Live in Concert: Stone Temple Pilots

Image Credit: Matt Handle

Stone Temple Pilots will never be the same for me without Scott Weiland, but I got to see them in concert last night at The Masquerade in Underground Atlanta with their new lead singer, Jeff Gutt, and they rocked. Gutt does a fair imitation of Scott both vocally and in his stage presence and the rest of the band sounds as good as ever.

They played most of their early hits along with several songs from their new album. Highlights of the show included a sing-along to “Plush” and a melancholy rendition of one of Scott’s prettiest songs, “Atlanta”.

Clips below. Enjoy!

Vasoline

Meadow

Atlanta

Plush

Sex Type Thing

Pros and Cons of Stone Temple Pilots Picking Me

Image Credit: tookapic/Pixabay

My WIP remains in the hands of beta readers so with no literary progress to report, I thought I’d subject you to yet more Stone Temple Pilots ramblings. Last weekend I wrote about the band’s search for a new lead singer and mentioned that as unlikely a candidate as I might be, I fully intended to throw my rock and roll hat into the ring. With such an easy audition method (found here) and given how big a fan I am of the band, it seemed like too sweet an opportunity to pass up. Wednesday night I submitted three songs. According to some recent interviews, Dean and Robert DeLeo plan to personally listen to every audition. So even if I suck, two of my favorite musicians are going to hear me sing their songs. This is definitely cool.

Now, since I know I have some stiff competition, I thought I’d list some Pros and Cons for Stone Temple Pilots picking me. Every little bit of persuasion helps, right?

Con: Yes, I take drugs every night.

Pro: It’s only blood pressure medication.

Con: I have no practical experience whatsoever.

Pro: Without 20+ years of abuse, I can still hit those high notes. (I’m looking at you, Diamond Dave)

Con: I don’t have even a single tattoo.

Pro: Plenty of tattoo parlors all over town.

Con: I’m a little long in the tooth to be fronting my first real band.

Pro: I’m still younger than anyone else in Stone Temple Pilots.

Con: No one can ever replace Scott Weiland.

Pro: Chester Bennington already proved that point.

So there you go. It’s up to Dean, Robert, and Eric now. You know how to reach me guys!

The Next Singer for Stone Temple Pilots

Image Credit: Matt Handle

Scott Weiland died too young on December 3^rd of 2015. He’s joined a long list of great musicians that let their addictions get the better of them and now we’ll never hear any new songs featuring his distinctive voice. Best known for his work fronting the Stone Temple Pilots, the remaining members of the band, brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo along with drummer Eric Kretz posted what amounts to a ‘Help Wanted’ ad last night. They’ve invited vocalists to submit recordings of themselves singing along to free downloadable instrumental versions of some of their biggest hits so that they can find a new lead singer.

Could this wind up being a train wreck? Without a doubt. One immediately thinks of INXS picking up J.D. Fortune on the reality show Rock Star, Mark Wahlberg’s fictitious Izzy in the film of the same name, or Journey hooking up with a series of Steve Perry imitators. Not good.

But it’s impossible not to be intrigued. These guys are fantastic musicians. Their band has a large and loyal following of which I’m a member. It’s not their fault Scott died. And it’s not as if they haven’t already made music without him. They’ve done so several times. They cut albums with other singers in the 90s and 00s under the band names Talk Show and Army of Anyone. Most recently, they released an EP with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. No, none of those efforts compares to the best of STP, but none of them were bad either. All of them were substantially better than any of Scott’s solo records or his work with the Wildabouts or Art of Anarchy.

I’m betting thousands of wanna be rockers will submit their demos hoping for a shot at stardom. Most will probably be awful. Maybe one will turn out to be the real deal. After all, AC/DC replaced Bon Scott with Brian Johnson. Alice in Chains is still making new music with William DuVall who’s proved himself a capable replacement for Layne Staley. Sure, it’s easy to be a naysayer, but you never know.

Anyone that reads this blog regularly is probably aware that I’d kill for a shot at singing with STP. Do I think I’m likely to get the gig? Well, no. But you can bet I’m going to try out.