Stone Temple Pilots: The Pavilion at Star Lake

Stone Temple Pilots embark upon a new sonic adventure with Perdida, the band’s first-ever acoustic album. It includes 10 deeply personal songs that weave introspective lyrics together with unexpected instruments to take listeners on an emotional and musical journey through letting go and starting over. “You have to live it to write it,” says guitarist Dean Deleo. “And this record is a reflection of where we’ve been recently.” Bassist Robert DeLeo says Perdida (Spanish for ‘loss’) shows how music has helped them process grief, search for meaning and, ultimately, create something beautiful from the pain. “When I’ve gone through things in my life, I’ve found that sitting down and having an honest conversation with my guitar is the best therapy.” “Recording an acoustic album like Perdida is something the band has wanted to do for many years,” says drummer Eric Kretz. “We performed on ‘MTV Unplugged’ in 1993, and we usually play acoustic mini-sets on tour, so when Robert and Dean started playing their new songs for us during our tour last year, we knew right away they would be perfect for an acoustic album.” Writing lyrics for an introspective album like Perdida meant exposing himself like never before, says singer Jeff Gutt, who joined the band in 2017. “It’s an emotionally honest album and I needed to approach it that way for these songs to resonate. I had to let myself be as vulnerable writing the lyrics as Dean and Robert were writing the music.” To record Perdida, the quartet assembled at Kretz’s Bomb Shelter Studios in February. The key to making the album, Dean explains, was finding a way to say more with less. “Everything you hear serves a purpose, from the space in the arrangements to the different instruments. We only added things that served the songs.” As a result, there are instruments on Perdida that you don’t normally hear on an STP record, like flute (“I Didn’t Know The Time,”) alto saxophone (“Years,”) guitarrón (“Miles Away,”) and enough vintag