who fits the bill to sing with STP/New Project

[nat]

The one thing all of these bands have in common that sets them apart from STP is the primary core of songwriters stayed in place from one signer to the next (the Youngs in the case of AC/DC, Jerry Cantrell in the case of AiC, Eddie Van Halen in the case of VH). With STP, though, while the remaining members often contributed the basic music tracks, Weiland wrote the lyrics, melodies and arrangements for basically every single STP song, ever.


Point being is STP is already one step behind the three other bands mentioned since 50% of the core songwriting team is deceased. In their case, I would say STP should probably call it a day as STP.

Complete and total bullshit. Scott pretty much didn't arrange anything for STP. He occasionally came up with a guitar riff that Dean or Rob would re-purpose, but throughout the entire history of STP Scott almost never contributed to the arrangement of the songs. The Deleos, Kretz, and Brendan worked out the instrumentals and then Scott put a melody and lyrics to it. He was NEVER "50% of the songwriting team."

I'm not saying Scott is exactly replaceable by any stretch, but to give him credit for stuff he had absolutely no part in is ludicrous. It's like saying Eric Kretz played every guitar solo in every album. It's complete bullshit.


Rob is 50% of the songwriting team. Dean is the other 50%. Kretz and Scott contributed, but if you removed their contributions you'd still have 95% of STP's song catalog, just with different vocals and drums.

Excuse me, but fuck you too.

It's been said in interview after interview with STP that the songs don't become what they are until the musical ideas are given to Scott and he crafts them into what they ultimately become. His contributions go far beyond just putting words over 100% completed pieces of music (this may be more debatable on self-titled). Rob and Dean come up with the riffs, sure, but Scott shapes the songs into what they ultimately become.

Your analogy of saying it's like saying Kretz played a guitar solo on every song is completely and totally way out, wacko, it's not even CLOSE to the same thing.

Rob is 50% of the songwriting team. Dean is the other 50%. Kretz and Scott contributed, but if you removed their contributions you'd still have 95% of STP's song catalog, just with different vocals and drums.

No fucking way. Not even close.

No where in any interview has it ever been said that Scott constructed the songs. What has been said is the his vocals and melodies ELEVATED the rest of the band's music to an entirely new level, which is true. But his influence over the actual construction of the songs, I.E. the key they are played in, chord progressions, riffs, the tempo, the song structure, is almost non-existent.

The DeLeos wrote almost every single chord progression in almost every single song. THEY selected the tempos, they created the structure of the verses and choruses and bridges, they selected the keys. Scott then took those ideas and crafted a melody that ELEVATED that song to another level. But the keys he sang in? Those didn't come from Scott, those came from the music the Deleos gave Scott. The choruses and verses he wrote? Those were inspired by pre-existing guitar parts the Deleos showed him

Plush, without Scott, would be the exact same song with different vocals. Same for every single other STP song besides Unglued, Tumble in the Rough and the songs from SLDD.

But without the Deleo's, there would be no Plush, no ILS, or Down or Sour Girl or Atlanta, or any other song from any of those albums. The vocals to those songs would have never even existed because the key, chord progression and structure they are based on will never have existed. Unglued would just be a guitar riff, with no choruses or verses or solo because Scott had nothing to do with those parts. Tumble in the Rough would just be an idea.

Would they be as popular without Scott's voice and ideas? Probably not, but the songs came from the DeLeos.


I'm not downplaying Scott's role here, but you just can't come up with delusional notions and then act like they are real. Read ANY article about the construction of STP's music and it is very clear how they did things. Dean or Rob would come up with the riffs, verse, and chorus on guitar. They'd show that to Scott, Scott would go off and write his melody based on that and then write lyrics to it. While he did that, Rob and Kretz worked bass and drum compositions based on the song Dean or Rob wrote. Then either the instrumentalists would record the song with Scott adding vocals later, or all four would record together. It's at this point, when vocals are being laid down, when Dean works out his solo. 


In the instances where Scott came up with the riff, he showed that riff to Dean and Rob, who came up with a verse and chorus themselves, then built a structure around those idea. Then the rest of the song would be written the same as usual.


In the case of Trippin', Kretz wrote the guitar parts, bass line, and drums himself and brought it to the group as a almost completed song. Scott then came up with a melody and lyrics for the song while Dean crafted a solo.


SLDD is the one real exception. Scott had a huge hand in production and therefore had a hand in the construction of most of the songs.

Look, I'm not trying to downplay your precious DeLeos contributions to STP's legacy. There certainly wouldn't have been STP without them.

But your view that they were responsible for 95% of the band's sound is just that, your view. I do not think that is the reality, though.

We both need to admit that neither of us REALLY knows how much any single member contributed to any single song, but Weiland's contribution to STP's music was far greater than any album credits (or lack thereof) might lead one to believe, I think.

I was probably being a little overzealous in saying he was 50% of the songwriting team, but I firmly believe he was 50% of what what made STP, STP. I mean, it's plainly evident when you look at the projects done by the other three without him (Talk Show, STP w/ Chester).

[Blue]

Look, I'm not trying to downplay your precious DeLeos contributions to STP's legacy. There certainly wouldn't have been STP without them.

But your view that they were responsible for 95% of the band's sound is just that, your view. I do not think that is the reality, though.

We both need to admit that neither of us REALLY knows how much any single member contributed to any single song, but Weiland's contribution to STP's music was far greater than any album credits (or lack thereof) might lead one to believe, I think.

I was probably being a little overzealous in saying he was 50% of the songwriting team, but I firmly believe he was 50% of what what made STP, STP. I mean, it's plainly evident when you look at the projects done by the other three without him (Talk Show, STP w/ Chester).

Now, let's be clear. I never said he's only responsible for 5% of their 'sound'. I am exclusively talking about songwriting here. Chords, keys, tempos, structure. The Deleos are definitely responsible for that front of the majority of STP's music.

However, Scott is more than 50% of STP's sound. Without Scott, Plush would still be the same song with a different melody, name, and lyrics. Would it have been as big of a hit? Fuck no. Same goes for the other songs. They'd exist, or could possibly exist, but those songs would have never found the radio if it weren't for Scott's voice, lyrics, and melodies.

[nat]

I include lyrics and melodies as part of "songwriting."


I also don't believe these were the extent of his contributions to the band's music. If you watch that YouTube video that shows where they are rehearsing Creep for one of those late nights shows, they move on to working out some then-new material, specifically, "Meatplow."


Watching, it's clear Dean came up with the riff. However, if you watch closely you can see Scott directing the other two (Dean and Eric), and he has them change up the arrangement of their jam to be more in-line with what would eventually be recorded.


This is but one small example, but I am using it to make a point, as Weiland does not receive any album credits for the music on Meatplow, yet it's clear from video recorded evidence that he had a hand in the arrangement on that song. I have a very strong hunch based on interviews, this and other video evidence, and from the projects the rest of the band released without his involvement, that he had a hand in arrangement on many of STP's songs.


I am not a musician so perhaps my use of terms is not in line with the same way you use them, but I think based on your comments that we aren't as far apart in thinking as it first appeared.

[Blue]

Traditionally, songwriting refers to the writing the core structure of the song. This could be done vocally, but traditionally is done on an instrument. As I said before with STP the process almost universally begins with one of the DeLeos writing the base structure on guitar, so whoever does that gets credit as a songwriter.


I'm sure at the end of the day all four band members, as well as Brendan, helped shape some of the songs. But a lot of the stuff they wrote came out as a complete idea on acoustic guitar, before being introduced to the rest of the band.


But regardless of who wrote what or where each idea came from, the thing about STP back in the day was that it was greater than the sum of its parts. There was more to the band than just the Deleos' tone, playing & songwriting; Scott's iconic voice & sense of melody & genius lyricism; and Kretz powerful, behind the beat drumming. All of those things together somehow added up to something completely amazing and intangible, that was transcendent of what all those things should add up to.


The only reason I ever supported STP with Chester was because Scott had made the band the sum of its parts -- or worse, less than the sum of its parts. The reunion wasn't STP, it was STP with Scott Weiland. Suddenly the band was all about how Scott's vocals and the band's playing just didn't match up, both in studio and live. There was a staggering lack of the chemistry they had once had.


But with Chester, they were a complete unit again. Once again they were all playing on a level that was better than they could each achieve individually. Chester had the chemistry that made the band at least something of what it had been, he had a passion for the music that Scott-- and quite frankly the rest of the band-- lacked after the reunion. He had the vocal range to sing almost any STP song, and a knowledge of those songs to sing them at the drop of a hat. His one lacking was writing lyrics and melodies... But as I said, if the rest of the band stepped up and wrote melodies and lyrics, with Chester singing, then maybe they could have released the closest thing to an actual STP album we could have ever gotten after 2008.

[seattlesound]

I wasn't a fan of the Chester w/ stp, but those guys with Chester didn't do much to try and convince any of the naysayers either. They rushed the hell out of the Ep, making such light of it laughing about how they had Chester rush all these lyrics and then send him off on a plane at 3am the following morning for linkin park. Such bs that the stp legacy has to include rushed crap like that...

Either way, I'll stop the childish sounding whining there and say that we never even got a real taste of what Chester could have done. The black heart single itself sounded like a drop off track of self titled, or a lesser version of hickory dichotomy, but with wanna be sounding Scott lyrics dropped all over it.

It just is more frustrating that an album the guys were cutting with the all passionate about stp Chester had to be dumped because he quit and went back to linkin park... Before we could really get a dose of what the group could do when not rushing Chester off on a plane in 6 hrs of trying to record songs.

[leocal79]

I believe Chester and STP should let the fans here the album they created especially since the fans have been waiting two years for it since the EP. Even though the EP was rushed it still had the classic STP sound no matter if you hate Chester or not. He isn't Weiland but I believe he fit the band pretty well.

[DankoJones]

I believe Chester and STP should let the fans here the album they created especially since the fans have been waiting two years for it since the EP. Even though the EP was rushed it still had the classic STP sound no matter if you hate Chester or not. He isn't Weiland but I believe he fit the band pretty well.

Agreed, Id really like to see what direction they were going, even if a full album wasnt completed.  They could just release a second EP

[leocal79]

Another EP or the Full Album I think would make allot of sense. I don't think It would hurt the song writing process on their next project since in a interview Dean said all the riffs with Chester were written on the spot and not from his back catalog of riffs sitting around.

[leocal79]

I think a new fresh take on this would be to have AOA tour with Filter and have Richard do a short set with AOA and have the STP guys join Filter for a couple of songs to end the night. Once the current tour is over since Filter really is just Richard he could have AOA become Filter this way it could be a full time project or just run the two bands together all the time.

[John]

What. 

[EyesOfDisarray]

What. 

[foou33]

What. 

[NakedSundayCrackerman]

What. 

[stp4]

What. 

[Down-Plush]

What.