'You're Only As Good As Those Who Surround You' - Stone Temple Pilots' Dean DeLeo Discusses New Project, One More Satellite

Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday (May 28) ahead of the release of the debut album from his latest project, One More Satellite.

The new band features DeLeo teaming up with singer and songwriter Pete Shoulder. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

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"We met back in 2015," DeLeo told host Chuck Armstrong.

"[My brother] Robert and I were introduced to Pete through Ross Halfin — great photographer — and we just hit it off. We did some recording together back in 2017, Robert, Pete, the great Brian Tichy on drums."

DeLeo revealed that the group actually made a complete record in 2017, but they have been sitting on it for the past several years.

"I'm doing all I can for it to see the light of day."

The first song released from the latest partnership with Shoulder via One More Satellite is called "Paper Over the Cracks" and there's no question there is a bit of a Stone Temple Pilots flair to it.

"Look, I've been trying to get away from myself for three decades and I just can't seem to," DeLeo said.

"I think everybody has their own imprint and it's just simply me doing my thing and Pete doing his thing."

Why Dean DeLeo Enjoys Collaborating With Other Artists

DeLeo is no stranger to working with other artists and creating new bands. From helping form Stone Temple Pilots and then, years later, Army of Anyone, DeLeo is energized when he's surrounded by great musicians.

"Having the luxury of being in a band with my brother and Eric [Kretz] and Scott [Weiland] for that matter, you're only as good as those who surround you," he shared.

"And those guys make me sound pretty good. I learned a lot [about] songwriting. Being affiliated with Robert, my brother, his knowledge of chords is through the roof, far more expansive than mine. I learned a lot from him in that respect. I've surely learned a lot from him on how to approach playing bass as you'll hear on this record, me just doing my best Robert DeLeo."

DeLeo was quick to share his love for the music he was part of with Trip the Witch, too.

"Being affiliated with Tom Bukovac and the other musicians that were on that record, it puts you in a place to really approach things in a way — I've always kind of have this philosophy to just really allow the song to dictate what you're going to play," he said.

"Plenty of times when I would hear a song from Tom that he would write and send to me, or even when I'm writing a song, I kind of have a sonic adventure going on in my head, how I want to express it or record it."

What Else Did Dean DeLeo Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

Why he loves Black Sabbath's debut album: "Not only was the music so haunting, but as a kid listening to that...Robert and I grew up in this big old English Tudor in New Jersey and it was a scary house. It was an old house built in 1928 and when you were upstairs alone where the stereo was and you had that record on — you were looking at that — it was scary. It was impactful as heck. It was just one of those records, when I heard that for the first time, I couldn't believe what was coming out of the speakers."
Why he is grateful to do what he does: "It's so fulfilling and I'm sure a lot of people that record music and record their songs will say the same thing. When you're leaving the studio after a day of your vision coming out of your head and finally hearing it come out of the speakers, it's really amazing ... Some days I just thank God that I have the ability to do this."
What's on the horizon for him: "Pete and I, we did so much writing over the last year, we have the second record pretty much 70-percent done. I've been kind of chipping away at that. Tom and I put our first Trip the Witch song in the can a couple of weekends ago, so I would really love to delve into that."