Were STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Unfairly Classified As A 'Grunge' Band? ROBERT DELEO Responds

In a new interview with Chasta Michaelis of San Francisco's 107.7 The Bone radio station, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS bassist Robert DeLeo was asked if his group was fairly labeled as part of the grunge movement associated with the U.S. Northwest back the early 1990s when they came out with their debut album, "Core", and follow-up effort, "Purple". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't think the four of us ever put any kind of name on what kind of music we were making. We happened to come out at a time when the people in this business were creating these terms. It's a selling point — it's all a selling point — and we got caught up, as well as other bands, in a selling point for record companies to make money. And I think when you can obviously see that is when they start doing clothing after it. It's all pretty ridiculous.

"'Interstate Love Song' — grunge? I don't think so," he continued. "I actually wrote that as a bossa nova song; that's what it started out as."

Robert released his first solo album, "Lessons Learned", last October. Robert played virtually all the instruments on the album, complemented by guest musicians and vocalists, all of which lend to the undeniable intimacy of the music.

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

Singer Jeff Gutt, a 46-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.