Stone Temple Pilots have announced their full rebirth with new frontman, former X-Factor contestant Jeff Gutt; after a blowout interview with Eddie Trunk on Sirius XM’s Volume and debut performance at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, STP rolled out their new single, “Meadow”, and have announced plans for a full studio album and tour in 2018.
Before becoming disillusioned with the music industry in the mid-2000’s, Gutt was actually the frontman of a Warner Bros. Records band, nu-metal act Dry Cell. Presumably an attempt at having another Linkin Park type success story for said label, Dry Cell’s online presence has mostly vanished after their permanent disbandment in 2010. Their studio album, Disconnected, is still on iTunes, while their contribution to the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, “Body Crumbles”, is their only available song on Spotify.
One of the band’s other recordings is, in fact, a cover of STP’s classic “Heaven & Hot Rods”, the second track on STP’s No. 4. Dry Cell recorded the cover for NASCAR’s 2002 Crank It Up compilation, and a live performance of the song can be found on YouTube, which you can view below.
Gutt has undoubtably come a long way as a vocalist, having abandoned the nu-metal sound of his old band and embracing a more soulful style.
New Stone Temple Pilots singer Jeff Gutt discussed his connection to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell in a new SiriusXM interview with Eddie Trunk. Alternative Nation transcribed Gutt’s comments.
“I was actually in a band called Dry Cell, which was on Warner Brothers around the same time as Linkin Park. That was how I knew Chester, that’s when I first met him, in 2001 when they first came out, and we were signed by the same guy.”
He later discussed singing “Hunger Strike.”
“I never wanted to a singer. I always wanted to be the guy on the side, I never wanted to have the spotlight on me. It always made me a little uncomfortable. But then I realized that I had this natural gift of- I think it’s more listening and being able to hear if you’re in pitch or not, it’s more of your ear than your throat, but I had that ability.
I was always the guy showing the singer which to sing, so at one point, strangely enough the first time I put the guitar down, and just sang and held the microphone in front of people, it was Hunger Strike. It’s crazy, because Chester and Chris Cornell had that version. That was the first time.”
Gutt also mentioned that he had ‘studied’ Scott Weiland, STP’s original frontman.
