Where the river goes: Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots will play Asheville Dec. 13.
File photo
With the untimely passing of founding member and longtime lead singer Scott Weiland in 2015, and the tragic death of replacement singer Chester Bennington (originally of Linkin Park) in 2017, the Stone Temple Pilots were at a crucial crossroads with one question in mind — pack it all up and shake hands goodbye or push ahead, hell or high water.
They chose the latter, kicking off a worldwide search for the next front-man of one of the most beloved and successful acts in rock history. They scoured the globe. Thousands of submissions. Hundreds of demos listened to. Dozens of possible leads brought into the studio to jam and see if everyone gelled.
And yet nothing came of it. Either the submissions sounded too much like Weiland or Bennington, or the demos sounded like nothing in the same ballpark as what STP is all about — this hardscrabble Detroit attitude a la the MC5 meets California psychedelic rock.
The surviving members of STP — brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert (bass) DeLeo and Eric Kretz (drummer) — were riding a razor-sharp line between paying tribute to the legacy of their storied band and its slew of hits, and also avoiding becoming the thing they dread the most: a nostalgia act.
None of the members wanted to step onstage and just “play the hits” like some kind of “Groundhog Day” scenario. They wanted to sprinkle in the classics alongside whatever they’d been working on or planned to work with whoever would fill the enormous void left behind by Weiland and later Bennington.
By 2017, just as all hope was beginning to be lost, a chance encounter sparked a wild chain of events. On tour with the Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper, Joe Perry of Aerosmith and actor Johnny Depp), Robert DeLeo was backstage in Detroit, Michigan, when it was mentioned that STP should bring popular local singer Jeff Gutt in for an audition.
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The DeLeo’s and Kretz called Gutt in, with the audition coming together seamlessly — in the studio and at Gutt’s coronation onstage as the new lead singer of STP at The Troubadour nightclub in the heart of West Hollywood, California, on Nov. 14, 2017.
Gutt could hit the high notes and had that crooning ability that was so signature to Weiland’s sound and presence, and also the howling rage brought to the surface by Bennington’s tenure — the ideal foundation on which STP could build moving forward.
In March 2018, STP released a self-titled album, its debut with Gutt, which was followed by “Perdida” (2020). Since then, The Smoky Mountain News caught up with Dean DeLeo. He spoke of the living, breathing legacy of STP and what’s to come in this next, bountiful chapter of one of America’s great rock bands.
Smoky Mountain News: With Scott and Chester, what kind of clarity — in the grand scheme of things — have you found in recent years?
Dean DeLeo: I have no clarity on any of that. I’m, on a daily basis, scratching my head over those two gentlemen. I think of those guys every day. And there’s things I remember from each one of them that are the fondest, dearest, sweetest memories in my heart. I’m scratching my head and really sad.
SMN: Do you think you’ll ever make peace with it?
DD: I don’t know, man. I don’t know. It’s a big loss. I was very intimate with both of those guys, and I hope people can realize what I mean by that. I’m talking when you get in a room with somebody and you’re sharing music. And you’re really allowing yourself to be so vulnerable. There’s plenty of times I came in with a song and I think, “This is like the best thing I’ve done so far.” And somebody could say, “I’m not feeling that.” [Laughs]. And you kind of have to rise to the occasion and move on. And respect that, you know? So, you’re very vulnerable and it’s a very intimate situation when you’re sharing and writing music together. It is for us, anyway, So, yeah, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that, man. I don’t know. Because they were two great losses in my life, and I know for many others as well.
SMN: What’s surprised you most about getting older? Are you having any full-circle moments lately or maybe a rebirth in your thought process with the band?
DD: The music’s still the same, you know? We still love to get one another off, to just go in [a room] and make a ruckus. Personally, where it’s really changed a lot, is thinking of the hours that I used to spend just sitting around listening to music. Just laying around listening to music. I don’t have time for that, man. I don’t want to do that anymore ‘cause I want to be with my kids. I want to be out in the mountains. I want to be hiking. I want to go to the beach. I want to just be with my kids, whether we go to the movies or whatever. That’s where my real joy is — to be with my wife and kids.
SMN: I recently saw a picture of you with [the late guitarist] Wayne Kramer [of the MC5]. And I was curious about what that band means to you, in terms of their influence and attitude that they presented, and [in reference] to what STP has always been doing.
DD: Man, that band meant a lot to us, and on every level. [MC5 lead singer] Rob Tyner used to make all his clothes. I mean, just everything about that band, from the attitude, from the ferocity, from the style, from everything about it. It just oozed sex and love and violence. It was just everything. It had everything. And it just meant a lot to us. They were one of the greatest rock-n-roll bands ever, and we’ll never see the likes of that again, I don’t think. People might allow it, but I don’t know that technology will allow it.
SMN: What the biggest joy for you these days, in terms of not only the band still being relevant, but also vital and still creating?
DD: Well, I know what I’m sitting on, musically speaking. And I know what Robert has. There’s a lot left. We just love making music. And we love being able to share it with you. And I got to tell you, I don’t want to claim ownership on this thing. You know, this [music] belongs to all of us. This is all of ours. I just want us all to really have it be a place where we can completely dip our minds and find every emotion in it. And if we just get to do that, then that makes me feel good, man.
SMN: What has a life creating and performing, touring the world and interacting with people from all walks of life, taught you about what it means to be a human being?
DD: Well, it’s a lot better to be a human being than a human doing. A human being just being, you know? It’s so easy for us to get into the human doing — “I have to do this, I have to do that.” A human doing and a human being are at each end of the spectrum. And I haven’t quite figured it out, but there are times in my day or in my week, where I get to experience to be simply a human being. And when that lines up for me? That’s pretty fulfilling.
Want to go?
The 33rd annual “Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam” will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, in the ExploreAsheville.com Arena at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.
The lineup will include Warren Haynes & Friends, Stone Temple Pilots, MJ Lenderman & The Wind, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Maggie Rose, Edwin McCain, “A Very Special Xmas Jam Tribute to Phil Lesh” (featuring Haynes, Grahame Lesh, Jimmy Herring, John Molo and Jason Crosby) and more.
As well, “Christmas Jam By Day,” which overtakes Asheville venues throughout the afternoon of Dec. 13 will also return. Featuring a wide-array of local and regional artists, participating venues include the Asheville Music Hall, The One Stop and Jack of the Wood.
Proceeds from the event will once again go to Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity and BeLoved Asheville. For more information, a full schedule of acts and/or to purchase tickets, visit xmasjam.com.
