STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' ROBERT DELEO Is 'Trying To Finish Up' His Second Solo Album

Robert DeLeo, bassist and principal songwriter of the iconic band STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, has confirmed that he is working on his second solo album. The upcoming LP, which is tentatively due in 2026, will be the follow-up to "Lessons Learned", which came out in October 2022.

Asked in a recent interview with the "100 Guitarists" podcast which projects he is working on right now, Robert said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I am trying to finish up a second solo record that I'm doing right now. And like I did on my first one, I have different singers that I'm getting to come in. People always ask why I don't sing my own songs, [and it's] 'cause I really can't. And that's why, fortunately, I have some great friends with amazing voices. So I'm trying to finish that up right now. I'm doing all the guitars."

Pressed about the singers that will be involved with the making of his new solo album, Robert said: "I've got Jimmy Gnecco, and I've got Jay Buchanan from RIVAL SONS, Pete Shoulder, who sang on my last record, Tim Bluhm from THE MOTHER HIPS; he'll be singing on there. I've got some other in mind. I'm trying to get Trey Hensley… Trey is an amazing person, an amazing guitar player and an amazing singer. So I got a song for Trey that I sent to him. Great, great talent, great talent that guy. And then there's Jon Regen on some keys, from New York, and Tristan Cappel on some flute, and Omar Velasco. Omar Velasco is a great singer too, a great songwriter. He's singing on there too. Yeah, so, I'm just trying to get that finished up."

Robert played virtually all the instruments on "Lessons Learned", complemented by guest musicians and vocalists, all of which lent to the undeniable intimacy of the music.

Asked in a January 2023 interview with Bass Magazine what inspired him to write a solo album at that point in his career, Robert said: "Really, it was the state of the world these past couple of years. Everyone was allowed a lot of time to sit down and rethink life, which has definitely been rearranged. I had that time to pull out these instruments and not only appreciate them, but start playing all of them again. After touring for so long, I had an urge to get back into my guitar playing again. I play so much bass at all times, but I've written a whole lot of songs on guitar, and I draw a lot of inspiration from that. I got back into my finger playing on my acoustic and got back to where I once was with that. This album basically sparked from all of that. I acquired a couple of new instruments, and every time you get something new, it steers you in a direction or speaks to you in a different way. I was on the hunt for a great couch guitar, and I found an old nylon-string that was perfect. Sitting down with it, I immediately wrote 'She Brings The Rain', which was the first song I tracked for the record. I ended up using that guitar in the studio to record the song. That was the start of this journey."

Regarding the different musical styles covered on "Lessons Learned", Robert said: "For me personally, I've always delved into those areas, even since 'Core' [STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, 1992]; 'Creep' was almost a country-inspired song, if you really listen to it. All the way through to now, I've been integrating my inspirations into STP, which is a lot of acoustic-based bossa nova and samba. I hate to label music, but I just wanted to make a record that was purely me and acoustically pure. That's really what acoustic instruments do — they bring out the purity of a song. It's one of the ingredients I appreciate about Brazilian music and country music. The acoustic aspects of these genres speak purely."

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS features three original members — Robert DeLeo, guitarist Dean DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz.

Singer Jeff Gutt, a 49-year-old Michigan native who spent time in the early-2000s nu-metal act DRY CELL, among other bands, and was a contestant on "The X Factor", joined STONE TEMPLE PILOTS after beating out roughly 15,000 hopefuls during an extended search that began more than a year earlier.

Original STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer 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.

Chester Bennington, who joined STP in early 2013, departed nearly three years later to spend more time with his main band LINKIN PARK. Bennington committed suicide in July 2017.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS released their first all-acoustic album, titled "Perdida", in February 2020. The disc was Gutt's second with STP. His recording debut with the group was on its self-titled seventh album, which arrived in March 2018.