It’s good to see that the Stone Temple Pilot tooks of all ten seconds to come up with this:
STP’s new, self-titled release comes out May 25 on Atlantic.
-AR
Some Stone Temple Pilots fansite has eighteen seconds of that band’s new single, “Between the Lines,” and what immediately jumped out at me about the clip – besides the fact that I can already tell Vince and I are not agree on whether or not this song blows – is that Scott Weiland sings the line “…when we used to take drugs.” That made me wonder if the titular lines aren’t just subtext (as is usually the case with the expression “read between the lines”) but lines of cocaine, but mostly it made me wonder why the hell Scott Weiland is still trying to convince people that he doesn’t take drugs anymore.
Now skip to the 3:54 mark to get Mr. Weiland’s thoughts:
If Velvet Revolver’s second album, Libertad, had a bed, it shat all over it. The sales would have been considered top-notch for your average metal band, but for mega super duper rockstars likes Guns Without Rose, it was bad enough for their major label to promptly drop them.
There’s a few reasons this might have occurred. Personally, I think that VR’s debut, Contraband, was good but not great, and I think once the curiosity factor (with regards to a supergroup) had passed, the band was kind of doomed. Being a major success means doing crossover business (e.g., attracting people beyond the hardcore fanbase that would’ve bought the album even if it was by Slash’s Snakepit 3), and I know a lot of people who bought Contraband, went “meh,” and then never bothered to check out Libertad.
But even if we assume that Contraband really was Appetite’s second coming, the band released a shit first single that impressed absolutely no one. And I seem to be the only person in the world who actually thought that Libertad was superior to Contraband. So it’s possible that being creatively lackluster is why the album undersold.
Keeping all of this in mind, here’s Matt Sorum basically saying that Libertad sucked, and that it’s all Scott Weiland’s fault:
I’ve always loved Stone Temple Pilots and refuse to make any apologies about it. Found this video at HardRockChick.com of Stone Temple Pilots dressed up in full KISS makeup for a show in 1993 at The Roseland Ballroom in NYC, and it goes to prove what I’ve been saying all along; STP were always just a modern version of their classic rock heroes, unfairly thrown into the whole grunge / alternative axis by some marketing minions in a major label conference room. Here they are performing “Crackerman;” look at that audience go apeshit. Also: is Weiland actually playing that guitar or just hamming it up as part of the Paul Stanley shtick?
Rumor has it that the DeLeo bros. are working on material for a new STP album while Weiland finishes up his solo tour. No word yet on the status of the pending lawsuit with Atlantic Records.
DeLeo bros. 4-evr!
-VN
Dude. Did anyone else know that Scott Weiland has a new solo album coming out two days after the release of Chinese Democracy? What the fuck? I wonder what it’s like to be Slash this week. Seriously. Is he pissed off that these two assholes get to live? Scared of the success they might achieve without him? Does he even know the albums are coming out, or is too busy having tea with Ozzy? Does SCOTT even know that Scott’s album is coming out??? The mind boggles.
The whole idea of a TV station called Music Television that doesn’t play music is completely ridiculous; nevertheless, this has been the reality of MTV pretty much since the late ‘90s. Forgive me if I’m slightly behind the times as I don’t have a TV, but apparently there’s a new channel called MTV Music (yes, folks, welcome to the Department of Redundancy Department: That’s “Music Television Music.”) that specializes in playing music videos. Is this not completely fucking ridiculous? [I realized post-publishing that this is solely a website, not a TV channel. Read on, as most of my points still stand. -Ed.]
Dear MTV: NEWSBREAK! It’s called YouTube, assholes! And it’s got just about every video ever, plus tons of live, unreleased and otherwise unofficial stuff you’d never air. The idea of a TV station being relevant to music in 2008 is about as good as the idea of traveling to California… by horse and buggy. You’re hopelessly out of date. Especially for metal. Deal with it.
Anyway… said new(ish) channel has launched an ad campaign that attempts to invoke ’80s and ‘90s nostalgia — in anyone that was alive and watched the original MTV when they still played videos — by bringing back the classic modified-MTV-logo theme retrofitted with band imagery sure to invoke just that nostalgia. This includes some of our favorite heavies, notably Metallica (above), as well as Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots, pictured after the jump.
We love Machine Head and we love Iron Maiden, so naturally Machine Head covering Iron Maiden would be a good thing, right? Yes indeed. The track comes from the Maiden Heaven compilation released by Kerrang in July, which also features loads of other cool bands covering Maiden. The below video is included on The Blackening bonus edition which comes out today.
The new Weiland video comes from Happy in Galoshes, his 2nd solo record, due November 25th. I actually rather like Weiland’s solo work — 12 Bar Blues, released 10 years ago, was an exercise in completely drugged-out nonsensicalness on the level of John Frusciante’s in-between-stints-in-RHCP solo work. This song is alright; it’s definitely different from STP, and WAY different from Velvet Revolver, but it’s decidedly more focused than his first record.
Watch the vids after the jump.
When Axl and I went to see the reunited Stone Temple Pilots in New Jersey a couple of months ago, it was nothing short of very disappointing. A wasted Weiland stumbled around the stage all night, mumbled incoherent between-song banter, flubbed lyrics, and generally looked like a mess. The performance was completely lackluster, and Weiland was nothing like the charismatic rock n’ roll frontman he was as recently as last summer with Velvet Revolver. Apparently two months’ time hasn’t changed very much for Weiland, as fan-filmed footage (below) shot in Phoenix last week showcases another embarrassing, drunken mishap.
I just wanna be clear, right off the bat, that this is just me playing “What If?” I’m not breaking a story, I don’t have a source, it’s Monday, it’s a slow news day, and I just got to thinking. I don’t want this to be like the time that I said it might be cool if Whitfield Crane joined Anthrax and then some putz put it on Wikipedia and asked Crane about it in an interview, and asked as though it were a bona fide fact or even a real “rumor.” THIS IS JUST ME HAVING FUN.
Here’s the reasoning behind my total b.s. speculation:
Amongst the more surreal moments of the Stone Temple Pilots’ show at the PNC Bank Arts Center this past Sunday – and there were many – was the band breaking into an extended jam of The O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money” just prior to final encore “Dead and Bloated.” The moment was chock full of inadvertent gallows humor for two reasons:
Put more simply, Weiland – and STP – gave an unprofessional, sloppy, disorganized, sad, pathetic and embarrassing performance on Saturday night, seemingly fueled by little more than commerce and Weiland’s junk habit.
TMZ is reporting that STP-frontman Scott Weiland served a whopping 13 minutes of an 8-day sentence resulting from a drunk driving arrest this past fall.
Is there no fucking justice in the world?? Forget whatever pre-conceptions you may have about Weiland, his bands, or his struggles with drug addiction (I happen to be a Weiland sympathizer). But for anyone to serve 13 minutes of an 8-day sentence is fucked. For anyone to receive an 8-day sentence for something people usually get a full year for is fucked. For a man convicted of a second DUI to get off scot-free with a $2,000 fine and some alcohol counseling is severely fucked. That people arrested for possessing a small amount of harmless pot get it way worse than someone who was actively endangering the lives of others is fucked beyond all recognition.
This just proves that rich run this country, make all the rules, and can get away with anything they want. Rich peoples’ rules, people, rich peoples’ rules. Our legal system is fucked beyond belief and completely at the whim of dollar signs.
-VN
For Richard Patrick’s fourth effort under the Filter moniker, he’s hired an all-star cast of musicians to back him up. But really it doesn’t matter, because Patrick is Filter the way Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails, the band in which Patrick got his start. And the core of Patrick’s patented Filter sound is intact on Anthems For the Damned, a dark sense of melody culled from the industrial scene in which Patrick earned his stripes mixed with songs alternatingly heavy and pensive. Anthems for the Damned runs the (amal)gamut across the sonic spectrum that has come to define Filter, from rockers reminiscent of “Hey Man, Nice Shot” to slower numbers closer to “Take a Picture” and everything in between, capturing the essence of the Filter sound but failing to exceed expectations.
Despite what Axl might have to say about the guy, I’ve always held that Scott Weiland is one of the greatest frontmen of our generation and I’m super-psyched for the collaboration between ex-Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland, former Army of Anyone members Dean and Rob DeLeo, and Bomb Shelter Studios owner Eric Kretz Stone Temple Pilots reunion. According to a press release the band plans to work on a new album following their massive 65-date Summer tour, which begins May 17th in Ohio and yours truly will attend May 31st in New Jersey. No word yet on a record label or any other details for the album; the band’s prior five releases were on Atlantic Records.
Here’s fan-filmed footage of the band performing “Big Empty” last night in Hollywood. Please excuse the lame-o commentary from the camerawoman (“He’s, like, making love to the guitar!” during Dean’s slide part). Does Dean DeLeo look fucking amped to be playing in front of real audiences or what??
-VN
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From the always astute pop-culture critics at Idolator:
Weiland, the estranged singer of Velvet Revolver, has teamed up with members of Army Of Anyone and Bomb Shelter Studios owner Eric Kretz for a tour that will hit more than 50 amphitheaters this summer and fall.
Brilliant. In other news, members of The Haunted, Disfear and Cradle of Filth will be teaming up for a massive world tour this summer. Let’s just pray and hope that film director Fred Durst doesn’t decide to collaborate with Fear and the Nervous System’s Wes Borland for anything… ever.
-VN
FUCK SCOTT WEILAND. I’m glad you’ve been able to get this far based on your limited vocal range and ability to mimic the same style of on-stage dancing that Bowie and Iggy Pop were doing thirty years ago, but seriously, stop trying to compete with Axl Rose for the “Biggest Asshole” award – Axl will beat your ass every time. Calling Slash by his real name in a press release does not make you clever. Claiming the name “Velvet Revolver” was your idea does not make you cool. You’ve always had to suck off the musical talent teat of others, and every time I think about the fact that Layne Staley couldn’t get it together while you go on and on and on I die a little inside. I hope the DeLeo brothers stab you in the eyes with your fucking needles. And fuck your wife Mary, too.
FUCK ROBB FLYNN. I’m a huge Machine Head fan, but telling people that you “once punched some kid in the face for saying that Gary Holt sucked” is moronic. Metal is supposed to be about blowing off steam in a healthy way so as to avoid actual neanderthal behavior. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to fight in this world, but someone insulting the fucking guitar player from Exodus is not one of them. Put more simply: You either a) actually did punch some dude for talking shit about Holt and are therefore a bona fide moron or b) are lying about punching some dude for talking shit about Holt and are therefore a bona fide moron. Also, every Machine Head album in-between Burn My Eyes and Through the Ashes of Empires was a cock sucking trend chasing waste of time. Deal with it.
FUCK MARIA BRINK. Someone told me that if you see her up close she’s not actually hot, but after looking closely at some candid photos (like this one), I realized you don’t really have to be very close to her all to see that she looks like a fucking rodent. Has this bitch had too much plastic surgery (excuse me, “work done”), or does she really just look like my morning crap? Also, did you know that she sells hand drawn pictures and poems on her MySpace page (I won’t link to it, go find it if you’re so fucking interested)? I haven’t read the poems but the pictures look like they were drawn by a retarded five year old. Stop wearing that stupid blue dress and trying to exploit your non-existent looks to cover up for your lack of talent. I hope Christina Scabbia kicks you in the twat.
Fuck me for writing this, and fuck you for reading it. I’m gonna go kill a fucking bunny that made fun of Alex Skolnick.
-AR
Over the weekend Slash hinted that Velvet Revolver may continue with a new singer, and this morning it was announced that Stone Temple Pilots are going to do a full summer tour; but the fact that Weiland is leaving the group isn’t news.
What IS news is that VR are in final negotiations with one Mr. Samuel Hagar, Esq., to take over Weiland’s spot in the band. The plan, apparently, is to record a new album ASAP and then begin to tour behind it as early as this fall.
It’s been quite a shit-storm in the media lately for Velvet Revolver. First Scott Weiland declared on-stage during a show that “You’re watching something special… the last tour by Velvet Revolver,” catching his band-mates off-guard. Matt Sorum then took a thinly-veiled swipe at Weiland, Weiland retorted, and Slash came back with his usual, “let’s all just play rock n’ roll, dude!” rhetoric.
It would seem that a breakup is inevitable whatwith all this crap and the Stone Temple Pilot’s reunion, though Slash insists he’s looking forward to the next record. So whose fault is it?
Man oh man, even if you don’t think that any of the members of Velvet Revolver are musically relevant anymore, you gotta admit, all this drama keeps shit interesting.
So after Scott Weiland publicly declared last week that VR are currently finishing out their “last tour,” he and Matt Sorum started trading barbs over the ‘net. Sorum just made reference to “some people” while Weiland called Sorum out by name, so I guess depending on how you wanna look at it, either Sorum was too classy to specifically lash out at Weiland, or Weiland just has bigger balls than Sorum; in any case, there have been rumors that these two don’t like one another pretty much since the band’s inception, so all this bickering isn’t, like, hugely surprising or anything.
So now Slash, ever the diplomat, has thrown his two cents in, making this super powerful statement: “Well, let’s put it this way — this is not Velvet Revolver’s last tour.” Wow. I’m sure such a bold declaration instills confidence in the hearts of VR fans everywhere.
Now, VR do, contractually speaking, owe RCA one more album; if someone threatens Weiland with a lawsuit, I could see him phoning in another tour to support said offering. And I have no doubt that Slash dreams of following in the footsteps of his heroes in the Stones and Aerosmith and making mediocre corporate rock well into his Viagra years. Still, I hope he’s learned from his past: in a situation like this, it may be best to get in, amass as much cash possible, and then get back out. No supergroup can last forever.
-AR
Here’s a photo of the reunited Stone Temple Pilots, as originally posted on Blabbermouth over the weekend:
Funny how everyone looks happy to be in the photo except for Scott Weiland. In fact, Weiland looks like he was just too drugged out to be aware that his picture was being taken. So, y’know, this should be an interesting reunion.
-AR
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