Stone Temple Pilots return (Farm Fur)

[Refugee 7]

People may be calling this summer’s Stone Temple Pilots tour a reunion. But that’s not the word guitarist Dean DeLeo would use.

“It wasn’t a breakup, man,” he said in a phone interview shortly before the mid-May start of the tour. “We were shoulder to shoulder for 14 years. And, you know, you start getting a little tired of one another’s routines, let’s just say.

“(Drummer) Eric (Kretz) put it quite simply last week,” DeLeo said. “He said ‘If somebody’s chewing his food too loudly, you hear that for 900 days over a few years and it starts getting to you.’

“It’s kind of funny. It sounds very trite. But it definitely wasn’t a breakup. It was a respite.”

So maybe it was inevitable that Stone Temple Pilots would resume its career. But as recently as 2007, it didn’t seem likely.

Singer Scott Weiland was firmly entrenched in Velvet Revolver, which also featured three former members of Guns ‘N Roses – guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum.

The group released “Libertad” last July, a popular follow-up to the group’s hit debut, “Contraband.”

The other three erstwhile Stone Temple Pilots members – DeLeo, his brother Robert DeLeo (bass) and Kretz – had joined forces with singer Richard Patrick from Filter in the band Army Of Anyone. That group, in early 2007, launched a tour in support of a strong debut album.

But as the year went on, there were rumors of tensions within Velvet Revolver. Army Of Anyone, meanwhile, fell off the radar after a winter run of shows, and by mid-year, the band was essentially finished.

What wasn’t known publicly was that, by the fall of 2007, the seeds for a Stone Temple Pilots reunion had been sewn.

It started with a phone call to Dean DeLeo from Weiland’s wife, Mary. She was involved in a private party and wanted to know if Farm Fur, a 12-piece band that included DeLeo and Steve Ferrone (the drummer with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) would play at the event. Before the call was over, she asked DeLeo if he wanted to speak to Weiland. Talk turned to the idea of Weiland singing with Farm Fur at the party.

“Scott was like, ‘Well, let’s do it,’” DeLeo said. “And I kind of said, ‘You know, man, I don’t know if that’s the best representation for you and I to get back together on stage after all these years.’ And he’s like, ‘You’re right.’ So we sat that one out. And we talked and stayed in contact. This is like nine months ago. A couple of months after that, the four of us were in a room together. A couple of months after that, we were in a room again with agents and lawyers, and a 65-date tour is spawned.”

The final hurdle was cleared at the beginning of April, when Weiland was officially dismissed from Velvet Revolver.

So Stone Temple Pilots was back up and running. The San Diego-based band debuted in fall 1992 with the CD, “Core,” and saw the album sell 7 million copies worldwide. They continued through four more albums, but it was a bumpy ride. Weiland’s much-publicized drug addiction resulted in multiple arrests and trips to rehab.

DeLeo didn’t express any bitterness that Stone Temple Pilots didn’t accomplish more in its first 14 years together. But he didn’t dispute that the band members think there is still unfinished business.

“I think we all felt that,” said DeLeo, who didn’t shoot down rumors that the band might record new music after the summer tour. “Robert said something -- he was doing an interview and I was sitting in on it. He said it so beautifully. ‘You know, STP is sort of like this unmade bed. It’s messy at times. It can be messy, but it’s warm and comfortable getting in it.’”

The first step, of course, is the summer tour, which De Leo suggested may include a few surprises in the band’s set.

“I think, to a lot of people, we have to play the songs that radio popularized, and there are a lot of folks out there who want to hear a lot of album tracks,” he said. “We want to make everybody happy without playing for four hours. We’re digging into some tracks that we really haven’t played live, seeing what works and what doesn’t work.”

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[Refugee 7]

I was so very fortunate to have been invited to a Farm Fur show a few years back. I met the De Leo brothers through Steve Ferrone. They are great guys and SO very nice!

I love Velvet Revolver, but I am so glad that Stone Temple Pilots are back together again.

[Echosoftom 3]

^ Me too Ref. You know I'd love to see them live, but I don't know where the hell I'd fit them in, lol. They have got some great songs. You're so lucky you got to hear the De Leo brothers do Interstate Love Song live. I LOVE that song!