Who are Talk Show?
Talk Show was formed over the course of 1995-1997 by Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo, Eric Kretz and Dave Coutts. Before the band released their album, they were rumoured to be called 'Shade', 'Vitamin' and 'VO5' in various magazines. The official credits for the bandmembers on their debut album are:
Dave Coutts - Vocals, Percussion.
Robert DeLeo - Bass, Backing Vocals, Guitars, Percussion, Xylophone.
Dean DeLeo - Guitars, Percussion.
Eric Kretz - Drums, Percussion, Additional Vocals, Piano, Organ, B3, Mellotron.
How did Talk Show get together?
Journalist Rich maloof writes: "As far back as 1995, while Stone Temple Pilots was still in the studio to record 'Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop', Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz were writing and tracking with Dave Coutts, singer/strummer for Ten Inch Men. Coutts, who at turns recalls Freddie Mercury, lent an ease and warmth to the music-making process of the band --something the DeLeos and Kretz had sorely missed. He showed up for sessions. He wrote with the band instead of tacking melodies and lyrics onto existing music. He was a bandmember. So without a record deal, without industry politics or plans, and without egos, Talk Show was born. It came purely from the desire to keep making music."
Where did Dave Coutts come from?
Scott and Robert played together in a band called 'Swing' in the late 1980's, and they once performed a gig in Huntington Beach, CA together with a band called 'Ten Inch Men'. David Coutts was the lead singer in that band, and that's where they got to know eachother. Dean DeLeo said about 'Swing': "I wasn't in that band. I refused to be in a band called 'Swing'."
When Dean, Robert and Eric needed a new singer for Talk Show, they phoned Coutts, and at first he didn't want to do it because he though his voice wasn't 'grunge' enough, was too 'pop' for what the others had been doing. Robert really wanted to give it a try, and so Dave gave up trying to talk Robert out of it.
"Our first rehearsals [in mid-1995] were mostly at my house, with acoustic guitars, just writing songs," Dean remembers. "We recorded a couple of songs and just wanted to get a feel for things, see if there was something there to work with. We were digging him, and he was digging us. So we made a three-song demo and waited until the time was right..." It was a somewhat active waiting process, however.
When STP regrouped in the fall of 1995, the DeLeos reviewed the songs they'd been writing to decide who would be a better vocal match for each tune. "Robert and I had about 30 songs, and we sat in the room one night and basically went down the list and marked next to every song: Scott, Scott, Dave, Scott, Dave, Dave, Scott...." Dean says.
"It's really weird, because in all reality it was like 'Big Bang Baby' could've been on this Talk Show record and 'Everybody Loves My Car' could've been on Tiny Music." Talk Show remained on the back-burner, however, as STP finished Tiny Music and played some shows during the spring of 1996. The group began making serious preparations for some summer dates, including vaunted opening spots for Kiss, but Weiland couldn't make it to the rehearsals. This time there was no indulgence; the DeLeos and Kretz were on the phone to Coutts.
What happened with the album and tour?
None of the STP members wanted to go into this as a side-project. They say that everything they do, musically, is of equally great importance to them once they release it. They felt like it was the right time to do something new, and wanted to go for it 100%. Dean: "This is not Stone Temple Pilots' fourth album, it's Talk Show's first. Stone Temple Pilots is still up and running".
The band's debut 'Talk Show' was recorded at Conway Recording Studios between July 27 and August 23, 1996. It was released on September 3, 1997 through Atlantic Records. The band shot a video for the first (and only) single 'Hello Hello' and went on tour in the U.S.A. and Canada opening for Foo Fighters in October 1997. In November of the same year, they also toured as the support act for Aerosmith.
Dave Coutts left the band in 1998, not long after the band released another radio promo, 'Everybody Loves My Car'. Robert, Dean and Eric reunited with Scott in early 1999 to start pre-production on STP's 4th record, 'No.4'.
