Point Pleasant Beach-raised Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo has a new side project out, One More Satellite. The collaboration with British singer-songwriter Pete Shoulder also features STP drummer Eric Kretz, fellow Jersey-raised rocker Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol) and Dean’s two children, Rocco and June. COURTESY OF WENDYBIRD PHOTOS
When I was kid going to Point Pleasant Beach High School in the late ’70s and early ’80s, there was a band that made us feel like we had our own personal rock stars: Wonderspace. They were an amazing band, kind of like a cross between the pop of The Beatles, the progressive rock of Yes, and the swagger of Led Zeppelin.
After high school, they changed their name to Sages Pages and gigged a lot at The Stone Pony and Fastlane in Asbury Park and Big Man’s West in Red Bank. The lead guitarist for that band, Dean DeLeo, would leave the Jersey Shore, move out to San Diego with his bass-playing brother Robert (or Bobby as we knew him) and, together, form Stone Temple Pilots in the early ’90s.
It took 35 years, but I finally got to catch up with Dean. We chatted about One More Satellite, his new side project with British singer-songwriter Pete Shoulder. The album drops July 18 on Symphonic.
Dean had been sitting on some songs he wanted to record, thinking he would make another instrumental album, much like his Trip the Witch collaboration with sessions/sideman great Tom Bukovac. But that changed when Dean asked Pete to write lyrics for what turned out to be the self-titled album’s first single, “Paper Over the Cracks.” Pete wound up writing lyrics to seven more of the album’s 10 songs.
“I was excited to hear the new music Dean wanted to collaborate on,” Pete said. “We’ve worked together in the past, and it’s always been an absolute pleasure making music with him. The stuff he comes up with is so interesting, with so many beautiful, unexpected, twists and turns. It’s very inspiring to write to and pushes me into realms that I would never usually think of exploring. I’m very proud of the album we’ve made.”
Joining Dean and Pete on drums are Dean’s longtime STP band mate Eric Kretz on “Serenade,” one of two remaining instrumentals; Dean’s multi-talented son, Rocco, on “Drowning Out The Sun,” “Willow Mae” and “Spit It Out,” and fellow Jersey-raised musician Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol) on the album’s six other tracks. On guest vocals is Dean’s daughter, June, who lends a lovely “aahh” to the closing instrumental “Your Call.”
It was a treat to finally get to interview Dean. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did!
Was your first collaboration with Pete on Trip the Witch, Bobby’s 2022 ‘Lessons Learned’ solo LP or something else?
I had nothing to do with ‘Lessons Learned.’ The two of them were enjoying that. STP allows us to explore other terrain, so they were enjoying that and are working on a second record. Pete sang a couple of songs on that as well. It’s nice to get out of STP and explore new musical terrain. A little while back, we did some stuff together, Robert, Pete and me, but it was never released.
How did you meet Pete and when?
Through Ross Halfin, a photographer, a while back when we were going through the world of change in the STP world.
How and why did One More Satellite go from being a solo instrumental LP to a collaboration with Pete?
That’s a testament to how well the guy knows his way around a song. I was just going to do another instrumental record with Tom Bukovac, and I thought, Pete would be really great on this song, and, of course, he was. It went from being an instrumental record to him singing on eight of the 10 songs. I think it was the first song, ‘Paper Over the Cracks,’ that he wrote that I was thinking Pete would be really great on this. In my humble opinion, he surely was.
I started tailoring the songwriting to be more vocal friendly. It stepped into new terrain. Pete wrote the lyrics and the melodies, and I wrote all the music. And I played everything but the drums. I used a couple of drummers. Eric Kretz from Stone Temple Pilots; my son, Rocco, on three songs, and Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Ozzy Osbourne).
Your daughter, June, also makes an appearance, singing on the closing track, ‘Your Call.’ What did you enjoy most about working with Rocco and June on One More Satellite?
June’s on one moment on an instrumental, the last song, ‘Your Call.’ She does this vocal that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard sung. She sang this one, ‘Ah.’ It’s this little moment.
I hope to include her more on the next record. That would be really nice.
I feel like I’m on top of a mountain having my kids on a record with me. That was really the tops for me.
Rocco played on ‘Drowning Out the Sun,’ ‘Willow Mae,’ and ‘Spit It Out.’
Cover Art by Erika Schiff
Do Rocco and June have bands?
Rocco was playing in a couple of different bands. June’s really into acting. She’s very involved in a lot of different plays. She’s really enjoying that.
Rocco really enjoys writing and recording music. He plays drums, bass, guitar, keys. He composes. He’s only 22. He’ll be much more musically sensible.
Did you know Brian Tichy when you both were living in Jersey? If not, how did you get to know him and why did you want him to contribute to One More Satellite?
No, I saw Brian play when he did a festival at the Garden State Arts Center. Now we know it as PNC Bank Arts Center. But growing up, we knew it as Garden State Arts Center. We did a gig with Ozzy on the bill, and Brian was playing with Ozzy. Robert grabbed me from the dressing room and said, ‘You gotta see this drummer,’ so we stood at the side of the stage to watch him, and it was like, ‘Wow!’
I did not meet him that night. The first time met Tichy would have been in the early 2o00s. Robert, Chris Robinson and myself had this thing going. We were writing songs together and started auditioning drummers. I met Tichy when he came down to audition.
Tichy will attest that we randomly call him because we love the way he plays. He’s a really great drummer, my gosh.
I’m very fortunate that I have three great drummers on this record. Eric plays on ‘Seranade,’ a lovely little instrumental. Rocco played three songs. It’s nice I have the pick of the litter.
Will One More Satellite perform live? If so, when and where?
Yeah, we hope to be out doing shows either in August or possibly November. Don’t hold me to that. We’ll see what transpires here. There’s always stuff happening in STP Land too. But, yeah, we definitely want to get out. I don’t know who’ll play bass because I play on the record and sing as well. I copped a lot of the background vocals. Tichy would play drums if he’s available. There’s a lot of moving parts when touring and doing shows.
One More Satellite, featuring British singer-songwriter Pete Shoulder, pictured, are hoping to tour in August and November. PHOTO BY SCOTT WYNNE
Any plans to make another Trip the Witch album with Tom Bukovac?
We put our first song in the can a few weeks back. Tom is really busy right now on the road with Vince Gill. When he’s done with that tour, we’re going to put our minds to that. We have one song done and nine to go.
Besides you, is there anything that Stone Temple Pilots, Trip the Witch and One More Satellite have in common thematically and/or stylistically?
I think they’re drastically different. The capabilities are all the same. For instance, talking about an STP record we did with Jeff (Gutt), ‘Perdida,’ was a very different record for us. It doesn’t mean we weren’t always capable of putting songs like that together. That was an STP record that we wanted to do a certain thing. ‘Perdida’ took a lot of people by storm. What’s this? People expect a certain thing form STP, but there are so many more avenues of music, not only that we are capable of, but that we really love to explore. So that was a really a wonderful thing for us.
Robert enjoys doing his records. There’s a certain gratification in doing them, to not have to fit into a certain thing. Robert has this ability to explore different types of music.
It was great with the Trip Witch record with Tom. There were no parameters we had to fit into. It just was very naturally what you hear when put that record on. It’s the same with One More Satellite. There are a lot of different moods to that record. It’s nice to explore that kind of terrain with that record.
It’s the same thing with each of these things. I will do a song, hand it over to Jeff or Robert or Eric. It’s the same with Trip Witch with Tom and I passing songs back and forth. It’s so gratifying as a songwriter working with extraordinarily talented musicians.
Tom handed me a song he wrote called ‘Wall of Sound.’ I got to track everything so that 78 percent was done except the slide work. I remember doing tracks with Ryan Williams, who’s the engineer on all my records I’ve been involved with lately. I was like, ‘How do I not ruin this? This is incredible.’ But it’s real gratification you get when making music with somebody exciting that comes along with that whatever take they have on it, be it Pete sending me back songs with vocals. I didn’t have to get past the first few words of the first line of the song Paper Over the Cracks,’ and I was like, ‘I’m in.’ It’s like when you’re at the top of the bowling lane, and you let go of the ball, and something goes through you that you know it’s going to be a good one.
What’s coming up for STP recording and performing wise?
We have a busy rest of the year: lots of shows between now and November. August is open. Robert and Eric go out with Joe Perry and Chris Robinson so One More Satellite is good for August and November. Nothing is in the works. Pete is sitting on another eight songs for the next album. Tom and I just put together our first song so it’s one song down. We do have some things we want record for that.
What have you enjoyed most about making music with your brother for so many years?
I’ve learned a lot from Robert. He’s extraordinary. His talents are really immeasurable. I’ve really learned a lot from him. You can hear it on the One More Satellite record. Listen to the way I approach the bass. I really learned a lot from him, not only bass but guitar playing. Robert’s knowledge of chords is very expansive, much more than mine. I’ve taken a lot from Robert.
I love that I get to do this with my brother. Just picture this scenario. Robert’s in this band touring the world, making records, and what if I was selling shoes, which is not a bad thing. But I would be like, ‘Man, he’s living it!’ So that’s really a very gratifying thing that we both get to experience all that comes along with this thing we call Stone Temple Pilots. It sure is wonderful and great in that we have one another through the good times, as well as the bad.
I’ve been wanting to ask you this question for 35 years, so I hope you’ll indulge me. What is your most fond memory of Wonderspace and/or Sages Pages and why?
There as a club in Red Bank that Clarence Clemons opened, Big Man’s West. We got to play there a bunch of times. We either were playing there or playing at the Pony. Some nights, we got to open for Clarence & the Red Bank Rockers.
Also, going into the side door at the Pony, and you’d have Peter Wolf of J. Geils Band play that night. It was pretty far out, man. There were just moments like that playing these legendary places.
Big Man’s West was amazing. They did a great job with the venue. They had an amazing sound system for the time.
It always thrilled me to get out and play. And there were a lot of lessons learned … not only what to do but what not to do. A lot of times we’d open for bands and saw how these bands, who were big in the Ocean and Monmouth County area, weren’t very nice at times. The lesson learned was I never treated someone I was sharing the stage with badly. I’m not going to mention names.
And some people were really nice. We did a lot of shows opening for a great band, Cats on a Smooth Surface. The lessons learned there is that they treated us so kindly, Bobby Bandiera and those other Cats. It was such a joy to be around them. They were amazing!
A lot of other bands that we played with were on too high a horse for me. So it was a lot of lessons learned.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected].
