How Stone Temple Pilots Came Back Strong With ‘Purple’

Stone Temple Pilots met the music industry head-on as their debut album, 1992’s Core, sold millions and millions of copies.

As bassist and songwriter Robert DeLeo tells UCR, “I don’t think we were really prepared for that.”

His ’90s contemporary, Live vocalist Ed Kowalczyk, felt similarly as you’ll read in the below interview. They’d made great strides with Mental Jewelry, which arrived at the end of 1991. But the prospects of having to follow that up were overwhelming.

As we know now, they figured it out. STP’s Purple debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Charts, selling a quarter-million copies in its first week of release. It would eventually sell over six million copies. Live’s Throwing Copper moved over eight million units, buoyed by a slot at Woodstock ’94.

30 years later, the two bands are teaming up for a retrospective run that will highlight both records. In advance of this week’s tour launch, Kowalczyk and DeLeo joined Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw to take a look back.

Both bands have key career albums turning 30 this year. What do you remember about where things were as you started to work on songs?
Ed Kowalczyk, Live: You know, we’d put out Mental Jewelry first. It had done really well. It went gold and got on the radio. I remember thinking, “I don’t know if there’s any more than this. I think we pretty much hit it.” I was so thrilled with everything. But then the record company came, sort of out of nowhere, and said, “Okay, do it again.” Like, now. [Laughs] I remember being super freaked out, because I was like, “I’ve just lived my whole life to this point.” Mental Jewelry was everything. It was our record deal and it was the whole impetus for everything. Now, it was like, “Do it again in six or eight months.” So it was an exciting time, but it was also a lot of pressure, having that clean slate. But that pressure, looking back on it now, I think it’s where I cut my teeth and honed [my process] as a songwriter. I really figured out how to do it, because it was do or die at that point. We were getting another chance. Because that’s the way it was, really, you’re as big as the release that came out before. Getting this other chance, it was time to go. It was exciting, kind of scary, but a thrilling time.

READ MORE: Live Albums Ranked

Robert DeLeo, Stone Temple Pilots: Core came out and it took off. I don’t think we were really prepared for that. We went out on the road and supported that record for 14 months. During that time, we were writing. I wrote “Interstate Love Song” in the back of an RV on a little 20 dollar nylon string guitar. There were some lyrical things that Scott [Weiland] got into. “Meatplow” and songs like that, which were his reaction to what the business was trying to do to the band. You know, there is that thing called the “business” to the music business. When you put that together with music, it doesn’t always work. But we were quickly and rapidly discovering what the business side of the music was. There was a moment there where I thought, “I’ve got to come up with another ‘Plush.’” Once I stopped thinking about that, I think we were alright. We didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on ourselves. We went into Southern Tracks down in Atlanta with Brendan O’Brien and tracked Purple in 11 days and mixed it in four and we were done. We were really happy with where we’d gone after being on the road for those 14 months and having the success of Core.

Listen to Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Big Empty’

STP had “Big Empty” on the soundtrack to The Crow prior to it being on Purple. What’s the relative history behind that song?
DeLeo: That’s a song that Dean [DeLeo] wrote and Scott did the lyric and melody for. It had been around. We actually recorded it in 1993 at the Record Plant, which I heard, sadly just closed. You know, all of these great studios are no longer with us. We did it at the same time we did the Encomium tribute for Led Zeppelin and recorded “Dancing Days.” We went in that day and did both songs in ‘93. So we had those in our pocket, with “Big Empty” being on Purple. But that’s kind of where it came from.

Ed, while Live was promoting Throwing Copper, you guys got to play Woodstock ’94, which seems like it would have been quite an experience.
Kowalczyk: You know, it was a wild night. We played Friday, so we kind of played before it all went really crazy and got into Saturday and into the mud mayhem. We were on Friday at like eight o’clock. I think we were one of the first bands to play. I just remember it being mayhem backstage. It was a spinning stage where you set up while the other guys are playing and then they spin you around. We were still so green. Throwing Copper had just come out not that long ago. We were still figuring it all out. We hadn’t gone to Europe yet. We hadn’t really played festivals yet, definitely nothing [as big as Woodstock ’94]. We spun around, got to the front and you literally couldn’t see the end of the crowd, a quarter-million people or whatever the hell it was. I’ll never forget that. It was absolutely insane. But we were in and out. So to look back on it now, it doesn’t seem like we were even there very long. But it was such a significant moment in the band’s career. I was so nervous that I barely remember playing — or meeting anyone, I don’t know! It was a blur. But it was definitely an impactful show for the band, as far as the first time that many people got to see us.

Listen to Live Perform ‘Selling the Drama’ at Woodstock ’94

What’s it been like for each of you, going back to these albums?
Kowalczyk: I think all of the good ones for me, are always the magical ones. They’re always the ones that you go, “Where did that come from? What made me think that?” Or you’re in the studio and you really like the idea, but then there’s this harmony that you put on that just explodes the idea up. It’s a really fascinating process.

DeLeo: I think at the time we made those records, being as young as we were, it’s kind of a blur to think about it. I appreciate and like what I think of those songs now. It’s always really humbling to hear one of your songs on the radio. Just that alone, I’m so grateful and thankful that people actually responded to our art. A lot of bands really don’t get that chance to appreciate that feeling. Now, after all of this time – 35 years have gone by – so to take in at my age what the whole era has accomplished and achieved, I’m really proud of that and thankful.

Kowalczyk: This relationship is such an ongoing thing. The conversation that the music has had with people over these years is still going strong. Here we are 30 years later and we’re going to tour together and there’s still so much interest and passion for it. It’s awesome.