JEFF GUTT

I just do what the music tells me to do.

I wanted to be in control of my own destiny.

I think I've proven that I'm more than just a TV singer. I was always more than that, even before I went on TV.

I felt I had a good ear, and I had the ability to sing like my influences.

I feel like I'm living in a movie.

No one will ever fill Scott's shoes and I'm not trying to - he's a legend. But these songs deserve to be performed and people want to hear them. I'm just honored that the guys chose me to help them continue to build this band's legacy.

There's so many STP songs that are just classic to me, and just so influential in my musical growth.

I just try to do what I can, control what I can, and let the rest handle itself.

After my extended hiatus I found myself at the age of 36 and knew the TV route could get me back out there with the biggest splash.

And I'd spent 20 years in bars and nightclubs, dealing with promoters and getting ripped off and just everything that comes with all that stuff - paying your dues, I guess.

There's a lot of downtime when we're not on stage leading up to the gigs.

After I started singing, I'd go to my dad's records I grew up with in his house listening to: Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, the Carpenters, Bob Seger, Neil Diamond, voices that resonate with you, that you know who they are right away.

I was into Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, the blues.

Making music with people is a very intimate process.

Sure I've done some runs and even toured some amazing places around the world, but this is Stone Temple Pilots!

I knew Chester. I've known Chester since 2001. I was in a band called Dry Cell, and we were signed by the same guy that signed Linkin Park, so that's how I knew him. He would come to some of our writing sessions and rehearsals; I'd see him in the studios that we were at.

I've had close chances of success, and sometimes politics and people don't work out.

I have my own label and I'm my first artist.

I've been through the music industry and with the Internet the music industry is not what it used to be.

At the end of the day, I'm here for my son and our future, to be the dad I always wanted to be and in the position I always wanted to be in.

I think back to the Eagles, Elton John, people like that when I think about the Troubadour. It's an iconic place.

I've had a record deal before and I was willing to do whatever they wanted me to do and I thought that would be it. By the end of it, you know, I hated myself.

The thing I admired most about Scott was his fearlessness. Of course his voice, lyrics, and stage presence have always had an effect on me as they have most STP fans. But it was his fearlessness that I admired the most.

My son was baptized in the River Jordan.

I was probably 16 or 17 when 'Core' came out, and I just remember how Scott could cater to the song and create these characters. That blew me away.