And the New Singer for Stone Temple Pilots Is…
…Jeff Gutt, a former contestant on the reality singing show The X Factor.
You may recall that Gutt was rumored to be getting the gig a year ago (almost to the day), but the band then released a statement saying they hadn’t decided yet who their new singer would be. Which makes Gutt’s official hiring somewhat anticlimactic… especially if you, like me, never watched The X Factor and had never heard of Gutt prior to the rumor. I guess what I’m saying is, it would have way more exciting if they’d hired Mina Caputo.
Gutt made his debut with the band last night at show for SiriusXM contest winners, which took place at the Troubador in West Hollywood. Although security seems to have done a fine job preventing anyone from filming the gig on their phone, some audio from the performance has found its way onto YouTube, so we can at least hear what Gutt sounds like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXMrRhCyEkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlJqB27KoWI
More importantly, the band has also released “Meadow,” their first new song with Gutt on vocals. wrrealnith’s… fine? I won’t be holding my breath waiting for the band’s new album or anything, but there’s nothing wrong with the track per se. Listen:
Alright, so, Gutt can sing, and his vocal style is completely appropriate for STP, and the DeLeos have not forgotten how to write a DeLeos song. Cool cool cool. The question is, will fans accept Gutt, the band’s third frontman after the late Scott Weiland and the late Chester Bennington? Replacing your vocalist is always a risky move, and every time you do it, the odds go down the fans will go along with the change — just ask Van Halen and Gary Cherone, or Black Sabbath and every singer who isn’t Ozzy or Dio, or Anthrax and Dan Nelson, or… you get the idea. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I can name any significant band who managed to remain successful with a third vocalist. I guess Faith No More, if you count Courtney Love as their first singer, which nobody really does.
So what do you think? Can STP pull this off? Is Gutt a good choice? Can we all agree that Dan Greene from The Armed was always their best possible option? Discuss in the comments section below? I mean… discuss in the comments section below!
[via The PRP]
