Wednesday, June 7: Tig’s Rock Birthdays

Happy Birthday today (June 7) to drummer Eric Kretz of Stone Temple Pilots. He’s 51. Other rockers celebrating today include guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction (50), and drummer Michael Cartellone (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Damn Yankees) is 54. In remembrance, guitarist Mark Reale of Riot would have been 62 today.

Stone Temple Pilots formed in 1985 out of San Diego, California with brothers Robert DeLeo (bass) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), Eric Krets (drums), and Scott Weiland (vocals). The band found immediate success with the 1992 release Core, and went on to become one of the most commercially successful bands of the 1990’s. Four more studio albums followed: Purple (1994), Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Shop(1996), No. 4 (1999), and Shangri-La Dee Da (2001). The band broke up in 2002. They eventually reunited for a reunion tour in 2008 and released a new self-titled album in 2010.  Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington fronted STP from 2013-2015. They released an EP of new material in 2013 called High Rise. Scott Weiland died in December of 2015 and the surviving members of Stone Temple Pilots are currently searching for a new lead vocalist. We reported on The Metal Box back in Nov. 2016 that the band had found their new singer, but an official announcement never came from the band. I've been a big fan of Stone Templ Pilots and would probably consider them to be my favorite to come out of the 90's Seattle grunge scene.

For more on Stone Temple Pilots, check out the band’s official website here.