!"
"You're a big fan?" laughs Dean. "He's the one, Rick!"
Given his insider perspective, Rocco also chose a favorite track continuing, "Maybe… 'Bagman.'"
DeLeo chuckles with a smile, "See my kid goes deep into the album, man. That's like track 8!"
Rocco's choice is a great one, but you can't go wrong with any track from Stone Temple Pilots sixth self-titled album. Stone Temple Pilots have crafted the rock record of the decade. It's a masterpiece that will officially solidify STP alongside The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones as one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time.
The album, due out May 25, shifts seamlessly from the hypnotic psychedelica of "Dare if You Dare" to the impenetrably anthemic "Between the Lines." Elsewhere "First Kiss On Mars" is the most intergalactically haunting and romantic ballad ever written, and "Fast As I Can" pulsates with an uncontainable blues energy; every song is a new classic. Stone Temple Pilots — Scott Weiland, Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz — are back and better than ever.
Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo sat down with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino for an exclusive interview about the band's new masterpiece, his "ongoing" friendship with the guitar, STP's upcoming SXSW gig, one documentary that makes him feel "fuzzy" and how to write "Letterman Ready" songs.
Stone Temple Pilots seamlessly combines your classic raw riffage with the psychedelic experimentation of Shangri-la Dee Da. Do you feel like this album is the perfect middle ground between those two extremes?
It's hard for me to say, man. I don't put that much thought into it. I simply come into the session with some songs. To me, there wasn't a lot of experimentation. We don't want to get too far outside what people would come to expect from us and, for us, we definitely don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over. It starts with the song for Robert and I, and Scott embellishes upon it. When I have to compete with songs written by Robert, I have to be on my game if I'm going to have any songs on the record [Laughs]. It's a pretty healthy relationship in that respect. With that said, we bring out the best in each other. I don't envy Scott, when it comes to making an STP record because that guy gets a lot of material thrown at him very quickly. I'm sure it's pretty overwhelming [Laughs]. The first CD that we sent to Scott had nine songs on it!
Was this a particularly creative period for yourself and Robert?
Yeah! It's been a while since we've made a record. The last record that Robert and I were involved with in the writing process was Army of Anyone. A few of my contributions to Stone Temple Pilots, I'd actually brought to the table for Army of Anyone and Richard [Patrick] really couldn't get his head around them. I said, "Well, I know somebody who could take a bite out of this!" [Laughs] It worked out.
Once you started writing and recording again, was it just like old times or was it better?
It was a little bit of both. It was better because we had the luxury of working out of Eric Kretz's gorgeous studio, Bomb Shelter and we had no producer. Robert and I took on the chore of producing this record. We actually made this record in between going in and out of tour. We didn't have this time constraint, and we didn't have to appease a producer and work under his time constraint. We've had the luxury of working with Brendan O'Brien on all of our records, and he's a busy guy! We'd start a record with him and we would have to finish it by a certain date because he would have another record to do.
Do you feel like these songs really got to live and grow?
Definitely! We also had the luxury of working at Eric's gorgeous place, and Scott had the luxury of working at his studio. Robert's been hard at work for the past five years building a gorgeous studio in the basement of his house. We tracked a couple songs there actually. When it came time to really finish the record, we had all three studios going at once. We were doing overdubs, drum stuff and bass lines at Robert's house. I was doing my guitar's at Eric's place, and Scott was finishing vocals at his studio, so we had three studios running simultaneously. It was really wonderful to utilize all that.
READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE.
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