With the unfortunate passing of Scott Weiland still lingering, Stone Temple Pilots are prepping for the release of their deluxe and super deluxe reissues of Core, their debut album, on the LP’s 25 anniversary. Having already release a demo of “Sex Type Thing,” the band today premiered an demo version of a song called “Only Dying.” The track was supposed to be on the soundtrack of the 1994 cult classic, The Crow, but the band said that because of the morality-related themes, it was pulled last minute due to Brandon Lee’s death while filming.
When speaking with Rolling Stone, guitarist Dean DeLeo said that “I remember Scott really wanted to redo the song and quite honestly, the guitar tone we chose on that… I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I was listening to too much Robert Smith or something. It’s a song where I don’t think we reached our full potential as songwriters quite yet. But honestly, it really is a beautiful song.”
The song is definitely a painful one. The guitars are very similar to what you’d hear on “Plush,” and Weiland’s voice sounds extra strained and gruff, only adding to the song’s haunting line “I’m only dying.”
“It’s cool to hear it now,” says STP drummer Eric Kretz. You can hear all the STP elements in there. You could tell it needed to be reworked a little bit, but you can really hear Scott’s voice taking on its character and the band delving into the sound of the guitar, the special effects and everything. It’s a great early indicator of where the band was heading. It was trying to dig into our emotions.”
You can check out the new demo below. Weiland made news recently when his family filed lawsuits against several merchandise companies for using his likeness without permission.
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