Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo Discusses The Band's Rebirth, New Self-Titled Album and Singer Jeff Gutt

Stone Temple Pilots highly-anticipated, self-titled album will be released this Friday, March 16. It marks the band’s first collection of new material with their new lead singer, Jeff Gutt.

The album features songs like “Meadow” and “Never Enough”, both of which channel the guitar grit and swaggering rhythms the band first perfected on their monster 1992 debut—Core—while tracks like “Roll Me Under” glide along with nimble bass lines and massive choruses.

Guitar World recently spoke to Dean DeLeo about the new Stone Temple Pilots album, touring, gear and more in this new interview.

How does the new album relate to some of  Stone Temple Pilots’ previous work?

I like to think that everyone’s playing has evolved with this record. Everyone has evolved into a new place and has gotten better. Robert [DeLeo, the band's bassist] actually said something about the album recently that was beautiful. He said, 'This record breathes resilience.'

How did Jeff Gutt get on the band’s radar?

Robert was doing a gig in Detroit [where Gutt is from] with the Hollywood Vampires. After the show, someone came up to him and mentioned that he needed to check out this singer. So, after Robert got home, Jeff came out and played with us. He was one of the last five people we auditioned over a very lengthy period of time.

I think for Jeff, he wants to honor our catalog with the utmost dignity and respect, and he does just that. For us, we’re just as thrilled about delving into this new material with him. He's an extraordinary singer and we've very fortunate to have met one another.

What’s the writing process like for Stone Temple Pilots?

For us, it's always music first, and the thing that’s beautiful about it is that there are