Happy Birthday: Dean DeLeo

Today we celebrate the birthday of Dean DeLeo, guitarist and songwriter for Stone Temple Pilots. In honor of this occasion, we’ve put together a list of five non-STP projects which have featured DeLeo in one capacity or another. (Don’t worry, though: we’ve offered up Stone Temple Pilots’ THANK YOU for your listening enjoyment, too.)

1. Talk Show, “Hello Hello” – In 1997, when Scott Weiland was…well, to be polite, let’s just say he was not entirely available and leave it at that, but in his absence, Dean DeLeo, his brother Robert, and Eric Kretz joined forces with Dave Coutts, formerly of Ten Inch Men, and called themselves Talk Show. They released a self-titled album in September 1997 that failed to take off as well as one might’ve hoped – it only reached #131 on the Billboard 200 – but it still delivered this great single.

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here

2. Local H, “Cool Magnet” – Local H opened for Stone Temple Pilots at one point, which is how the two bands became acquainted with each other. With his guest spot on this track from the band’s 1998 album PACK UP THE CATS, DeLeo officially became the first person outside of the Local H lineup to appear on one of their albums.

3. Alanis Morissette, “Precious Illusions” – When her second major-label album, SUPPOSED FORMER INFATUATION JUNKIE, failed to take off as well as its predecessor, JAGGED LITTLE PILL, Morissette became frustrated and was – according to Entertainment Weekly – threatening to leave Maverick Records. During the window when she wasn’t sure what the future would hold for her, she brought in some additional musicians to help with the material she’d written, including DeLeo, Eric Avery of Jane’s Addiction, Flea, and Me’shell Ndgeocello.

4. Chicago, “Better” – We don’t actually know the story behind how Dean ended up contributing guitar to this track by the classic band, but we do know that it’s definitely him who’s helping Chicago rock out.

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here

5. Army of Anyone, “Goodbye” – To offer another Weiland absence and bookend the piece, Dean and Robert DeLeo joined forces with Filter frontman Richard Patrick and drummer Ray Luzier, who’d worked with David Lee Roth, to form this band. They only lasted for two years, making the title of this track – the lone single from their only album, a self-titled LP – all too apropos.