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On Tour With Shure: Of microphones and Men

by Gregory A. DeTogne
Summer 2000.

Live or in the studio, it's a Shure-type thing for the Stone Temple Pilots.

It's been just about a year since the Stone Temple Pilots released No. 4, their suitably-named fourth album on Atlantic Records. Having entered the big leagues via Southern California during the peak of Seattle's grunge/alt-rock takeover, STP initially attracted widespread attention with a sound combining heavy metal guitar influences, punk insolence, and their own bravado. Produced by Brendan O'Brien (Black Crowes, Red Hot Chili Peppers), the triple-platinum Core, their 1992 debut album, launched them into the limelight, and secured the band's status as an important part of the movement.

Grunge was certainly not all this band had to offer, though. Following Core, STP produced two more musically diverse and highly successful albums: Purple (1994), and Tiny Music... Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop (1996). With the release of No. 4, the band is once again road-dogging it heavily, as witnessed over the summer on the Peppers' Californication Tour, MTV's late-October Return of the Rock Tour, and a headlining bill of their own carrying them to Phoenix by November 10th.

Since the early days in the late '80s when the band performed under the name Mighty Joe Young, the STP line-up has remained the same. Scott Weiland, the band's legendary frontman, joins guitarist Dean DeLeo, his brother Robert DeLeo on bass, and drummer Eric Kretz to complete the quartet. When OTWS met the members of STP offstage recently, they appeared much the same as they do onstage. The peacock of the group, Weiland looked healthy and filled his role perfectly with dark eyeliner and form-fitting clothing. Thoughtful and reflective in demeanor, the DeLeo brothers are nonetheless quick to respond to humor in any situation, while Kretz, as in his role on stage, serves as a catalyst grounding everyone back to a common center. Well-versed with the technical aspects of their profession, the group is disarmingly accessible, friendly, courteous, and committed to Shure well beyond the ink on their endorsement contract. Read on to see what they have to say about life on the road and in the studio, and the tyranny of the 50-minute set.

OTWS: How long have you used Shure products?

Dean De Leo: Shure just seems to always have been around forever. When we're recording, the closest thing at hand is usually an SM57. Occasionally, we'll get an assistant engineer who wants to impress us or Brendan [O'Brien], our producer, with some intricate input scheme. Whenever this happens we're like 'just grab the 57 and put it on there-we want something we know will get the job done!'"

Scott Weiland: All the vocals on Core, our first album, were recorded with an SM7.

Eric Kretz: And then we used the SM57 for guitar, drums, bass, everything. I mean you have to ask yourself, is there anything it can't do?

Scott Weiland: But back to the original question, one of the first pieces of gear I owned when we were playing little clubs all over LA and Orange County was an SM58. My first PA was a Shure VocalMaster; I bought it at a garage sale. Now I own my own studio in Burbank, and I have a whole locker filled with Shure stuff-Beta 57s, 58s, you name it. One day I brought my collection to a video shoot I was doing with the lead singer of Orgy. He broke like three of my mics in a matter of ten minutes. These were some of my best mics, and I was upset. But he promised to pay me back. Well, months and months went by. Finally, I had to call and say "Look, if you don't send me a check for those mics I'm going to... [OTWS needs to put a big fat bleep in here. Use your imagination. Needless to say, Scott got his money. -ed.]

OTWS: Scott, you're now using a U24D/Beta 58A® wireless system...

Scott Weiland: That mic is amazing, I've been astounded by the reliability of it. It's just there, always, and it has given me freedom. Before I latched on to this mic, with the way I move all over the place on stage, I was wrapping my cord around everyone's legs, as well as myself. Now that the cord is gone, I'm not limited to any one space, and I can go totally berserk.

OTWS: Eric, these days your drum kit employs a number of KSM32 cardioid condenser mics. Why the switch?

Eric Kretz: The KSM32s are exceptionally warm on overheads. At hi-hat, the condensers I was using before were always too bright, especially on numbers like "Interstate Love Song," which are in a higher range. The KSM32s solved this problem straight off. Elsewhere in my onstage kit I'm using Beta 56®s on snare top, and SM57s on snare bottom. They have that midrange thing going on that fits perfectly with the guitars. In the kick drum, I'm a firm believer in the notion that you have to have two mics. That's why I use a Beta 52® and an Beta 91. It's the same theory we apply to our guitar cabinets to obtain a wider range of sounds out front.

OTWS: You seem to have a winning combination with Jim "Hootsie" Huth and Maxie Williams respectively handling front-of-house and monitors for your live act. Hootsie has been with you for a long time, but Maxie is new. Did he adapt quickly to this gig?

Robert De Leo: What's funny is Maxie arrived one day this summer, and simply hit the note. We went up on stage the first night he was working and were blown away; it was so loud and clean.

OTWS: Scott, speaking of Maxie and Hootsie, they related a story about a time this summer when you threw a live mic into the crowd at the end of a show. What's your version of that tale?

Scott Weiland: Well yeah, someone just kind of forgot to check and make sure one of my bullhorns was working. [Weiland uses a number of these devices on stage to produce vocal effects and more.] So when I needed it for the orgasm portion of "Sex Type Thing," which is the climax of our show, I had nothing going on. So to let them know I was upset, I gave the mic away to one of the fans in the audience.

OTWS: Did you hear Maxie went and got it back?

Scott Weiland: No, (a big grin spreads across his face followed by a laugh) is that what he did?

Eric Kretz: Too bad, that would have been a nice memento.

Scott Weiland: Yeah, I wish he got to leave with it.

OTWS: Well, Maxie did feel bad about it, but it was Sunday and he wouldn't have been able to get another mic shipped out until Tuesday, so you would have had to done Monday's show with just the spare. I Don't know if you know this either, but when you threw the mic, it was still on. So after you left the stage, the fan was yelling "STP rules!" and bellowing through the monitors on stage like a wounded elk.

Scott Weiland: (with great laughter from all, clapping of hands, stomping the floor, etc.): Oh man-that's amazing! Oh my god, that's so funny...that's great! Really good!!!

OTWS: (once order has returned) For much of the summer you were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They gave you 50 minutes on stage, far short of what you usually do. Did that time frame work for or against the band?

Robert De Leo: True, we can easily do two hours of material on stage. When you compress our act down that far, our goals change. We want to go out and annihilate, totally destroy, steal the show.

OTWS: You'll be touring through the fall. Any plans for the studio after that?

Eric Kretz: You know, we sound so good now, if I can just get these guys to stay over at my house, we could do a whole new album there.

Scott Weiland: I say we get a big house on the Hudson River for the next record and bring in all the gear...

Eric Kretz: We learned when we did Tiny Music that you can record any place if you have the right gear.

Scott Weiland: As long as you bring the Shure mics, we can record anywhere.

Dean De Leo: He's right, it all starts there, man...

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