Stone Temple Pilots fans can expect to hear some treats on the next -- and most extensive -- leg of the group's tour promoting its new, self-titled album, according to guitarist Dean DeLeo.


"We've been in rehearsals the last week and a half," DeLeo tells Billboard.com. "We're playing some stuff we've never played live. We're doing some stuff from (1999's) 'No. 4' and some things off (1994's) 'Purple' that we haven't played since, like, '94." And, he adds with a laugh, "We actually worked up about five or six songs from the new record -- the fans' worst nightmare, right? 'We're gonna do a few songs from our new record...' "

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Actually, STP's fans haven't minded since the band started previewing the "Stone Temple Pilots" material before its May 21 release, and DeLeo says familiarity since then has only made their response fonder -- including a No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200. This time out STP will likely be showcasing "Take a Load Off," the album's second single and successor to "Between the Lines," which hit No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.


"It's a song I've had sitting around for a little while," DeLeo says, dating it back to the sessions for the lone Army of Anyone album he and his brother, STP bassist Robert DeLeo, made in 2006 with Filter's Richard Patrick and current Korn drummer Ray Luzier. "Rich wasn't really digging on it, so I was like, 'That's fine, my good friend, 'cause I know somebody who will take a good bite out of that. And Scott (Weiland) did his thing; I just offered him the music and he put together the entire melody and lyric for it, and it came out great."

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DeLeo says STP is leaning towards "Cinnamon" as the third single from "Stone Temple Pilots," but he says the quartet hasn't broached the prospect of a next album yet. "Oh, goodness no," the guitarist says. "We have so much at hand right now with touring. We're kind of booked up through, like, February of next year."


STP's latest tour gets under way Aug. 7 at the Rock on the Range festival in Winnipeg and wraps Oct. 16 in Pensacola, Fla. Dean DeLeo says the group will play in South America in December, then head over to Europe in early 2011. Ultimately, however, he says STP hopes to avoid the nine-year gap that preceded "Stone Temple Pilots."


"Stranger things have happened," he says, "but I think we're all having a really good time doing this and, yeah, we'll just kind of see what happens. I know we're all excited about getting on the road again. I just want everything to be smooth around us and...work in a really pleasant environment, not just the band but the 18 people on the road who have families as well. We want to make sure everybody's content and happy, and so far that's been the case."