STP’s Dean DeLeo & Eric Kretz on Tom Petty’s Influence
In the wake of Tom Petty’s sudden passing, many musicians have paused to reflect on just how much of an influence he had on music as a whole.
Among those musicians are Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz, who are in the process of promoting the 25th anniversary reissue of their debut album Core, and in a recent conversation with WRIF’s Meltdown, they touched on the extent of Petty’s musical reach:
Eric Kretz: “I think he had an influence on not only us but the whole world. What a fantastic talent and songwriter.”
Dean DeLeo: “You said it best yesterday when we were pulling up some stuff off of ‘Damn The Torpedoes.’ The was popular music in the 1970s. Were we spoiled?! That was popular music! You could turn on the radio and hear…that’s what you heard. Unlike now, it’s just so…I can’t use those words.”
Kretz: “Yeah, it’s a lot different now, but you know what I mean. That used to be pop radio. That was crossed over to a ton of stations. It was all the music that was being written and recorded back then. Sadly, we all are one day going to succumb to that, but Tom was awfully young, man, and it was just awful news on top of the already awful news of what transpired in Las Vegas. I was a crazy day yesterday. A real crazy day. We got together at the studio to work, but we didn’t get a lot of work done. Just a lot of reflection and trying to get your head out of the sand.”
The 25th anniversary edition of Core is available now in multiple formats and bundles on StoneTemplePilots.com.
To listen to this interview in its entirety, head to WRIF.com.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
