New STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Singer Wanted To Honor SCOTT WEILAND And CHESTER BENNINGTON With Latest Album

WGRD's Tommy Carroll recently conducted an interview with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS drummer Eric Kretz and vocalist Jeff Gutt. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the making of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' latest, self-titled album:

Jeff: "It was a lot of work. But they put in the time in writing a lot of the stuff before I even got there. So it was kind of seamless, really. It just kind of fell into place and it was very organic and it was very real."

On preparing for being the lead singer in STONE TEMPLE PILOTS:

Jeff: "There's a lot of things that went into it. I won't go into it all and bore everybody, but… there's a lot that went into it. I had to figure out what my capabilities were and how to keep it STP and stay myself at the same time but still have that familiarity. And, obviously, they wrote the music, so it's gonna sound like STP no matter what. But I could have came in and hacked it up, but thank God I didn't."

On what advice the other members of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS gave Jeff during the audition process:

Eric: "I don't think we gave him any advice. For writing the new material, he was always on top of his game; stuff came out really quick. 'Cause we're writing all the time — someone comes up with a riff and we just jump on it and try a few changes. And he was really great at just jumping in with pseudo lyrics and just hopping in with great melodies and harmonies. So there really wasn't any prepping. I mean, it's not rocket science in a way; we just get up there, turn up, try to play great and not die in the process."

On how much freedom Jeff had during the songwriting process for STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' new album:

Jeff: "It was full freedom, but I felt the responsibility of making sure it was an STP record at the end of the day. 'Cause my whole thing was helping them continue their journey. And I feel like it was less about me; it was more about honoring [late STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer] Scott [Weiland] and honoring [late STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and LINKIN PARK singer] Chester [Bennington] and everyone that has ever been involved in STP and making sure that it just kept going the way it should."

STP's self-titled seventh studio effort was released on March 16 and is the band's first with Gutt.

Gutt made his live debut with the band last November in Los Angeles.

STP recently did its first round of dates in support of the new album and has joined forces with BUSH and THE CULT for the first time for the "tri-headlining" "Revolution 3 Tour". The North American amphitheater trek began on July 18 in Nashville and is hitting an additional 19 cities over six weeks before concluding in Phoenix, Arizona on September 2. Each group is performing a full set in a different order each night.