(Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images) Getty Images Lottery Amphitheatre on Septemin Sterling Heights, Michigan. STERLING HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN - SEPTEMBER 27: Eric Kretz of Stone Temple Pilots performs at Michigan. “When we started rehearsals three weeks ago, it was amazing to hear some of these songs with extra guitars and keyboards and 3-part harmonies. We definitely had more freedom that way just to explore the studio in any way we wanted to,” said Kretz. We had a lot more freedom with instrumentation on this record knowing that we were going to present it with extra musicians on stage. It was just so fun to present those songs in a different way. “It was in the back of our head because we had two extra musicians on that show. STP had their Unplugged taping in mind as it came time to start work on Perdida. And knowing that the song was already popular on the radio, it was really a special one to play. And since the chorus wasn’t gonna have that big rock sound, I was able to do it all with a single drum set. It was really a special instrument to play.
And there was no way to get either/or from the sounds,” the drummer continued, noting his work in the studio on “Big Empty.” “So doing it acoustic that way was fun because I already had that same 1920s Ludwig drum set. And then when it goes into the chorus, I switched to a modern, say, rock drum set. “The drums in that song… For the verses, I was using an old 1929 Ludwig drum set. And that one was a fun one to record,” Kretz said of the song’s live debut during the Unplugged taping. But that was the first time we played that song live. The now legendary performance immediately conjures up images of Weiland relaxing on stage in a rocking chair and is infamous for its debut of “Big Empty.” Those tracks finally saw official release in 2017 on a 25th anniversary edition of Core. That performance sparked the group’s MTV Unplugged taping the following year. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) FilmMagic Stone Temple Pilots during 1994 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It will always be a great song no matter how you look at it.”
When a song is that great, it can translate whether it’s acoustic or full electric or with an orchestra. And it’s really great because you get the whole audience to sing along. And today, Dean and Jeff will play the song and then Robert and myself will come in later on it. Sometimes live we’ll still do the majority of the song not quite acoustic but it’ll be electric with no distortion on it. So it was such a beautiful way to present it. “ Robert originally wrote ‘Plush’ on the acoustic guitar. Because I think MTV was such a pioneer in pushing the envelope of where radio was going,” recalled Kretz. “That was such an exciting time for music. Released on their 1992 debut album Core, the group fed it back to fans in radically different fashion that year on MTV’s Headbangers Ball program, a live track that’s now been streamed nearly 45 million times. The group’s 1993 MTV Unplugged taping has long been lauded but one of their most popular tracks on Spotify preceded it: a stripped down take on their first hit “Plush.” STP is no stranger to taking well-known songs and completely reshaping them in acoustic fashion. The group hopes to reschedule them later this year following a summer tour with Nickelback. The eighth Stone Temple Pilots studio album Perdida was released on FebruCourtesy of Rhino EntertainmentĪn acoustic tour was set to accompany the release of Perdida but was cancelled as Gutt heals from a herniated disc.
This way it was like, ‘Oh man, we could just do a whole tour this way and play songs from the past and the majority of songs off the new record and just have fun with it.’” There’s songs in our catalog that we’ve never been able to do live - because it would just be the four of us on stage and it just seems weird to bring out one or two extra people for a couple of songs. “Then we had the realization that we could do a tour and bring in some extra players, whether it be strings or horns or keyboards. So it was a really great idea to say, ‘Let’s just stay in that zone and do a whole album that way.’ It allowed us to explore more song ideas than we normally would’ve if we were doing a majority rock record,” said Kretz. “We’ve delved into a song or two on almost every album. While Perdida is the band’s first primarily acoustic album, it’s not uncharted territory for a group that’s released songs like “Pretty Penny” on 1994’s Purple or “Sour Girl” on the No.
The album leans in a heavily acoustic direction and loss is a theme that emerges on the new record (though not necessarily in reference to either Weiland or Bennington, who took his own life in 2017).