Smashing Pumpkins’ 2015 and 2016 touring bassist Katie Cole recently covered Stone Temple Pilots’ classic “Big Empty.” Cole tweeted that Dean DeLeo called her to say he enjoyed the cover. Robert DeLeo tweeted Cole, “Hi Katie.. What a beautiful rendition of Big Empty. Lovely work. Much Love, Robert.” Katie recently joined STP onstage in Nashville to perform the song.
She wrote on Instagram about the performance, “I cannot thank @stpband @stprobertdeleo @jeffreyadamgutt , Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz enough. This was a bucket list performance for me. I’ve been a Stone Temple Pilots fan for years. Saw a few friends in the audience. What an incredible experience. ⚡️?⚡️
***this experience happened as the band saw my cover of “Big Empty” on youtube and they reached out to me to tell me. I told them i lived in Nashville, they said they were playing a show and would i want to play that song. Like everything in my life… i quickly respond with “yes”.
#grateful #nashville #stonetemplepilots #bigempty #singersongwriter #guitarist.”
Kyle Meredith of Louisville’s 91.9 WFPK radio station recently interviewed new Stone Temple Pilots singer Jeff Gutt.
“It was their decision at the end of the day [to keep the band going]. It’s not like I decided to continue the Stone Temple Pilots. But the fact that they wanted to do that… And they hadn’t found the guy yet. I was overseas when they started their whole search [for a new singer], and when I got back, they still hadn’t found anyone. I was, like, ‘Man, [what about] me?’ That’s kind of what I thought to myself. ‘Cause I’m, like, ‘I can do that.’ If they’re gonna do it, it was important to me that it was done right too — as a fan.
That’s why I understand the people in the back [who watch the show] with their arms crossed, ’cause I would have been one of those people. So all those things went into making the record, and how to approach the stage — all those things went into that. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to feel the music and be free — as free as possible. Because that’s the thing that I learned most from Scott and that I envied the most — he was just so brave and free. There was no fear. I envied that in him. So I just to bring that.”
