Frome Sonicnet.com With singer Scott Weiland professing his sobriety and fans singing along to hits from the band's three albums, Stone Temple Pilots united onstage for the first time in more than two years Tuesday night at the Viper Room.
During the 80-minute set, STP played one new song, "Down," along with plenty of hits for an audience that included two members of Semisonic, Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez, Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz and actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
"It's been two years and two months since this band has played together onstage," an especially talkative Weiland said after the band's knock-down rendition of their 1994 hit "Vasoline" (RealAudio excerpt). "And it wasn't all my fault. Not to get corny, but there are certain paths you take but they all reach the same destination. We took our paths and our paths converged again, all at this destination."
"The reason why you're seeing this band is because there are four members," Weiland, who was dressed in solid black, with sunglasses and a stocking cap that read "NYPD," which he later removed to reveal a bright red mohawk, said later. "This would not go on at all without all four original members. One person is not any better or important than the other."
While the singer fought a public battle with drug addiction over the last two years and released a solo disc, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz released an album under the name Talk Show. But with longtime producer Brendan O'Brien, the four are working together on a new album.
They've written 25 songs for it, Weiland said, but after some debate decided to play just one of them Tuesday.
That song, the resolute rocker "Down," arrived midway through the set. It began with a drum assault, then exploded into the band's staple hard-rock groove while Weiland sang lyrics that pivoted on the line, "Will you follow me down?"
"I lobbied to do another [new] song, but this band is a democracy and I was shot down," the singer said. Weiland -- who pleaded guilty a month ago to a heroin-possession charge in New York -- said Jagermeister shots might inspire his bandmates to play more new material, but he would abstain. He gets "wasted vicariously through other people," he said, in one of several references to his new sobriety.
STP opened the set with "Crackerman," from Core (1992), during which the ever-commanding frontman writhed about and alternately sang through a bullhorn and directly through his microphone.
Among the hits that followed were the Grammy-winning single "Plush," "Interstate Love Song" (RealAudio excerpt), and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart," each of which inspired a sing-along echo in the crowd. Introducing "Plush," Weiland said, "This next song is sort of the pinnacle ... for the time when we went from opening up for Megadeth to playing bigger shows than Megadeth."
STP stuck to their hard rock songs, staying away from the '60s-influenced ballads in their catalog. After they played "Sex Type Thing" (RealAudio excerpt), Weiland said, "We may not be the best rock 'n' roll band in the world, just the only one."
"I thought it was incredible, every song, every second," said one fan, Gina Leary, 25. "After this, you can't f---ing dare question it -- STP are back and ready to bring rock back in a big, big way."
Early in the show, Weiland proclaimed the gig a "benefit for Marilyn Manson's broken ankle" -- a reference to the injury the shock-rocker sustained during a performance here Sunday, forcing him to cut that show short and cancel three others. Addressing Manson bassist Ramirez, Weiland said he was bummed he only got to see five songs. "Not my fault," Ramirez yelled back.
From LAUNCH(http://www.mylaunch.com)
With his drug and legal problems apparently behind him, Scott Weiland is once again making the scene and working on new music with the Stone Temple Pilots.
Weiland, who was one of the celebrities in attendance for Hole's MTV special on Sunday (LAUNCH, 2/22), told LAUNCH that the band has been in pre-production on its fourth effort for four weeks, with between 25-30 songs vying for a place on the album.
"In some ways, it's kind of back to where we left off with the first and second albums," said Weiland, referring to the band's 1992 debut Core and its 1994 follow-up Purple, which have been certified for sales of 7 million and 5 million copies in the U.S., respectively. The band's third album, 1996's more diverse and experimental Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop, was a relative disappointment, certified for sales of 2 million.
Now sporting a black Mohawk, Weiland said that he and his STP bandmates had fun experimenting on their outside projects, but were ready to get back to basics. Given STP's multiplatinum history, Weiland's 1998 solo effort 12 Bar Blues and the 1997 self-titled effort by Talk Show, which featured Pilots Eric Kretz, and Dean and Robert DeLeo, were both commercial disappointments.
The DeLeos and Kretz formed Talk Show with former Ten Inch Men singer Dave Coutts after they became frustrated with Weiland's drug problems, which subsequently led to arrests in New York and Los Angeles (LAUNCH, 2/17).
Prior to the release of his solo album, Weiland vowed that STP was going to regroup in 1999. At the time, he revealed that the band was offered $500,000 to contribute a song to the Godzilla soundtrack, but balked due to prior commitments. Now, however, the band has apparently buried the hatchet that lead to the outside projects. "We're all getting along great," Weiland said. "There's no chemical distractions, just pure unadulterated personality."
With the new material, STP hopes to get back to its "roots" and what "first turned them on to playing," Weiland said. He added that the album, which he hopes will be ready for an early summer release, may also feature some semi-acoustic material, but "it's the heavy stuff that has us most excited."
In addition to releasing a new album, Weiland says the band also plans to tour in the summer, possibly as headliners on the second "Family Values" tour. "[Limp Bizkit frontman] Fred Durst and I have been talking about it, but it's really up to all of the members of the band. I think it would be a lot of fun." (Aside from working with STP, Weiland has also guested on recordings for the new Limp Bizkit album [LAUNCH, 2/5]).
Whether STP joins "Family Values" or launches its own tour, the band will have plenty of material to draw on. "It was difficult to pick songs from the three albums on our last tour and with four albums, I don't think it's going to be any easier," Weiland said. "The shows are probably going to be longer than two hours."
The singer added that he was a bit disappointed that his solo album failed to become a commercial success, pointing the finger at radio programmers that "like things in cookie-cutter shapes." Nonetheless, he added that he was proud of the album. "Some of my favorite albums of all time weren't initially commercially successful, but later were well thought of."
