STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Recruit One-Time 'The X Factor' Singer JEFF GUTT

15 November 2017

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS have selected one-time 'The X Factor' contestant Jeff Gutt as their new vocalist. Gutt, who was a runner-up in season three of the reality television music competition show created by Simon Cowell, was announced as the band's latest singer during a SiriusXM special last night (Tuesday, November 14) hosted by Eddie Trunk.

Gutt originally auditioned for STONE TEMPLE PILOTS in September 2016 and was officially named the band's new singer in May 2017. He has spent the last year secretly writing and recording new material in Redondo Beach, California with bandmembers Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz.

Robert DeLeo said that he first found out about Gutt while he was on the road with the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES. "We were playing Pine Knob — I don't know what it's called now; I know it as Pine Knob — up in Detroit, which is where [Jeff is] from," the bassist said. "And after the show, there was a musician who said, 'Hey, man, you should check this guy out.' And that's where I kind of heard of him first — it was through that guy. And it just happened that it came together like that."

Regarding how he came to try out for STP, Jeff said: "I had heard about [the audition process], but I was on tour in the Middle East with my band at the time, so I was, like, doing my own thing, and that was everything that I had going on. And then when I got back, I was driving and I heard… I can't remember what song it was, but a STONE TEMPLE PILOTS song came on the radio. So I called my buddy in New York who knows everybody in the music industry, and I was, like, 'Hey, did they ever find a singer?' And he was, like, 'You know what? I'll send 'em your stuff right now.' And three days later, I got a call."

Gutt said that he felt like he had the STP gig "before I even got in the room [with the other guys], to tell you the truth, just because if you don't feel that way, you're probably not gonna get it. You have to be confident," he explained. "I mean, not cocky confidence, but I know my shit, I know what I'm doing. I've studied my craft. I've studied [original STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer] Scott [Weiland] and the people Scott studied, and other singers of the era. I've really put in a lot of time into that, and if you're not willing to do all of that, you're not gonna be on the level to even be around these guys."

Jeff went on to say that becoming STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' new frontman feels like "joining LED ZEPPELIN, because, to me, they're my LED ZEPPELIN."

A November 2016 article from Entertainment Tonight claimed Gutt was chosen to front STONE TEMPLE PILOTS before the end of last year, but a band representative shot down the report, claiming at the time that "no final decision" had yet been made.

Gutt appeared on "The X Factor" in 2013, where he was mentored by Kelly Rowland and impressed the other judges with his covers of songs like 'Creep', 'Dream On' and 'Hallelujah'.

A recording of Gutt singing with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS during soundcheck for The Troubadour concert can be heard below.

A new STONE TEMPLE PILOTS single, titled 'Meadow', has already been serviced to radio and will make its online debut on Wednesday.

STP had been without a vocalist since November 2015, when Chester Bennington — who joined the group in early 2013 — departed to spend more time with his main band LINKIN PARK.

Weiland, who reunited with the group in 2010 after an eight-year hiatus but was dismissed in 2013, died in December 2015 of a drug overdose while on a solo tour.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS revealed last month that they found "somebody that fits the bill" as the band's new lead singer, but did not announce who he was.

STP last performed live, with Bennington on vocals, for a one-off reunion concert in California in March 2016.