Stone Temple Pilots, ‘Plush’ (Live at Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater) – Exclusive Song Premiere
On Sept. 29, 1992, Stone Temple Pilots started their musical journey with the Core album, and 25 years later, on Sept. 29, 2017, the group will release a special silver anniversary super deluxe edition release. In anticipation of that packed collection, Stone Temple Pilots have teamed up with Loudwire to bring you the exclusive premiere of their performance of "Plush" from a July 2, 1993, show at the Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater that you can hear in the player below.
As expected, putting together this collection brought back some great memories. Guitarist Dean DeLeo tells us, "Scott [Weiland] was in a great place, one of the best places I had ever seen him in. I knew Scott prior to making that album for about five years. I met him around 1987 or '86 when Robert and Eric were playing together before I joined. It was those great memories with laughter, camaraderie and of course the music [that stick]."
The Castaic Lake show holds one very vivid memory for DeLeo. He recalls, "Back in the early '90s there was a lot of hype on this band Rob Rule. I'm almost positive that was the name. When we were mid-set, this guy jumped up onstage. It wasn't malicious, but I swear and there was paisley shooting from this guy's eyes. He just jumped up onstage and was freaking out. About three years go by and I'm in a restaurant, and this guy comes up to me mid-meal and says, 'Hey Dean, do you remember that guy who showed up onstage? That was me, sorry.' [laughs] He went on to say that he was on LSD. I said, well that explains the sparks shooting from your ass man -- [laughs]. That was one of those things that I'll remember for the rest of my days."
The Castaic Lake gig is one of two concert offerings include in the Core silver anniversary set, with the other featuring music from their performance at the Reading Festival. You'll also get the band's classic MTV Unplugged performance, plus demos and b-sides and a DVD original album 5.1 mix and the band's music videos from the Core era.
And with us teaming up with the band for this premiere of the live version of "Plush," we spoke with DeLeo about the iconic track. He discussed that one of his fondest memories of that time was forging a friendship with producer Brendan O'Brien. “I learned so much about guitar playing and a certain level of musicianship, recording techniques and really, just Brendan’s whole philosophy - you can’t overthink this. We’re going to just play and hopefully we capture something. That’s how we approached that record. We set up to play live - we were all in one room. We had speakers in isolation booths and the drums, and Rob and I stood in front of Eric and we just played those songs live, man."
Talking more specifically about "Plush," which is also featured in two acoustic versions (MTV Unplugged and Headbanger's Ball) on this collection, DeLeo stated, "I think what people saw is truly how brilliant of a singer Scott was. He was obviously not just a rock singer. He has the ability to sing a lot of different things."
As stated, Stone Temple Pilots' Core 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is on schedule for a Sept. 29 release via Rhino Records, 25 years to the day from its initial delivery to fans. You can head to the Stone Temple Pilots website or Rhino for pre-order information, and stay tuned for more of our interview with Dean DeLeo coming soon. Now check out Stone Temple Pilots truly in their element onstage at the Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater from back in 1993 in the player below.
Stone Temple Pilots, "Plush" (Live at Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater)