A new interview has revealed that US alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots almost fired their former frontman Scott Weiland back in 1994.
Back in 1989, Scott Weiland, Eric Kretz, and Robert and Dean DeLeo formed the now-iconic alt-rock group Stone Temple Pilots. Within just a couple of years, the band had written plenty of tunes, and released their debut album, Core, in 1992.
While the record was a success, the band were reportedly going through some inner turmoil, with the heroin addiction of frontman Scott Weiland reportedly taking control of his life, and beginning to impact the group’s success.
Now, in a new interview with former Ten Inch Men and Talk Show singer Dave Coutts, it’s been revealed that Stone Temple Pilots came very close to firing Weiland in 1994.
“One year [after Ten Inch Men broke up], I was contacted by STP’s manager, Steve Stewart,” explained Dave Coutts to Alternative Nation. “He asked if I was interested in fronting the band. Yes, it overlapped with some of their tour dates, looking back. I am sure I was going to be their plan B. Or maybe just the thing to get Scott sober.”
While Stone Temple Pilots released their most successful record, Purple, in June of 1994, it was around this time that plans for a new frontman began to take shape, with Dave Coutts joining the band in the studio to record some new music, including the track ‘Hide’.
“At that time I don’t think they had decided which way it was gonna happen,” Coutts explained, noting that the music he worked on could have been sung by either himself or Scott Weiland.
As it turned out though, while Scott Weiland would stick with Stone Temple Pilots for quite some time, the other members of the band did indeed team up with Dave Coutts in 1997 to form the group Talk Show. While Talk Show would last for only one year and one self-titled record, their critical success was rather limited, and Stone Temple Pilots soon reconvened to record their 1999 record, No. 4, soon after.
Sadly, Scott Weiland did end up getting fired from Stone Temple Pilots just under two decades later, when the band let him go in 2013 for “violating his duties”.
Weiland would later be replaced by Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, and following the tragic death of both frontmen, Stone Temple Pilots recruited their latest singer, Jeff Gutt, just last year.
Check out Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Interstate Love Song’:
