WGRD’s Tommy Carroll recently conducted an interview with Stone Temple Pilots members Eric Kretz and Jeff Gutt.
On the making of Stone Temple Pilots’ latest, self-titled album:
Jeff: “It was a lot of work. But they put in the time in writing a lot of the stuff before I even got there. So it was kind of seamless, really. It just kind of fell into place and it was very organic and it was very real.”
On preparing for being the lead singer in Stone Temple Pilots:
Jeff: “There’s a lot of things that went into it. I won’t go into it all and bore everybody, but… there’s a lot that went into it. I had to figure out what my capabilities were and how to keep it STP and stay myself at the same time but still have that familiarity. And, obviously, they wrote the music, so it’s gonna sound like STP no matter what. But I could have came in and hacked it up, but thank God I didn’t.”
On what advice the other members of Stone Temple Pilots gave Jeff during the audition process:
Eric: “I don’t think we gave him any advice. For writing the new material, he was always on top of his game; stuff came out really quick. ‘Cause we’re writing all the time — someone comes up with a riff and we just jump on it and try a few changes. And he was really great at just jumping in with pseudo lyrics and just hopping in with great melodies and harmonies. So there really wasn’t any prepping. I mean, it’s not rocket science in a way; we just get up there, turn up, try to play great and not die in the process.”
On how much freedom Jeff had during the songwriting process for Stone Temple Pilots’ new album:
Jeff: “It was full freedom, but I felt the responsibility of making sure it was an STP record at the end of the day. ‘Cause my whole thing was helping them continue their journey. And I feel like it was less about me; it was more about honoring Scott [Weiland] and honoring Chester [Bennington] and everyone that has ever been involved in STP and making sure that it just kept going the way it should.”
