[2] The album is also the band's final release with the full original lineup, as vocalist Scott Weiland was dismissed from Stone Temple Pilots in 2013, and died in 2015.

Scott Weiland would hear new material from Robert and Dean DeLeo while the band performed sound checks during the tour, but he would not collaborate in the songwriting process until he was through promoting his solo album, "Happy" in Galoshes.

On June 12, 2008, Atlantic Records filed a lawsuit against Weiland and Eric Kretz, claiming the two had threatened to terminate their contract unless changes were made.

Commenting on his idea, he said, "[O]ther bands, they make more money doing things in an unconventional fashion as opposed to doing it... with the major labels.

The band's attorney, Gary Stiffelman, clarified that the complaint was a result of a "misunderstanding" during contract negotiations, and a representative for Atlantic stated the lawsuit had been voluntarily dismissed.

[11] Robert and Dean began writing new material by November 2008,[12] but, except for clips played during the tour sound checks, Weiland would not hear anything new until after February 2009.

[3] The recording process took place over a period of ten months,[10] due largely to the band's touring schedule,[13] but the majority of actual studio time was spent experimenting with different instruments and miking techniques.

[10] Weiland was credited for the lyrical melodies,[19] but Robert pointed out, "This record was made in a way that Scott wasn't really there for the creation of these songs, musically.

[20] Working as an additional producer,[19] Don Was helped keep Weiland's and the rest of the band's separate recording sessions in sync by bringing them together to perform live.

[26] Mixing began in January 2010 with Chris Lord-Alge,[16] and mastering for the album was completed in February[27] by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound.

"[28] In a retrospective interview in 2017, Robert DeLeo commented that he would "never want to make a record like that again", referring to how the songwriting and recording process with the DeLeos and Kretz was kept separate from Weiland and referred to the initial vocal takes as "not satisfactory...we were doing four different versions of [the songs] to figure out what key is the best" because of communication difficulties between both parties.

[33][14] Although it was recorded in standard tuning, "Hickory Dichotomy" features a slide guitar solo[33] performed in open G.[18] Both "Cinnamon" and "Maver" were recorded with a Telecaster set up for Nashville tuning,[31] and Dean described "First Kiss on Mars" as having a "down-home country kind of feel", but noted Weiland's influence on the song: "That title takes it to this whole other plateau.

"Between the Lines" was written with The Animals, The Zombies[34] and Paul Revere & the Raiders[16] in mind, and Weiland considered "Cinnamon" to be a combination of 1960s British pop and Ian Curtis (of Joy Division).

Kretz explained, "We've always tried to come up with very witty and interesting names for our records and we just felt that it was time, 18 years into the Stone Temple Pilots career, to put out a self-titled album.

[citation needed] Stone Temple Pilots was promoted through various media outlets, including the Internet, radio, and on television, with live performances and interviews by the band.

Among those in attendance were Stone Temple Pilots, journalists from several venues,[7] and Craig Kallman, Chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records.

[42] Stone Temple Pilots opened an early-2010 tour on March 18 at the South by Southwest music festival,[43] where four new songs were premiered: "Between the Lines", "Huckleberry Crumble", "Bagman", and "Hickory Dichotomy".

[64] On June 1, "Between the Lines" was released, along with two other songs, as part of a Stone Temple Pilots pack for the rhythm video game Guitar Hero.

[69][70] "Between the Lines" became the album's first single; it was released digitally on the band's Twitter page on March 22,[71] later peaking at number one on the Billboard Rock Songs chart.

[72]The music video for "Between the Lines", directed by Christopher Sims, was shot on April 11[73] in Los Angeles, California,[72] and premiered on Fuse TV's Top 20 Countdown on May 7.

[10] Robert was inspired by the 1960s rock groups The Zombies and The Animals, and had been picturing "a '60s go-go beat and a girl in a miniskirt" before Weiland changed the song's meaning with his lyrics.

[84] On February 23, 2010, the album was previewed in its entirety during a private listening party at Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar in New York City.

Craig Kallman, Chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records, delivered a speech praising the members of the band and their influence on the music industry, comparing them to Led Zeppelin.

[42] Several members of the audience described the songs as "Beatles-esque"[42][7] and the album "a natural, melodic progression for Stone Temple Pilots.

"[10] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic suggested that Stone Temple Pilots proved the band members, after nearly a decade of side-projects, needed each other.

[91] Brad Wheeler, writing for The Globe and Mail, wondered if the eponymous title was an allusion to the Atlantic Records contractual dispute.

He described the title as, "more homage than it is subconscious plagiarism," before listing Nirvana, Aerosmith, Joy Division, John Lennon, David Bowie, and even the band's Purple as having intentionally shaped the album.

She found Weiland's voice to be improved in part due to his sober lifestyle and wrote that the band was "back in action".

[98] USA Today's Jerry Schriver praised the band for releasing a "cohesive, self-produced reunion album", but admitted the tracks were not "timeless".

[34] Allison Stewart, writing for The Washington Post, decided the album was a "small victory" and "respectable" but ultimately "a weirdly mild, tension-free outing."