The Stone Temple Pilots are streaming the single, “Meadow” – featuring new singer Jeff Gutt – following his live debut with the group at an exclusive November 14 show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
A veteran of the Detroit music scene, Gutt (pronounced goot) has spent the last year writing and recording with founding members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz.
Available now via digital and streaming services, ”Meadow” will appear on the band’s as-yet-untitled album, which will be released next spring in conjunction with a North American tour.
The special invitation-only concert for SiriusXM listeners at The Troubadour – which featured the live debut of “Meadow” – marked the beginning of a new journey for the band, one that began last year when they launched a worldwide search for a new singer with whom to write, record, and tour.
“We wanted someone who would not only do our earlier songs justice, but would also write new songs and carve out a different path forward with us,” says Dean. “It took some time, but we found our guy.”
Before choosing Gutt, the trio received and reviewed about 15,000 submissions online before selecting more than 30 singers to audition in person with the group at Studio 606 in Los Angeles. Gutt sang with the band on the last day of auditions. Ironically, he was the only one who hadn’t submitted music online. Instead, he was invited after Robert DeLeo heard about Gutt after the bassist had played a show in Detroit with the Hollywood Vampires.
“Talk about a happy accident,” explains Robert. “It was clear right away that Jeff had the range to sing vocally challenging songs like 'Piece Of Pie' and 'Interstate Love Song'. But we soon discovered that he also has a great ear for melody and knew how to write a song.”
In September 2016, the four of them started working together and spent the next several months finishing off song ideas and writing new music.
“The chemistry was there from the start, and Jeff kept coming up with one great melody after another,” raves Kretz. “We ended up finishing 14 songs, which is the most that Stone Temple Pilots has ever recorded for an album.”
Gutt joins Stone Temple Pilots following the departure of Chester Bennington, who returned to Linkin Park in late 2015 before his passing a few months ago.
Bennington joined the lineup in 2013 after the group’s spilt with original vocalist Scott Weiland, who spent the next two years working on solo music and his group The Wildabouts before his December 2015 death at age 48 from an accidental overdose while on tour.
“No one will ever fill Scott’s shoes and I’m not trying to - he’s a legend,” says Gutt. “But these songs deserve to be performed and people want to hear them. I’m just honored that the guys chose me to help them continue to build this band’s legacy.”
See also:
Stone Temple Pilots to debut new singer at exclusive Hollywood club show
VIDEO: Stone Temple Pilots unbox 25th anniversary reissue of Core
Stone Temple Pilots stream unreleased song Only Dying
AUDIO: Stone Temple Pilots stream MTV Unplugged version of Wicked Garden
Search Stone Temple Pilots at hennemusic
