Dean Deleo, Jeff Gutt, Eric Kretz, Robert Deleo-Stone Temple Pilots 2017
Well, the moment has arrived! Stone Temple Pilots have officially chosen one-time The X Factor contestant Jeff Gutt as the band’s new vocalist. Gutt was announced as the third frontman in the group’s history on Tuesday evening (Nov 14th) prior to the band giving a special performance at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles. A new STP single, titled “Meadow,” has already been serviced to radio and will make its online debut later this week.
Gutt, who was a runner-up in the reality TV music competition show’s third season, originally auditioned for STP in September 2016 and became an official member of the band in May 2017. He has spent the last year secretly writing and recording new material with band members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz.
Robert DeLeo said he first found out about Gutt while he was on the road with the Hollywood Vampires. Robert explained, “We were playing . . . up in Detroit, which is where (Jeff is) from. And after the show, there was a musician who said, ‘Hey, man, you should check this guy out.’ And that’s where I kind of heard of him first.”
Gutt recalled how he got to audition for the band, saying, “I can’t remember what song it was, but a Stone Temple Pilots song came on the radio. So I called my buddy in New York who knows everybody in the music industry, and I was like, ‘Hey, did they ever find a singer?’ And he was like, ‘You know what? I’ll send ’em your stuff right now.’ And three days later, I got a call.”
Gutt added that he felt like he had the job before even trying out, explaining, “You have to be confident . . . I know what I’m doing. I’ve studied my craft. I’ve studied (original STP singer) Scott (Weiland) and the people Scott studied, and other singers of the era. I’ve really put in a lot of time into that, and if you’re not willing to do all of that, you’re not gonna be on the level to even be around these guys.”
Gutt appeared on The X Factor in 2013, where he impressed the judges with his covers of songs like “Creep,” “Dream On” and “Hallelujah.” STP had been without a vocalist since November 2015, when Chester Bennington — who joined the group in early 2013 — departed to spend more time with his main band Linkin Park. Bennington committed suicide last July. Scott Weiland, who reunited with the group in 2010 after an eight-year hiatus but was dismissed in 2013, died in December 2015 of a drug overdose while on a solo tour. (Blabbermouth and The Pulse Of Radio)
Blabbermouth also reporting Five Finger Death Punch frontman Ivan Moody admitted in a new interview with Metal Hammer magazine he “learned a lot” about himself while spending time in a rehab facility to address his substance abuse issues. Moody sat out a number of shows of the band’s European tour this past summer due to his struggles, along with several North American dates in late 2016. He was temporarily replaced on the former by Bad Wolves singer Tommy Vext and on the latter by All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte.
Asked about his time in rehab, Moody answered, “I learned a lot about myself. Things that I had forgotten. I learned what it was like to not battle myself anymore, which is really difficult to admit, because at the end of the day — and I’m sure anyone can agree with this — you’re your own worst enemy.”
He continued, “I just got to a point where I was lying to myself constantly, so I had to face up to that. It was a lot of . . . I don’t want to use the words ‘self sacrifice,’ but that’s what it felt like. It was giving up who I thought I was and starting over from scratch and realizing the man that I am was good enough.”
Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory, meanwhile, revealed the band wasn’t able to use pyrotechnics during its live performances when Moody was drinking in case there was an accident. He explained, “Now we go out and the machine is absolutely precise, to the minute. He’s actually where he’s supposed to be, meaning that if we wanted to use pyro, now we can. Before, you couldn’t tell him, ‘Don’t stand there,’ because he will.”
Moody’s turmoil over the past couple of years should make for interesting lyrics on the band’s next album. He told us a while back that a lot of his personal strife works its way into his songs: “On some scales it’s really cool, because I get to wear my life and my emotions and every feeling and thought that I have out on my sleeve. But in the same time, it’s a little overbearing sometimes because you do give so much of yourself to people that don’t know you and you have awkward situations arrive, you know, where somebody walks up to you and they’re like, ‘Oh, dude, I totally get it, you know, you’re the man,’ and you just look at ’em like, ‘You really don’t know me beyond what you’ve heard on the CD.’”
Five Finger Death Punch has confirmed a Dec 1st release date for its greatest hits collection, A Decade Of Destruction, and has released one of two new tracks included on the album, a song called “Trouble.” We understand another is a cover tune. The hits collection and an already completed new studio album are part of a deal to settle a legal dispute and close out the band’s contract with its label, Prospect Park. The new studio LP will be released in spring 2018.
OMG! This is a match made in Rock Heaven! (also a really old picture of Halestorm!) Stone Sour has announced new North American tour dates for early 2018 that include a co-headlining run with Halestorm plus additional headlining dates featuring support from Red Sun Rising. The Dead Deads will also open most of the shows. The trek, which hits mostly cities in Canada, commences on Jan 27th in Abbotsford, BC, closing out on Feb 18th in Indianapolis. See the dates on the Road Rage page on the home page.
Halestorm will appear on the bill from Jan 27th through Feb 11th, while Red Sun Rising will take over for the last few dates. Before the road trip start, Stone Sour is confirmed to appear on the ShipRocked cruise that hits the water out of Port Canaveral, Florida from Jan 21st through the 25th.
Tickets for all dates go on sale November 17th. Stone Sour is heading out now on a European tour with support from The Pretty Reckless. Stone Sour continues to tour in support of its latest album, Hydrograd, which was released last June.
Halestorm has been in the studio in Nashville with super producer Nick Raskulinecz recording its fourth studio LP, with a spring 2018 arrival planned. Guessing April.
Oh this is magnificent!
Blabbermouth reporting Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl joined the unstoppable Guns N’ Roses on stage in Tulsa, OK at the BOK Arena just last night! Grohl performed the song “Paradise City” with the Guns band. Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.
After one of the first shows on Guns N’ Roses‘ “Not In This Lifetime” tour in April 2016, singer Axl Rose tweeted his gratitude, crammed full of emoji and exclamation points, at Grohl, who lent the then-injured GN’R singer the throne he had used on a Foo Fighters tour one year earlier.
“Not In This Lifetime” is the most popular and highest-grossing global tour of 2017, according to Pollstar. About seventy people travel with the show in addition to the truck drivers; that number goes upwards of five hundred, including the local workers, by show date once catering, security, etc. are factored in, according to the tour’s production manager, Dale “Opie” Skjerseth.
The Prophets Of Rage have released a black-and-white video for the song “Hands Up,” which appears on the band’s self-titled debut LP. The clip centers on the band’s live show and its activities offstage, switching away for a minute from the usual political themes and images of the group’s videos. The clip also showcases the band’s fans as well and their responses to Prophets Of Rage’s music.
Previous videos and singles issued from the Prophets album include “Unf**k The World,” “Living On The 110” and “Strength In Numbers.” The band, which features members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, will finish the year with a pair of December radio festivals in San Diego and Los Angeles.
(WARNING: The following video contains explicit material. Your retinas could explode!)
Marilyn Manson’s crazy bizarre music video for “Kill4Me” from his new album, Heaven Upside Down, was sent around via email yesterday by Manson and his label, Loma Vista. In the clip, Manson has teamed for a second straight video shoot with his best friend Johnny Depp. The absolutely not-safe-for-work clip features Depp tangled up in some kind of mystery with a variety of different women, eventually joining Depp in an orgy while a cross shines with red light above.
Depp also showed up last month in Manson’s equally shocking “SAY10” video. Both songs are taken from the singer’s recently released 10th studio album, Heaven Upside Down.
Manson returned to the road earlier this month after a falling stage prop broke his leg in two places in late September, forcing him off the road for several weeks.
Happy 43rd today to Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger!
