STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: DELEO Brothers Confirm Split

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS guitarist Dean DeLeo and bassist Robert DeLeo have confirmed in a brand-new interview with Guitar One magazine that they have officially closed the book on the band with the recent release of their "greatest hits" package, "Thank You".

"It was time to move on to other things," Dean said. "Life and personalities and brotherhood took its course. Everybody's got cool stuff going on. [Singer] Scott [Weiland] is about to embark on a new experience [referring to VELVET REVOLVER]. [Drummer] Eric [Kretz] built a nice home studio. It just ran its course, I suppose."

Added Robert, "Dean and Eric and myself, I think, all feel a sense of sadness, relief, anger, melancholy about it... But to try and go on and accomplish something with this band after we've already peaked is a bit cheesy. There's a cheese factor with guys hitting 40 trying to recapture glory. There's no way to go but out. If you're driving a car and it goes off the road, it's hard to steer that car back on the road. I'm proud to look back at our career. I feel we've made a valid contribution to music. I guess putting out a greatest hits set is cheesy, but the strength of the songs is there.

"I hope for Scott and Eric that STP is something to move on from, so that everyone can find something better. Dean and I are thrilled about what's going on, and I want to see those guys go on and better what we've already accomplished."

When asked about his feelings for Scott right now, Dean said, "I ran into Scott just recently for the first time in a year. VELVET REVOLVER was working at the same studio as we were with the band MONTEREY. When we left the last tour, we wanted to kill one another. But now it was like looking at someone with totally different eyes. Without being involved with one another professionally, we were able to look at each other with an entirely different view. If he and I had been affiliated now, the state of mind he was in the other night when I saw him would have really affected me in a bad way. But it didn't. It's over."

"When I think back about Scott, I remember that we almost didn't get through [recording] 'Purple'," Robert added. "We should never had started that third record either, with the state Scott was in. We only toured it for two months. All I can say is, man, drugs ain't a good thing. I'm not trying to be square. They just ain't a good thing. It got in the way... It got in the way. Denial's a strong thing. We all got very frustrated."

Dean: "Will Scott ever get his life together? You know, I don't know. I love making music with the guy. There's no one better. But it just got really hard to do. Something so easy and beautiful as making music — what we all dreamed and aspired to do — became really hard. Now, I don't take a single day for granted, what I've been able to do in my life. What's the odds, like one in 20,000 people who actually do what they want to do for a living? I just felt like there were people taking STP for granted."