Dean DeLeo has carved out a legendary career as the guitarist of Stone Temple Pilots, crafting riffs that helped shape the sound of a generation. Now he’s exploring uncharted musical territory with “One More Satellite,” a deeply personal and sonically rich creative endeavor releasing on July 18, 2025, via Symphonic. Teaming with UK-based vocalist and lyricist Pete Shoulder, DeLeo delivers a diverse and cinematic collection of songs that blend emotion, texture, and melody in unexpected ways.
What began as an instrumental passion project quickly evolved into something more collaborative after Shoulder joined the fold, eventually contributing vocals to eight of the album’s ten tracks. The album also features contributions from DeLeo’s son Rocco, his daughter June, longtime STP drummer Eric Kretz, and powerhouse Brian Tichy on drums. Co-produced and mixed by trusted collaborator Ryan Williams, “One More Satellite” stands as a testament to DeLeo’s boundless creativity and enduring passion for musical exploration.
Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently sat down with the legendary guitarist for an in-depth conversation. In this wide-ranging discussion, DeLeo opens up about his artistic evolution, the emotional heart of “One More Satellite,” collaborating with family and longtime friends, and his excitement for what’s still to come.
Before we begin today, I want to thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in over the years. The music you have created with Stone Temple Pilots and beyond has truly served as the soundtrack to some of the most excellent times over the years. I know it’s no easy task to keep a career in the arts on the rails. My sincerest thanks for all the blood, sweat, and tears you have put in over the past few decades.
You know, man, that’s the payoff right there, hearing what the music meant to you. It means a lot, man. Thank you!
You’re welcome. I’m very excited to talk about this new solo record because I love it when we see new sides of the artists we love. Before we hit that, I wanted to go back to the start. Everybody kind of has that jump-off moment. What prompted you to leave New Jersey in your youth and head west all those years ago? What was the catalyst?
Sure, the catalyst was my sister and my brother-in-law. I was always very, very close to them. My brother-in-law, Jack, was like a father to me, and not just a father, but also one of my best friends. He would do wild stuff with me when I was a kid. We would tie my sled to the back of his car and pull me around the snow field parking lots in New Jersey, you know. The really, really fun stuff, you know! He was really into motorcycles, and he was just a great guy. They’re still married, by the way, and coming up on 50 years. I loved them dearly, and they were in California. At the time, they kept prompting Robert, me, and my mom to head west, and we eventually did. I think Robert came out in about 1984, and I stayed behind to help my mom pack up the house and make the pilgrimage!
What initially drew you to the craft of songwriting?
What worked in my favor was that I didn’t have the ability that Robert did. Robert was incredible at learning a song. It came very easily and naturally to him. He was emulating stuff at a very, very young age, like Steve Hackett off the Genesis records. I remember coming home one day, and he’s like, “Ah, check this out!” And he played “Mood for a Day” from Steve Howe. I didn’t have that ability, man! And, of course, this is decades before YouTube, where you can go online and figure out how to play it. All I had back then was a turntable and a record. So, I just started writing my own material. I mean, I wrote “big empty” when I was around 16 years old. So it worked in my favor in that respect, right? I would become far too frustrated trying to learn, so I went in my own direction. I could pretty easily pick up Black Sabbath, KISS, and stuff like that, with a little bit of Zeppelin here and there that friends would show me. But yeah, I had a tough time learning songs. I started writing my own at a relatively young age.
When do you feel you came into your own in that respect?
I’m not sure I have yet, really. I’m just getting the hang of it, man!
Well, if that truly is the case, your future looks very bright because you’ve been doing a kick-ass job so far! [laughs]
Thank you. We love doing what we do, and with that at the forefront, a complete love for music and the love of playing, writing, and recording music surely has a lot to do with it.
I’m sure you learned a few lessons along the way. What were the biggest takeaways from the early years?
Well, these two words kind of work out pretty well — “We’ll see.” It’s a good thing to add just when you think things can’t get any wackier. Whatever it might be, it comes back to “We’ll see.” I just try to stay very much immersed in gratitude. If you’re there, things can’t really go wrong, you know?
That’s a good sentiment! You’ve been working hard on this new album — “One More Satellite.” Tell us a little bit about how the ball got rolling.
I had a fair amount of time on my hands, and I’ve experienced a lot of things over the last couple of years. I just felt very inspired to write, and it was coming very naturally to me, and I would just pick up a guitar, and something would appear, or I’d grab something from the air, or however you might want to put it. It was a process where this material was just hitting me over the head. This record kind of started out as an instrumental record. I was going to do just that! There was a song or two. I reached out to Pete [Shoulder]. Pete and I were introduced back in 2015 and recorded some stuff before. I love Pete’s voice. Well, I love everything about him. He’s a heck of a cat, too! He’s just one of those musicians who does it all. He’s a fantastic drummer, an outstanding pianist, a great guitar player, and, of course, an incredible lyricist and vocalist. So, I have a huge admiration for him, and it’s very fulfilling when we get together and write. So, it started out as an instrumental record. One thing led to another, and he wound up singing eight of the 10 songs! Early on, we just said, “Hey, let’s do this. This is our thing!” We both agreed on that and are pretty thrilled about it!
What can you tell us about your first encounters with Pete? Was there anything significant there?
We were introduced to Pete through Ross Halfin. It was Ross who kept telling us about Pete. He’d say, “Hey, you need to meet him, and you guys need to get together.” When we did, this man’s level of talent was evident right away. As I mentioned, we’ve accomplished a great deal together over the years. Pete actually sang on a few songs of Robert’s solo record, “Lessons Learned.” So, when it came time for this record, of course, I reached out to him!
What was the creative process like for this one? How does it differ, compare, and contrast to what you’re used to working on?
It’s just the conversation of music, really. Some people have the luxury of experiencing that, and those who do know it’s a pretty lovely thing to share! We did it a couple of different ways. There was a time when Pete came over here and stayed at my place for a couple of weeks, and we did some recording. We sussed out some material, and he sang here. And then there were some of the things that were done with him being in England. We discussed arrangements prior to my going into the studio, and once we had that laid out, I would go in and cut it. I played everything on the record except drums. So, I would cut the track and send it to Pete. He would send it to me a few days later, and I would be ecstatic about what he did!
The drummers we had on this record were outstanding. Mr. Kretz, my brother in rhythm for 40 years, played on a little ditty called “Serenade.” I had Brian Tichy play on several tracks, and my son, Rocco, played on three tracks. My daughter June does a lovely little “ahh” in the second chorus of another instrumental called “Your Call.”That was really a very special thing for me, having my kids on this record. You know, just being able to do that with my kids and get in the studio with them was really, really special, man!
I can imagine! It’s a beautiful thing. With that said, how has fatherhood most impacted you?
Well, it’s a love that I can’t really explain. Man, it’s beyond any love I’ve ever experienced. You know, I would do everything and anything for my children. If I had to take a dog sled across the globe to get to them, I would! I would stand in front of a train for them. There’s a maternal instinct that kicks in, multiplying everything — love, care, provision, and, thank God, I have two really, really amazing kids. They’re just full of love and selflessness, and they’re kind to everything that surrounds them.
How did the conversation with them about this project begin? Was it something they or you had any reservations about?
Oh no. Goodness No. Rocco started playing drums at 14. He’s evolved into playing guitar, bass, and piano, and now he plays just about anything he puts his hands on. He also writes a fair amount in various areas. He can delve into an acoustic world and then transition into a more electric one, producing very ethereal sounds or more violent ones. He’s really come a long way since that first drum set I got him! And my daughter? She’s just this consummate little artist, man. She enjoys painting, drawing, and sculpting. She’s really into acting. She’s doing a lot of plays, so…
The apples didn’t fall too far from the tree.
Well, call it what you want, but yeah! [laughs]
Honestly, that’s terrific to hear. I have no doubt your kids will be successful in whatever creative paths they pursue.
Thank you!
Tell us a little bit about the songs here. Which songs were the hardest to nail down during the process?
Well, they all came pretty easy, man. Ya know, if a song is taking up too much time, I have to walk away from it. The songs that are whipped up in a matter of minutes or a short period of time are the ones that usually stick, and I don’t know that I’m proficient enough to sit down with a guitar and say, ” I’m going to ink a song right now.” It’s me sitting down and, for lack of a better term, just stumbling upon something! It might be a chordal progression or just one interesting-sounding chord. I don’t know what it’s rightly called, but I build off that off of those happy accidents. So, yeah, the songs on this record came really quickly and easily. When I got these back from Pete, it was really fulfilling! I made this record with my dear friend, who has done the last few STP records with us, Tom Bukovac. He did the Trip The Witch record with me as well. My pal Ryan Williams engineered and mixed the Trip The Witch record, and he engineered and mixed this one as well. He’s a massive help in the studio, helping me pull up tones. There are a lot of times when he knows what I’m going for before we even have to talk about it, which makes the process so easy and fast. That’s one of the things we learn by working with Brendan [O’Brien] on most of our records. It just needs to be fun and easy!
Is there a part of the recording process that you didn’t necessarily love at the start but you’ve grown to enjoy more over the years?
No. The fantastic thing about doing something like this is that it goes so far beyond just recording music. There are so many other facets to it. First, you have the songwriting process, then you finally get the song together, you’re feeling good about it, and then you record it. The biggest challenge at hand is it’s not really a challenge, but you’re always trying to get what’s going on in your head to come out of the speakers. Once you achieve that, it’s certainly a nice feeling. Before mastering, you need to mix the record. We started working on the Trip The Witch record, where we mixed as we went along and didn’t have a final mix session at the end of recording. We printed sound effects and compressions and panned everything where we wanted it. So when we reached the end of making the record, it was 95% mixed. So, at the end of the process, you’re just making little moves. That worked really well, so we did that on the One More Satellite record as well, mixing as we went along. Once we’d achieved that, we moved on to mastering over at Larsen Mastering here in Los Angeles.
You’ve got some great artwork. Can you provide us with some insight into that aspect of the release?
That’s a whole other realm of creativity. I just fell in love with this artwork. It was created by a woman named Erika Schiff. I was familiar with her from some other work she had done. She was finishing up this mural, and I saw the town of Venice. It was a 200-by-6-foot wall that this homeowner hired her for, which was a massive undertaking. I was blown away by her work and asked if she would be able to work with us on this project. She was like, “Oh yeah, no problem!” I couldn’t have been happier! So, to answer your original question, there are so many avenues for creativity along the way, and I love it all, man!
Tell us a little about the title of the record. How did you end up there?
We can thank Ken Andrews for that! Ken is part of a band that I absolutely love called FAILURE. I’ve been a big fan for many years. They released a record a few years back called “The Heart Is a Monster.” On that album, there’s a song called “The Counterfeit Sky,” and the title comes from a line in that song. If you haven’t heard it, be sure to check it out.
Was there anything that spoke to you about that particular song?
That song, from the get, really hits me over the head. It’s just that you have to hear it for yourself. From the opening line to the guitar sound to the chordings, everything else about it is incredible! There’s another song on that record called “Mulholland Drive,” which was the first song I heard off that record. It was one of those songs that I heard and instantly knew it was a masterpiece. As soon as I listened to that song, I called Ken immediately. I said, “This is one of those songs that I wish I had written. It’s just so incredible!” So that’s what turned me onto that record. And, of course, I have every FAILURE record, and similarly, when it came time and “counterfeit sky” came on, I was really knocked out by that one, too.
Do you have any plans to celebrate on release day?
Well, maybe I’ll jump out of the cake! [laughs]
I’m here for it [laughs]. I know you guys have a busy summer ahead!
Yeah, I leave at 7 AM tomorrow for South America, and I’m really looking forward to that. STP has a busy, busy year ahead of us, but I’d love to get out and do some shows. I know Pete is surely into that, and I know Brian Tichy would really enjoy that as well. We need to find somebody to play bass and sing. So, yeah — Perhaps we’ll do some shows in 2026.
That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. When it comes to your music and your future, what do you feel the next few years might hold for you musically?
Tom Bukovac and I just put our first song in the can for another Trip The Witch record!
Awesome!
It’s really a joy to be affiliated with musicians of that caliber, and that’s been a fulfilling project. So, more Trip The Witch and more “One More Satellite.” I’d really like to get out and play these songs because I feel they’d translate well.
I’d love to see that too. It’s clear that you enjoy collaborating with other artists. What’s the key to successful collaboration?
Well, it depends on what your definition of success is.
That’s true! What is success to you?
Success for me is when I sit in front of the speakers, and I hear a playback, and I’m delighted with that. That’s success to me. As I mentioned earlier, I love that! I have the luxury and the ability to write and record music; I really, really enjoy that. I love the whole aspect of the world of STP, too. For instance, as I mentioned, we’re leaving for South America tomorrow. It’s an utter thrill to be down there playing for those folks. They are wild beyond words, man. I still love playing, especially live, as well as the studio aspect. It’s still quite a hoot!
You’re living the dream, which is definitely inspiring. What’s the best lesson we can take from your journey as an artist?
As an artist? Oh my gosh, this is quite philosophical right now, huh? [laughs[ I don’t know. Man, I don’t know what to say to that. Look, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but it all comes back to the gratitude thing. I don’t want to sound silly, but it really is a nice way to simply go through life, being grateful. There’s a song by Ray Wiley Hubbard called “Mother Blues. Check that out, alright? The final line of that song kind of sums it all up!
I certainly will. Thanks again for your time, Dean! Keep the good stuff coming!
Thank you, Jason! Take care.
Dean DeLeo’s debut solo album, “One More Satellite,” arrives July 18, 2025, via Symphonic. Pre-order the album and explore exclusive merch here!
