Weenie Roast 2010 Artist Spotlight: Stone Temple Pilots

The Stone Temple Pilots are back at it again with their new, self-titled album coming out May 25th and a spot on the Weenie Roast!

The band has definitely seen it’s fair share of up’s and down’s, but was one of the most notorious rock bands of the 90′s.

Don’t know STP? Click more.

Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo met in 1986 at a Black Flag concert in Long Beach, where the two began talking and realized they shared the same girlfriend. They both ditched the girl, and took over her abandoned apartment. The two formed a band with some of DeLeo’s friends, but eventually they were replaced by Robert’s brother Dean DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz. Their original name was Mighty Joe Young, but a blues singer already performed under that name. They then switched their name to Shirley Temple’s Pussy, but changed it again after pressure from the record label. They liked the initials STP and eventually settled with the name Stone Temple Pilots.

The band built up a fan base in the San Diego area, avoiding the “corporate” music scene of Los Angeles until their sound and technique had developed. In 1992, the group signed with Atlantic Records and released their first studio album, Core. The album reached #3 on the Billboard charts and contained a handful of radio singles. They toured heavily with Rage Against The Machine and Megadeth until they were able to land their own headlining tour in 1993. In January 1994, the band was voted “Best New Band” by Rolling Stone’s readers, although the magazine itself had labeled them as “Worst New Band.” Later that year they went on to win a Grammy Award for their song “Plush.”

During this time, the band was also recording their second album, Purple, which was completed in less than a month and released in June, 1994. The song “Interstate Love Song” sat at the top of rock tracks chart for fifteen weeks straight. Four months after it’s release, the album had sold 3 million copies. The band had continued success until 1995, when Weiland was arrested for drug possession in Pasadena. The band split up for a few months, but returned to recording later that year.

In March 1996, STP released their third album, Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop, but during their tour promoting the album, the band was forced to cancel the remaining shows due to Weiland’s continued drug use. He went to rehab for 5 months until he was released, but lasted only a few months until he checked himself back into rehab (forcing another canceled tour). The band then went on hiatus until 1999 and the release of No. 4, which produced the track “Sour Girl,” the band’s most popular to single to date. Soon after the album was released, Weiland again ran into trouble and was sentenced to a year in jail for violating probation.

The band released their fifth studio album, Shangri-La Dee Da, in the summer of 2001. They began writing material for a sixth album, but when Weiland and Dean DeLeo almost fought during the last show of their 2002 tour, the band separated. The group went on and did their own side projects until 2007, when Weiland’s wife helped settle differences between the band and Weiland. In 2008, the band went on a 65-date tour and began developing new material. By June 2009, they had almost 20 songs written. They canceled some shows at the end of 2009 in order to put the finishing touches on the album. The album, which is due out May 25th, features their first single “Between The Lines.”

STP is no stranger when it comes to KROQ shows. They performed at the Weenie Roast in 1993, 2000 and 2001, while performing at Almost Acoustic Christmas in 1994 and 2008.

Check out these photos from their breakfast with Kevin & Bean back in the day.

Kevin & Bean’s Breakfast With…