SCOTT WEILAND Talks New STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Album, VELVET REVOLVER Split

Details magazine recently conducted an interview with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS/ex-VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Details: STONE TEMPLE PILOTS are releasing their first album in nine years this June. Did you ever think of skipping the record and just doing the cash-grab tour?

Weiland: We got back together and toured in 2008 and realized pretty quickly that we were going to get burned-out playing the old songs every night. We have just as much fun in the creative process as we do on the road — it's not like when we were in our twenties and it was rock-and-roll hell on wheels.

Details: What does the new album sound like?

Weiland: We have a tendency to make a straightforward rock-and-roll record, then try and spread our wings a bit. "Core" and "No. 4" were rock records — the others had different touches. We went off the deep end with our last one, with "Shangri-La Dee Da". Lived in a house in Malibu, had a film crew there. That record caught people off guard. It was inspired by GRANDADDY and SPARKLEHOUSE and the FLAMING LIPS. It sort of divided our audience a bit. The meat-and-potatoes rock fans didn't really embrace it. Then we split. I prefer to break new ground, but it gets harder and harder with the territory that's already been walked on. We started doing demos and it became apparent that this is a back-to-basics rock record. There's some stuff that deviates, like "Cinnamon", which is THE BEATLES meets JOY DIVISION. It's a different sound for us, but this is a STONE TEMPLE PILOTS rock record.

Details: You feuded with Axl Rose after you formed VELVET REVOLVER with his former GUNS N' ROSES bandmates. Now that you've left that group less than amicably, do you want to trade war stories with Axl?

Weiland: We came close to getting together one time. I had wondered if he was the center of all their problems or if it was a mixed bag — and it was definitely the latter. When VELVET REVOLVER first got together it was great. I got to know the guys before: Met Duff [McKagan] at the gym, because he loves to work out and I was obsessed with running. I was in rehab with Matt [Sorum]. I'd only met Slash twice — he's not the most social person. We had all been through the same experiences, and it felt like a gang. But everyone was a rock star. There were petty jealousies. Then the wives got involved with the business of the band, and that was the beginning of the downfall.

Read the entire interview from Details.