There’s something to be said for following your dreams and never giving up, then there’s just pure insanity. Jeff Gutt teetered on the side of the latter for the better part of his musical career, first as an aspiring guitarist turned singer from the tiniest of suburban Michigan towns, right around the time grunge was breaking at the turn of the ‘90s. A move to Los Angeles to make it big didn’t work out, so he headed home and did the noxious job of epoxying floors by day while performing in cover bands at night.
Around the explosion of nu metal, he took another shot at the West Coast, this time fronting the on-brand outfit Dry Cell. Signed to Warner Bros., what initially appeared fortuitous quickly went south. A combination of filesharing crippling a caught-off-guard industry, along with the suits thinking the band sounded a bit too much like labelmates Linkin Park led to the dissolution of the deal. Gutt skulked back to Michigan once again and came up with a plan to turn the tables on the very racket that caused his hopes and dreams to crash and burn. He tried out for The X-Factor, the UK-based talent show which launched an American edition in 2011.
“They get a legitimate shot just for standing in line for a day, which was actually why I ended up doing it,” Gutt tells Vanyaland. “At the end of the day, after all the Dry Cell thing that I went through and the industry and pitfalls of that situation, I was very jaded, and I kind of hated music and I didn’t want to perform it anymore. I didn’t want to do it. Went back to epoxying floors instead of singing five nights a week to pay my rent. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go on one of those shows and see if I can beat ’em at their own game.’ That was kind of my whole intention.”
Though he didn’t make it past the boot camp portion of the show, Gutt impressed producers enough to be brought back for the next season. He came in second place.
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Stone Temple Pilots had been through their own wringer since exploding in the early ‘90s with hits like “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song.” But Scott Weiland proved to be an undependable wildcard; an enigmatic and compelling frontman when he was on, but a down-and-out drug addict subject to arrests and rehab stints when not. Core members Dean and Robert DeLeo, on bass and guitar respectively, and drummer Eric Kretz slogged along the best they could given the circumstances.
They tried to move on a few times without Weiland, first with a different singer under the banner of Talk Show in the late ’90s, then again a decade later, sans Kretz, with Filter’s Richard Patrick at the mic as Army of Anyone. Both attempts failed miserably.
STP fired Weiland for good in 2013 and embarked on a brief dalliance with Chester Bennington fronting the group. Though it proved mildly interesting given the disparate backgrounds of the union, the Linkin Park singer went back to his primary band in late 2015. Weiland died less than a month later.
At that juncture, Jeff Gutt had made enough connections in the business that when he heard STP was holding auditions, he made a couple of calls. Collectively, the brothers DeLeo and Kretz were unaware of hiss X-Factor pedigree for the most part and took him in at face value. Though the vetting period was a near interminable amount of time, during which Bennington died by suicide, Gutt was officially revealed as the new singer as 2017 came to a close.
Pandemic-induced false starts aside, Stone Temple Pilots with Gutt at the helm seem to have found steady ground. on Thursday night (September 5), they come to The Xfinity Center in Mansfield for what’s being dubbed “The Jubilee Tour” with co-headliners Live. Each will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their corresponding sophomore releases and playing them in full; Live with Throwing Copper and STP doing Purple.
Vanyaland sat down with Gutt for a 617 Q&A (Six Questions; One Recommendation; Seven Somethings) ahead of the show to talk about the long road from Michigan to Mansfield and the speed bumps along the way. He discussed the surrealness of the situation he’s found himself in, understanding the expectations of STP’s fans, and what Purple meant to him as a teen. We also had Gutt go in on his favorite rock replacement singers.
:: SIX QUESTIONS
Michael Christopher: Everything that you went through early on in your career from going on The X Factor – twice – to the Dry Cell fiasco, to how long it took for the STP thing to happen. How did you never say, “This just isn’t worth it. I’m going back to Michigan and I’m going to do epoxy flooring for the rest of my life.“
Jeff Gutt: [laughs] Well, I enjoy singing more than epoxying floors, so that was an easy call and just being that I even had a chance at the STP thing was really intriguing. I had knowledge that I had it for at least a year before it came out, so that was a fun time because having a secret like that is like having a superpower that no one knows about. I remember going places and hearing STP songs and just being like, “Wow, this is crazy that I’m going to be the singer and no one in the world knows it yet.”
So, I don’t know. I was always passionate about music, and I always had a real special relationship with music just because of growing up in the middle of nowhere and having bands and doing all of that. It got me pretty far in my musical journey and ending that journey. I guess I’m a Taurus, I’m stubborn. All those things kind of go into it at the end of the day.
I think there’s a misconception that you came from The X Factor. Like the guys in STP saw you on that and were like, “Oh, we’ve got to get this guy.”
I don’t even think they’ve watched any of it because, I was like, “Hey, did you guys ever see when I did ‘Dream On?’” Because they’re big Aerosmith guys, and all of them were like, “…No.” [laughs] None of them had seen it, and that was the finale, so we know they didn’t watch it, which I completely understand. Coming from rock bands, those shows were always… I always had some animosity towards those shows before I even went on and just because I felt like we spend our whole lives paying dues to try to get to where we’re going, and these people basically stand in line for a day, and they get a shot.
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Where did Purple land with you when it was originally released?
I remembered it because it was so much different than Core because a lot of bands would just try to recreate the success that they had, especially on the second record, and then maybe get a little artsy on the third record. But they came out with something completely different that I wasn’t expecting, and yet, through everything that they did, there was still a line that made it STP. Whatever was that magic that goes into that, coming from something like Core into something like Purple and still having that streamline and being like, “Yeah, that’s an STP song.” I think Purple kind of opened up the horizons for them. They took a lot of chances and they did a lot of really cool things that I wasn’t expecting as an 18-year-old kid who was really into music at that time. That was my fertile ground basically.
Did you see them on that tour, or did you see them at all when they were touring with Scott?
I didn’t go to a lot of concerts when I was younger. I have a claustrophobia thing with people, so I didn’t really go to a lot of concerts, so I never saw them live, ever.
When the focus of a tour is on an entire album that came out when you were a teenager, does that mess with your head at all? Are you like, “Wow, I was listening to this on my headphones or in my bedroom or whatever, and now I’m out there performing it?”
Those moments tend to happen when we’re backstage and just about to go on and I’m like, “Holy shit, I’m the singer of Stone Temple Pilots. How’d this happen?” You know what I mean? Because when I was younger, I mean, I can see my neighborhood and things when I think about Stone Temple Pilots songs because they’re so integral to my life at that time – as were a lot of other music from that time period. But yeah, I never would’ve thought that that was even possible back then.
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When you first started doing shows with Stone Temple Pilots, did you have to find a balance between fan service, whether it’s incorporating certain mannerisms in your performance or in the way that you would sing? I know that your singing style is in the Core kind of wheelhouse, so I suppose finding a balance between doing that and then keeping your own originality as a singer and performer.
The truth is, I don’t even think about it at all. I just kind of go with how the songs make me feel in the moment. No pre-thought goes into what I’m going to do or how I’m going to move or anything like that, or even how I’m going to sing it. Sometimes I have to go back and listen to the originals with Scott because I’m like, “I’m singing that completely differently.”
But a funny thing is when we started the tour, the first couple shows we had Our Lady Peace out with us, and my very first band was with Steve Mazur, the guitar player from Our Lady Peace, and we’re both from BFE nowhere, you know what I mean? So, to think that we both kind of got to this point, and then we finally got to play his show together, and he was standing on the side stage listening for the first couple shows there, and he’s like, “Man, your voice still sounds great.” And he knew that I was singing as myself. The people that knew me from back then know that I’m just doing me. And I’m just singing the songs the way I hear them in my head, and it just happens to be kind of similar, so I’m lucky in that respect. I guess.
Were you a fan of just the bands when you were growing up, or did you get into the things that were going on behind the scenes? For instance, with STP, there was obviously all the drama going on with Scott.
No, I was out of the loop on all the happenings behind the scenes. I never really – other than MTV – I didn’t get magazines and all that stuff and guitar magazines or whatever it was. I didn’t really have any back knowledge too much of what, I mean, I knew there was trouble in paradise in general, but I wasn’t really up to date on who’s saying what and what’s actually happening. I never really got into all that. I was more just the music guy. I loved records and reading the lyrics as I’m listening to the record and listening through the whole record, which is what’s cool about this tour because we get to do this as it is on the actual record, because it’s kind of harking back to a time when people listen through the whole thing as an experience as opposed to just clips or a song or whatever it might be.
I look back a lot at the history of what Dean, Robert, and Eric have gone through, and it is pretty rough. Not only did they have the issues with Scott to contend with, but they also had to go through the rejection of Talk Show. They did Army of Anyone and that went nowhere. Then Chester leaving STP. How important was it for you to come in and be like, “Look, not only can I be the guy musically, I can be your singer, but as a person, I’m in it for the long run and I’m dependable and I can be what you need.”
I think that’s why the process took so long because I could say anything, but it’s more showing it. So, it took time for them to be able to get comfortable… I think it would’ve took time for them to get comfortable with anyone at that point just to make sure that they knew what they were getting. I’m the guy that’s always on time and is always listening to everything like schedules and where I have to be at what time and all that stuff, and it’s very important to me. I’m very respectful of other people’s time, so yeah, I always try to be like that, and I’ve always been like that.
:: ONE RECOMMENDATION
I used to fall asleep to, you know those music channels that DirecTV and all those other things have? They have all the music channels, and there’s one called “Soundscapes.” I used to put it on every night to fall asleep, and one night in the middle of the night, this song came on and it woke me up and I sat up and I just started listening to it. I had to get it right away. And there’s no vocals, no drums. It’s just super chill. Ludovico Einaudi, he’s an Italian pianist. I love that guy man.
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I listen to it every time I get on an airplane. I listen to that stuff all the time. It’s so Zen, it takes away all my stress. If I could give anything to anyone… And I started hearing it on TV, like on shows and stuff? And I’m like, “You can’t use that! That’s Ludovico – that’s mine.” [laughs] So, I totally understand the Scott people, because I understand taking ownership of something like that. In a Time Lapse, I listen to that whole record, straight through – all the time. And it goes exactly where your heart wants it to go. Like, “Oh, I wish it would go…oh, and it did.” It’s so amazing.
:: SEVEN OF SOMETHING
Give me your seven favorite replacement singers.
Well, obviously Brian Johnson from AC/DC would be at the top.
I feel like that’s a really similar thing to your situation.
I feel like it is too. Yeah, because Bon was so charismatic and amazing and reminds me of Scott in a lot of ways. His artistic ability and his freedom, the carefree freedom of that kind of artistry and having it still come together and be that good, it’s mind-boggling to me. There’s a lot of similarities there, I feel, and Brian Johnson came in and did what he does, did his own thing. He just happens to have a timber in the same wheelhouse as Bon Scott had, so I think that’s probably why it worked, because it was him doing his own thing, but it was still staying true to the sound of the band.
Do you remember that band I Mother Earth from Canada? I was really young when Edwin left, and I loved Edwin. He was one of my favorite singers. I grew up in Detroit, so the Canadian thing; we would hear it a lot more than people do in the rest of the country. I was young when they were getting a new singer. I was like, “I want to do that. I want to go try out.” But then I was like, “No, I’m too young.” I don’t really remember what age I was, but they ended up getting a new guy [Brian Byrne]. Some of the songs they did were really, really, really good. That one kind of sticks out for me.
Adam Lambert in Queen. That one is actually great because it fits and works in a way that I didn’t expect. He can really sing. That dude can sing.
Sammy Hagar. That’s right up there with AC/DC for me. I wasn’t a huge Roth fan when I was younger. It was kind of like the reason I didn’t want to be a singer. It turned me off. The spandex and the leg kicks and dressing like a professional wrestler. I loved Eddie because I was a guitar dude, so I loved Eddie and I loved Van Halen. The thought of being a singer was like, “Do I want to be like David Lee Roth? No.” It was kind of like that. But I loved the songs, and I love his voice, and it’s just kind of something irked me the wrong way when it came to that, which all the bands in the ‘80s kind of emulated that because they were so great and successful, but yeah, wasn’t a big Roth fan. That was kind of one of the reasons I didn’t want to be a singer.
John Corabi, Motley Crue. I was friends with John Corabi. He used to help out with Dry Cell a lot, just with our equipment and stuff. The guys in the band were really young, and so he would come help us sometimes. And yeah, that [Motley Crue] record was actually great. His voice is just amazing. That record’s probably my favorite one by them.
Alice in Chains is on the list for sure. William DuVall. And I was very jealous of that when it happened. [laughs] I was like, “Oh man. If I just could have gotten in the room, I could have got it.” That happened way before STP. Actually, they played at a club in my hometown, and I was playing at the attached little club that was next to it and Will came over and when I was playing, and he watched me for a while and he was like, “Dude, you got a great voice.” And I just fell in love with him right then and there. That he took the time out to go see a kid that was jamming in the room next door, and that just meant a lot to me.
Peter Gabriel is in my probably top five singers of all time, but Phil Collins taking over for him and having so much success. I loved Phil Collins before I even knew who Genesis was. [laughs] And his solo stuff is amazing.
[Gutt then threw an eighth our way]
Ronnie James Dio all the way. I’m a Dio guy. [laughs]
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS + LIVE + SOUL ASYLUM :: Thursday, September 4 at Xfinity Center, 885 S. Main St., in Mansfield MA :: 7:00 p.m., all ages, $41.30 to $122 :: Event info and tickets
