Interviews

MTV: When Scott went off and did his solo thing and you did Talk Show, those things were very different from STP. Did it become apparent that there was a definite chemistry that was uniquely STP?
Dean: Those things are what they are, man, and Scott, he doesn't get to do all that he did on his record with STP, and I think it was probably really enjoyable for him to go tap into all that different type of instrumentation. He loves doing that kind of stuff. There's these parameters that we all kind of just stay within, and STP, and there's this blueprint that we all pull out before each record that works. We try not to stray from that too much.
MTV: In your opinion, on this record, do you guys blur those lines at all? Do you think it gets a little more experimental?
Robert: We've covered areas with songs like "Sour Girl" and "I Got You," I think we've covered areas there that we've wanted to. But I think for the most part, getting back together after that amount of time, we really wanted to get back into that family, that feeling of being in this band again.
One of the first songs that we kind of got together on the first day was "Down." And that's kind of like, "Hey, remember what we're all about?" Especially in a live situation, a song like that is more of an aggressive feeling rather than worrying about notes and everything. It's like, turn it up to ten, and let's start rockin'.
Dean: It's really quite simple. I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to write songs and make records when I was very young, maybe even back to 13, 14 years old. And to get to do it with Robert and Eric and Scott, it's a complete luxury, a complete honor. I get to write songs with the best. That's all there is to it, man.
MTV: Since the first album, "Core," up until now, the face of the music scene has changed tremendously. A lot of bands are moving toward mixing hip-hop and rock and all these other things. Listening to this, when "Down" came on, I was in my car and I almost crashed into a wall. It's like, a real rock and roll song, kind of a wake-up call for a lot of people.
Robert: I think a lot of bands are mixing this with that or whatever with whatever else, 'cause I don't think they know what else to do. I think there's a sense of roots sorely missing from rock music today, and American music. I think from a rock standpoint, there's a lot of great rock bands that aren't being noticed. I'm basically just talking about the tip of what people hear. I don't think I'm really hearing a lot of songs. No matter how a song is being interpreted, the final outcome is, "How can we make this song the best possible song?" That's all we're ultimately thinking about.
Dean: Yeah, man, and I don't think anybody in this band is about dating their art. We never wanted to be [like] "Everybody's got this kind of drum sound going now." That's about the last thing I'd put on my record. I don't want anybody putting on my record and saying, "Well, that's obvious, they recorded that in '94, '95." I want my songs to be timeless, man. I want you to put them on 20 years from now, and I don't want you to be able to attach a date to it. I just want it to be timeless, and I want the song to be all it can be, and a lot of cases less is more. The band never approaches it in any way where, "This section needs 'the drum solo.'" It's not about virtuosity, it's about what the song calls for. We're a dying breed. What can we say, man?

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