The Name Still Means Nothing But the Reunited Band Means Business
By Andrew Clayman
Published (with edits) in The Cleveland Scene, August 2010
Dating back to the days when 107.9 WENZ (in its alt-tastic ‘90s incarnation as “The End”) used to spin “Plush” roughly three times an hour, rock listeners have heard the tale of how Stone Temple Pilots got their name. “Stone Temple Pilots doesn’t mean anything,” frontman Scott Weiland purportedly claimed. He and his bandmates simply liked the initials “STP.” At the time, this was just an innocuous factoid, easily ranking among the least interesting anecdotes in rock history. Fifteen odd years later, however, it manages to encapsulate a good deal of the criticisms this band has spent its whole career fending off--- namely, that STP puts style over substance, and beyond that, substance-abuse over style. To put it another way, they didn’t “mean anything.”
Skimming over the fact that this was never actually true at all, STP has re-emerged in 2010 with their first new album in nine years-- the solid, straight-forward, aptly-titled Stone Temple Pilots. For those expecting a bold new direction or a desperate Hail Mary pass for that long overdue critical respect, it’s safe to assume you were never a real fan to begin with. After all, the best-kept secret about STP has never been Weiland’s drug problems or the influence of Pearl Jam (or influence on Pearl Jam as some devotees will claim). It’s the quality of the songs-- from the understandably overplayed likes of “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song” to the undeniable pop triumphs of “Big Bang Baby,” “Sour Girl,” and the supercharged new single, “Between the Lines.” The Pilots are never groundbreaking, rarely deep, but always good.
“I think this time we were dead on,” says drummer and founding member Eric Kretz. “We definitely wanted to make more of a rock record than, say, an art record. …Going into this, we realized, ‘hey, we haven’t had an album out in eight or nine years.’ So we kind of thought, ‘what would STP fans really want to hear right now?’ That led us to more of a straight ahead rock approach, with harder elements and songs that are more concise and in your face.”
Kretz is basically admitting that STP reconvened to make an intentionally commercial record, and when one considers that guitarist Dean DeLeo supposedly coaxed the ever-troubled Weiland back into the fold with the line, “Hey, want to make a million dollars?,” the motivations are crystal clear. Still, it’s important to consider that no member of STP would look at you and claim otherwise—a fact that further separates them from other far more critically-beloved “alternative” acts on their own cash-grabbing reunions this summer (including Pavement, who famously slagged off STP in their 1994 song, “Range Life”).
As for the touring side of things, Kretz agrees with what Weiland has already freely stated—that the party is over, and it’s all about “business.”
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, we all have kids,” Kretz says. “When you’re touring in your 20s, you can just completely abuse yourself and get right back up there and do it again. Whereas now, I’m in my 40s, I can’t really do that anymore. It just hurts too much to abuse myself and try to play a great show the next day [laughs].
“Back when we were touring the Core album (1992), we had an opening stint with Megadeth. And I remember doing 14 shows in a row in the middle of February, around like Iowa and North Dakota. I mean, that’s just not something that I could probably muster anymore, especially playing two-hour sets like we do now.”
On the bright side, advancing maturity has also helped STP finally push the sex and drugs aside for the rock n’ roll, allowing their live show to come together quite smoothly despite that long hiatus through most of the Aughts (a period highlighted by Weiland’s predictably tumultuous run with the gents from Velvet Revolver). Like the new record, the live focus is firmly on pleasing the fans, as Kretz hints that the band has been rehearsing some old songs they “haven’t played live in probably 15 years.”
Meanwhile, perhaps as a testament to STP’s lasting appeal—or the fact that “Plush” is still played three times an hour on one rock station or another—the band’s fans continue to include plenty of young faces mixed among those aging Gen-Xers.
“It’s really great,” Kretz says. “We see quite a few teenagers and sometimes even younger kids who are there with their parents. It kind of makes you wonder, was STP a baby machine? [laughs] You know, when people saw us 14 years ago, were they so excited that night that they went home and created some new fans to come and see us years later?”
And thus the circle of life continues for one of America’s most successful and yet oddly underappreciated rock bands. From Kretz’s perspective, he knows all too well that the “grunge era” and Weiland’s tabloid shenanigans have cast long shadows over STP’s stellar output. But he also sees a silver lining.
“I would say it bothered me more in the past—having to talk about Scott’s problems, in particular. But, you know, he’s doing really good right now. So, it’s a lot easier to talk about it now, as opposed to when things are on the downswing. Then, it’s just… [exaggerated exhale]. In the end, though, it’s all just part of our history, and in some ways, it could play a role in why the music is better than some other bands. It’s part of our struggle.”
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