Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo spoke to Billboard.com regarding a number of topics recently, including the band’s future plans and if they will be reissuing any of their other albums in the years to come. The group’s debut album “Core” will be getting a 25th anniversary deluxe edition on September 29th.
When asked if they are planning anniversary editions of other releases from their catalog, he responded:
“Absolutely. I think they deserve that. There’s so many demos, and the bare bones of how some of these songs came together musically. I’ve got so much stuff that I saved, and I think it’s gonna be fun going through one of the best musical parts of my life, that decade. It’s all about there in my garage, and it’s going to be interesting going through that.”
Regarding Stone Temple Pilots current status—the band held open auditions for a new vocalist in 2016—he offered:
“Dean and I are always writing music, whether it’s for STP or not. Hopefully we will find a singer who will be that guy, and represent what we want to do moving forward. I think there’s a lot of music to be made, still, and I think we all feel we want to continue — not only that, but also playing songs that we wrote 25, 30 years ago that mean a lot to me, and I think there’s people out there who want to hear those songs, too.”
He continued:
“When it all comes together it’ll come together. It’ll feel right and we’ll proceed forward. This is not an overnight decision. This is a series of getting together with someone and really figuring out what they are all about and if that’s right for us.”
Speaking of how the audition process went, he stated:
“It’s been very interesting. You get some interesting scenarios with people. There’s been some colorful people, I should say [Laughs] … Some of these people, they sing in their bedroom and their mom and dad tell ’em they’re great. Then they get into a room with a band that’s turned up to 10 and expect to lead the band. You can pretty much tell right off the bat that’s not happening with certain people. There are a lot of things to look at to really, really choose someone to move forward with.”
He also spoke of the recent passing of one of the band’s former vocalists, Chester Bennington—the late Linkin Park frontman who took his own life this past July:
“It’s sad, really sad. I lost a great friend. We’re part of the same community here. We took our kids to school and took our kids to baseball, and he was a great human being. He was there for us when we needed it. It’s hard to talk about him in the past tense, still. He was a really great person, and I miss him every day. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him and think about why he did what it did. Obviously it made sense to him, but I’m baffled by that. And always will be.”
For more from DeLeo including a stream of the MTV Unplugged track “Wicked Garden” from the set, head to Billboard.com.
