After my extended hiatus I found myself at the age of 36 and knew the TV route could get me back out there with the biggest splash.
Jeff Gutt
Sure I've done some runs and even toured some amazing places around the world, but this is Stone Temple Pilots!
No one will ever fill Scott's shoes and I'm not trying to - he's a legend. But these songs deserve to be performed and people want to hear them. I'm just honored that the guys chose me to help them continue to build this band's legacy.
I think I've proven that I'm more than just a TV singer. I was always more than that, even before I went on TV.
There's so many STP songs that are just classic to me, and just so influential in my musical growth.
I've been trying my whole life to get to this point, and it's finally here. It's an amazing record, and it happens to be with Stone Temple Pilots. I mean, what could be better than that?
I'm a big fan of 'Dead and Bloated,' for sure.
So I just try to be me and feel the songs and feel the energy of the band with me.
I knew Chester. I've known Chester since 2001. I was in a band called Dry Cell, and we were signed by the same guy that signed Linkin Park, so that's how I knew him. He would come to some of our writing sessions and rehearsals; I'd see him in the studios that we were at.
I think back to the Eagles, Elton John, people like that when I think about the Troubadour. It's an iconic place.
I was probably 16 or 17 when 'Core' came out, and I just remember how Scott could cater to the song and create these characters. That blew me away.
I felt I had a good ear, and I had the ability to sing like my influences.
The thing I admired most about Scott was his fearlessness. Of course his voice, lyrics, and stage presence have always had an effect on me as they have most STP fans. But it was his fearlessness that I admired the most.
Every night on stage it gets more and more comfortable. I think it really shows in the performances and just being able to revel in it and do it and live the dream I've thought about for so long.
After I started singing, I'd go to my dad's records I grew up with in his house listening to: Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, the Carpenters, Bob Seger, Neil Diamond, voices that resonate with you, that you know who they are right away.
It's not like I decided to continue the Stone Temple Pilots.
The great thing about the STP catalog is it's diversity.
I had walked away from the music industry because I had a certain integrity and all that.
And I'd spent 20 years in bars and nightclubs, dealing with promoters and getting ripped off and just everything that comes with all that stuff - paying your dues, I guess.
I've got thick skin.
I just do what the music tells me to do.
At the end of the day, I'm here for my son and our future, to be the dad I always wanted to be and in the position I always wanted to be in.
Making music with people is a very intimate process.
I just try to do what I can, control what I can, and let the rest handle itself.
At the end of the day, I'm just trying to feel the music and be free - as free as possible.
Cause I love STP so much and it meant so much to me as a musician throughout my process - along with other bands too - but they were definitely one of those bands that influenced me and that I looked up to a lot, I just wanted to continue their journey - for them.
I've had a record deal before and I was willing to do whatever they wanted me to do and I thought that would be it. By the end of it, you know, I hated myself.
I know what kind of artist I want to be, what I'm capable of, what I'm not capable of.
I think the most important thing is not trying to fake anything, 'cause I think people can see right through that - they can always see through a facade.
There's a lot of downtime when we're not on stage leading up to the gigs.
The first gig I did was at the Troubadour when they were announcing who I was and they broadcast it live on SiriusXM radio. It doesn't get any more high pressure than that.
I've been through the music industry and with the Internet the music industry is not what it used to be.
I wanted to be in control of my own destiny.
I have my own label and I'm my first artist.
My son was baptized in the River Jordan.
I was into Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, the blues.
I got my teeth kicked in for a good 25 years.
I've had close chances of success, and sometimes politics and people don't work out.
I feel like I'm living in a movie.
