Photo taken by Corey Hickok
New Stone Temple Pilots singer Jeff Gutt discussed Scott Weiland’s trademark megaphone in a new Detroit News interview.
The article states that on the new STP album, Gutt sounds a lot like Weiland, which he says is very natural. On stage with STP, Gutt has a slithery shuffle that mirrors Weiland’s, but he says it’s more of a homage than an imitation.
“There’s nothing preconceived, and I don’t go up there to do an impression of Scott,” says Gutt. “I try to feel the music as best I can, and if there’s little hints of Scott here or there, then I see that as a good thing.”
One thing he won’t do is sing through a megaphone, which was one of Weiland’s trademarks. “That’s sacred with him,” Gutt says.
A megaphone did play an important role in Gutt’s path to STP, however. On the day he received a phone call that he got the gig, Gutt was living in a house share in Los Angeles. He ducked into a laundry room to take the call in private, and as he was hearing the news, he glanced down at the floor and saw a megaphone sitting next to the washing machine.
“I felt like that was Scott’s way of giving me a little nod,” Gutt says.
