STP: ‘New days, filled with light’

Stone Temple Pilots, w/ Cage The Elephant, Fri. Sept. 3, 8 p.m., Borgata Event Center (One Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J.). Tickets: $75, $85. Info: www.stonetemplepilots.com, www.theborgata.com

Sometimes it’s difficult to have perspective. In the 1990s, Stone Temple Pilots racked up hit after hit and sold-out crowd after sold-out crowd, but it seems that the California band was a bit underappreciated, if not underrated. Caught squarely in the grunge movement — rightly or not — STP, to many listeners, was seen as just another band pushing the Seattle sound.

Twenty years later, however, the music can be judged without the contextual clutter of peer bands, rival bands or media hype. When you hear an STP song on the radio these days, you might just appreciate the band for what it was, and thanks to a recent reunion, what it is: a solid rock band with a sound that goes beyond any genre-based constraints.

“You gotta understand, man, we were in an era of grunge, and I think by our second record, I think a song like ‘Interstate Love Song’ or even ‘Plush,’ I think it was kind of showing this band wasn’t just grunge,” STP bassist Robert DeLeo told the Weekender last week from his hotel room in Pittsburgh, taking a break from doing laundry on a day off from tour.

While the band’s rise to stardom was notable, its fall — complicated by frontman Scott Weiland’s frequent drug problems —was devastating. All of it makes the band’s resurgence, which started with a 2008 reunion, culminated in a self-titled comeback album this May and continues with a tour that takes STP to The Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday, Sept. 3, that much more noteworthy.

WEEKENDER: STP is in its third year since reforming. Does it feel like the old days?

DELEO: It’s definitely not the old days, man (laughs). I wouldn’t want to go back to the old days. These are new days filled with a lot more awareness and knowledge, and a lot more light, I would say. A lot more family members for all of us. We kind of run on a different clock these days.

WEEKENDER: “Stone Temple Pilots” is your first album since 2001. Did you think there would ever be another album? How did you feel when the band broke up in 2003?

DELEO: I think at the time it happened, it was pretty shitty, and you just have that moving-on kind of attitude. I think it’s always that kind of thing where I don’t think it’s ever gonna (be) over. I think it’s like my relationship with my brother (STP guitarist Dean DeLeo): He’s my brother, and he’ll never stop being my brother. This is my band, and it’ll never stop being my band.

WEEKENDER: The new album wasn’t without its struggles, including a lawsuit with Atlantic Records. Atlantic also wanted to bring in an outside producer, and you resisted that and ended up winning that argument.

DELEO: Yeah, I mean it’s a natural thing for a label to say they want a huge producer, and I’ve been in that situation. It’s horseshit. I gotta say, I was probably the cheerleader in wanting to do this ourselves, and saying, “We can do this,” and it meant a lot to me.

WEEKENDER: So much has been said and written about Scott. How would you describe your relationship with him?

DELEO: You know, Scott and I have known each other the longest, and we have great love for each other. We’ve contributed a lot to each other’s lives over the years. I mean, Christ, I’ve known him longer than I’ve known my own wife! We go back a long time. We’ve been through a lot with each other. I think the interesting thing that I see now with everything is just because we’ve been through the same things, it doesn’t mean we handled it the same way, and that goes for everyone in the band.

WEEKENDER: Last week, Fuse TV’s blog posted footage of Scott falling from the stage at a show in Cincinnati. Because his vocals continued to be heard, there was some speculation that he was lip-syncing. (The footage did not show Weiland after he fell, until he reemerged and got back on stage, so it’s possible he was still singing while out of the frame.)

DELEO: This is such bullshit. It’s so funny, because first off, if anyone in this band was lip-syncing or faking it, I wouldn’t be up there. What happened was — I’m going to set the record straight here — there was a gap between the stage and the sub monitors. … Scott didn’t realize there was a gap there. I don’t know how he didn’t get hurt. He fell six feet off the stage in between the stage and the sub monitors. No one in the band saw what happened. We just saw him get back on stage. That’s the kind of makeup he has as a person. I can’t believe he didn’t get hurt.

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