Bittersweet reunion

I recently put up a post on Stone Temple Pilots in anticipation of their most recent album after a 6 year hiatus with reserved excitement and optimism. Since then STP has been garnering the expected amount of press and magazine articles that one can expect from a multi-platinum record selling band reuniting during a time when the musical landscape has since moved on from alternative rock and grunge. Being the huge fan of the group back in the day, I've read as much as I can find and I can only conclude that Scott Weiland is an absolute mess.

After the first bit of excitement over hearing of an STP reunion there were immediate signs that I shouldn't get too worked up over it. Amidst the gushing of band members about how great it was to work together again there was the confession that, while the DeLeo brothers and Kretz were recording together, Weiland had his own separate recording studio and was recording the vocal tracks by himself. Doesn't exactly speak of a glorious return to comradery, does it.

While reading through the track by track story on the Wikipedia page you see again and again how Dean DeLeo is impressed with how well Scott sang on the tunes. However, accompanying all the praise are remarks like "Scott is in a dark place". Songs that are to sound kind of happy and poppy are subject to the dark depression and drug influenced lyrics of the singer.

If you supplement these notes with articles like what was written in SPIN you can really only conclude that this reunion tour might not be very long-lived. Weiland simply sounds like a mess. He doesn't show up until the very last minute before concerts, has his own bus which he retreats to the second a show is over, needs an assistant to bring him food, chain smokes and drinks like crazy, pops pills but considers himself "clean" because he is no longer doing smack and is obsessed over ex-flames. It really sounds like he hates his current gig of "talented millionaire front man", which is a shame.

I recently gotten my hands on the newest cd and the first listen wasn't too bad. From what I have heard so far it isn't as hard as previous albums but it is definitely catchy. Without listening to lyrics it does sound like a happy album... but paying attention really exposes the current state that Weiland is in. The dude, quite frankly, sounds like he's one bad trip from suicide.

It must be frustrating as well for the other members of the band. They are talented as all hell but really have not amounted to much without Scott in front of the band. It would have been nice to see them continue the Army of Anyone project with Filter front man Patrick because the cd they did release was actually pretty good. It seems, however, that they really don't shine unless they have Weiland, and to have their success tied to such an erratic and unhealthy person can not be pleasant.

You'd think this wouldn't bother me as much as it does. The band has basically been dead for years and everything else they release is pretty much a bonus but just knowing that they are capable of much more pisses me off. I'll never be able to understand rock stars. You take a god given gift that is capable of getting you hordes of admirers and a shit ton of cash and yet it's not good enough. Ruin it all with drugs and self-loathing. Awesome. Have fun with that. I suppose the over-exposure of media is to blame as I could simply just listen to the cds and ignore the story.

Anyway, I'm hoping to take advantage of the long memorial day weekend by giving this new cd as well as the new release by the Deftones a good listen. I also plan on getting drunk at least once. There's a new bottle of brandy with my name on it. Have a good weekend kids.