Stone Temple Pilots

[FunkyMonkey]

Review of Rock On The Range...

Cold nights, tepid music

by John Petric / May 22, 2008

The Stone Temple Pilots reunion produced music that was just as their music has always been: dead on arrival, soulless, criminally derivative, stupid. The one saving grace was, perversely (for me), watching the phenomenally silly front man, Scott Weiland, dance in his dandy three-piece Italian suit and broad-brimmed fedora.

Weiland?s style of motion, I decided after much thought, is like a swizzle stick swirling in a toilet?s flush. Upright, pointy, mindlessly idiotic in terms of physicality. Then imagine the insane vibe of a Chihuahua running away with a hotdog stolen from a vicious redneck who purposely spiked it with methamphetamine. That?s Weiland?s onstage presence, physically and spiritually.

Anyone taking odds on his making it through the tour without relapsing? His therapist should consider that STP music?s rotten inner core just might be the cause of his constant substance-abuse problems.

Whatever. At Screw Stadium, the STP jukebox was on full-play Saturday night, and all the crap hits were farted forth, including ?Creep,? ?Plush,? ?Interstate Love Song,? ?Coma,? ?Sex Type Thing,? ad nauseam, and I do mean ad nauseam.

But you?ve got to hand it to guitarist Dean DeLeo. When he hit the instantly identifiable intro chords to ?Plush,? the thousands upon thousands upon thousands went berserk. You?d think it was the real Pearl Jam up there instead of a band that sounds so much like Pearl Jam.

And Soundgarden.

And Alice in Chains.

With a singer who looks like Kurt Cobain.

And has problems, just like all the troubled youth of Seattle who grew up emotionally stunted thanks to public education?s great post-modern self-esteem hoax.

Yet even Eddie Spaghetti Vedder would never have thought of such moronic lyrics as those of our little skinny Scotty?s: ?Where ya going to tomorrow?/Where ya goin? with the mask I found? And I feel, and I feel/When the dogs begin to smell her/Will she smell alone??

Ah, yes, indeed?will she smell alone?

The crowd united in singing the sad-sack lyrics. They sang ?em staggering around, they sang ?em sitting on the ground, they sang ?em arm-in-arm. The entire stadium united for a song. Oh, my, how moving. Bleeeeech!

One note here, somewhat unrelated. I was pleasantly surprised at how many Iron Maiden T-shirts I saw being worn by the kids. So all is not lost.

http://www.theotherpaper.com/top5-22/substory3.htm

[tim_m]

That critic is a moron.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

He had it in for them even before the first note was played, that was obvious.

[tim_m]

Yep thats quite obvious and they sound nothing like pearl jam. What is this guy smoking?

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Yep thats quite obvious and they sound nothing like pearl jam. What is this guy smoking?

That was an early criticism in their career when their sound was new and people were still used to hearing stratosphere high vocals from the mainstream metal scene.  Someone forgot to tell that 'journalist' it isn't 1992 anymore.

[LunsJail]

Review of Rock On The Range...

Cold nights, tepid music

by John Petric / May 22, 2008

The Stone Temple Pilots reunion produced music that was just as their music has always been: dead on arrival, soulless, criminally derivative, stupid.

Going in with that opinion it seems like he wouldn't have had to even see the show to write his review.

[Verse Chorus Verse]

Yep thats quite obvious and they sound nothing like pearl jam. What is this guy smoking?

And Scott looks nothing like Kurt Cobain. He looks like more of a guy that would be sitting in one of those art-y cafes.

[FunkyMonkey]

Yep thats quite obvious and they sound nothing like pearl jam. What is this guy smoking?

And Scott looks nothing like Kurt Cobain. He looks like more of a guy that would be sitting in one of those art-y cafes.

I think that was in reference to Scott's new hair...then again you might be right.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=stone+temple+pilots&c=&fr=&c=images

[FunkyMonkey]

In wake of Weiland's drama, Stone Temple Pilots keep it tame

By Bob Gendron | Special to the Tribune
    May 24, 2008

Stone Temple Pilots got off to a rough start Thursday at Charter One Pavilion, with technical problems causing the recently reunited rock band to perform the opening "Big Empty" amid several interruptions. Those challenges were the most eventful moments of an otherwise unexceptional 100-minute show notable for its extreme tameness and muted energy. So much for vocalist Scott Weiland's soap-opera dramas paying dividends onstage.

The frontman, who acrimoniously split from Velvet Revolver?the fading supergroup with which he never truly meshed?in late March, completed his latest rehab stint that same month. Less than two weeks ago, the singer reported to a California prison to serve a brief sentence handed down for a DUI offense. Weiland's drug and alcohol problems and his jail time have generated publicity, whether intended or not, for the second coming of his original band.

Touring with STP for the first time in nearly eight years, Weiland looked more comfortable than he ever did with Velvet Revolver. And well he should. He no longer shares the spotlight with fellow celebrity figures or stands in for another famous singer. Lurking in the shadows, guitarist Dean DeLeo and his bass-playing brother, Robert, provided the lanky frontman a feast of big hooks and glam melodies. While cribbed from contemporary and classic sources, tunes such as "Vasoline" and "Big Bang Baby" tapped into boogieing grooves and sticky refrains that testified on behalf of the quartet's multiplatinum success during the '90s.

Dressed in a black suit and wide-brim fedora, Weiland resembled a straw-haired scarecrow?particularly from afar, the perspective many in the near-capacity crowd were afforded because live-action video screens weren't used. The singer moved with pipe-cleaner flexibility, bending his arms and legs at awkward angles, and puffing on cigarettes as he leaned over speaker monitors. And while his falsetto dried up on "Lady Picture Show," one of a number of hits that recalled MTV's final power-brokering era, Weiland's gauzy tones and distorted vocal accents remained in good form.

Still, like a majority of reunion gambits, STP's current outing has the feel of a marriage of convenience. Taking nearly an hour to loosen up, the group struggled to register songs with conviction. Banter was limited. Dead time filled spaces. Ballads dragged. Short on basic chemistry, STP presently lacks the look and sound of a unit that's happy to be back together?let alone an act that's planning to make more music.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-pilots-ovn-0524.1may24,0,2665291.story

[GnFnR87]

my friend got VIP tickets to see them at the Mohegan Sun tommorow!! can't wait!! ill tell u guys about it when i get back.

[FunkyMonkey]

Stone Temple Pilots Still Looking For Its Place

By KENNETH PARTRIDGE | Special to the Courant
    May 26, 2008

As classic-rock radio programmers began incorporating '90s bands into their playlists, Stone Temple Pilots earned canonization, joining the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains.

Despite STP's impressive sales and still-growing fan base, some argue that the band is bland and derivative--unworthy of the lasting attention.

In light of that debate, the group's reunion tour, which stopped Sunday night at the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford, is more than just a cash-in or victory lap. It's an opportunity for STP to justify its place among the giants of its heyday.

Sunday's show -- a precursor to tonight's Mohegan Sun appearance -- found the band in full-on rock-star mode. Two of the four musicians took the stage wearing sunglasses, and lead singer Scott Weiland -- the embattled tabloid figure who spent the last few years fronting Velvet Revolver -- slithered out in a skin-tight white suit, pink tie, and crimson fedora.

The wardrobe, combined with the hard-rock bluster of "Wicked Garden," the second song of the evening, suggested critics have long had the wrong idea. Originally, STP was dismissed as a grunge rip-off, but Weiland wants to be Axl Rose, not Kurt Cobain. Why else would he have joined Velvet Revolver, which comprised three-fifths of the Guns N' Roses lineup?

What separates STP from a band like Guns N' Roses, however, is its inability to forge a signature sound. Weiland and brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo - -the guitarist and bassist, respectively -- have written some great songs, but most are their slower, more melodic offerings, such as "The Big Empty" and "Plush."

Both sounded good Sunday night, but some 10 years after their release, neither feels particularly transcendent or emblematic of its era.

On its faster and heavier songs, STP was less successful, blasting through a string of mostly unmemorable riffs and melodies. Weiland, to his credit, worked to elevate the music, returning the energy that, in a barely coherent bit of stage patter, he described as cyclical, flowing from the crowd to the band, then back again.

During the encore, the group shared the stage with two overjoyed youngsters it plucked from the audience. It was a sweet gesture, but it also served as a statement: Like it or not, STP is on its second generation of fans.

Plenty of '90s bands were more innovative, and perhaps for that reason, few will prove more persistent.

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/reviews/hc-stp-review-0526,0,6481500.story

[mrlee]

lol the critics really dont like these guys do they

[SLCPUNK]

Review of Rock On The Range...

Cold nights, tepid music

by John Petric / May 22, 2008

The Stone Temple Pilots reunion produced music that was just as their music has always been: dead on arrival, soulless, criminally derivative, stupid. The one saving grace was, perversely (for me), watching the phenomenally silly front man, Scott Weiland, dance in his dandy three-piece Italian suit and broad-brimmed fedora.

Weiland?s style of motion, I decided after much thought, is like a swizzle stick swirling in a toilet?s flush. Upright, pointy, mindlessly idiotic in terms of physicality. Then imagine the insane vibe of a Chihuahua running away with a hotdog stolen from a vicious redneck who purposely spiked it with methamphetamine. That?s Weiland?s onstage presence, physically and spiritually.

Anyone taking odds on his making it through the tour without relapsing? His therapist should consider that STP music?s rotten inner core just might be the cause of his constant substance-abuse problems.

Whatever. At Screw Stadium, the STP jukebox was on full-play Saturday night, and all the crap hits were farted forth, including ?Creep,? ?Plush,? ?Interstate Love Song,? ?Coma,? ?Sex Type Thing,? ad nauseam, and I do mean ad nauseam.

But you?ve got to hand it to guitarist Dean DeLeo. When he hit the instantly identifiable intro chords to ?Plush,? the thousands upon thousands upon thousands went berserk. You?d think it was the real Pearl Jam up there instead of a band that sounds so much like Pearl Jam.

And Soundgarden.

And Alice in Chains.

With a singer who looks like Kurt Cobain.

And has problems, just like all the troubled youth of Seattle who grew up emotionally stunted thanks to public education?s great post-modern self-esteem hoax.

Yet even Eddie Spaghetti Vedder would never have thought of such moronic lyrics as those of our little skinny Scotty?s: ?Where ya going to tomorrow?/Where ya goin? with the mask I found? And I feel, and I feel/When the dogs begin to smell her/Will she smell alone??

Ah, yes, indeed?will she smell alone?

The crowd united in singing the sad-sack lyrics. They sang ?em staggering around, they sang ?em sitting on the ground, they sang ?em arm-in-arm. The entire stadium united for a song. Oh, my, how moving. Bleeeeech!

One note here, somewhat unrelated. I was pleasantly surprised at how many Iron Maiden T-shirts I saw being worn by the kids. So all is not lost.

http://www.theotherpaper.com/top5-22/substory3.htm

Petric comes off as an intelligent version of MCT.

[GnFnR87]

awesome show!! holy shit, the arena was packed. highlights were Silvergun Superman, Lounge Fly, Coma, and Too Cool Queenie.

they opened with Big Empty and closed with Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart.

Fuck the critics, STP are a top notch live act. i really hope they record an album.

[LunsJail]

lol the critics really dont like these guys do they

I think it has to do a lot with lyrics.  Critics love songwriters who are saying something deep in their lyrics, especially if it's political.  STP's lyrics have never really been about much, in fact a lot of it just seems like nonsense.  That doesn't matter to me, I still think they're a rockin band.  But the critics aren't going to latch onto it.

[FunkyMonkey]

STP: A night of inevitable questions

By , Rick Koster       
Published on 5/27/2008

Scott Weiland has no one to blame but himself. As it was last summer, when he was fronting Velvet Revolver, Weiland's work Monday night in the Mohegan Sun Arena with the recently resurrected Stone Temple Pilots begged scrutiny. Can't be helped.

Did he just blow the lyrics?

And, when he just blew the lyrics, did his voice magically keep going? Is he lip synching?

Didn't he used to skitter across the stage like a waterbug on meth? The new Jagger? Wow, he sure seems slow ...

Is he bored?

Did even one word of that between-song banter make any sense?

You can regard these things as a sort-of performance surcharge you get when you buy a ticket to see Weiland, whose Pete Doherty-multiplied-by-Courtney-Love backstory causes even the casual fan to be constantly aware of the Screw Up Factor.

That said? - and indeed I asked all of the above questions during STP's otherwise invigorating 95-minute show - it was not possible to ignore and, ultimately, be taken away by the majesty and power of this band.

The fact is, as their ?greatest hits? recitation indicated Monday, this is a group with a stunning hard rock catalog. Brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo (guitar and bass/vocals respectively) and drummer Eric Kretz are at once a creative and flashy power trio as well as a truly great, dragon's breath rhythmic machine.

Song after song is characterized by glass-shard riffs, off-the-beaten-path chord meanderings, and concise rage - and in the Arena they seemed utterly jazzed to be back onstage together with the opportunity to revisit the material. The sound was a bit cottony and very loud, but you easily get the instrumental separation and appreciate the interlocking parts.

And the fragile front-weirdo Weiland, of course, with his ability to consistently write irresistible melodies and image-heavy, often witty lyrics, is the iffy glue that holds it all together. Part of any STP show (or Velvet Revolver, for that matter), is the anticipation of precisely how Weiland will deconstruct his wardrobe - and what that wardrobe is. There's never any question how he'll end up, shirtless and delivering a litany of classic rock star poses - as though modeling for an art school class assigned with making a statue of a slightly love-handled Dionysus.

At the start, the band took the stage before video screens (predominantly showing odd geometric patterns throughout the night) to kick the night off with ?Big Empty.?

They roared with glorious pomp through ?Vasoline,? ?Sour Girl,? ?Plush, ?Sex Type Thing,? ?Interstate Love Song,? ?Wicked Games,? ?Too Cool Queenie,? ?Silvergun Superman,? ?Lady Picture Show,? and several more. (They encored, by the way, with ?Dead and Bloated? and ?Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart.?)

I don't know the answer to some of the earlier questions about Weiland - his voice lacked power at times and was he in fact using backing tracks? - but, in the end, it was enough for now to enjoy the show and breathe that sigh of relief. Scott made it through another gig. From here on, it's always going to be something to worry about.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=f75e87a3-9be2-4db3-85e8-ddd4cae89bc9

[sexkitten]

awesome show!! holy shit, the arena was packed. highlights were Silvergun Superman, Lounge Fly, Coma, and Too Cool Queenie.

they opened with Big Empty and closed with Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart.

Fuck the critics, STP are a top notch live act. i really hope they record an album.

I went to this show as well...it was amazing and really intense! I hate to say this, because I loved VR, but STP is where Scott belongs...he's so much more at ease.  The show rocked!  I would highly recommend seeing them this summer if you can.

[FunkyMonkey]

Five questions with Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo

May 29, 2008

It was easy to figure the Stone Temple Pilots wouldn't be gone forever. Even as vocalist Scott Weiland embedded himself with Velvet Revolver, and the DeLeo brothers with the lesser-profile Army of Anyone, it never quite felt like STP's 2002 split was permanent. Sure enough, the '90s hit-makers are back on the road, having kicked off a summer tour last week in Columbus, Ohio. Bassist Robert DeLeo, 42, says spirits are high for a group that once endured plenty of internal strife even as it embraced an us-against-the-world attitude. The band's Fillmore Detroit visit is one of the spring's biggest rock stands: Tuesday's and Wednesday's concerts are sold out. (Some tickets may become available before each night's show.)

Question: Your brother (guitarist Dean DeLeo) once told me that being in STP was like being in a "bipolar world" -- constantly up and down, up and down. Is that any different at last?

A: It hasn't changed a bit. I think that's one of the things that will always be there. There's a certain aspect of this band that's kind of like an unmade bed, you know. It's a mess, but you find a way to crawl back in it at the end of the day. Maybe that's the thing that keeps it interesting.

For me, going back into this was something I really needed to look at and think about. It's a matter of how I personally handle it and deal with it. But let's face it, man, I can think of a lot worse things to be doing with my life. And I owe it to myself to go out and have a great time this summer, and not let anything affect me. I feel very, very, very fortunate to be in the position I'm in, to come back six or seven years later and have people still give a (damn). I don't take it for granted.

Q: Did a reunion feel inevitable as the years went on?

A: I think enough time needs to go by to kind of heal things. And realistically, when the clock is ticking -- I don't want to be up there at 55 doing "Dead and Bloated." (Laughs) But I think this band is still capable of doing what we did 15 years ago just as good if not better now. We owe that to a little wisdom, a little sobriety and a little more focus. There's not that pressure of pleasing the record company and hitting the charts, because there's no new record.

Q: What thoughts went into the tour's set list?

A: You can imagine that first week of rehearsal and there's five records' worth of material to go through. We're pretty set on doing stuff we haven't done in a long time, even never done at all. There's a lot of stuff to sift through to see what holds up.

One of the things I do find is that musically there are a few things there that make me say, "Eh, I don't know if I'd do it that way today," but so much of it still holds up. At the time we had enough inside of us to know we wanted to write songs that would stand the test of time. That was merely because we're huge fans of music. I think about the songs I listened to when I was 5 that I can still listen to now at 42. There's a reason we did what we were doing, because we grew up on great music. In a way, it's not creating anything new -- it's really just trying to pass that along.

Q: The critics were not always kind to STP in the beginning, perhaps unfairly so.

A: That's the thing that made us lose focus, the fact that there was so much negativity surrounding this band. When that's around you, how can you move on with a positive note sometimes? But there was also an aspect of that that made us say (screw) it -- we're going to make our second record the way we want. And that was as big as our first record. The songs on there really showed where we were at the time. Looking back on that, sticking by our guns and coming out with a record like "Purple" -- that's what I'm proud of. Even if that record had sold 10 copies, I'd be telling you the same thing.

There's a point where you're thinking, "How valid can that criticism really be?" They're going to say what they're going to say. They said that about Led Zeppelin, said it about Dylan. They've got to write something.

Q: Your songs are still a staple on rock radio. Which of the older hits stands up best for you?

A: It's pretty amazing. I certainly never take that for granted. If you'd have told me that when I was 10 or 15 years old, I'd probably have laughed. When I was younger, I'd have only wished to create music that would stand the test of time. When I hear Aerosmith come on, then us, then Led Zeppelin after it, I'm pretty humbled by that.

I always have a really huge place in my heart for "Interstate Love Song." I don't know if "best" is the word, but it's right up there with the best songs I've written. When we were getting knocked for being a grunge band, that certainly wasn't a grunge song. That's a soul song, an R&B song. It's based around a lot of what I grew up hearing out of Detroit. James Jamerson is my favorite bass player, and the big underlying root of that song is Motown and funk. If that song defines Stone Temple Pilots, then that's enough to make me proud.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/ENT04/805290401/1039/ENT

[D]

Motley Crue use backing tracks also and I find that to be horribly lame

That being said, Id love to see STP live

They arent comin near me though as far as  I know.

[Gunner80]

Motley Crue use backing tracks also and I find that to be horribly lame

That being said, Id love to see STP live

They arent comin near me though as far as  I know.

Motley have to there's only four of them up there.