Stone Temple Pilots
FREEDOM ROCK
Yeah, Scott's in Jail, but NO. 4 Is the Sound of STP Breaking Free
Since releasing their debut album, CORE, some seven years ago, Stone Temple Pilots have pulled down more press than Al Gore -- often to the band's dismay. Early ink about the chart-topping grunge act's from-nowhere success gradually gave way to tales of frontman Scott Weiland's rampant drug abuse and mounting legal problems. Today, Weiland is serving a one-year jail term that began in September. But despite all the controversy, the once-mighty band hasn't quite shuffled off this mortal coil. In fact, they sound positively rejuvenated on NO. 4, an album that belies its less-than-scintillating title with some incendiary sonic action and encouraging musical growth. Talking with bn.com's David Sprague, bassist Robert DeLeo insists that, difficulties be damned, STP aren't going away anytime soon.
barnesandnoble.com: Did you approach making this record any differently, given the fact that you hadn't worked together as a unit for so long?
Robert De Leo: There's always the question of whether or not you can do what you think you can -- especially when you haven't even seen each other for 18 months. We didn't know if we could still commit rock.
bn.com: There's an aggressive, more intense feel to a lot of this album -- as if you were intent on proving you could still do it.
RD: Frankly, a lot of the intensity that comes through stems from us just trying to get as much done as we could. Looking back at Scott's record of sobriety over the past few years, we were trying to get through 25 or so songs, hoping we could come up with two albums' worth of material. Eventually, we ended up finishing about 14, including the 11 on the album.
bn.com: How has Scott's situation affected you personally?
RD: It's really painful to watch someone close to you lose control, and lose the desire to get control. It's like watching a wild animal scramble all over the place. But on the other hand, Dean [DeLeo], Eric [Kretz], and I have matured and learned to have lives outside STP. I'd let my career dictate my life for too long, and I've gotten over that.
bn.com: Most of rock's classic brother combos -- Ray and Dave Davies, Liam and Noel Gallagher -- have been noted for their sibling rivalry. Does that exist between you and your bandmate-brother Dean?
RD: Before we ever played together, we fought like hell, but since being in the same band -- not at all. Music has calmed the savage brothers.
bn.com: Dean is five years older than you. Did his influence help shape your musical tastes?
RD: I wouldn't be doing what I do if he hadn't played Led Zeppelin, ELO, Aerosmith, and all that for me when I was eight or nine years old. I was drawn to it instinctively, and got a handle on it, and by the time I was in my early teens, I knew I wanted to play.
bn.com: Did any of those early favorites have more of an impact than others?
RD: Not really. See, we had three generations living under one roof when I was a kid, so I'd listen to my mom's Louis Prima and Ella Fitzgerald records and get a lot out of them, and then listen to my older sister's Cat Stevens records and dig them too. Maybe I'm an old soul, but I always found myself looking back for inspiration.
bn.com: That mix-'n'-match approach shows up on some of the songs you wrote for NO. 4, such as "Sex and Violence."
RD: Well, that's in an open "G" tuning, which is a very Jimmy Page thing to do, and when I originally brought it in, it was in half-time. But it was just too hard to do it that way, so I doubled the time and it came out sounding vaguely punk, or new wave, really. I think that's the first time we've delved into that.
bn.com: So with things seemingly on hold, what comes next?
RD: Things being on hold is our normal state of affairs at this point, so it's not like we'll have to get used to that. When Scott gets out, we'll see what happens. It's actually not the worst thing in the world...at least this way we know where he is.
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