Former Screaming Trees and Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin recently discussed contributing to Stone Temple Pilots’ “Atlanta” on Pearl Jam Radio on a special promoting his new book The Singing Earth. “Atlanta” was the closing track on Stone Temple Pilots’ 1999 album No. 4.
“Immediately after working on the Queens of the Stone Age Rated R album, I got a call from the producer Brendan O’Brien, who seemed to be producing every cool band from the 1990’s and early 2000’s. He was currently producing the fourth Stone Temple Pilots album in Los Angeles, and they needed a marimba on a song called ‘Atlanta.’
The marimba is a lot like the vibraphone, except they are wooden and they sound very African. In fact, it is originally an African instrument.
The song ‘Atlanta’ is a gorgeous song, complete with a string arrangement and it really features the beautiful vocals of Scott Weiland, who, like so many others, left this world much too early. I like to remember Scott through this beautiful song, and I especially love the ending where his whistling trails off into my marimba solo.”
