Far From Scott-Free

11/12/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Don Kaye

"It was quite a week, man," says Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo about the seven days that culminated last Aug. 13, when his friend and bandmate Scott Weiland was sentenced to a year in prison for parole violation. "We went from the elation of rehearsing that week and doing a show at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas on Aug. 12, and being a band and doing what we love to do, to sitting in the courtroom the very next day and watching Scott being taken away by a 200-pound bailiff. You can imagine how crazy that is."

For anyone who's followed the trials and tribulations of Stone Temple Pilots and their drug-embattled lead singer Weiland, those few days could have encapsulated the band's schizophrenic career. Critically derided upon the release of their 1992 debut album, Core, the Pilots went on to become one of the biggest bands of the last decade even as naysayers wrote them off as grunge wannabes. Acclaim finally began to seep their way with the band's next two albums, Purple and Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop, which established a more idiosyncratic pop/ rock style as the band's signature sound.

But even as STP became a force to be reckoned with, Weiland was becoming as big a poster child for crack and heroin addiction as Alice In Chains' MIA frontman, Layne Staley. In and out of jail and rehab for various drug-related offenses, Weiland's antics caused an implosion that forced the rest of STP to form a side-project called Talk Show, while he floundered through a solo album and tour that was cut short by yet another drug arrest. STP regrouped to cut a new album earlier this year, and things seemed to finally be back on track, until one last Weiland parole violation--failing to appear for a drug test--tried the patience of L.A. Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler one time too many. The singer was sentenced to a year behind bars at L.A. County Jail's Biscailuz Treatment Center. Weiland was in jail when STP's fourth album, No. 4, was released.

While most bands in similar predicaments would probably choose to stage a press blackout (see Alice In Chains again), STP decided to face the music. "I've got nothing to hide, man," DeLeo says bluntly. "Scott was very noble about the entire situation. He was willing to accept his responsibilities that led to this. He's not in there with a grudge going, 'That f--king judge,' or what have you. He knows why he's there. He's accepting his punishment. I'm quite positive he's not enjoying it in there, but no one was mortified when the gavel hit the bench.

"Me having to talk on [Scott's] behalf sucks," admits the 38-year-old guitarist, who co-founded the band nearly 10 years ago with his brother, bassist Robert DeLeo. "I don't enjoy it at all. I would love for him to be here. But he's woven his web and he put himself where he's at."

Despite Weiland's ups and downs, DeLeo is adamant that his bandmates will stick behind their singer and await his release, which could come as early as February. "Absolutely, man. It's a really beautiful thing that the four of us share. I can't quite explain it, and I don't think I can ever duplicate it. But Scott's lifestyle has kind of become a way of life for the band. I don't allow that stuff in my personal life, it's just how the band works. It took a while for Robert and Eric [Kretz, drummer] and I to come to grips and not react in a way where we were like, 'That f--kin' a--hole.' Everything starts with love and support, as opposed to just a wall going up between us."

DeLeo frankly admits that the band was on its thinnest ice when Weiland split to record his solo album, 12 Bar Blues, while the short-lived Talk Show was created by the other three members and singer Eric Coutts. Neither project fared well. "Things were really, really bad between Scott and us. I think at that particular time in our lives, if either party would have had success, they would have been delighted to tell the other to f--k off."

To the relief of Stone Temple Pilots fans, that didn't happen. With Weiland continuing to attempt to get his life in order, the quartet reconvened with regular producer Brendan O'Brien to cut No. 4 last spring. A sort of celebration of their three earlier efforts, No. 4 captures, at different moments, the crunch of Core, the psychedelic rock of Purple, and the garage-pop vibe of Tiny Music, sometimes within the space of one song. "It's just the way it went," muses DeLeo about the musical direction taken on No. 4. "The only thing any of us really think about is trying not to repeat ourselves. If I was a painter and kept painting the same picture, how credible would I be?

"Tiny Music was recorded at a house. This one, we really wanted to go hi-fi. We recorded at some beautiful studios in L.A. Last time, we did things in closets, bathrooms, everything was live, nothing was isolated, and if you listen on headphones, you can hear bleedthrough on the drum mics all over the place."

No. 4 sounds rough in spots--the sound of four musicians finding their way together again--but it's clear that the band's often overlooked ability to coat simple, effective melodies with hard-rocking shells is still intact. "It comes extremely easy to us," agrees DeLeo. "There's four very talented guys, four proficient writers, there's never a shortage of material. Everybody comes to the table with at least eight to a dozen songs. I'd love to be able to tell you there was some magical, mystical thing, but it isn't."

STP has tentative plans to tour this spring, if Weiland gets out of jail and is in good health, and it seems certain that there will still be fans wanting to see them. As for the grudging critical acceptance that has slowly but surely come their way, DeLeo is more than a little proud of his troubled yet resilient band: "I just knew it was a matter of time. Anybody who has a great amount of success like we had on our first record, all of a sudden, you're wearing a target on your shirt. You look at bands who've had that kind of success, and it kind of happens to everyone. That's really all it was. I don't want to sound pompous in any way, man, but I feel our musical contribution to this decade has been vital. I really do."