WEBVTT - Stone Temple Pilots 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:05.840 My Heart Radio Presents Inside the Studio, I'm your host, 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:17.560 Joe Levy. This time out, I got to catch up 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.000 with Robert de Leo and Eric Kretz, the bassist and 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:26.560 drummer from Stone Temple Pilots. We talked about their latest album, Prodita, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:31.440 a mostly acoustic collection that's both a continuation of their 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.320 music and something of a departure. And we also talked 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:39.000 about the painful loss of two of their lead singers, 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.360 Scott Wiland and Chester Bennington, and how the band found 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.519 a way forward. We got into the connection between the 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:52.240 Stone Temple Pilots and the Carpenters, which I guess wasn't 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.840 a complete surprise for me, but went way way deeper 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.160 than I would have imagined. I spoke with Robert and 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.720 Eric on a rain Tuesday in early March. It was 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.000 rainy in New York, not in l A, where they were, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:09.080 but it's definitely a day I remember clearly, because for 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.160 one thing, it's the last time I was on the 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.440 subway in New York. By the next day, like a 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.840 lot of you, I had started working from home where 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.120 I'm recording this introduction, And these are strange times, and 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.399 it's just about every other email you get tends to 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.440 put it. I hope this finds you well. It's a 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.000 time when everything seems to be up in the air, 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:37.520 and that goes double if you're touring musician. When I 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.120 spoke with Robert and Eric, they were just about to 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.520 start a tour of Australia alongside some other nineties rock 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.520 radio heroes Bush and Live, but things were just beginning 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.080 to shut down at that point, and so those tour 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:58.240 dates had to be rescheduled for next year. While Stone 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.480 Temple pilots hope that they're plans to tour the US 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.520 this summer are going to hold, it's hard to say 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.440 what the future will bring. Most musicians make their living 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.480 on the road, so most musicians are in a really 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.720 difficult spot right now. I'm sure a lot of you 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.320 guys are too, And this is a time when we 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.720 really need to take care of each other, which means 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.800 being careful, staying healthy, washing your hands like your soap 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.320 has the winning ticket of a scratch off lottery hidden 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.519 inside it. But it also means that if you're a 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.640 music fan and you can swing it, maybe think about 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:40.080 supporting the music you love. However, you can me personally 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:46.200 my band T shirt supply has been growing very steadily. Okay, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.520 so that's my public service announcement. Let's get back to 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:54.360 Stone Temple Pilots and when they first emerged in and 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.760 songs like Plush and Creep began to dominate the radio, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.360 the band was dismissed as grunge pppycats by the sort 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:06.040 of rock purists who also initially dismissed Pearl Jam is 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.519 a major label Nirvana clone. I mean in I knew 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.880 a guy who was absolutely obsessed with proving that Pearl 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:18.320 Jam had been assembled boy band style by its label, 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:20.360 and he was going to get to the bottom of 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.960 the whole thing, which of course was not true. But 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.840 here's the funny part. I was never really on the 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.560 pro Nirvana anti Pearl Jam bandwagon. But you know who 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.000 was Robert de Leo from Stone Temple Pilots, who once 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.600 told Rolling Stone that until he saw Pearl Jam play 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:43.280 on Lollapalooza in two, he thought of them as fakes. Look, 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.360 if you didn't live through the Grunge War, it must 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:51.040 seem really confusing now, but the basic point is that 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.840 nothing was real enough, and Pearl Jam wasn't real enough 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.400 because they hadn't started on an indie label. Nirvana, even 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.400 Nirvana wasn't real enough because they hadn't stayed on an 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:05.520 indie label. And it didn't matter that some of these 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.280 bands loved the same sort of music or had started 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.920 from the same sort of place. I mean, Robert de 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:16.520 Leo and Scott Wiland met in Los Angeles after a 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:20.880 gig by punk rock pioneers Black Flag, but back in 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.320 the grunge wars, nothing past the authenticity test. Side note here. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.960 When Robert wrote Plush in nineteen nine and he first 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.760 played it for Wiland, Wiland dismissed it as sounding too 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.040 much like Boston. A side note to the side note 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.680 is that Kurt Kobaine used to say that Smells like 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:45.680 Teen Spirit was him trying to sound like Boston. So 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.520 you see what I mean about some of the stuff 0:04:47.600 --> 0:05:25.000 starting from the same place. One place that the arguments 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.960 about authenticity never held any sway was on the radio. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.560 Radio was super hungry for heavy guitar and singers who 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.239 knew how to howl right after Smells like Teen Spirit broken, 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.920 and radio didn't care if the music was coming from 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.760 Seattle or the UK. In the case of Bush or 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.479 Los Angeles, where Stone Temple Pilots came together in the 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.440 late eighties when Robert's older brother Dean came up from 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.200 San Diego to play some guitar with Wild Robert and Eric. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.960 After STP broke through on the radio, some doubters did 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.920 have their minds changed the same way Robert did about 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.120 Pearl Jam, which would be seeing the band live, where 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:12.800 Wyland proved himself as one of the most kinetic performers 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:17.520 out there. The band's debut, Corps, went eight times platinum, 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.480 their second album, Purple, went six times platinum, and Stone 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.080 Temple Pilots became one of the biggest bands of the nineties. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.960 But Whyland also became one of the most troubled stars 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.360 of the nineties. It was in and out of rehab 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.080 over and over again as he battled the addiction that 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:41.800 would eventually take his life in and sadly, that turned 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.400 out to be the first of two tragic losses for 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:49.239 the band. After Whyland and STP had recorded six albums 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:54.480 together and finally parted ways in Stone Temple Pilots started 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.200 playing some shows and recording with Chester Bennington from Lincoln Park, 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:03.320 and they continued to tour together until when Chester left 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.080 to focus more on Lincoln Park and then sadly a 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:12.760 couple of years later in Chester took his own life. Perdida, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.120 the title of the latest Stone Temple Pilots album, translates 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.560 from Spanish as the word loss. Its sound is quiet 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:27.040 and it's introspective, and songs are really about romantic struggle 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.280 and loneliness. But Robert told me that the album does 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:46.240 also reflect the losses of Wyland and Chester. Well, you're 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.760 definitely in there those two. You know, We're very fortunate 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:54.240 to have shared moments, personal and musical moments with both 0:07:54.240 --> 0:08:04.880 of them, you know, with Scott and Chester. M Perdita 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.440 is Stone Temple Pilots second album with Jeff Gutt, who 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.760 became the band's singer after STP launched online auditions for 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.840 a new vocalist when Chester Bennington had left the band. 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:22.120 Robert told me they probably went through fifteen thousands of missions. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.240 But the weird thing is that Jeff Gutt wasn't one 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.920 of them. He had been a competitor on the X 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.640 Factor in he comes from Michigan, and when Robert was 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.880 playing a gig in Michigan one time with the l 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.360 A band the Hollywood Vampires. After the show, someone backstage 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.120 told him he really needs to check this guy out. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.640 So he did, and that's how the Stone Temple Pilots 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.520 ended up with a singer who grown up on their 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.960 music when he was a teenager. Robert and Eric told 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.920 me about how Jeff impressed them right off the bat. 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.200 We talked about them recording in Eric's studio and out 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:04.080 the ups and downs of life on the road. Here's 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:11.480 what else they had to say. Robert, Joe, how are you? Man? 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.520 And Eric? Welcome to inside the studio. So Perdida is 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:18.680 a little bit of a change of pace, or at 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.440 least a change of volume. It's acoustic, and certainly that's 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.319 always been part of your sound. I think a Pretty 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.560 Penny from Purple, maybe sour Girl from number four, but 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.240 but this time it's the whole album. So how did 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.280 it happen? And why did it happen? So before we started, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.360 just have to say that I would really like to 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.600 sleep on a pillow of your voice. I got a 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.839 great voice, man, It's very soothing. Well, I'm I'm happy 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.760 to help in any way I can, fellas, although I 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.040 also worry that you may have just told listeners that 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.760 my voice will put them to sleep. Now you need 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.600 to do some uh some therapy audio books that would 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.920 it would work your voice. I am open to all 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.880 are um. Sorry, what was the question now? So now 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.680 we were talking about the new record pretty day and 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.120 it's it's an all acoustic album, and of course acoustic 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.679 has always been part of the flavor for you. But 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.360 how did it become a whole album and why? Well, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:23.600 I think when you UM write a song, it for me, 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:28.160 it starts out acoustically. Most of the time. It's it's 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.079 grabbing acoustic, and when you have a great one, it 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:33.640 becomes your couch guitar and you sit there and it 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.920 kind of is your therapist and girlfriend and whatever it 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.319 may be, and it you have a choice at that 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:48.679 time to musically bring the song into another area. Um. 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.120 With these songs, it just seemed like it was natural 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.760 to kind of keep them in that that acoustic format, 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.920 in that acoustic acoustic place. And I think when we 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:02.400 started accumulating more of these songs, it just felt naturally 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.079 to sonically keep them keep them there, you know. So 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.200 that's that's really what it was. It wasn't a conscious effort, really, 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.000 it was just kind of this is how these songs 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.839 were feeling. And um, like I said, when we when 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.040 we got more and more of them together. Um, plus 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.040 the sentiment of the songs, I think it was just 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.320 we felt that it was that's where they should they 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.240 should lay, they should be there in that place. And 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.400 this is an introspective album, maybe a little darker when 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.040 you're talking about the sentiments of the songs. Perdida literally 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:38.599 translates from Spanish to loss. I believe yes, um. And 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.480 and so how did those particular songs which came first 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.400 the sound of the songs or the ideas of the songs, Well, 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.280 a lot of these songs for me came um when 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:53.440 we were on tour in the wintertime in Canada and uh, 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:58.319 you know, winter in Canada can be uh tough, and um, 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:03.079 we were playing a lot of really cold window lists 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:09.000 concrete uh, ice hockey arenas, and when you're sitting in 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.160 an ice hockey arena and that kind of environment, um, 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.480 you know you better have something to do because it 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.000 can get a little damaging when you're sitting there thinking 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.400 about things and and the the what you have to 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.360 do is a band really changes from the point when 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.800 you're in your twenties too when you're older in your fifties, right, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.079 I mean, or what it's healthy to do. Let's put 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.440 it that way. Yes, Um so I think the best 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.720 thing at that moment being a musician is picking up 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.600 an instrument and kind of getting out what you need 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.080 to get out. Um. There were a lot of songs 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.280 that came to me during that time. Um of sitting 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.520 there and having everyone around, you know, I'd have an 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.240 idea and kind of send it to everyone and get 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.120 Jeff Goot the singer involved, and UM sit down with 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.400 him and start going through some music and melodies that 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.240 I had, and um just piecing it together. It was 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.040 actually really great watching, especially unlike the title track for Data, 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.319 when Robert was pulling out that one putting it together. 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.200 He'd be whistling some of the lines saying, you know, 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.680 this would be sound great as a violin, and then 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.720 having the cords around it and all the counter melodies. 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.000 It's really, uh, really natural and exciting. And since we 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.040 were doing it every day in the dressing room, you 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.319 could kind of really start to hear how great the 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.280 vibe was going to be for this album. I know 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:46.199 the changes you see, I'm lost suckles most strong and 0:13:46.400 --> 0:14:10.560 good stun me and the small cover. So you're thinking 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.200 about the arrangements even as you're just sitting around. You're 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.840 you're in the back of these hockey rinks in Canada. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.800 It's Winnipeg. It's cold. No, it was really cold. I 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.040 know I've been there. Yeah, it was it was you know, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.680 I always think about arrangements. I think arrangement is something 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.080 that's kind of lost these days. You know. I hearkened 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.480 back to the days of you know, um Mancini and 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.800 um Bert back Rack and the people that really knew 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.960 how to arrange music. Um and and I'm sure you know, 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.360 I'm sure they had um ideas in mind when they 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.560 started writing their music, you know. And and uh, yeah, 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:51.800 arrangement is is still important. It's uh, it's still something 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.040 that I value in music. You know, of all the 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.640 references I was prepared for you to pull out, I 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.600 don't think Henry Mancini or Bert back Crack were the 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.960 ones that that you were going to come with. UM. 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.920 But that's really interesting because this is a different kind 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:11.320 of record. It It froze back, maybe to a seventies moment, 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.880 but those those guys aren't seventies rockers. Yeah, but part 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.360 of luckily we grew up in such a great period 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.520 in music in the seventies, so we're just like sponges 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.680 picking up and see any backrock. I mean, the list 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.200 goes on and on of what you heard from AM 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.600 Radio two, what great album tracks and stuff that was 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.840 on TV, stuff that was available. It was. It really 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.880 kind of steeped into our d n A. Yeah. I 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.360 think anyone that gets into music, uh through the sixties 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.200 and seventies, there's a moment there where you're going to 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.560 relate to something that you hear. I think one of 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.280 my first relations was listening, you know, being curious enough 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.360 at like five or six to listen to the records 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.560 that were around. I had older parents which were both 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:01.400 gone now there were Ella Fitzgerald, you know, forty eights 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.720 hanging around, and there were you know, I mentioned Mancini. 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:07.680 I think one of the most comforting things for me 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.680 still is to hear Andy Williams sing uh Moon River. 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.920 I mean, it's it's a beautiful song, um and it's 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.480 it's one of those songs that it comforts me and 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.560 reminds me of my childhood and putting on those records 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.560 for the first time. The first time I heard Brian 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.160 Wilson's falsetto, I mean it. I was hooked. I was 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.840 hooked from those forty five My first concert was the Carpenters, 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:35.920 and many people contributed to the Carpenters music back Iraq 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.920 included Paul Williams. You know, great great writers of the time, 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.280 um and their music. For me, it holds true still, 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.040 you know. Let's linger on this for just a second. 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.280 Your first concert was the seventies. You grew up in 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.240 New Jersey, I did. It was at the Garden State 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.000 Arts Center in nineteen seventy one. I was five years old, 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.800 so obviously you're five. Your parents are taking you to 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.320 the show. I assume were you there because they wanted 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.080 to go, or were you asking to go see the 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.479 Carpenters at five or no. I I went along and 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:13.240 uh in that going along, I completely digested and got 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.640 what was going on. It was the Carpenters with an orchestra, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.680 and you know it was it was a moment where, 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:23.840 like I said, I just it clicked, you know, it 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.959 clicked in Let's move forward a little bit. When did 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.879 you start making your own musical decisions? When did you 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.520 pick up a guitar? Well, uh, Dean is five years 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.520 older than me, so he was the one that kind 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.000 of got his first guitar. Remember the guitar. It was 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:43.800 a very cheap, maybe twenty dollar United guitar. It was 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:48.159 the brand. And I think he learned he was learning 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.400 um when he was about I would say about ten eleven, 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.480 he was learning. I think the first song he learned 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.600 was Roger Miller. It was King of the Road. Um. 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:03.440 So I got kind of fascinated with what he was doing. Obviously, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.600 you know, as a younger brother, you look at your 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.120 older brother and goes, looks cool. I want to try that. 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.639 But the only thing was he wasn't too cool with 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.479 me trying as a guitar. So I had to sneak 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.399 my my my guitar passion. And when he was gone, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.439 I would, you know, kind of hear him coming in 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.439 the door and have to put the guitar under the 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.199 bed again. But that's so funny because my brother, my 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:28.960 brother was three years older, and I would have to 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.040 listen to his records the same way mm hm, because otherwise, 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.040 you know, hell to pay. Don't listen to my records 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.760 punk right, right? Hands off Dark Side of the Moon, 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:43.960 but hands off dar I kind of heightened my passion 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.680 that I wasn't allowed to do that. It almost has 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.959 that forbidden feeling. You have to sneak in the in 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.280 that sense that nobody's telling you it's the Devil's music, 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.520 but it's still a little bit forbidden, right, Yes, So 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.440 there was a lot of um just kind of being 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.480 a good center back then, listening to as many things 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.120 as I could get my hands on, and through the generations. 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.239 I'm the youngest in the family. Mind. Dean's mom had 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.760 married four times, so I had a lot of half 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.040 and step brothers, and I would kind of go around this. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.119 We had an English, old English tutor house, and I 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.800 would go into, you know, Dean's room and he'd be 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.600 listening to the Houses of the Holy, and I'd go 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.080 up into my one sister's room and she was listening 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.760 to t for the Tillerman, you know, Cat Stevens. And 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.439 then i'd go into my other half brother's room and 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.000 he'd be listened to Crosby Skills, Nash and Young. And 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:36.919 I'd go down to my mom's room and she'd be 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.240 listening to John Denver or you know, it was all 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.200 these all these things that were kind of melding together 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.760 for me sonically. But we have come to reference points 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.080 that actually do bring us back to this record when 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.000 you mentioned Houses of the Holy Tief of the Tillerman, Like, 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.800 now we're in the realm of seventies music that comes 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:02.040 together to form some of the glen of acoustic and 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:17.480 psychedelic that I think you guys have gotten on his help. 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:41.359 But I think that's always been there. I think it 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.760 was just more concentrated this time. I think once we 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.120 started kind of getting the songs together, it was kind 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.200 of a focus of keeping them in that, like I said, 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.119 in that intimate space, and uh, it fits the you know, 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.240 the feeling of the song and the feeling of the lyric. 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.879 So it's really about, you know, what makes the singer. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.080 You know, it's always been that for me. It is 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.199 writing a song that the singer can really relate to 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.480 and really you're really trying to make the lyric and 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.960 the vocal the most prominent beautiful thing it can be. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.040 I think Jeff did it, you know, really achieved that 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.720 on this record. Yeah, I think what he achieved was wonderful. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.280 And going back to that, what was nice is as 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:24.879 we started hearing more songs being written by Robert and 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.560 Jane for this record, it was nice knowing that the 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.959 whole record was going to be in that acoustic, slide 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.159 electric kind of vibe. Whereas when you were mentioned before 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.320 songs like Sour Girl and Pretty Penny, you know there 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.720 used to be one song on an album. We just 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.439 kind of jump into this this type of vibe. So 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.719 it really was comforting going into doing a whole record 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.879 with with all those avenges being open. It's interesting you 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.720 call it comforting because I was wondering when the music 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.520 is quieter, does it feel like more of a risk? 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.159 Is their sense of being more exposed either emotionally your 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:02.960 musically you can't hide behind the volume. No, I think 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:05.800 it's mostly the sentiment of the vocal that really is 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.399 pulling your pants down, so to speak. I think on 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:13.080 one point, it's songs about a lot of relationships, relationships 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:17.400 that have failed, relationships that are missed. And it's an 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:20.760 age old anecdote or story, isn't it. But I think 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:24.280 it's a it keeps on getting told differently, and um, 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.920 you know, I think there's songs that people can relate 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.240 to in that because it's such a common bond with 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:32.240 us as humans. So and we said the title track 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.120 is is Spanish for loss. You mentioned the age old story. 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.440 One way of telling that story might be boy meets girl, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:41.879 boy loses girl. A lot of these songs seem to 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.600 revolve around that. But at the same time, choosing that 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.879 as the album title, the dark mood of the songs, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.320 you must have known people would associate it with the 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.560 losses you've endured as a band. You know, Scott Wiland's death, 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:59.800 Chester Bennington's suicide. Yeah, well, um, you know, I think 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:02.880 they're in there. They're in there, but it was more 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:08.119 of an uh an immediate uh personal not that it 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:11.080 hasn't been personal. It's been very personal with the loss 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:15.640 of two singers. Um, but it's set that a day 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:20.480 to day thing in life, of failing and losing. And 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:23.840 but yeah, they're definitely in there, those two. You know, 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:29.520 we're very fortunate to have shared moments, personal and musical 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:33.560 moments with both of them, you know, with Scott Anchester obviously, 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:40.560 and yet also a sense of loss with both of 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:46.520 those performers. Quite staggering. How difficult was it? Was there 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:48.800 ever a moment when you stopped and said, do we 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:52.600 go on? Of course, you know, especially when when you 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:57.560 first hear the heartbreaking news, grief is always gonna have 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:01.800 just such a number of emotions attached to it, and 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:05.280 you know, we've been through a lot of them, especially 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.360 over the last thirty years we've been together. I mean, 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.119 we're closer with each other than we are kind of 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.760 with our own families. You know, from growing up. I 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:18.679 spent more time together, that's for sure. And uh, like 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.159 Robert sub we've had some really we've been lucky enough 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:24.760 to have some really great moments with Chester and Scott 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:30.240 that were musically friends you know, and comrades and everything involved. 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.840 It was really, uh, it's really been a great journey. Yes, 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:37.600 Scott had a great understanding of where we come from musically, 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.320 he grew up with different things. He was a little younger, 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:44.199 but you know, when he really wanted to sing, like 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:48.040 really sing, he he was in chorus when he was younger. 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:53.560 He would really have this great kind of male Karen 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.719 Carpenter thing about him. Yeah, he loved the Carpenters loved it. 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:00.399 He would do that really well. It's kind of amazing 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:04.119 how even speaking of Karen Carpenter how Scott could mimic 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:08.680 that soulful tone in her voice. I mean, and that's 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:11.720 one thing a lot of singers have a hard time 0:25:11.760 --> 0:25:15.280 trying to emulate naturally, is they might probably hit the notes, 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:17.800 are the inflections, but he really could get in there 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:21.000 and get the feel of what some of those great 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:38.200 hits that she had together. So the decision to keep going, UM, 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:41.600 just tell me a little about that and and about 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:45.280 connecting with Jeff, Well, we went through quite a process 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:48.800 to um get to this point. And I think what 0:25:48.960 --> 0:25:50.959 Eric was saying before, We've gone through a lot of 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:55.560 processes to get two points, not all positive constructive points, 0:25:55.600 --> 0:25:57.359 but UM, we kind of looked at this is a 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:01.840 chance to uh continue writing what we doing. What we 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:05.800 do do the best is writing UM and finding someone 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:08.639 who we could share that with and they could you know, 0:26:08.800 --> 0:26:14.000 beer sonic mouthpiece, your creative mouthpiece. And Jeff he gets it, 0:26:14.160 --> 0:26:17.919