He has a great voice, but his original material is extremely generic. I tend to think that a Gutt-fronted STP would put on a good show, as Gutt could easily handle the material, but a new album would sort of be like a Talk Show 2.0.--a solid 90's sounding rock album, but nothing amazing.
I agree. Jeff Gutt is very talented, experienced, and seems very well prepared for this kind of gig. But his original music is generic and uninspiring. That is the big problem to me. Scott Weiland was unrivaled as a writer of melodic rock vocals. STP needs to find someone who can write really good, interesting, compelling vocals for their music. They don't need to find someone who's on Scott's level necessarily, but they do need to find someone who's on another level from most of the stuff being put out today. If they settle on someone who writes mediocre vocals, then this whole thing will end up a failure.
I don't think Gavin Rossdale would ever do it, for the same reason Brett Scallions wouldn't, except to an even greater degree: He has his own reformed band, which was popular in its own right and which he and his former bandmates built their success on themselves. He doesn't want to spend every night singing a set made of 95% another singer's songs. Chester was the only already-established singer who could pull that off, and only because: a. Chester didn't have a huge ego, and b. Chester was a huge STP fan since before he got famous.
If they're gonna do this, they need to do it right. I am hopeful they understand this due to all the time it's taken and how secretive they've been.
