Stone Temple Pilots - Topic

Stone Temple Pilots are reborn on the band’s latest – Stone Temple Pilots (2018). It’s the group’s seventh studio album since its 1992 debut, but the first to feature new singer Jeff Gutt.

The band’s founding members — Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz — officially welcomed the Detroit native to STP last year after conducting an 18-month-long search for its third singer. Dean DeLeo says they wanted someone who had the vocal range to do the catalog justice, as well as the confidence and creativity to carve out a new path forward with the band. “We got our guy,” he says.

Soon after, the newly minted quartet assembled in Los Angeles with engineer Ryan Williams at Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz’s studios to begin writing and recording STP’s first album in eight years. Gutt moved quickly, crafting melodies and writing lyrics for tracks the band had finished, and collaborating with them on new music. Robert DeLeo says: “What impressed all of us is how he lets the song dictate his direction instead of the other way around.” Kretz adds: “The chemistry was there from the start…We ended up finishing 14 songs, which is the most that Stone Temple Pilots has ever recorded for an album.”

This year, STP will begin writing the next chapter in its storied career with a new album and the group’s first North American tour since 2015. “It feels so good to put the band back on the tracks, and we can’t wait to get out there and see all of you,” Dean says.