Brother Dean DeLeo of "Stone Temple Pilots" celebrates his birthday today, he was born on August 23rd, 1961.
(Photo: Stone Temple Pilots)
His younger brother, Robert, met vocalist Scott Weiland in a performance of "Black Flag." Robert decided to introduce his guitarist brother to Scott and came up with the idea of forming a band. The three teamed up with drummer Eric Kretz and formed a band. They gave it the name "Mighty Joe Young" inspired by the movie of the same name. They started performing in bars throughout San Diego and the Hollywood area and eventually signed a record deal with "Atlantic Records" in 1992. But they had to change the band name because a blues musician had already taken it. Scott is the one who brought the name "Stone Temple Pilots" just because of the "cool" acronyms taken from the "STP" oil company.
The band quickly rose to fame with the release of their debut album "Core", which sold over 8 million copies. The album was wildly successful because of the singles "Sex Type Thing" and "Plush", which made "STP" one of the most popular grunge bands of the era, although there were always some who questioned its relevance to the scene (especially since it did not come out of Seattle).
With their second album "Purple", they have left all the critics with their jaws open wide and proved that they are not a "stunt" who wants to "surf" over the wave of the Grunge scene, but a real, kicking, and rough rock band. By the way, this album reached the 73rd place on the list of the greatest guitar albums of all time, and this is small proof of Dean DeLeo's amazing abilities. "STP" went on to record three more studio albums: "Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop" (1996)", "No. 4" (1999),
and "Shangri-La Dee Da" (2001).
In 1997, when Scott decided to go his own way as he battled drugs and addictions, the three decided to form a new band called "Talk Show". They teamed up with singer Dave Coutts from the band "Ten Inch Men" and released one album bearing the band's name. Despite positive reviews, the album failed commercially and the band disbanded.
In 2005, singer Richard Patrick of the band "Filter" together with the DeLeo brothers and drummer Ray Luzier (who later joined "Korn") formed the band "Army of Anyone". A year later they released their only album that also bears the band's name. Unfortunately here too the album received positive reviews but failed commercially. The band disbanded after a brief tour to promote the album.
In 2008, after a 5-year hiatus, the members of "STP" returned to play together and two years later released their sixth self-titled album. Despite a long absence, the album reached number 2 on Billboard and was a great success.
In 2012, friction began again between the band members and Scott, this time the center of the conflict was Scott's singing ability. The album "Core" celebrated 20 years and Scott wanted to go on tour to celebrate the album, but the band members objected, claiming that he would not be able to perform the vocals with the voice problems he has. Scott decided to ignore the band's demands and performed a tribute to the album on his solo tour. Apparently, the tension between the band members reached its peak because in February 2013 the band announced that Scott was fired from the band.
In the same year, the three band members added an old and enthusiastic fan named Chester Bennington and together with him released an EP called "High Rise". But the romance didn't last long and Chester returned to Linkin Park.
In 2017, after a well-publicized campaign to choose a singer, Jeff Gutt was chosen for the position and successfully stepped into Scott's shoes, and a year later the band released their 7th album, which also bears the band's name.
In July 2019, the band together with its new singer held its first performance in Israel and it was an amazing performance that gave its mature fans a delightful taste of the 90s.
In 2020 "STP" released its last album to date called "Perdida". An album that is entirely acoustic and was recorded with vintage analog instruments.
Listen to the album on: Spotify, Apple Music