During the opener, which was “Big Empty”, frontman Scott Weiland “fell” into drummer Eric Kretz’s drum kit. Reportedly, Scott was also mumbling and forgetting lyrics throughout the night. And this wasn’t the first time during this tour that similar reports have surfaced.

Now, I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but I’ve been thinking about this incident.

After watching the clip of Scott falling into the drum kit, it seems obvious to me that he did it on purpose. He was running backwards towards the drum kit; it wasn’t like he was walking next to it and just fell. Scott knew exactly what he was doing.

Scott Weiland and his antics are there for two reasons.

The first reason is that it gives the recently reunited Stone Temple Pilots free press. Let’s face it, the band never gets any publicity for putting on a great show without any incidents. But, when Scott does something off the wall, the press is all over it.

The second reason for Scott’s antics, is that it will sell tickets. Of course STP fans will be catching the band’s reunion shows, but for the causal fans, it gives them a possibility of seeing Scott all doped up and making an ass out of himself. Folks want to go see STP and hope that Scott does something moronic. It also puts fans in the position of perhaps seeing STP one last time, because if Scott keeps these shenanigans up, he will either be dead or STP will break up again.

Scott is smart enough to know these reasons. Scott is fully aware that a majority of people believe that he is messed up druggie, and he will cater to the masses. And guess what? By giving STP negative press and having fans label him as druggie, Scott Weiland is getting exactly what he wants. Free press and sold out shows.

However, because of his background, Scott could be on drugs again. As a fan of his music, I hope he isn’t, because I want to hear what he creates for years to come. As a human, I hope he isn’t for the sake of his two children. There are only a handful of people that actually know whether or not he’s high again. But, I don’t think he is.

Here’s a review, and a clip, from Phoenix last week from Blabbermouth.

What do you think?

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Here’s what Scotty had to say about the album, “It’ll definitely be a sonic journey like the first album was, a little bit more focused since I’m not on a narcotic journey like I was on the last one. But, you know, still sort of all over the map, because my influences are so wide and varied.“.

Weiland has been working on this album for years now and, as previously reported, the record will be produced by Steve Albini.

I’m actually looking forward to hearing this. 12 Bar Blues had some great tracks, so I’m curious to hear what tricks he’s got up his sleeve.

Here’s the video for “Barbarella” from 12 Bar Blues.

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The two members have been accused of no longer participating in the band’s current contract with Atlantic, unless some changes were made. The other two members of the band, Rob and Dean DeLeo, have already been released by Atlantic.

You can read the full article here.

This is another reason why labels are in trouble. But, before my tangent, I do realize that it’s a business and I also realize that STP has/had a contract to fulfill. However, their greed has caused fans and bands to look elsewhere.

OK, here we go.

Atlantic pretty much sabotaged a lot of rock bands latter efforts in the late 90’s and early 00’s. The label forgot about bands like Silverchair, Bush and STP. Once sales dropped for these bands, the label barely gave them any promotion or support to plug new albums. Why would a band want to stay at a label that gives them no support?

Another point, Atlantic had no interest in STP when the band broke up, but now since there’s some buzz around them and the guys have mentioned working on a new album, Atlantic wants a piece of the pie.

Also, I believe STP needs to give Atlantic two more albums, but Atlantic could have fulfilled that with a rarities compilation and/or a live compilation. This happens all the time, but Atlantic saw no profit in these projects, so they didn’t care to have STP complete their contract.

Finally, wouldn’t Scott have already been released from the contract when he was in Velvet Revolver and signed with RCA?

It just bugs me to see Atlantic trying to cash in on STP after they forgot about them.

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The show in Holmdel, which was at PNC Bank Arts Center on Saturday for K-ROCK’s Return of the Rock show, has left some folks questioning Scott Weiland’s state of mind, or his battle with addiction.

The New York Times reviewed the show, where they stated that Weiland’s few comments were “barely coherent”. They also added that his remarks were “dispiriting” when he stated: “Sometimes you make crazy choices”.

Radio personalities Opie and Anthony also weighed in about the show in Holmdel, after STP came out more than an hour after Filter had finished their set. The duo went backstage to find out what was going on and discovered bassist Rob DeLeo yelling “come out Axl” outside Weiland’s personal tour bus. You can check out what else they said about the backstage chaos below.

If you’ve followed STP’s turbulent past you know all about Weiland’s antics, but I was hoping that they wouldn’t happen so soon into the tour. Let’s hope that he can keep his act together and finish this tour, or there will be a lot of ticked off fans, including myself. This reunion is Weiland’s chance to prove that he’s grown up a bit and isn’t a complete egomaniac.

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STP kicked off their extensive 65 plus date reunion tour at the ‘Rock on the Range’ festival on Saturday May 17 and then in Camden, NJ for Philly radio station WMMR’s 40th anniversary show last night May 18.

The band stuck mainly to the hits, but managed to sneak in a couple of gems like the unreleased track “All In The Suit That You Wear”, which would show up on their greatest hits collection Thank You.

Here’s the setlist from May 17, which I believe is pretty close to the May 18 show as well:

Big Empty
Wicked Garden
Big Bang Baby
Vasoline
Lady Picture Show
Lounge Fly
Crackerman
Sour Girl
Creep
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Coma
Down
All In The Suit That You Wear
Sex Type Thing
Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart
Dead and Bloated

STP will be heading back into Ohio for a show in Cleveland tomorrow night and then a string of other Midwest dates before coming back to the East Coast. You can check out the band’s full schedule at their official site.

Here’s a video of “Interstate Love Song” from Saturday May 17.

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Image details: Live 8 London – Stage served by picapp.com

R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots have been tapped to participate in the 10th annual Voodoo Music Festival down in New Orleans from October 24-26.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 2, and for all your additional info check out the festival’s official site.

Besides the Voodoo Fest, Lollapalooza and the Virgin Festival had previously announced line-ups filled with alternative bands including Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, and the Foo Fighters. Oddly enough, Trent Reznor and company will be a part of all three festivals.

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• Core, the band’s debut album, was released on September 29, 1992.
• Core went 8x platinum.
• Singles: “Plush”, “Creep”, “Sex Type Thing” and “Wicked Garden”
• Must have tracks: “Crackerman”, “Piece of Pie”.

“Creep”


• Purple was released on June 7, 1994.
• Purpledebuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and went 6x platinum.
• Singles: “Interstate Love Song”, “Vasoline” and “Big Empty”.
• Must have tracks: “Kitchenware & Candybars”, “Lounge Fly”, “Army Ants”.

“Interstate Love Song”


• Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop was released on March 26, 1996.
• Tiny Musiconly went 2x platinum.
• Singles: “Big Bang Baby”, “Lady Picture Show” and “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart”.
• Must have tracks: “Tumble In The Rough”, “Adhesive”, “Seven Caged Tigers”.

“Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart”


• No. 4 was released on October 26, 1999.
• No. 4would reach platinum status.
• Singles: “Down”, “Sour Girl”.
• Must have tracks: “Atlanta”, “Glide”, “Church on Tuesday”.

“Sour Girl”


• Shangri-La Dee Da was released on June 19, 2001.
• Shangri-La Dee Da debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200, but failed to reach platinum status.
• Singles: “Days of the Week”, “Hollywood Bitch”.
• Must have tracks: “Too Cool Queenie”, “Regeneration”, “Bi-Polar Bear”.

“Days of the Week”


• Thank You, a greatest hits collection, was released on November 11, 2003.
• Thank You debuted at #26 on the Billboard 200.
• Singles: “All In The Suit That You Wear”, plus every other track cause it’s a greatest hits package.
• Must have tracks: “All In The Suit That You Wear”, “Plush” (acoustic)

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I already did a post on Tiny Music last summer, but it’s still my favorite STP album (and their best). Besides, this beautiful weather just tells me that it’s time to bring this album back by blasting it for all to hear.

With that, here’s my post from last August: Stone Temple Pilots – Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop.

Until next time, enjoy the groovy video for “Big Bang Baby”.

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There’s no other info at this time, but be sure to check out the band on May 1 when they appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

I love STP, but I’m not too sure about this. It seems kind of lame to release a live DVD with only 7 tracks, but if they add some special features then I’m game.

For now, check out this little sampler from the April 7 performance.

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FYI: Stone Temple Pilots

Enjoy the video for “Hello, It’s Late”, which was a gem from their last album, 2001’s Shangri-La-Dee-Da.

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