STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Frontman: We're Just As Dedicated As We Were When We First Started

ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino recently conducted an interview with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS/ex-VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: Did the reunion tour function as a real catalyst for the new music?

Weiland: I actually thought we'd record before the tour [Laughs]. Due to the fact that rock records don't sell the way they used to and there was definitely a market for STP live shows, we toured for quite awhile — a couple years on and off since 2008. We just played the hits. Even when I was in VELVET REVOLVER, it was my feeling that STP really wasn't ever finished and we never officially broke up. If you look at it like a bookshelf with book ends, there was a book end missing. The story wasn't completely told yet. From the beginning, our whole purpose and desire wasn't to own Maseratis that go 185, it was to create a legacy. Mainly, we're influenced by the greats of the past — THE ROLLING STONES, THE BEATLES and LED ZEPPELIN as well as what was going on in the late '80s and early '90s. That was the last time and, maybe, the only time that there will ever be a real movement in rock 'n' roll shook and woke up the youth. It woke them up in a social way and a political way. If you think about it, it was really Generation X that made President Clinton, "President Clinton," when he went on MTV.

ARTISTdirect.com: Fans have always felt that honesty in your music, and it certainly comes through on the new album!

Weiland: We're just as dedicated and musically and physically youthful as we were when we first started. We're just as hungry. I think we put on a show at this time that rivals any show we put on in the '90s. We're a four-piece band that performs everything live that we write.

ARTISTdirect.com: You've really channeled something that THE BEATLES did on this record in terms of bridging so many gaps.

Weiland: We're music lovers. We love art and fashion as well, and music, art and fashion all go hand in hand. They influence each other. The longer we're together, the more influences we pick up, so the songwriting gets even more diverse. It's funny, as a kid, I was never a big LED ZEPPELIN fan. I was actually schooled in the area of LED ZEPPELIN and everything they were about by Robert once we formed STP. Bands these days usually have one sound that you can define them by. The fact that we constantly change has helped us last.

ARTISTdirect.com: At the end of the day, what does this album mean to you?

Weiland: It means a sense of freedom. I feel like this record is right up there with "Purple" as far as being progressive yet still rock 'n' roll. We knew we were taking a big risk when we set out to make [its predecessor] "Shangri-La Dee Da". That was originally going to be a double album. It just came out at a time when all of the Disney kids were starting to take over the airwaves and boy bands were doing their thing. In the end, I feel like that album will also be appreciated as one of our best albums.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.com.