A bleak dilemma, inspired by these weird times: Who has more stories to tell, and who has suffered the most? Slash and Duff McKagan, who had to deal for many years with two divas, Axl in Guns n’ Roses and Scott Weiland in Velvet Revolver, or the DeLeo brothers, who saw Weiland succumb to addiction in 2015 and his brief successor, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, take his own life merely two years later?
I believe that Stone Temple Pilots’ founding members come out ‘on top’, and if nothing else we must congratulate them for their perseverance and endurance. The San Diego California band is now in its fourth decade, marching on with frontman Jeff Gutt, who joined STP back in 2017. ‘Perdida’, the second record with Gutt on vocals, contains exclusively acoustic material, although there is some variety in the instrumentation, thanks to the occasional cello or saxophone. In terms of memorable songs, however, there simply aren’t any that surpass the ‘OK mark’ (‘Fare Thee Well’, the single, is a good example) and ‘Perdida’ will be quickly forgotten.
For better or worse, in the case of Stone Temple Pilots, the drama goes on, but success and inspiration are stuck in the 90s.
